SILENT CRIES AND MIGHTY ECHOES

"Silent cries and mighty echoes" has a very good balance between hard rock and progressive rock. It is among the best progressive albums made in 1979, which, we must admit, were rare during this year.

On side 1, there are intense hard rock organ parts. The keyboards are modern, but they do not really sound as modern as on the "Planets" album: the omnipresent floating organ in the background creates here a vintage atmosphere. The overall atmosphere is rather cold. The electric guitar is VERY loud in the foreground, quite clean without major pedal effects, and there are MANY excellent guitar solos played. The rhythm is rather slow. Some very good male & female backing vocals retain the attention. The keyboards oriented last part of "Apocalypse" sounds like Tangerine Dream around 1980.

The side 2 is better: it is more catchy and progressive: the electric guitars sounds seem more varied and the keyboards really sound more modern. The modern Eloy has made some almost New Age relaxing songs a la Kitaro: the "De Labore Solis" song is definitely a good one. The electric guitar on "Mighty echoes" is definitely more razor, and there are also some good simple rhythmic piano notes.

Rating: 4.5 stars