MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

This record is the perfect example of what neo progressive hard rock is: NOT neo progressive rock! "More than meets the eye" is the best of the Jadis' albums. Despite there are 2 members of IQ (the bassist and the keyboardist), the album has few things in common with IQ. Surprisingly, the keyboards and the bass are the "weak" parts of the album: they are very good, but they are more elaborated and more progressive on the IQ albums.

First of all, Martin Orford's keyboards are almost always floating, so that they more accompany in a simple manner the OUTSTANDING electric guitars: compared to IQ, the keyboards here are less melodic and varied; The electric guitars here really steal the show: the aggressive & distorted rhythmic guitar sound is well crafted and flashy; the main attraction are the omnipresent PERFECT hard rock solos: Gary Chandler always plays on the higher notes, and his sound and style are absolutely unbelievable and extreme. Faster and more nervous than Steve Rothery (Marillion), the sound quality and performance level of his solos are comparable to Alex Lifeson's and David Gilmour's ones; Chandler's hard rock style is however a bit closer to the Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover" track; Like on the Marillion, Pendragon and Arena albums, Chandler plays omnipresent clean & short electric guitar notes: this is a STRONG part of this album. The drums are VERY impressive: the omnipresent cymbals patterns are always VERY expressive & shiny, and the overall drums are just sophisticated and RESTLESS! Gary Chandler's lead vocals are not bad, but he is a far more accomplished guitarist than a singer. The tracks are not very progressive: one must rather talk about a sophisticated ultra modern ambient hard rock. The only mellow track is the beautiful "More than meets the eye", containing peaceful flutes and clean guitars, reminding Steve Hackett's early stuff. If you don't like ultimate electric guitars solos, then this album is not for you.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!