IT'S KIND OF YOU TO ASK

''About time'' opened the doors for Also Eden to become more famous and during 2007 the band had a pretty heavy schedule full of live gigs.During the lives the band even promoted material headed for their next release.However they were struck by the departure of Mark Hall and Ralvin Thomas the same year.Mark was replaced by Steve Byrne for these gigs and a more stable line-up was established later with Steve Dunn on bass and Tim Colemann on drums.The new five-piece formation recorded ''It's Kind of You to Ask'' in 2008, yet another private release by the band.

The familiar Also Eden style has not changed a bit for this album and the band offers seven mostly long compositions full of intricate lyrical performances but also plenty of space for instrumental mannerisms.The nice combination of Lloyd-Jones' brilliant voice surrounded by rich and harmonic music soundscapes is again Also Eden's highlight, giving the band a much- needed exposure among the modern Neo Prog bands.The compositions are warm, delicate, always with a tendency towards accesible melodies and a very sensitive atmosphere but filled often with strong instrumental workouts, characterized by the great guitar moves, the spacey synth layers and the organ heaviness.This time the sound is a bit more focused with the band alternating between atmospheric 70's FLOYD-ian textures and more contemporary British stylings along the lines of second-era PALLAS and MARILLION both in the guitar and keyboard parts.Especially ''A window's eye'' contains all these fine elements, compressed in 13 minutes of fascinating musicianship.

Once more some very good material by this talented UK act.Well-crafted and polished musicianship, which however still lacks for this break-through mindblowing composition which will make the band a really stunning name.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.