A STORY OF MYSTERIOUS FOREST

Well,. I guess my expectations were too great. Here in Brazil the prog comunity just love bands from Japan. I like some too but I don´t think this album is as great as some people say. I much rather hear Belaphon or Novella. Ain Soph is a fine jazz-rock band with some prog leanings (the title track, especially on the first half is an excellent exemple of how good they could get as a prog band in the vein of Belaphon, absolutely gorgeous). The rest is good, I guess, but there´s just too much jazz-rock/fusion cliches for my taste. Like all those bands, the musicans are exceptionally skillful and technical. Like most jazz rock bands, however, most of the time the songs just seem to be an exercise on virtuosity with little room for melody or emotion. Music for musicians as they say. And It´s allright, if you like that. Ain Soph is in the middle of the way between the typical jazz-rock group and a full blown symphonic prog rock outfit (the influences of Camel are clear in that aspect). The final result is kind of a hybrid that don´t mix well: the jazz rock passages are just too jazz rock and the prog parts are totally melodic and symphonic, like two differente bands on the same stage battling for atention.

All in all I liked the CD. Not the masterpiece some claim, but very good anyway. A shame those guys couldn´t decide wheter they were prog or jazz, or beter yet, came up with a good mix of both. But the prog parts are very good. I guess I´ll have to hear their follow ups to have a better overview of their sound. For now, something between 3 and 3,5 stars is my rating for A Story Of Mysterious Forest.