DIFFERENT WAYS

A Swedish trio consisting of singer/multi-instrumentalist Mikael Askemur, guitarist Sven Larsson of Galleon fame and drummer Jonas Thurén.The three of them had played in a band called Madrigal during the 80's and a chance of meeting each other after a decade gave birth to Xinema in 1999.They started reworking some of Madrigal's material, a work in slow progress, as there was no real intention to push this dream too far, until they received a call from Michel St-Pere of Unicorn Digital and went to Canada to record their debut.''Different Ways'' saw the light finally in 2002.

There is a good reason why Michel St-Pere decided to come in touch with Xinema, as they play more or less the style performed by his own band Mystery around the time.SAGA-influenced AOR/Prog Rock with emphasis on melodic parts, warm singing lines and careful keyboards with little instrumental room and plenty of easy-going parts.However Xinema seem to lack the basic components of the genre: Melodies that impress the listener, very strong songwriting and even Mystery's more bombastic moments.The music, although far from uninteresting, sounds often flat and sterile, lacking any kind of dynamics, while there is a certain feeling everything has been played by another band in the past.The presence of Sven Larsson translates into some nice guitar moments, but the style chosen prevents him from going too far with his talent.There are also moments when Xinema sound a lot like the easy stuff of MAGELLAN.Among the mess of mediocre compositions there are a few which show the band's true potential like the catchy opening ''In the Scent of the Night'', the groovy and memorable ''Timing'' or the closing ''Blind Is the Light'' with its nice keyboards.

Not among the very best releases of the style.Rather forgettable Melodic Rock/AOR with only a sense of Prog in some tracks, which are too few.Stick with it only if you are a true fan of the style...2.5 stars.