Label: MTM Music

Tracks:

1. Abandoned World 4.04
2. The Wandering 5.38
3. Waltz With Mother Nature 6.38
4. Why Bother 4.52
5. Today's Report 4.44
6. Welcome 5.51
7. Cat Eyes 4.27
8. The Chase 5.14
9. Personalities (The Long One) 12:26
10. a. Foreplay
11. b. Piece Of Meat
12. c. Tinnitus
13. d. Lord Of Lies
14. e. Emely (Ms. Amnesia)
15. f. Insomniac
16. g. Concluding Speech

Musicians:

• Jerry Sahlin (vocals, synthesizer, vocoder)
• Tomas Erlandsson (drums, percussion)
• Ola Andersson (guitar, backing vocals)
• Peter Asp (bass, percussion, backing vocals)
• Herman Saming (lead vocals)

A.C.T is a really peculiar band, which maximum inspiration in the groups It Bites and City Boy. This is the time I find clear influences from these two groups in a band.

But A.C.T aren't equal to City Boy and It Bites, A.C.T. are more dynamical, hard, complex and fewer pop in the instrumentation, but not in the voices, and also you can notice also influences basically of IQ, Dream Theater and Saga

The coincidences with It Bites and City Boy are enough, the voice of the singer is very similar to Francis Dunnery, singer of It Bites (though also he reminds me the singer of Kayak), the album ends with a suite where the variety of styles and multiple changes happen like in City Boy's "The Day the Earth Caught Fire" or in It Bites's second album, "Once Around the World", that both finished with an impressive suite, and some vocal melodies, guitar and keyboards remind City Boy and It Bites.

The influence from It Bites is obvious in many of the tracks of the album, in a clearer way in "Cat Eyes", "Today's Report", "Welcome", "Waltz with Mother Nature" and in the final suite "Personalities", undoubtedly the best of the album, but also in "Abandoned World" and "The Wandering". Whereas City Boy is a present influence in almost the whole album.

There are other tracks, like "Abandoned World", "The Wandering" and "The Chase"

that remind more of IQ, curiously more in the vein of Paul Menel's IQ (Nomzamo and Are You Sitting Comfortably), precisely those that were contemporary of It Bites. Also something of IQ can be obvious in the suite "Personalities" and in "Why Bother".

Dream Theater contributes mainly with the hard guitars and a strong presence is obvious in "Waltz With Mother Nature", "Why Bother", "Welcome" and "Today's Report". And finally Saga also they can be obvious in Today s Report, Welcome and The Chase.

In short, A.C.T is a very good group, the most positive and happy of the current progressive rock, very, very melodic, powerful and strong, and with constant changes of record. Very good album mainly thanks to the suite "Personalities".

Rating: 6.5/10

Ferran Lizana