Label: Cyclops

With this fourth album, Salem Hill were obtaining the first work really to be taken into account, also conceptual as the previous Catatonia, but undoubtedly much better.

What Salem Hill do is not really classic progressive rock, but rather American rock sound inheritor of AOR, but much more nearby in the style of Kansas. Thus, a fan of the seventies progressive rock, providing that he does not look only for large structural complexities or instrumental virtuosity, would remain fully satisfied with this album.

It is plenty of music with great sensibility, with beautiful melodies, much feeling, and very well realized and produced, doesn't matter the genre. The possible absence of creativity, anyone with a minimum of taste for the good music either, must find enough virtues in this album. Salem Hill step by step were growing, improving to each new album, and continuing this way, they might have recognition of even extra-progressive media, so the style that they practise is favourable to it.

In this album already we have almost the definitive line-up. Carl Groves, Kevin Thomas and Patrick Henry, joins definitively Michael Dearing, who returns to the band, which he leaved after the first album. In addition, Michael Ayers collaborates again, who in the next album will pass to be a fixed member of the band. Also here collaborates David Ragsdale, ex-Kansas, who plays the violin.

The influences are still noticing, specially of Kansas and something of King's X, although the group shows always a strong personality.

There are no tracks that stand out more than the others, but one always has his favorites, and this time mine would be the rocker "Revenge", and the track that finishes the album, the romantic "Epilogue". Really great tracks.

The rest, among ballads and pieces of great sensibility and beauty like "When", "Blame", "Father and Son" or "Trigger", and others of more dynamism and rock energy as "Someday" or "Dream".

A great album. Prog-rock very agreeable and without many structural complexities.

Rating: 8/10

Ferran Lizana