It has been over seven years since Akin's last effort. And I can only hope the title isn't prophetic. The musicianship is first rate,lovely vocals,soaring melodies, even a little poetry. Although no song is over 5:48 long. There is still the progressive rock sound of epics past.Highlights to me are the following tracks.
Adeline's pretty vocals and the tone of the music lend ”The 92nd Flight” a “Renaissance air”, albeit updated,great guitar work that reminds me a bit of Steve Howe. The lyrics lean in a spiritual way, Traveling life's many roads,feeling despair but inside in your heart is speaking to you,guiding you to your home. For me,a pleasant introduction to AKIN.
“Unhearted” has a dreamy faraway ambience initially,very nice keyboard work,like many other songs on this release,there is an experimental feel to it, like a fusion of pop/jazz/progressive art rock. Very pretty flamenco-ish guitar towards the end.A bit of everything.
If I had to pick a”single ”I would have to say” When”is my favourite track on this album, so far. Probably the metal-est song on this disc.It rocks.
A largely instrumental piece” Miracles” I found interesting in that the vocals seem to be incorporated in such a way that they become one of the instruments, not the main focus.I hear a faint Steely Dan influence in the music.
“Millers End” begans with a poetry reading,slowly, softly the music gradually builds creating the atmosphere as the poem fades away,this pleasant,evocative instrumental piece seems to be an interpretation of the spoken words. To me the song has a North African feeling to it. I can visualize a journey across the desert sands,a hint of danger perhaps.
I like the guitar work in ”Coma” , this is another fine track that caught my ear.Nice little drum solo too.
Initially I was quite impressed and overall I found this to be a pleasant cd, it is one I will certainly revisit from time to time as I find a little more to like each time I listen .To me the weak points are that some songs could have been a bit longer to fully develop the story, as it stands,they felt rushed,also I found the lyrics suffer from being written in another language (French perhaps) and then translated to English,as always in this case,some things get lost in the translation.
Reviewed by Chris Erbeck on October 18th, 2011
