Leap Day - "Awaken The Muse" Review

Artist/ Band: Leap Day
Title: Awaken The Muse
Label: Oskar Records
Year of Release: 2009
Offical Artist/ Band Link

The Review:

Over the past year, I kept reading good things about this new Dutch progressive rock band called Leap Day and their wonderful debut Awaken The Muse in 2009. So I contacted the band to get a copy to review. A few weeks later, I received Awaken The Muse and immediately put the disc in my computer so I could hear this band. I was amazed and while no new ground was broken here, the band did their parts in top form. Now you can probably call them a “supergroup” of sorts because they all come from other Dutch bands, one that I was acquainted with years ago called Flamborough Head. I had the pleasure of reviewing Flamborough Head’s Tales Of Imperfection from 2005. So we have Koen Roozen (drums) and Eddie Moulder (guitars) from Flamborough Head, Derk Evert Waalkens (keyboards) from a band I’m not familiar with, called King Elder. Then rounding off the line-up is Peter Stel (bass), who comes from another band I’m unfamiliar with, called Nice Beaver.

The end result is a wonderful album filled with sounds of both the symphonic & neo-progressive rock genres. I should note that Eddie Moulder took part in an equally fantastic new instrumental band called Trion (Trio + Mellotron). Back to Leap Day, upon my first listening of the album, I noticed there was some similarities to another contemporary progressive rock band from the other side of the world called Unitopia. There’s also some similarities to Fish-era Marillion as well as classic Genesis thrown in for good measure.

Highlights for me are “What Would You Do” (7:09), which reminds me of Unitopia in the vocal delivery done by Jos Hartevelds as well as the melodies in the song. Another highlight is “Secret Gardener” (7:05) where in some parts in the composition, that reminded me of the good vibe I get every time I listen to Marillion’s Misplaced Childhood. The last highlight is “Eyes Wide Open” (8:38)which again reminded me of Unitopia.

So I conclusion, I felt a wonderful vibe each time I listened to their debut album, of which I thought of classic Genesis mixed with Fish -era Marillion and bits of Unitopia. It should be known that Leap Day has an originality to their music while still having a mainstream end result. I’d recommend this album to fans of the aforementioned bands as well as those into melodic modern progressive rock.

Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on March 19th, 2011

Tracks:

01. When Leaves Fall

02. What Would You Do

03. Secret Gardener

04. Shop Window Dummies

05. Eyes Wide Open

06. Sandgrains

07. Little Green Men

Reviewed Discography

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