These days, when I am sent something to review I load it into a playlist on my iPod and initially listen to it in the car. This allows me to ensure I listen to the albums in some semblance of order, so hopefully am always working on those that I have had longest. But, it does mean that I am sometimes surprised by what I am listening to in that I can’t remember where it came from. That is what happened with this album, as I was driving along trying to work out where on earth I had got my hands on a reissued prog album from the late Sixties/early Seventies as I was sure this hadn’t come from Eclectic, and was the wrong type of music for Yesterrock, yet these are pretty much the only reissue labels I deal with these days.
So, when I got home I started looking through my files and realised that I must have been sent this to review by a friend of mine, so had no information on the band. That got me searching the internet, and a short while later I was sat there quite amazed, as this isn’t a reissue at all, but instead is a brand new piece of work from Norway. I honestly thought that this is from the period, as if ever a group was using Ken Hensley as a starting point then this is it. But, it’s not just classic Heep with Byron style vocals, as they also bring in some Tullisms and then attempt to make it more modern by also using Camel (so maybe ’75 instead of ’71). There is Hammond organ aplenty, along with flute where required and lush guitars and great vocals. Simply put, if you ever enjoyed the first half a dozen Heep albums, especially the numbers that contained acoustic guitar, and are fond of Tull, then this is essential. This sort of music just shouldn’t exist in 2013, but I for one am very glad that it does.
