When I came across this CD I was immediately intrigued as although this is a debut release, it has been released in the form of a hardback book, containing an extensive booklet and the CD as a digipak. Now, apart from the English lyrics the whole thing is in German, so it is somewhat lost on me, but it did show that someone somewhere thinks a lot of these guys. Superdrama was formed in 2004 by Robert Gozon (vocals, keyboards) and Robert Stein-Holzman (drums), and was initially known as Noble Effort. After a few line-up changes Thomas Klarmann (bass, flute) from Argos becae involved, as did guitarist Michael Hahn, and the line-up is now completed by Thilo Braud on organs.
In many ways this is classic neo-prog, but with leanings towards Seventies bands such as Gentle Giant. Strangely enough, the band they remind me most of is the much-missed Grace who I was lucky enough to see in concert multiple times in the Nineties (and whose album ‘The Poet, The Piper and The Fool’ should be in everyone’s collection), as although musically they are quite different there is a definite similarity in the way that they structure the material and also in the vocal attack. The more I play this the more I enjoy it, as it is such a fun album to listen to and contains many of the elements so beloved of progheads such as intricate songs, strong musicianship, wonderful interplay and a feeling that these guys really mean it. They contain the humour of Gentle Giant as well as some of the off-beat tempos and staccato sounds, yet temper this with some fine rocking guitar.
This really is a delight from the first note to the last, and I can only hope that we don’t have to wait ten years for the next album as that would be criminal. This is an incredibly strong debut, one that I highly recommend!
www.superdrama.de
