Recorded in 1994, this is the only album from German band Lorian, who appeared to manage to make it through that decade before vanishing without trace. This isn’t a newly reissued lost masterpiece, but was sent to me to see if I would consider them for the Crossover sub-genre of ProgArchives. The answer to that was “no”, as this is a melodic rock/neo-prog album, very much of its time, but not one that would fit within the sub-genre I’m involved with. Given what Lorian were competing against back in the day, they certainly stand up against the bands that were also starting to become active at that time, and the recording and release quality is good even by today’s standards.
But, while they were a class above many who were also attempting to break through, they are still a very long way from bands such as Galahad, IQ, Pendragon, Pallas and the like. The songs are frequently passive, and miss out on the energy that is needed to drive this style of music forward. Of the previous four, it is probably with Pallas that they are most similar, and it is possible that their music would have progressed onwards if they had managed to stay together, but we will never know.
