Eyesberg - Masquerade - 2016
“... I love the lush keyboards and the up-lifting spirit of this album ...”
intro
Two years after the wonderful debut album “Blue”, the German and Frankfurt based band Eyesberg is presenting the successor “Masquerade”. It took the trio thirty years to release their first album. Fortunately we did not have to wait another thirty years for it's successor. The trio found in ex Spock's Beard member Jimmy Keegan the perfect drummer for the job. Their first album “Blue” had some references towards Genesis. That is because the voice of singer Malcolm Shuttleworth has some resemblance with the voice of Phil Collins. I think that the band can be catalogued under the name Symphonic Rock or Neo-Prog. The album has been released on the German label Progressive Promotion Records.
line-up
George Alfter - guitar, bass guitar; Norbert Podien - keyboards; Malcolm Shuttleworth - lead and backing vocals; Jimmy Keegan - drums
review
Besides the six tracks “Joke On You”, “Come And Take A Look At My Life”,“ Faceless”,“ Here And Now”, “Storm Flood” and “Steal Your Thunder”, all with a duration of around the five minutes, you can find a real epic of 18 minutes entitled “Wait And See” on this album.
The album opens with the up-tempo rocker “Joke On You”. This track is a mix of standard rock and symphonic rock. I like the symphonic side of the song with it's lush keyboards but because of the rock side the opener does not convince me. After this it gets much better. “Come And Take A Look At My Life” is a modest and beautiful song with delicate guitar work and lovely synth parts. Listening to this track and also to the next one “Faceless” you have to think immediately of Genesis. It is a combination of the lovely keyboard sounds and the way of singing of Malcolm Shuttleworth.
The keyboard flute samples on “Faceless” and the following track “Here And Now” are convincing, or is it a real flute? The more up-tempo instrumental “Storm Flood” has it's moments. Love the keyboard solo's and the great drumming of Jimmy Keegan. He brings the music of Eyesberg to the next level. The slow and quiet piece “Steal Your Thunder” has some beautiful guitar work and lovely synth melodies. But the highlight of the album is of course the epic “Wait And See” that is divided into the parts “Overture”, “The Beginning Of The End”, “Talking To Father Time”,“ I Told You So” and “The Last Demise”. A varied piece of music that sounds fresh but at the same time breathes the spirit of the 70's. Again I am impressed by the beautiful flute samples on this track.
conclusion
The song structures of the songs and in particular of the epic “Wait And See” are more complicated than on their debut album “Blue”. So you can say that the band is making progress in the world of the progressive rock. I love the lush keyboards and the up-lifting spirit of this album. I think that this album is more appealing to fans of Neo-Prog and the lovers of the Collins period of Genesis than to the fans of complex progressive rock.