AGENESS - IMAGENESS - 1998

I checked out this band in order to get to know as many neo prog bands as possible. I didn't know this one yet; neo prog from Finland, that's already worthy of checking out if it were only for curious reasons. And buying this would also mean another very long epic for my collection.

The thing that struck me most at first listen was the voice of the singer of this band, Tommy Eriksson, the only Fin (?) with a Swedish name in this band. This man is obviously a multi-instrumentalist looking at his job in the line up. He has a remarkable and recognizable voice. I'm sure it's not everybody's cup of tea but I have no problem with it. Listening at the first few songs it's very clear we are talking about neo prog. Great keyboards and guitarwork, I'm liking this band and album already after these first two tracks. The third is a more rocking one, different from the first two you might say and after this it's epic time.

First, Metamorphosis, is a shorter epic of about 10 minutes and probably the best song of the album. Especially the instrumental contribution is tremendous and lifts this song to a huge level. It has to be one of the better neo progressive compositions I know so far !

This means we are already on a 4 star level after the four shorter songs and the big epic is yet to come. It would have to be a very disappointing one if it were to ruin the high rating and that would really surprise me. Believe me: it didn't. The 26 minute song called Sequals is at least as good as the first half of the album and so we are talking about a great effort by this former unknown band for me. I know them now and will also check them out further where the discography is concerned. 4 stars for this release (3,8). Recommended for fans of IQ even though this band is a bit rougher (at least on this album).
http://www.progarchives.com