Odyssice - Moondrive Plus

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Odyssice - Moondrive Plus

Artist:	Odyssice
Title:	Moondrive Plus
Label:	Cyclops CYCL 109
Length(s):	38 minutes
Year(s) of release:	2003
Month of review:	[12/2003]

Line up

Bastiaan Peeters - guitar
Bart Kühne - drums on 1-5
Jeroen van der Wiel - keyboards
Pascal van de Pol - bass
Menno Boomsma - drums on 6
Andrea Hubbeling - keyboards on 5
Erik Aafjes - bass on 5

Tracks

1)	Frustrations	8.14
2)	And So Am I	5.09
3)	Different Questions	5.35
4)	The Final Decisions	6.22
5)	Losing Her	6.16
6)	Power Loc	6.00

Summary

This rerelease of the first minicd of the band has a few extra's in the form of two bonus tracks and a live video of Senkan to play on PC. (it also includes a demo of a song of their Impressions album and a video of the band practicising in the studio a bit and introducing themselves). Although the mini has been reviewed earlier on this site, I decided to rereview it (without first looking at the old one).

The music

Frustrations opens with somebody leaving a cocktail party (and a cliche Star Trek remark). Then we start with the music, which is centered around the intense guitar playing of Bastiaan Peeters. The main source of instrumentation seems to be Andy Latimer, in fact the music of Odyssice is quite similar to the Camel around Stationary Traveller. On the other hand, halfway the music moves more into the direction of Pink Floyd, becoming dark and more brooding. Grand instrumental symphonic rock, nothing original, but very appealling.

And So Am I opens with piano (a bit in the line of Queens The Show Must Go On). Then the Camel feel sets in strongly. If you are into Camel, you owe it to yourself to here this. The playing of Peeters, is very emotive, the drawback of him taking the lead most of the time, is that what the drummer is doing is less than eventful. The keyboards do get a bit of space, but compared to the guitar, well they just don't make it. This imbalance is no problem for a while, but on a longer album, it does tend to wear.

Different Questions continues in the same vein, a bit more spaceous, stretched out. No problem in the melodic department again, A bit of light piano in the middle, dancing. For the remainder the guitar is the dominating force. The Final Decisions is not much different from the aforegoing, again some very strong guitar runs, and this time some marching drums. The part just after the 3 minute mark seems to be taken straight from the Nude album.

Losing Her is taken off the Exposure 88 compilation album released by Freia in 1988 (the booklet mentions the name Exposion, but I think the name Exposure is the correct one). The guitar playing is rougher here, while the keys remind me more of Twelfth Night than of Camel. Melodically, it also somewhat more mellow than the previous tracks and I like it significantly less. Halfway the tempo comes in, but the music stays a bit on the thin side, productionally. Not so surprising in view of the possibilities when this was recorded. The percussion seems to be a bit more eventful, in fact the middle part is quite percussive and rich in atmosphere. In this way, the song certainly does improve, the ending guitar solo being one of the more emotional ones.

Power Loc is a live track recorded in Zwolle, opening with a bit of an Assassin feel. The live feel is strongly present, leading to less compact playing. Not as strong as the material earlier on this disc, but it does show the band can take their music to the stage.

Conclusion

A problem some people may have with this band, is that they sound quite a bit like Camel. Only once does the band come too close (the final of Final Decisions), but for the rest the band writes good tunes and melodies and has a good guitar player. This does also yield a danger in that the variety the band has to offer might be in danger. On this album you shall have little problem though (and their long second one Impressions also steered clear of this), and for the lover of symphonic rock (Floyd, Camel, and a bit of Marillion) there is a lot to enjoy.