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Doracor - The Long Pathway

Artist:	Doracor
Title:	The Long Pathway
Label:	Mellow Records MMP 332
Length(s):	61 minutes
Year(s) of release:	1997
Month of review:	03/1998

Line up

Corrado Sardella - keyboards, synths, synth drums and synth bass

Tracks

1)	Scenes From Elsewhere	10.54
2)	The Castle	7.33
3)	Lost Ages	6.18
4)	Mysteriah	3.07
5)	Lord Of Wind-swept Lands	4.39
6)	Waxing Moon	4.23
7)	The Long Pathway	10.06
8)	Twilight Solitude	6.23
9)	Flying With Memories In The Peace Of A Summer Night	7.53

Summary

Corrado is a lone musician citing for inspiration Covenant, Arena, Spock's Beard, Cliffhanger, Flower Kings, IQ, Rush and Le Orme. We'll have to see whether this is also audible in the music. One might note that Doracor is an anagram of Corrado.

The music

Opening with a thunderous band, it quickly shows that the music on this album is very keyboardsoriented, with slightly mechanical drums (but at times the music can swing). Although the music also ressembles modern progressive, the first track also exhibits quite a ressemblance to the jazzrockish sound of Camel. The rather up-tempo quality of the music can be compared to Arena, but the music is rather dark on the whole and not very optmistic as often is the case with Doracor and because of this relative darkness one might think of Cliffhanger here. Of course the big difference with all cited bands is the fact that there are no guitars here and I wouldn't call the music rock. So if the bands above are of your liking ti certainly does not mean that you will like this, but the same goes for the other way around.

The first, long, track Scenes From Elsewhere shows a man playing a large variery of melodies and themes that also recur throughout the track. The melodies are quite good and are upon which the song is built, and the song seems more like a string of appealing melodies, although compositionwise it is not bad as well. In addition to variety in melody there's also a variety in rhythm and signature, making the track sound more "progressive". On the whole a nice, but not earthshattering track. Some people may have problems with the synthetic drums, but in this case I tend to be lenient. The sixparted, but strangely enough not so long The Castle opens in a classical way with piano-like synths and some quick, high, keyboardruns. Then we come to a very smooth and dreamy part, probably Elves. After and during the following keyboardsolo there are some evident nods in the direction of IQ. I have to admit that during the quick keyboardsolo, the drums need a bit more drive for balance. The (synth) bass is quite a nice addition, but it sounds a little too measured. Lost Ages is a track with alternating up, low and mid-tempo parts. Not every melody is as appealing here, but I especially liked the intro. The short Mysteriah opens with quick runs on the keyboards and has a slight Arabic sound with rather odd signatures. The follow-up Lord Of Wind-Swept Lands is also quite up-tempo and here I notice that I'm not very satisfied with the cymbals on the track. The sound a bit "watered down" (okay I don't know how to describe it). In the middle we get a break to a less full part with plenty of synth bass, staccato drumming and more relaxed bubbling keyboards. Waxing Moon opens somewhat moodily, but then the tracks becomes rather poppy again. The title track is a more epic track opening rather spacey with additional piano. Where the vocals would be with an ordinary band we get a rather Genesis-like keyboard part. Some nice melodies here, but on the whole it sounds already too much like what we've heard and without lyrics to hold onto...well, it becomes almost like a large plain with a colourful few flowers sticking out above the average level. Twilight Solitude is a bit of a wailing track, a bit melodramatic in fact with "sad" keyboard sounds. The album ends with the mouthful Flying With Memories In The Peace Of A Summer Night. Again, rather typical neo-progressive keyboardsolo's are combined into a longish track. The song ends with a sensitive piano part that is taken over by the keyboards. A very appealing melody that I've been missing the past few tracks.

The artwork, a bit too largegrained computer drawings, and the titles of the songs as well, taste of hobbit and Lords of the Rings.

Conclusion

Standard progressive (or should we call this electronic rock?) without guitars. In some places live drums (the more the further we get on the CD, since one gets to miss them) would have been preferred and like Rejoice the music sounds in a way like an extended keyboardsolo with plenty of variation. The keyboardsounds are not very strikingly different from what we often hear. The main reference is IQ, but without the vocals, lyrics and guitars, so one might almost say: without the power. The tracks are thus on the on the hand less songdirected and more melodic, but also miss fiereness and less strong compositionwise. A few tracks are quite nice to listen to, but on the whole the music on this album falls short to captivate.