Home Artist links Label link

Abraxas - Tomorrow's World

Artist:	Abraxas
Title:	Tomorrow's World
Label:	Limb Music Prod. LMP 9802-002
Length(s):	65 minutes
Year(s) of release:	1998
Month of review:	04/1998

Line up

Chris Klauke - vocals
Stephan Rohner - guitar
Oliver Mindner - guitar
Jan Mueller - bass
Heiko Burst - drums
Andreas Hittinger - keyboards

Tracks

1)	Gates To Eden	7.10
2)	Explorers	5.12
3)	Tomorrow's World	4.25
4)	Dreamers Island	5.31
5)	Crusaders Prayer	4.26
6)	Dream Dealer	3.58
7)	Cry Of The Nature	3.38
8)	Signs	4.18
9)	Euphoria	7.24
10)	Place Without Mirrors	4.36
11)	The Liaison	4.23
12)	Stolen Memories (bonus)	5.29
13)	Faded Photographs (bonus)	4.19
14)	Into The Light (bonus)	5.41

Summary

First warning: this is NOT the Polish Abraxas, but the presence of two guitarists (and the hairdo of the players) might indicate to you that his is a (prog)metal band. And they are. This album was originally released under the title The Liaison in Japan (and some bouns tracks have been added).

The music

The band may not like my remark about the hairdo, but it seems that progmetallists and hardrockers go to the hairdresser every single day and this shows in the photographs. Part of the image I guess. Now to the music. The bio said: power metal with progressive elements. In a sense I agree with this. The music is quite (technically) complex, speedy and relatively melodic, but certainly not as melodic as most progmetal bands. In Abraxas the ghost of bands like Iron Maiden and Helloween still wanders around quite a lot and it remains to be seen to what extent proggers can live with this. Opener Gates To Eden is very speedy and driven in its first four minutes, after which the music becomes ethereal and moody. The vocalist reminds me in the metallic parts of Helloween's singer, but he sounds less typically so in the softer, melodic intermezzo. Quite a lot of variation in this seven minute track, but not all of the vocal melodies are okay. The doubled vocals of Explorers are certainly a good idea, making them more powerful to stand against the instrumental energy unloosed by the two guitars, the heavy drums and to a lesser extent the keyboards (some nice churchorgan like additions). The vocal melody is not exceptional. The title track is a speedy one again. I'm not fond of it, although it does contain a nice bridge. The vocal melody is not appealing and the chorus is too poppy. Dreamers Island might at first sound like a pretty soft ballad to you, but after a minute or so they're hacking away again. The chorus is a bit too poppy. Crusaders Prayer is also quite poppy, catchy even. But it works. Dream Dealer is not a long track, but it opens in an epic way and on the whole this is one of the better tracks of the album. Cry Of The Nature is fast, but not very deep. Signs contains both references to stadium metal as well as some more orchestral touches by virtue of the keyboards. Euphoria is one of the longer tracks on this album. The beginning is quite speedy with a non-interesting vocal melody, after the solo guitar we get a moody part on bass and acoustic guitar with spoken vocals. Place Without Mirrors opens in a slightly Arabic way. The Liaison closes the album. It starts ballad with a rather extraordinary vocal melody. After a minute or so the speed picks up again, but the song stays quite good, with that rather circuslike melody.

The first bonustrack is Stolen Memories. The sound quality is not as good as the previous tracks that were all well played and recorded. The song is relatively slow and heavy. The vocals quite high and sometimes quite ugly, but the guitarwork is quite nice and melodic and there's even some atmosphere building. Faded Photographs is quite a lot more amateuristic than the previous songs: the sound is not as good and the harmony singing is quite bad. Closer Into The Light is more of the same.

The booklet features an extensive bio of the band.

Conclusion

This is not a band likely to crossover easily to the progressive rock corner. A rather long album with fourteen tracks, very speedy, technically proficient and, not surprisingly, the guitar is the main instrument. The vocals are typical for metal, but in the more epic parts the singer changes voice somewhat, so I would invite them to do this more often. Compared to bands like Queensryche and all the other reference points for progressive metal the music is too metallic and speedy here. The album certainly contains a few worthwhile tracks for lovers of progressive metal, but on the whole the material is often either too quick or too "poppy" or as often happens, both.