a progressive rock adventure
Reviews - Shadows of the past
European Progressive Rock Reviews
Terry Tucker
So Deep Thought return with a mini album and they certainly have advanced since their last release. The only thing they lack is a major record label backing them. Content wise the music and sound have developed and the minor sound problems have been sorted and with a little help this band are so close to something.
The album opens with Shadow of The past where superb keys and good vocals are overtaken by an excellent guitar which is quite powerful and tuneful. In the quiet section the underplayed keys give this song a good atmosphere. The guitar eventually mingles with the keys for the dramatic ending. This track resembles earlier work only it is more advanced and quite powerful when the guitar is let loose.
Ice (not the Camel track) opens quietly with gentle guitar and vocals till the chorus picks up the tempo. There are good keyboards on this track with good melodic guitar in places. The vocals are particularly good on this song and the mid section stands out for special attention as the tuneful guitar eventually turns frenzied and mingles with the Marillion sounding keys.
Simple Man opens progressively and lively then leads into a slow section with guitar and vocals. Eventually early Marillion type keys take over with excellent guitar work. There is a lot going on here with, in places, some thoughtful lyrics. I particularly like the references to ships, bottles and Robin Crusoe. This is the best track Deep Thought have composed. They have taken the best parts of their previous album and developed the ideas. Deep Thought seem to be developing a sound that is almost recognisable as their own (minus the odd nod to Marillion). There are no instrumental tracks on this album, unlike their last one, but with tracks clocking in at over 10 minutes who needs them as there are plenty of good instrumental passages here as it is. Yes, I think we can safely say Deep Thought have taken a step forward with this album and announced their arrival and future intentions.