a progressive rock adventure
Reviews - Somewhere in the dark
Progressive Ears
Floyd Bledsoe
The Swiss label Galileo has released quite a few outstanding albums in the past few years from artists like Simon Says, Thonk and Xang and this one is certainly no exception. Hailing from the Basel region of northwest Switzerland, Deep Thought play an excellent brand of melodic neo-prog that will be both unique and also familiar to fans of the genre. Folks who are into bands like Marillion, IQ and Arena will definitely want to check this one out.
The first thing I focused on while listening to Somewhere In The Dark was the excellent keyboard work from Dominik Pfleghar. His playing can be very lush and atmospheric at times and then he'll knock you out with some blazing lead passages. Vocalist Patrick Merz has an excellent almost subdued style that reminds me at times of Under The Sun's Chris Shryack. I also hear a strong Dream Theater influence on a lot of songs but most of the time they aren't really that heavy. Marcel Oehler's guitar playing is very tasteful and melodic. He does add some nice solos to the mix. Overall the band is very tight and ...
The lyrics have a very personal flavor. It seems that they have developed a loose concept centered around dealing with various emotions. I guess that's another reason why they named the band Deep Thought. They do mention Douglas Adams in the liner notes though, so I'm sure the band takes its name from The Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy. However, it doesn't take a supercomputer to know this is good stuff.