Detailed Reviews [Luminos - 2003 - "Seize the Day"]

Preamble. Although the members of Luminos aren't that young (there is the photograph of the band in the CD booklet), "Seize the Day" is their debut album.

The Album. Overall, the music presented on this album is instantly accessible, yet, very tasteful and quite original: I didn't notice any direct influences here. If not to count the two mellow ballads: Echoes In a Lonely City and Angel (3 & 9), the first of which is the only instrumental piece on "Seize the Day", the stylistic 'border' of the album lies between the fourth and the fifth tracks on it. The music on Inner Self, A Small Boy, and If Only For a While (1, 2, & 4) represents somewhat of Neo Hard Rock with elements of guitar-based Art-Rock. While all four of the other progressive songs here: It's Your Turn to Fly, The Voyage, Living On the Edge of Time, Always In My Heart (5, 6, 7, & 9) are more diverse and complex and are about a blend of Classic and Neo Art-Rock with elements of Hard Rock. Thanks to the presence of solos of saxophone in the structures of the second of them (The Voyage), it features also the elements of Jazz-Fusion. While the parts of acoustic guitar are present practically everywhere on the album, all five of the tracks on the second half of it (5 to 9) are just filled them. Furthermore, an acoustic guitar play here a role that is as significant as that of electric guitar and, like in the case of It's Your Turn to Fly and The Voyage, as those of flute and saxophone respectively. Keyboards appear on the album only episodically and only as a background for the main musical events. The passages of synthesizer are really evident only on It's Your Turn to Fly, and those of a virtual string ensemble on Always In My Heart. Neville Dean sings alone on both of the boundary tracks of the album, and also on If Only For a While (4), and female vocalist Anni Meehan joins him on all of the others.

Summary. Remembering a lot of unoriginal albums, to say the least, I can assert that "Seize the Day" by Luminos is way better than the opuses by hundreds of the Marillion, IQ, etc, wannabes. All four of the Art-Rock related songs here show that this English band is capable enough to create a quality ProGduction. As for the entire album, it has a solid commercial potential and should get quite a large audience - especially in their homeland representing the largest Neo market within the framework of today's Progressive Rock movement. Indeed, the glory of Market Square Heroes (this is the title of Marillion's first single) is still unfading there:

VM: April 24, 2003