Detailed Reviews [Pangaea - 2003 - "A Time & a Peace"]

Prolusion. "A Time & a Piece" is the third album by Texas's band Pangaea. Their previous albums are titled as "The Rite of Passage" and "Welcome To the Theatre", but I haven't heard them.

Synopsis. There are only two songs on "A Time & a Peace" that, apart from lead vocals, contain massive backing vocals, some of which are done much in the vein of those on Yes's albums featuring Trevor Rabin. These are Something Happened Yesterday and The Panther. A few of the instrumental arrangements on these songs are also influenced by Yes circa "Talk", though on the first of them, there also are those influenced by classic Pink Floyd. Believe it or not (you may check it if you desire), but the vocals at the end of the album (its closing song One Word, to be precise) resemble those at the end of Hot Line from "Born Again" by Black Sabbath. Having written all of this however, I think I should hurry to reassure you dear readers, as there are enough of the band's own ideas on each of the said three songs as well. Furthermore, if not to count Time, which, by the way, is a very good cover, all of the other songs here are distinctly original and are complete masterpieces and the album is very interesting in its entirety. "A Time & a Peace" was created within the framework of unified stylistics representing Classic Symphonic Art-Rock with elements of Cathedral Metal, though the 10-minute Journey, November Sky and Myth are a bit richer in heavy elements than the other songs. With the exception of The Panther featuring a long instrumental part based on the interplay between various percussion instruments and One Word, the diverse, complex, classically large-scaled arrangements are present on all of the songs here and are wonderful in every respect. The main soloing instruments on the album are electric guitar, synthesizer, organ, and bass, all the parts of which, performed by Robert Berry, are especially impressive. The passages of acoustic guitar are present on the opener of the album: Something Happened Yesterday, and also on Myth and The Journey, the latter of which is undoubtedly the best composition here, and passages of piano on The Panther and November Sky.

Conclusion. On their third album, Pangaea plays like a very experienced band capable performing a high-quality Progressive Rock. I can highly recommend this album not only to all the lovers of Classic Symphonic Art-Rock, but also those into Symphonic Space Rock in general and such hallmark bands of the genre as Pink Floyd and especially Eloy in particular.

VM: May 5, 2003