Detailed Reviews [Project - 2005 - "Name Stolen"]

Prolusion. "Name Stolen" is the debut CD by the Finnish sextet named simply PROJECT. While not exactly stolen, Project is a rather hackneyed word to use as a name for a band. Well, I understand what the guys had in mind: just the album's title...

Analysis. The album is formally comprised of seven compositions, which are placed on sixteen tracks, because five of them were divided into a few parts. Only six out of the sixteen tracks are true songs, though most instrumentals feature either narrations in broken English or whisperings or both. The narratives are kind of sinister in character, evoking immediate associations with those from the primary source, which is certainly Kind Diamond, although the music as such is never dark. The nearly 5-minute opener, Inside the Temple, is especially abundant in colloquial extravaganza, but there would've been no harm in that if it had an interesting instrumental background. Nothing like that unfortunately; just slowly moving passages of synthesizer, at times in combination with fluid guitar solos. I tried to take it just as an intro, but it's extremely overextended in any case. Thankfully, this is the only track here that is dull throughout. The further contents vary both in complexity and style, ranging from accessible melodious Art-Rock, such as on Thief and Dying of Light, to a much more impressive symphonic Space Rock in the vein of Pink Floyd and, to a lesser degree, Eloy on each of the following compositions, in the case we take them as a whole. As to nuances, a couple of brief instrumentals are quiet symphonic space music without the rhythm section, and the second part of A Song for the Desert is a vintage Space Rock with strong psychedelic tendencies. The highlights include Giant Steps, Sunriders and most of A Song for the Desert. Generally, all the tracks, beginning with the seventh position, are good, although Severance of Futile and the opening part of A Song for the Desert are simpler than the others, each having a strong sense typical for a proto-progressive Rock of the end of the '60s.

Conclusion. There is rather much in common between the latest two releases of Mellow Records. Although Project's singer's attempts to imitate King Diamond don't impress me at all, musically "Name Stolen" is hardly inferior to Doracor's "Evanescenze" and even surpasses it in some aspects (no drum machines, for instance). Fans of Pink Floyd and Eloy might want to check Project out.

VM: December 21, 2005