|
|
"Very different from "Deliverance" recorded the year before, "Encounters" laid the foundation for what Sylvan would be in the following years and turned out to be an excellent progressive rock album."
|
4/5
|
|
|
|
Second album of this band from across the Rhine, Encounters is really the first by which the whole Sylvan spirit starts to burst out into the open. Very different from Deliverance recorded the previous year, we are here in the presence of an excellent progressive rock album and we feel that the band really acquires its independence from its elders. The Sylvan style is clearly starting to emerge.
If listening to Deliverance, we can understand that Sylvan didn't manage to get noticed despite the quality of this first try, it's much more difficult with Encounters. Because Sylvan is immediately recognizable by many aspects. The first one is that indefinable thing that gives you the shivers without you knowing why. Is it the voice, the harmonies, the quality of the production? We don't really know, but it's obvious that the whole thing hardly leaves you indifferent. This is where the recipes that will make Artificial Paradise and X-Rayed a success really start to be used. One could say that only Encounters is inventing something and that the two following ones are just repeating a conclusive test but I have to admit that of these three albums, none of them really leaves my turntable.
Whether it's "Essence Of Life" with its voice-piano intro announcing a masterly entrance on rhythmics and an almost spoken style of vocals as Marco Glühmann likes it, or the splendid "Encounters", cut in 10 parts for a total of 40 minutes, the genius traits or the perfect balance of the compositions letting each musician express himself as he wants, nothing is missing to make a great band.
When listening to the complete discography of this band, one thing is obvious: there is a flagrant injustice in the fact that Sylvan does not yet have an international reputation. OK, there is no real technical prowess in any of their productions but music is an art before being a technical demonstration and the least we can say is that these musicians master this art perfectly. - Official website
|
|
|
|
|
TRACK LISTING:
01. No Way Out - 05:40
02. Essence Of Life - 08:05
03. Encounters : Overture - 03:27
04. Encounters : About To Leave - 04:16
05. Encounters : Your Source - 03:19
06. Encounters : Tremendously Different - 02:11
07. Encounters : Long Ago - 02:16
08. Encounters : All Of It - 04:27
09. Encounters : Presentiments - 03:20
10. Encounters : Would You Feel Better - 06:09
11. Encounters : In Vain - 07:49
12. Encounters : Encounters - 02:50
LINEUP:
Kay Söhl: Guitares
Marco Glühmann: Chant
Matthias Harder: Batterie
Patrick Münster: Basse
Volker Söhl: Claviers
|
|
| |
|
(0) MIND(S) FROM OUR READERS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Top of the page
|
| |
|
|
(0) COMMENT(S)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
READERS
3.8/5 (5 view(s))
|
STAFF:
3.7/5 (6 view(s))
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
IN RELATION WITH SYLVAN
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
OTHER REVIEWS
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
OTHER(S) REVIEWS ABOUT SYLVAN
|
|