THE SAGA (E)

From the ashes of the Dutch prog band Maryson arose Ice. The late W.J. Maryson (Wim Stolk) has been replaced by Ardie Westdijk, the former keyboardist of Differences. There's a solid base for a good symphonic and progressive band. With The Saga these five men deliver an album full of music influenced by bands like Genesis, Marillion (Strangelight), Saga and Eloy. Looking at the credits, Westdijk seems to be the main songwriter, but also guitarist Chris van Hoogdalem and singer Hein van den Broek delivered contributions, while René Sterk provides a lot of the lyrics for this concept album. The story is about a planet confronted with an ice age. The ten tracks, ranging from two to nine minutes, are proof of the craftsmanship of these musicians alongside guest musician Bert van Meeuwen on saxophone. Since I’m not too impressed by Van den Broek's vocals I like the instrumental parts the best, because they're really good. Variety, changes in rhythm patterns and different moods. It’s all there. A track like The Trail could have been written and performed by Arena, but has some touches of early Saga as well. Especially the keyboards in the first part of Why Me strongly remind me of Tony Banks' playing on Mama ​by Genesis. The Shining is very much in the vein of early Marillion and Setback could again be a track by Arena. Not Only Love sounds bit like I'm Not In Love by 10CC. A mix between Genesis (post Peter Gabriel) and Plackband can be heard in The River with nice guitar playing by Van Hoogdalem. More up-tempo, using the sound of the twin guitars of Wishbone Ash, is the beginning of No Choice, followed by traditional symphonic rock in the vein of IQ amongst others. The last track, the epic The Battle, contains a mixture of styles, varying between pop-rock and progressive symphonic music. The Saga is a nice contribution to the Dutch progressive scene, that’s for sure, but this cd is not amongst my personal favourites of 2006.