Reviews - Somewhere in the dark

ProgReview

Galileo Records have established themselves as being able to pick some really good bands. So it was with keen interest that I examined one of their latest releases, a band call Deep Thought and their CD entitled Somewhere in the Dark. Turns out this is a distribution deal only but once again, Patrick Becker and the folks at Galileo have come up with a relatively young band with loads of promise.

Deep Thought are from Switzerland and is made up of Patrick Mertz (vocals), Marcel Oehler (guitars), Dominik Pfleghaar (keyboards), Dominik Rudmann (bass) and Martin Altenbach (drums). Formed originally in mid 1995, the band performed live regularly and recorded a couple of demos before taking what they considered their best material and set to work on their first official release. The band started work on Somewhere in the Dark in late 2000 and almost two years to the day it was completed.

In short the music is easily classified as symphonic rock but with quirky heavy edge. That's more easily understood when you consider their influences, namely Marillion, Genesis and a tiny bit of Arena. The fact that Deep Thought have been playing together for so long goes a long way to masking the obviousness of those influences. They truly have carved out their own style. How it breaks down is that you have songs that are moderately complex (the Genesis influence) while at the same time melodically and rhythmically driven (the Marillion influence) interspersed with some crunchy guitar parts (the Arena influence). It all comes together quite nicely. For an independent release the production is very good. The band's approach is to make sure each member including the vocals is equally mixed. This results in compositions where each member has an opportunity to display their musicianship and be heard. The guitar is certainly always front-and-center, but then so are the keyboards and the two trade-off nicely, while the bass and drums hold the bottom end together.

Four of the nine songs are over 10 minutes in length providing ample room for Deep Thought to explore a variety of moods. The songs go from bouncing up-tempo sections slowing to atmospheric mood pieces. These longer compositions move from one segment to the next building tension and in classic symphonic style unfold with dramatic crescendos or repeated musical motifs. That said even some of their shorter songs manage to drift from style to style. More than that all their compositions seem to blend so well that you hardly notice the CD moving from one track to the next.

Deep Thought's Somewhere is the Dark is a wonderful first effort. It's loaded with catchy melodies and yet still manages to inject enough twists and turns to keep it plenty interesting. If symphonic progressive rock with a slight edge is your cup of tea, this is definitely a band you'll want to keep an eye on.