Rocket Scientists - Oblivion Days Reviews

OBLIVION DAYS REVIEWS

"It's at times like this when any reviewer could get really angry with themselves. The need to balance good reviews with bad is always difficult and here is one of those albums that stands head and shoulders above anything else I heard to date in the 21st century!

The Rocket Scientists are out of California, USA and have performed for the CRS live in Rotherham. This album is an absolute stunner and keyboard player Erik Norlander is on fire throughout. His input is the best I have heard from him to date and it is likely to have the old proggies leaping and bouncing in their seats when they get a first listen. He has the ability to link all that is good about the prog keyboard scenario and at the same time feeding the easily recognizable styles of keyboard heroes of the past 30 years all into one machine. Of course there's more to this band than Norlander as they draw on the tremendous guitar and vocals of mark McCrite, the amazingly athletic drums of the extremely likable Tommy Amato, the cool stick and bass sounds of Don Schiff and the associates that help create the special RS sound like Lana Lane, Tony Franklin, Greg Ellis, Neil Citron and the "electric castle" himself, A.A. Lucassen.

Orchestration knits neatly with flowing guitar and keyboard while pulsating rock interlinks with beautiful gentle interludes. The band milk the progressive that, if given a good listen and a real chance by UK and global proggers alike, will surely be easily remembered for years to come. A short dark mysterious keyboard beginning, "Dark Water Part Three: Neptune's Sun" is quickly followed by the incredibly infectious "Aqua Vitae" that kick starts with heavy bass lines and powerful drums and Emerson like keyboards. A.A. Lucassen lends a hand with some heavier rhythm guitar. Anthemic vocals led by McCrite and backed by the harmony vocals of Lana Lane create an incredible frontage to a wonderful backdrop of musical notes. McCrite's Beatles influence come through in mid-song and never sounds out of place for a second. Later highlights include the title track which begins very Threshold like (the band, not Norlander's solo album) and "Archimedes" with it's creative dulling effect on the complete track sound - very Wakeman here! "Escape" has a soothing Moody Blues start up before the big American sound hits the speakers, then "Dark Water Part Four: Heavy Water" laps over the edge of the CD, another tremendous RS instrumental with Norlander leading with minimoog and Hammond as his main weapons. Here he is joined by Citron on rhythm guitar, Greg Ellis on drums and Schiff on NS/Stick. The album ends with a couple of bonus tracks, "Wake Me Up - Live In Tokyo" (from the '95 album Brutal Architecture) and "Stardust" - MM96 Mix. I really do recommend this album highly - a progressive rock diamond!"

[Martin Hudson, Wondrous Stories, England, March 2000]

"How can two guys, Erik Norlander and Mark McCrite make such big, orchestrated, rock and roll noise as they did on their latest release Oblivion Days? Of course this duo enlisted quite a few known names including, the vocal talents of prog's reigning queen, Lana Lane (which you can clearly hear on "Aqua Vitae", "Oblivion Days" and "Escape").

First track, "Dark Water Part Three", is a brief instrumental that entices you in before this CD pulls you under. "Aqua Vitae" starts out with some dark, heavy bass and grabs you and pulls you deeper into this 16-minute track. The dynamics and vocals in this track are suburb. Rich textured chorus with a Beatleseque somewhat quieter bridge which adds to the appeal of this track. This has to be one of the best tracks on the disc.

The title track is another in your face, massive track. Starts out with some heavy metal type guitar riffs laden with some power keyboard chord progressions. Great lyrics and vocal delay are found in the chorus. Don Schiff provides some infectious bass as he races through the bridge. Great Hammond work, compliments of Norlander.

"Archimedes" is a nice instrumental track that clocks in at 5:35. It starts with an atmospheric vibe and soon goes somewhat techno, variety of key changes and infectious guitar and keyboard riffs. This track sounds somewhat like it jumped off a recent Alan Parsons CD.

The striped down structure of the ballad "Banquo's Ghost" really accentuates McCrite's vocal talent. This ballad is somewhat reminiscent of Pink Floyd in its atmospheric sense and a bit like ELP in the middle. Tony Franklin provides some exquisite fretless bass on this track. "Space 1999", this instrumental would make a great soundtrack to an action packed movie. It starts out with some militaristic drums and intricate percussion throughout, compliments of Greg Ellis. This track features somewhat sonic guitar sounds with some orchestrated classical sounding bits scattered between.

Another track that starts out on the lighter side with some beautiful acoustic guitar work is "Escape". The secure soft sounds soon end as this track takes a turn for an intense, massive chorus, once again proving these guys know how to utilize dynamics for the maximum potential. The verses contain a great vocal quality with the harmonies in the lower range. There a neat hypnotic bridge in the middle of this track. Great guitar solo provided by Arjen Lucassen. A bonus track, "Compass Variation" is another intense instrumental with some sweet electric guitar soloing.

"Break the Silence" actually starts out with a piano, a plain old regular piano. A slower tempo'd song again with some heartfelt guitar soloing. Once again McCrite's vocals are stripped down, no effects or additional harmonies. The song wraps up again with McCrite on vocals and Norlander on piano, nice and quiet.

"Dark Water Part Four: Heavy Water", gives you a false sense of serenity as it starts with the sound of the ocean waves crashing on the beach; however this soon changes. keeping with the name, "Heavy Water" you might think to call this heavy metal. This track is a cross between Metallica and Dream Theater, with Keith Emerson taking the lead melody.

Another bonus track is "Wake Me Up-Live in Tokyo". Basically the only way you can tell it's live is by the audience applause and screams. These guys are virtually perfect live and it's evident in this incredible track. This track could be considered on the pop side, somewhat funky. At times McCrite's vocals sound a bit like Mike Keneally.

Oblivion Days is an amazing disc from start to finish. Great for headphones as the songs completely surround you. This disc is a contender for 2000's top 10 list!"

[Music News Network, USA, June 2000]

"Oblivion Days is definitely one of the best prog records of the year. Harder than the first two releases, the ROCKET SCIENTISTS find on this CD the right balance between progressive and melodic-mainstream elements, well produced and with perfect artwork."

[Renald Mienert, D.U.R.P. website, Germany, February 2000]

"It seems like Rocket Scientists, again, have explored their progressive symphonic rock for their 3rd studio release, Oblivion Days, with some new approaches. This significant growth must be beyond the fans expectations. Interestingly enough, it reminds me of Queen of the Ocean ('99) by Lana Lane in many ways, which of course is the result of their deep involvement with her series of releases after their previous effort "Brutal Architecture"('95).

The biggest element newly introduced on this album is, after all, heaviness and groove brought by guest guitarist Arjen Lucassen, known for his unique project called Ayreon. I think Rocket Scientists could not successfully have pulled off such an evolution without his contribution. In addition, all the guest musicians play great roles and help the album sound more interesting. Along with Arjen's heavy guitars, Erik Norlander's keyboard play is right upfront and driving more powerfully than any other releases he has ever played on and produced.

The album contains various types of tracks, but they all flow together throughout. It makes me feel like I am watching a exciting space drama. There are many vivid contrasts of dynamics led by breathtaking melodies and symphonic progressive arrangements which don't allow you to stop the disc. My favorite songs are "Aqua Vitae", "Space 1999", "Escape" and "Break the Silence". In my opinion, "Aqua Vitae" shows the best blend of the new and familiar band's approaches. "Space 1999", an instrumental cover tune of the theme of a '70s English SF drama, features Arjen's signature groovy riffs. The album comes to the highest point at "Escape", a dramatic 10 minute-epic. "Break the Silence" is a mellow song written by Mark McCrite [webmaster's note: actually, "Break the Silence" was written by Erik Norlander] whose smooth e-bow with a bit of blues taste is impressive.

I think this is one of the albums that can stand the test of time in the progressive rock scene and appeal to not only Lana Lane and Ayreon fans but also young hard rock fans who haven't really experienced progressive/symphonic rock, yet." [Motoko Takahashi, Echoes from the Illusion, Japan, January 2000]

"Rocket Scientists have reached a new level of sophistication with their latest release, 'Oblivion Days'. This is not to suggest their previous works were lacking - 'Brutal Architecture' was a very strong album, and the group's most recent live opus also exhibited a skilled progressive-rock band with crowd-pleasing acumen. But I can confidently state that the potential hinted at previously, is now being realized.

Oblivion Days is much heavier than Brutal Architecture, the band's last studio album, and this is at least partly due to contributions from guest guitarist Arjen Anthonly Lucassen, a/k/a Ayreon. The overriding motif is heavy symphonic-progressive with comparatively gentle vocal passages; at times, the music ventures into prog-metal territory.

Five of the 11 tracks are instrumentals. I was particularly fond of the hard-driving "Space: 1999", with it's soaring, stabbing synth leads against a heavily orchestrated background. Erik has evolved into a monster keyboardist, who carries the load for most of these pieces. He really shines on the 10-minute "Escape", which weaves its way through a tastefully varied arrangement.

On the vocal front, Mark McCrite's understated style remains quite appealing, a true counterbalance to the group's bombastic instrumental prowess. Don Schiff's notable bass and stick work also provides virtuosic foundation to a bottom end anchored by drummers Greg Ellis and Tommy Amato.This Japanese version contains an instrumental bonus track, "Compass Variation." The disc closes with a live version of "Wake Me Up", recorded at a show in Tokyo." [John Collinge, Progression Magazine, USA, May 2000]

"Rocket Scientists new third studio album is heavier than their previous live album "Earth Below and Sky Above: Live In Europe & America" (1998). Their previous studio album were 1995's "Brutal Architecture". Now their music could be described as heavy progressive rock, with Erik Norlander's keyboard playing in the forefront. As usual they're mixing modern instruments with vintage instruments such as Hammond Organ, Mellotron and Moog. Rocket Scientists influences are The Beatles, Deep Purple, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Moody Blues and Procol Harum to mention a few. All the musicians are highly skilled and Lana Lane is singing harmony vocals on three of the tracks. Other interesting guest appearances are drummer Greg Ellis, bass player Tony Franklin and the guitarists Arjen Anthony Lucassen and Neil Citron.

There are five instrumental tracks and the album doesn't contain any weak tracks at all. The highlights are the opening "Dark Water Part Three: Neptune's Sun", "Aqua Vitae", "Oblivion Days", the instrumental "Archimedes", "Banquo's Ghost", "Escape" and the closing instrumental track "Dark Water Part Four: Heavy Water". The live track "Wake Me Up" and the closing bonus track "Stardust", with Mark McCrite and Lana Lane on lead vocals are also very good. They're also doing a cover of the 70's TV series theme "Space: 1999" which was one of my favorite series back then.

As usual with Think Tank Media related releases, the cover art are made by Jacek Yerka, and it's as always very beautiful. The album art on this release is called "On the Edge". A highly recommended album!"

Rating: * * * * * (out of 5)

[Greger Rönnqvist, published in Midwestern Skies, Zeitgeist, Through Different Eyes and Sonitus, Norway / Sweden, February - March 2000]