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Review from the European Progressive Rock Reviews A major album of 2001 Poor Genetic Material comprises of Philipp Jaehne and Stefan Glomb, the two original members who founded the band three years ago as an experimental instrumental project and released two albums, "Free To Random Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. For this latest release, they started having ideas for a song oriented album but who would sing these songs? This problem was solved when they met and became friends with the band "Alias Eye". Soon Alias Eye's Philip Griffiths joined and eventually Philip's colleague Ludwig Benedek took over on drums and this project took off. The end result is this album and a second one is planned although no live performances are expected because of "Alias Eye's" live commitments. First of all, I have not heard the first two albums by this band so this review has no bearing on them. Ok, what about this album then. Well, it's true to say that having a singer of the class of Philip Griffiths, who sounds like Chuck Dyac or even Jens Van Der Stempel, can add a touch of magic to an album, and he does, the vocals are superb. Not that the vocals are the only important thing here, far from it. The guitar and keys play an equally impressive role and they show how good every aspect of this band is, as this whole album is pretty special. It opens with "Shooting Psycho" which could maybe be described as a bluesy progressive track with the organ and guitar adding the blues flavour. This eventually filters through the grey matter and begins to grow pretty quickly. After this it's plain sailing with as consistent a body of work as any band could wish for. Yes, there are "Alias Eye" reference points, e.g. the longest track here, the 11:00 "Summerland", which also resembles "Landsend" and "Tristan Park". This is major stuff and is every bit as good as the aforementioned bands, with superb flowing passages which become progressive, eventually ending with a tinkling piano as the song fades, marvellous. This really sums up this album which consistently surprises me with how melodic and at times atmospheric it is. The constant things are mood, emotion and a superb soundscape. Ok, I have mentioned two or three bands as reference points but there is a huge chunk of originality here as well. Track 2, "Wouldism", creates a superb, deep atmospheric mood with melancholic vocals and the music seems to have a faint Celtic influence. "Living Desert" continues the mood, albeit with a more eerie, laid back feel to it while "Just Another Me" demonstrates the magic of Philip Griffiths vocals. Track 5, "A Secret Song", is rather amazing stuff which has a Landsend/Transience ring to it. Track 6, the instrumental "Late", with its initial opening of acoustic guitar and keys just about creates a medieval, new age or even a film score feel and is totally unmissable. In fact, no joking, this whole album is major stuff which shouldn't be broken down, it flows and needs to be heard in its entirety. Undoubtedly a major album of 2001. 100% Check out the artist's website: http://www.poorgeneticmaterial.de Track List: 1. Shooting Psycho 2. Wouldism 3. Living Desert 4. Just Another Me 5. Secret Song 6. Late 7. Summerland Suggested CDs:Other Genres:
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