Here Come The Robots is the third and final release in The End Of Days trilogy, an instrumental concept journey based around a science fiction story and part one and especially part two The Starships Are Gathering (see review) was brilliant, John Irvine's best album yet. So, I was really looking forward to part three, called Here Come The Robots; however after a couple of intense spins I came to the sad but true conclusion that this third part is the weakest part of the trilogy as Here Come The Robots is filled and packed with keyboards instead of guitars. The keyboards definitely dominate the musical landscapes here and hence this album sounds more like neo prog rock with lots of flowing and floating keyboard structures and textures galore. In fact, the entire album almost sounds ambient with obvious references to the music of Vangelis, this of course due to the fact that this album is a homage to Vangelis Papathanassiou, and Tangerine Dream. The opening track A Dream Of Utopia is an epic one displaying the influence of Vangelis with bright keyboards tapestry, but also some great guitar licks, although I find that the guitar is too much in the background here. Follow up The Coexistence Of Opposites is a kind of cinematic song with again dominating keyboards. The title track, being the shortest one of the album, features a rather stirring guitar riff, but again it sounds too ambient for me, as I sadly miss the wonderful guitar solos that were defining the previous two albums of this trilogy. Overall, I am quite disappointed with Irvine's final work of the trilogy as the keyboards dominate this album way too much, at least in my humble opinion. However, the production and musical atmosphere of Here Come The Robots is again second to none, but I deeply miss Irvine's solos and melodies like the ones on part 1 and 2, but you must judge for yourself if I am only nagging a bit... Advice, play it LOUD on your headphones!! *** Martien Koolen (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
