OK. This was another first for me, since I had never even heard about these guys before George zipped me their disc for review, but I am very glad he did. The band performs a highly disciplined brand of instrumental melodic prog and this one has it all, being a mostly mellow to medium offering full of spacey ambiance and "fusiony" jazz punctuated with the occasional hard rock reference, but always with strong melody and masterful execution. This is specially remarkable given that the first three compositions were penned by Foti, while the remaining 4 are by Kulju, and yet, there is total cohesion and sonic harmony on the album. The arrangements are seamless, and the album was a pleasure for me to listen to from beginning to end. For those of you who calculate for a living, this one ranks high. I guess you're expecting me to say they sound like this or that, but nothing comes to mind. They sound like their name implies, a shiny alloy 4 parts gold and one silver, and that's a damn good thing in my book.

In all fairness, I don't know how well Electrum will fare in a market flooded with hundreds of unknown bands struggling desperately for a chunk of the wallet of a largely snobbish crowd, especially because they don't cave in and feature guys who sing like fairies or use mellotrons anywhere in their music or packaging. It is a sad thing, but unfortunately talent alone is not enough.

For the heretics out there, surf down to their website, listen to their music and decide for yourselves, but I definitely think people who are so meticulous in their craft deserve our support. Believe me, this album is at least one or two sigmas to the right of the average.

I'll say it again, just in case you missed the start: BUY THIS ALBUM. It will only get better with repeated listens.

Rating: 9 Keyboards