SEVEN STEPS TO THE GREEN DOOR - Step In 2 My World

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Well they may be new to me, but the interestingly named Seven Steps To The Green Door waltzed with two big prizes for their earlier debut album, "The Puzzle", at the German Rock and Pop Awards. And if the Germans know one thing (apart from that), then it's prog. So time to step up 2 the plate, and give them a good listening to.

The seven piece outfit are built around keyboardist and saxophonist Marek Arnold (from German prog metal band Toxic Smile) and drummer Ulf Reinhardt (formerly of Mother’s Pride, the band, not the bakers), and have a very open mind when ot comes to integrating musical styles, dipping into prog, metal, rock, pop, jazz, and even rap. Which either makes it the brave new face of prog, or an offence to the ears. Truth be told, it is genuinely progressive, but slightly lacking in the solid sounds of the seventies a man of my vintage yearns for.

The wide ranging sounds also see them counting no less than three vocalists in their ranks - Ronny Grube, Lars Kohler, and Anne Trautmann - something that also adds to the sometimes schizophrenic sounds. There is no doubting the sense of adventure in their music as they veer from death metal to hippity hop, and when the tunes match the idea, as they do on the likes of 'New Rising' and 'Attract Me', then it's remarkably good. But then they throw in something as wilfully diabolical as 'My Lovely Mr. Singing Club', and you just want to smash something up. And not in a good way.

There is no doubting the musicanship or the spirit of adventure, but I found it too be just a little too diverse, sometimes coming off as a compilation album, rather than as a unified piece of work. One for those with bipolar disorders, short attention spans and a sense of the obscure.

:twisted :twisted :twisted 1/2 / 3.5 out of 5
http://7steps.fischelzone.net/