Listening to the opening title track on Satellite's latest Into the Night, the third release in a trilogy that started with A Street Between Sunrise and Sunset in 2003 and followed by 2005's Evening Games, and you can only wonder why it's so hard for many veteran bands (Marillion comes to mind) to come up new material that's even remotely compelling as this. Gorgeous melodies, catchy hooks, tasty instrumentation, it's all here, plus a not so subtle nod to the 70's greats. This Polish act also embrace their more aggressive side on the hard edged prog epic "Dreams (parts 1-3)", which reminds a bit of Arena or early Marillion with its gritty guitar work, searing keyboards, and the strong vocals of Robert Amirian. "Downtown Skyline" has an odd, almost Porcupine Tree feel, with lilting guitar lines, spacey keys, and tribal percussion, eventually giving way for some thunderous guitar bombast. Sarhan Kubeisi's stunning guitar solo leads you into "Don't Go Away In Silence" (check out his soaring Nick Barrett meets John Mitchell tone here), a real emotional roller-coaster number that thrives on plenty of stunning musical passages and gorgeous melodies. The band rocks out a bit on the symphonic "Heaven Can Wait", a 9-minute gem featuring some raging keyboards and rippling guitar licks, and the atmospheric & poppy "Forgiven And Forgotten" rounds out the CD on a mellower note, with Amirian's soothing vocals floating over Mellotron, melodic guitar lines, and electronic drums.
Recently. Metal Mind Productions have released a deluxe digipack edition of Into the Night with two bonus tracks, the melodic yet angst filled "Time Stands Still" (featuring some nimble guitar leads from Kubeisi and wild synth passages courtesy of Krzysick Palczewski) and the emotional "Around the World". The latter is a catchy little pop/prog ballad with soaring melodies, hooks, and tight instrumentation, showing a very accessible side to the band.
Satellite have come up with a real winner here with Into the Night, and might have finally stepped out from under the Collage shadow once and for all.
Track Listing
1. Into The Night (6:54)
2. Dreams (parts 1-3) (13:30)
3. Downtown Skyline (6:20)
4. Lights (2:14)
5. Don't Go Away In Silence (7:35)
6. Heaven Can Wait (9:04)
7. Forgiven And Forgotten (6:05)
8. Time Stands Still-bonus track (8:07)
9. Around the World -bonus track (3:40)
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