Hailing from Israel comes Trespass, a symphonic progressive rock trio whose second album Morning Lights is a continuation of the classically inspired style they showed on their 2002 debut In Haze of Time. With similarities to classic bands like ELP, The Nice, Triumvirat, and Gentle Giant, Trespass use their keyboard heavy sound
to create five epic sounding pieces here that are highly enjoyable.
It almost seems like a chiche to say this these days, but amidst a small batch of solid songs here the standout is easily the epic 21 minute title track. "Morning Lights" sees keyboard player Gil Stein ripping all sorts of orchestrations and blazing lead lines, while the rhythm battery of bassist Roy Bar-Tour and drummer Gabriel Weissman dig into some complex grooves. You really don't miss guitar here, as Stein stabs through the mix with plenty of scorching synth lines and sumptuous melodies. In addition, he adds in some wild recorder passages here that bring to mind Gentle Giant or Gryphon. "Ripples" is another vintage sounding piece, again led by the brilliant keyboard stylings of Stein. The band's take on Vivaldi's violin concerto in A minor is "Vivaldish", a bombastic number with Stein's wild synth solos and Bar-Tour's intricate lead bass melodies. The band is so committed to a classical approach on each track, something which is pretty refreshing actually, evident especially on "Forest Birds Fantasy", a sweeping number with gorgeous melodies and lots of interplay between keyboards (playing some neat flute sounds) and recorders.
Trespass have put together a solid album here that should please fans of keyboard dominated prog-rock. Mostly instrumental, Morning Lights is a majestic collection of songs that reek of class and doesn't rely merely on chops and bombast. Now that we know the band can write solid instrumental pieces, it would be interesting to see if they can incorporate more vocal songs next time around.
Track Listing
1) Song of Winds (3:38)
2) Morning Lights (21:33)
3) Ripples (12:16)
4) Vivaldish (5:39)
5) Forest Birds' Fantasy (4:59)
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