German art rock band Alias Eye surprised us two years ago with their debut album Field Of Names. As a matter of fact it was one of my favourite albums of 2001. When I heard DVS Records was set to release Alias Eyes’ second album in December, I could hardly wait to get my hands on a promo copy.

Listening to opening track “A Clown’s Tale” was a bit disappointing. It’s not that this song doesn’t stand up to Alias Eye standards, on the contrary: the vocal melody and guitar rhythms sound too much like the songs on Field Of Names. Would A Different Point Of You be nothing more than a Field Of Names part II?

After listening to the other tracks on the album, I quickly had to adjust my opinion. Starting the album with a familiar sounding track was a wise decision, because after this conservative opener the band goes completely mad! In the good sense of the word of course.

Alias Eye truly deserves the label art rock. It’s unbelievable how these guys merge so many different influences into great songs and maybe even more important unite these alternating tracks into a brilliant and tight album.

This album might be the album progressive rock fans have been waiting for, for a long time. Alias Eye goes back to the birth of progressive rock, combining all kinds of influences as a reaction to numb pop rock. My hope is that the average prog fan isn’t numbed by the hollow prog rock of the past couple of years and will take time to listen to A Different Point Of You.