The progressive rock scene seems to become more and more interested in melody. This is one of the reasons why When The Dust Settles came to me as a nice surprise. Not melody but rhythm is the main characteristic of Salmon. Listening to Michel Nieuwenhuis drumming makes it very hard not to drum along on the table and hurt your hands (he reminds me a little bit of Mark Robotham in his Grey Lady Down days although he was a little bit more aggressive).
The sound on the album could have been slightly better but the mix is excellent. You can actually enjoy this album by just listening to the bass (which sounds incredible warm), or the drums or the keyboards / piano. All pieces are very well balanced and crystal clear in the mix. Listening to the album I can imagine, no, I can just see and hear exactly what these musicians are doing.

One of the biggest efforts is the way in which the band has managed to melt the different sections of music into songs and these songs into a coherent album. The epic highlight “Time To Fantasize” could have fooled me as being a song that was written as an entirety but is in fact (as always) a gathering of bits and pieces. I can imagine why the band chose When The Dust Settles as the title of the album since the ’when the dust settles sections’ in “Time To Fantasize” are one of the best I’ve heard in quite some time. If I had to mention one negative aspect of the album I must admit that I’m not very fond of the album cover, but then again, the booklet is nice and features some atmospheric background images that go with the songs and of course the excellent lyrics.