Emerald is a Dutch melodic rock band that emerged from the Tilburg Rockacademy. This presumably indicates that the musicians won’t settle for easy listening and superficial rock but want to explore all their skills to create satisfying pieces of music. They actually do what the compositions is concerned, the overall sound however is rather old fashioned. The first track on the album is one in the vein of Genesis and alike. Especially the vocals bring back memories of Peter Gabriel and co. The track “Losing You” is a ballad song as you can imagine. It’s a strange song with some weird rough edges and slightly dominating guitars but never really catches the attention. Most of the tracks are built out of recognizable sections with clear references to the classics, the way in which they are composed.

All in all I must say that at times Emerald sounds a little bit too old fashioned to me. The track “Libra Birthday Girl” is at times even corny going back to Supertramp seventies. In the beginning there’s not much wrong with that, but one would have expected that these youngsters would be interested in a bit more modern soundings. At times you get the impression of listening to fifty year olds. “Crown Of Creation” is too easy listening to, too sweet and too much anchored in the seventies. There are a few tracks that escape from mediocrity, “Sara” and “No Straight Story” which has some nice choruses, but this is not enough to give this album more than seven out of ten points.