Classic 80's Progressive Rock
Zeus Pendragon | 10/10/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I first heard of Eloy from a friend who introduced me to Marillion, IQ, and Twelfth Night. Over the years I had grown to appreciate each band, but none seemed to have the raw power of Eloy. I wore my copy of "Metromania" out years ago and have been looking for it ever since. Eloy always managed to blend the progressive "space-rock" group in the vain of Pink Floyd or Klaatu with harder edge elements of bands like Gamma and 70's era Rush. "Metromania", while being a little more commercial than Eloy's pervious albums, shines with excellent studio production, lavish guitar work and powerfully subtle drumming. The keyboard work on this album is phenomenal, and has some of the best vocoder passages in progressive music. In short, "Metromania" is an excellent introduction to one of the most underrated progressive bands of the 70's and 80's. If a mix of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here", Gamma's "Gamma II", and Rush's "Farewell to Kings" would be interesting, check this out!"
The end of an era
Zeus Pendragon | 02/07/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Metromania is the last album Eloy released before their breaking up. Since virtually Floating Eloy had been releasing one album per year, all of them (except for one or two that were quite good) excellent.
Performance had shown a shift in Eloy music the year before. When composing Metromania it's clear Frank tried to bring the spirit of former Eloy releases back. He succeed partially as the album returns to the more synth and keyboards dominant tracks but all the compositions are not equally good.
Escape to the Heights features some nice guitar riffs and strong synth work, but the song seems too rhythmic for Eloy standards.
Seeds of Creation is an excellent track. Nice drumming, Synths and keyboards are very present throughout and Klaus bass playing shines. A rather short song but very good one.
All Life is One is another highlight. Here Frank experiments with vocoder a lot. Actually the first half of the song is sung in a vocoder. Then the song becomes more dynamic after the atmospheric first half. Good guitar and bass work in the second half and Frank's singing is quite emotional. The lyrics are great.
The Stranger is more of a poppy tune. Rhythm section is quite flat, so are keyboards and guitars. There's a good guitar solo in the middle and a beautiful atmospheric section after that.
Follow the Light is classic Eloy from beginning to end. There is a long synth intro where Frank can be heard. Then the band kicks in a mid tempo fashion with Hannes Arkona merciless guitar riffs taking a leading role. This section is quite heavy and powerful. after the second chorus the track returns to more atmospheric and synth led passages. There are some marvelous sounds and a duet kind of soloing between guitar and synths. The end section features the most beautiful melody of the whole album repeated twice. A brilliant end to a song that wouldn't have been out of place in colours, Time to Turn or Planets.
Nightriders is a very heavy track, quite simple but effective due to the guitars and Frank's vocals.
Last track Metromania is rather electronic song. There's a lot of programming and the main melody is quite catchy though somewhat odd when first listened to. Klaus bass playing delivers some very good moments here and there.
In conclusion, a good record not their finest but still strong song composing and song arrangements. One thing I really dislike is the mix of Follow the Light. AWFUL!!! I understand the band wanting to experiment a little but this mix is terrible. The Follow the Light version that appeared on Chronicles II is far superior to this one.
The cover and artwork of the album were made by the great Rodney Matthews as were the british editions of Planets and Time to Turn. That is a plus!"
Track Listings (7) - Disc #1
