Listening to the opening title track on Satellite's latest Into the Night, the third release in a trilogy that started with A Street Between Sunrise and Sunset in 2003 and followed by 2005's Evening Games, and you can only wonder why it's so hard for many veteran bands (Marillion comes to mind) to come up new material that's even remotely compelling as this. Gorgeous melodies, catchy hooks, tasty instrumentation, it's all here, plus a not so subtle nod to the 70's greats. This Polish act also embrace their more aggressive side on the hard edged prog epic "Dreams (parts 1-3)", which reminds a bit of Arena or early Marillion with its gritty guitar work, searing keyboards, and the strong vocals of Robert Amirian. "Downtown Skyline" has an odd, almost Porcupine Tree feel, with lilting guitar lines, spacey keys, and tribal percussion, eventually giving way for some thunderous guitar bombast. Sarhan Kubeisi's stunning guitar solo leads you into "Don't Go Away In Silence" (check out his soaring Nick Barrett meets John Mitchell tone here), a real emotional roller-coaster number that thrives on plenty of stunning musical passages and gorgeous melodies. The band rocks out a bit on the symphonic "Heaven Can Wait", a 9-minute gem featuring some raging keyboards and rippling guitar licks, and the atmospheric & poppy "Forgiven And Forgotten" rounds out the CD on a mellower note, with Amirian's soothing vocals floating over Mellotron, melodic guitar lines, and electronic drums.
01 Into the night 02 Dreams pt. 1-3 03 Downtown skyline (angel's song) 04 Lights [instrumental] 05 Don't walk away in silence 06 Heaven can wait 07 Forgiven and forgotten 08 Time stands still [*] 09 Around the world [*] 10 Heaven can wait 11 Forgiven and forgotten 12 Time stands still [*]