Member:
maribor
(Profile)
(All Album Reviews by maribor)
Date:
10/15/2007
Format:
CD (Album)
Milo's Craving is a German band consisting of singer, vocalist and keyboard player Kathrin Elfman and keyboard player Klaus Rausch. There are also a host of guest musicians, so that this project has more of a band feeling. The obvious attempt is to create a neo prog band in the style of Arena and the ilk, unfortunately, they do not come even close to their class.
Most of the time, this band plays in a very formulaic neo prog style. Occasionally, this is combined with pop. The compositions are pretty straightforward, with no real complexity. One could almost argue that the album consists of ridiculously extended pop songs. They would do better to either think of more elaborate structures or cut the songs for a few minutes. The lyrics, although regarded by the band itself as one of the strongest parts of Milo's Craving, are nothing spectacular. They are full of clichés, trying to pull of an overblown conceptual idea that is way over the lyricist's head in terms of ability and grasp of the English language.
The vocalist isn't bad per se, but she sounds very much like a hundred other female singers. There's something in the quality of her voice that annoys me, I suppose it's just the colour of her voice. All the other instruments are played at a very high level, but there's nothing new produced here, it's all been done already by bands like Arena or IQ. Also, the melodies Milo's Craving produces aren't as memorable or as well thought out as the more lauded bands. The best moment is the final part of the first composition and the short instrumental “Time Machine”, where there are actually some memorable moments. The worst song should be “Come Out”, with its combination of arena rock and German »schlager« pop cheesiness, however it's actually a guilty pleasure of mine.
If you want quality neo prog, you'd be better advised to go somewhere else, like Arena or IQ. If you want quality prog pop, there are several other artists that do it so much better, so perhaps try someone like Kate Bush for that. Milo's Craving tries to incorporate both these elements into its music, however the band isn't persuasive in either segment. It's not badly done, it's merely uninspired and flat.
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