Modrigue ELOY's first progressive album

After their self-titled debut hard-rock oriented opus, "Inside" definitely marks the entrance of ELOY into the progressive sphere. Important modifications have been made. First, the line-up has been renewed, Frank Bornemann is now the band's leader and singer. Second, ELOY also changes musical label, going to progressive music reference Harvest. Third, the compositions becomes longer and spacier. However, this first progressive attempt is not as complex as YES or GENESIS, as it still shows strong early 70's hard-rock influences.

The album opens with the 20 minutes long "Land Of No Body". A convincing epic with rhythmic changes and various ambiances. The overall style sound very DEEP PURPLE-ish, especially due to the organ. The main interest of the record. The title track continues in the same vein, more melancholic. It alternates soft and loud passages, and contains a nice guitar solo. The most original short track is "Future City", as it features different kinds of percussions and surprising variations. "Up And Down" finishes softly the album with its predominant organ.

"Inside" shows that ELOY has not completely emancipated itself from its initial British hard-rock influences yet. The style can be compared to what DEEP PURPLE would have done if they've turned more progressive. Nonetheless, it's still a good album, with no real weak track. Recommended to space-rock and early 70's hard-rock fans.

Warthur Eloy's second album finds the band significantly matured after their patchy debut, with its sub- Black Sabbath riffing consigned mainly to the past. Here, the band try their hand at comparatively heavy space rock, with Pink Floyd and Nektar being the major influences at work - though the playing is generally looser and more prone to slightly aimless jamming than either band was at this particular point in time (both Floyd and Nektar having significantly tightened up their compositional approach at this point). On the whole, there's a bit more direction this time around, and that helps a lot, but Eloy still clearly had some way to go before they hit the bit leagues at this point of their development.

Unitron Eloy-Inside

'Inside' is the second studio album by hard rock/space rock band Eloy. After original lead vocalist Erich Schriever left the band after Eloy's debut, Frank Bornemann decided he wanted to add something more into his band's sound. What he added was a futuristic tone and spacey lyrics to their sound, hence 'Inside' being a heavy space rock album.

While this album does maintain the Deep Purple-esque heavy metal/hard rock of the debut, the newly added space rock elements really makes the album stand out a bit more then the debut. The album opens up with the nearly 18-minute long epic 'Land of No Body', which starts out with some great bluesy bass. When Bornemann's vocals come in, they fit very well with the menacing bass grooves. Soon organ signals crashing guitar, before driving riffs enter. After the organ plays over the crashing guitar four minutes through, the menacing bass comes back with atmospheric space sounds giving the song a much darker tone. Towards the end, thumping bass and guitar drives under a great guitar solo leading up to Bornemann's screams over heavy guitar. Kind of reminds me of Rush's '2112' in this sense. The song ends with pounding organ and drums.

While the opener is certainly the main highlight of the album, there are other standout songs on here. The menacing title track is great, with the haunting chamber-esque organ playing over pounding drums. 'Future City' begins with acoustic guitars and winding sounds. Great cymbal work and driving bass soon signal in heavy guitar. Before the guitar solo begins is where Eloy's unique drum work shows with tribal drums combined with the winding noises. If you get the remaster, the driving Deep Purple-esque 'On the Road' is a gem.

I've noticed many people have an issue with Frank Bornemann's voice, mainly due to his thick accent. However, I happen to love his voice. Probably one of my favorite vocalists to be honest. It's very unique, and I think it fits perfectly with the music. Lyrically, I love how in songs like 'Land of Nobody' space themes are mixed in with subtle political commentary. Lyrics like 'We just leave the earths ground, On the way to see the new star.' are combined with 'We want freedom, We want freedom for the world, Power to the people, And the righteous in the land.' I find these kinds of metaphorical lyrics really cool.

Overall, I highly recommend this album to any fans of proto-metal, hard rock, and space rock. It shows the beginning of Eloy's masterful combination of heavy metal/hard rock and atmospheric space rock. Hope you found this review helpful.

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