I don’t usually care too much about bands that use the name of an album of another band because they are usually clones, well RELAYER are not YES clones but they have more than casual references, the careful listener will find also a touch of KANSAS, RUSH, MARILLION and even DREAM THEATER plus some AOR aroma that reminds a bit of TOTO, but in this case they deserve a chance being that their music is very efficient even when not so original neither brilliant.
The band was formed in the early 90’s by Gregg Panmer (Keyboards and Vocals), Tom Burke (Bass and Vocals), Tim LaRoi (Guitars and Vocals), John Sahagian (Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar and Percussion) and Michael Ways (Drums, Cymbals, Percussion and Vocals), with this lineup they release their debut album «Grander Vision» in 1994, which according to most critics is their weakest work and IMO at this pouint they were closer to AOR than to real Progressive Rock, but this was only their first attempt so they had to be given a new chance…
After «Grander Vision» reaches the market, Michael Ways leaves the band and is replaced by Bob Kisser, who is a much solid drummer being very close in style to Bill Bruford because and seem the change benefits the band because their next album «The Teething Fashion» (1996) is a great improvement from their weak debut, the melodies are far stronger and their music is much more original and powerful what added to a very good production makes of their second album a good addition to any collection.
After the release of «The Teething Fashion» Gregg Panner leaves «RELAYER», but instead of replacing him for their next and last release «Last Man on Earth» (1999), Sahagian and LaRoi replace him, but they are not keyboardists, so instead of being a Keys oriented band they change into a guitar driven one with atmospheric and occasional keys without solos.
This album is better than their debut but not in the level of their second one, being more oriented towards Neo Prog than to Symphonic, a weak finale for a pretty good band.
Been searching information about them but their website seems to have disappeared so I wouldn’t expect a new album very soon.
Iván Melgar Morey - Perú
