Vertigo

Summary
An unknown duo with a drummer. Maarten Huiskamp is also known for his collaborations with Brasse on the same label and his work under the name Jacob’s Ladder.
The music
The first track is a euphoric instrumental with sharp clear guitar work and powerful drumming. This track is not really typical for the rest of the album, because what follows then are melodic rock vocal tracks, rather straightforwardly constructed and although the execution is okay, the music and lyrics are simply too cliché, although the songs do have a kind of drive in them. In Time Won’t Heal the melodic rock is replaced with a piano ballad and has some female vocals to complement the vocals of Hermans. Reminds me a bit of the duet between Vonda Shepherd and Dan Hill. You Make The Devil Smile opens with those typical Bon Jovi ohuoh and yeah-ie-yeahs. After an opening such as this, the intention for the song is already too clear. One Step Behind is in the commercial vein of later Starship (We Built This City and such).

Never The Same is up next and is an easy going ballad with some lazy sax playing (probably synthetic). Again too many cliche’s in a single track. Losing You opens with atmospheric sounds so maybe we are in from a change from the run of the mill commercial tracks that have gone before. However the oh-u-ohs and yeah-ie-yeah return almost right after. The melody of the chorus sounds rather familiar. The song moves right into No Change Of Seasons, which has some nice melodies in the verses and choruses. The song is a rather bombastic sounding rock track, a bit in the style of Survivor’s Eye Of The Tiger. Wonderland is a mid-tempo track, a bit more pop than rock.
Conclusion
This is not progressive. The music is a mix of Toto, Europe with some slight progressive tinges because of the occasional keyboard solo. The lyrics are very typical for the style of music, about love and such and are not in any way original. As it is, a professional sounding, but artistically not interesting or inspired melodic rock album. The nicer tracks were the instrumental opener and No Change Of Seasons.