Wetton/Downes
Icon II - Rubicon

 

Release date: November 10th 2006
Label: Frontiers Records
Provided by: Zink Music
Distribution: Bonnier Amigo
Website: -

Style:
POMP/AOR

Rating: 95/100
Cover artwork rating: 40/100
Reviewed by: The Jack

Date: October 15th 2006

As a big fan of 80s ASIA this album comes as a real treat! Wetton/Downes – the dynamic duo that immortalized ASIA as one of the UK’s main exponents of AOR have released a bunch of albums with varying line-ups but seem to have settled with their “homeland sound” here on this new release. The music is utterly brilliant and really perfectly executed in the classic ASIA tradition. Huge choruses, multilayered vocal harmonies, string sections, orchestral parts etc. – Yup! It’s all here…Even female vocal duels which really serve as a good new element  

You really get the impression that they’ve nurtured this album like a newborn child. Nothing seems left to chance. Everything seems so professional that I tremble in awe! You really get carried away by the grand compositions.  

If I didn’t know better I’d have guessed that this album was a secretly recorded ASIA album from the late 80s! No compromising in terms of the classic sound!  

Every 80s nostalgic should check this one out! It’s really some of the best AOR material I’ve heard in many, many years! Veterans back in action!