ANTARES

Artist's Website
Contact Artist
Germany

Warranties and Disclaimers

"Antares was formed back in 1978  as a trio - Ludwig Eilers - guitars and basses - Helge Bülow- drums and good vibrations and of course mastermind Claus Neide -singer and keyboard player. In 1982 Antares released their first concept album "Over the Hills". The following years brought a whole lot of well visited concerts all over Germany including the famous "Onkel Pö`s Carnegie Hall" in Hamburg. In 1999 Claus Neide started his new project. The press reaction was quite enthusiastic. Quotation of a local newspaper:  "Remarkable are the fantastic vocals, power and emotion of which reminding us of Marillions Steve Hogarth or Jon Anderson". Of course, the press reaction is correct, the style can be easily compared with "Genesis", "Marillion" and "Yes", and also Antares concentrates some influences of the German Progressive Pock, the music is very melodic, sensitive and inovative with nice keyboard arrangements and fine guitar solos. "Out Of Sight"  has seven brandnew songs, all of them have been composed by singer- songwriter and multi-instrumental Claus Neide. I have my special and particular attention to the songs:  "Stay Away", "Lost In You", "Time Goes By" and "You Know". Antares are: Claus Neide - Keyboards, Programming, Guitars and Vocals, Peter Patzer - Keyboards and Programming, Jens Frike - Akk + Rhythm and Guitar, Rainer Schöning - Saxophon, Ede Brumund-Rüther - Bass and Khalid Schröder - Drums and Percussion. Excellent work, highly recommendable..."  -  Progressive Rock and Progressive Metal

"The CD up for review this time is called "Out Of Sight" by a band called Antares. Antares is lead by Claus Neide on vocals and keyboards. He appears to be the main songwriter and catalyst behind this band. Guitars and bass guitar are handled by Ludwig Eilers, and drums are played by Helge Bulow. There is plenty of keyboard bass and drum programming by Neide as well.

If I had to compare this band with another, as happens in all these reviews for some strange reason, I'd have to say its Pendragon. Neide's vocals sound very much like Nick Barrett of Pendragon. That is to say the vocals have a very distinct, unique flavor, which I happen to like. The guitar is very Pendragonish as well. Restrained yet tasteful. Never overly quick or complex, but very listenable, like a Gilmour from Pink Floyd or a Rothery from Marillion. The keyboards sound as if Clive Nolan played them himself. That too is a compliment.

The overall feel of this CD is a European Pop/Rock/Prog, and has some very good moments. One of my favorite tunes on the disc right now is Track 2, called "Closer". They have casually lifted a line from Grand Funk's "Closer To Home", and turned it into Howard Jones meets The Fixx and then bumped into Pendragon and Porcupine Tree on the way. I must say there is some fantastic bumper music on this CD as well. Some of this music would make ideal beds for sports programming, like slalom skiing or something of that nature.

I give this CD high marks in just about every department, based on the pleasing melodies, the good recording, and the fact that I'm a sucker for those German tinged vocals and those dreamy atmospheres that are created when tasty guitar leads meet good, conceptual keyboard constructions.

If I had to criticize this recording, I'd have to say some of the programming is a little sterile, especially the clap sounds from some 1980's era drum machine. I realize they love the 80's, but I think something else would have fit better. Something human perhaps. Other than that, this is a fine CD I can recommend without reservation." - Matt Sweitzer, ProgRock.com

"If I were to make a musical recipe called Antares, it would be a two-part concoction that goes something like this: 

Take a generous heaping of Phil Collins, add one skilled vocalist who sounds like he was personally trained by Phil Collins himself, stir in a bit of Tears For Fears, add only a pinch of Pendragon, and mix the whole concoction down by one decent studio engineer. That sums up what the first seven tracks on this CD sounds like.On the first listen, I had to check the CD’s credits to make sure this wasn’t Phil’s backup band, because this sounds so much like Collins. Neide’s annunciations in his voice are identical to what Phil has done in his last several solo efforts. 

The second part of this recipe is simply an instrumental repeat of the first seven tracks.  Call tracks eight through fourteen the karaoke version of the first seven on the CD. I guess Antares didn’t want to release a mini CD for their first release, so what better way to completely fill up a CD…just repeat the tracks voiceless. I found the keyboards and guitar tones quite pleasing. Come to think of it, the all around musicianship is skilled, even if they sound like session musicians for Mr. Collins.  The mix is exceptional for not being a big budget production. There was a slight lack of originality that we prog rockers have come to expect from newcomers." -  Dana Holmes, Prog4You.com