Review by Louis Koot for Pitfather

Ixion is another name that gets Dutch prog in the spotlight! Just like Knight Area this project is offspring from the symphonic formation Sangamo. This time it's a collaboration of musicians gathered around Jankees Braam. CryoGenesis is actually a concept album that offers us a very interesting story. In short: a woman who is ill beyond recovery decides to have herself frozen in the hope that in the future new medicine will be able to cure her. The story explains the title CryoGenesis as it is a conjunction of the terms Cryogenics (technique of freezing people) and Genesis (the creation).

Jankees Braam is responsable for the concept idea, compositions and lyrics as well as part of the musical interpretation through playing bass and keyboards. He surrounded himself with a group of fellow musicians from bands like Illumion, Greg, S.O.T.E. and the above mentioned Sangamo and Knight Area.

An interesting aspect of this concept is the use of two female vocalists (Esther Ladiges and Maaike Breijman) to play the role of the 'old soul' and 'new soul' of the frozen woman. Next to that two other vocalists are introduced to play the doctor (Peter Everts) and psychologist (Gerton Leijdekker).

The music on this disc can be compared to Knight Area although i find it at times a little less convincing. Other bands that can be named for comparison are Arena, IQ and Marillion. The story opens up very strongly with the longest track The Gamble. This song introduces the inevitable narrative voice to direct the story. Just like it is used on for example The War Of The Worlds by Jeff Wayne or The Hound Of The Baskervilles by Clive Nolan and Oliver Wakeman. The first song is a very diverse composition with moodswings displayed by guitar-build heavy parts switching back and fort to quiet atmospheric parts. The keyboard-based theme of the song pops up a couple of times to make it stick. Althrough the record this recipe is followed keeping the listener attached to the story of the woman. When she wakes-up and is fully recovered in a new world 500 years later she soon realises this future is not without problems! If you wanna find out what happends take a listen and get drawn into some beautiful symph at the same time!

Rating: 3.5 / 5