Now it's Sylvan's turn and after the release of their latest album One to Zero it was time for a live registration. That album is really excellent and luckily some of the outstanding songs from this album are played.

Of course, the team of John Vis is again responsible for the images and that results in a consistent quality that can certainly be called good. Assuming that there are no huge budgets available, this is the best achievable result and it is pleasant to watch and listen to Back to Live. The use of a big backscreen is not always easy and sometimes disturbes the images a bit but this is only the case to some extend here. The sound quality is good and the men of Gentle Art of Music (Walner and Lang) are responsible for that, but bassist Sebastian Harnack is also an important link when it comes to processing the available images.

Then there is a thorny issue. For me, singer Marco Glühmann is one of the better singers in prog and especially when he sings like on the already mentioned last album. Watching and listening to the Blu-Ray and CD this is only confirmed because what a characterful voice this man has. Now I was not present at the concert myself, but I have read a few reviews and there was unanimous talk about a slowly relenting voice of Marco during this concert. This is hardly to be found on both the Blu-Ray and the CD. This leads to the discussion about the post-processing of live recordings in general, because it is known that at least 90% of all existing live recordings are more or less post-processed. Is that a shame? Not for me. I look and listen to the product in front of me and that's what this review is about. It would be different if I would write a review about the concert, but that is not the case, so not relevant.

 Sylvan is a band of which not every album is equally strong and that is mainly because they tend to experiment in terms of style and Force of Gravity is a good, or rather bad, example of that. This album shows a much harder and rougher style and from that album the song King Porn was on the setlist and despite the fact that it provides variety, I can't warm to it at all. But we do see a passionate band that splashes with class and they finally seem to have found the right guitarist with Johnny Beck because this little man hits the right note on his seven-string guitar every time and plays one wonderful solo after another.

What these men are so good at is making driven music with palpable emotion without turning to overly exaggeration and songs like Encoded at Heart, Trust in Yourself and Part of Me show that perfectly. Again, the audience has clearly come to listen and let's be honest, it doesn't get really wild anywhere. The line-up is as we are used to and Volker Söhl on keyboards again provides atmospheric passages and occasionally a nice solo and the rhythm section consisting of Sebastian Harnack on bass and Matthias Harder on drums plays a very experienced and a solid set.

And then back to Glühmann, without too much fuss he is still a frontman who just does his job well. Don't expect excessive gestures and other kinds of craziness, but you can see the passion he puts into his performance. Okay, he doesn't have the charisma of a Hogarth or a Pageau, but that's not granted to many. Sometimes he goes to (over?) the edge vocally and has to pay for that with lack of breath, but that doesn't bother me at all.

Songs from various albums are played and that gives a great overview of everything this band has to offer, but of course it closes with A Kind of Eden and the title track of the much praised Posthumous Silence, Sylvan's best album for many.(mine is One to Zero)

You can argue ad infinitum about compiling a setlist, but it will rarely be exactly as you would have liked it to be and Back to Live is no exception. Personally, I would have loved it if they had dared to play something from Sceneries, because for me that is one of the highlights of Sylvan's discography, but don't worry, there is more than enough to enjoy.

I am happy with Back to Live and will play both the Blu-Ray and the CD regularly and within the limits of the possibilities they have succeeded in delivering a very nice product. Gut gemacht Jungs!

Image 75

Sound 80