KARIBOW

Highly prolific Germans’ second studio release of 2018.

For studio purposes, these days Karibow is essentially the increasingly productive German multiinstrumentalist Oliver Rüsing, MOnuMENTO being the second Karibow album this year (and a double disc). Recent albums have featured assorted luminaries from Saga (Michael Sadler and Jim Gilmour) and Southern Empire/ Damanek (Daniel Lopresto, Sean Timms and Marek Arnold). This time round he’s enlisted former Karnataka singer Hayley Griffiths, Lifesigns mainman John Young and Mystery guitarist Michel St-Père, covering plenty of musical bases with a principal focus on melodic prog and the odd foray into prog metal, reminiscent of their countrymen Sylvan and the sadly long-defunct Everon. The first disc, Moments, comprises shorter songs bookended by the longer opening title track and closing song Elay. District Of Dignity is the standout, elevated by Griffiths who duets with Rüsing. The second disc, Monuments, finds Karibow stretching out on two multipart tracks and includes Rüsing slipping back into his native tongue on A Fairy Tale. Aside from some clunky lyrics and few Euros more needed to enhance the production, the everimproving act merit a higher profile.