Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

I remember when M!D, for that is what this band were called until recently, released their debut album 'Fresh Evidence' and a reviewer in these fair pages crowned the band as the best Christian band in Scotland. Not being churlish, but on the strength of this recording their crown has slipped slightly. The weakness isn't the songwriting because frontman Scot Nicol knows how to write moving songs and out and out rockers. There's also no doubt of the musical talents of his band mates who turn in some fiery performances. Highlights for me include the title cut with its swathes of organ and powerful guitar playing with Scot's smoky voice over the top and the moody six minute epic "Sparkle On The Landscape". Possibly the only group in history to actually lengthen their name, the main weakness of the album is the overall production sound of the album so that more becomes less. Often sounding like a demo recorded at a practice studio, in places the sound balance is way out so that drums boom and guitar solos are lost in a sonic sludge. I'm used to live sound balances being erratic but wonder whether it would have served the band better if they'd chosen their four most amazing songs and spent three times as long working on each one. The result would have been to get a state of the art production rather than delivering 11 not so well produced tracks. Even in the past couple of years the standards of recording have been improving in leaps and bounds and Maybe I'm Dreaming have a challenge on their hands to shape up.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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