Before startin' this review, I should let the reader know that this band's actual name is Somewhere Into Nowhere, which abreviates nicely enough into S.I.N.! Formed in July 2002 by guitarist Deddy Andler and British singer Jason Marks, the band saw a completion with the addition of bassist/ guitarist Wolfgang Frank, and drummer Alexander Hlousek in February of 2003. About a half year later, the band's debut (and self-titled) album saw the light of day, and gave the band a place on the globel map, as reactions from Japan were more than warm (they got to 3 rd place in Burrn!'s import charts, and were chosen 'newcomer of the year' in a survey done by their former label. Following which, the band was enabled to step up some ladders, signing to Marquee/ Avalon in Asia, and to AOR Heaven in Germany/ Europe. Meanwhile, the band have added one Ouzo Rascke (nice looking lady, by the way) to their line-up as a bassist, allowing Wolfgang to concentrate on keyboards (duties for that instrument on this album are shared between him and Deddy) and backing vocals. Never having heard the debut album, I can only go by the info given me by the label, which states that the material is a little harder and more straight-forward than on that debut. However, as the drummer states (in that same bio sheet), that is a "...natural progress..." for the band, and the music can still be categorized in the Melodic AOR genre, if occasionally with an additional 'Heavy' in that typification, and when the guitars dominate the keyboards altogether, one may even speak of Heavy Rock, pure and simple! Jason has a very nice and clear high pitch, and gets really nice harmony backings (occasionally additionally female). And there's a few guest appearances with long-time friends Michael Voss (Casanova, Silver) doin' a duet with Jason n ""It's Forever", and Michael Klein (Wicked Sensation) adding a guitar solo on "The Reason". Now, although this is certainly a good album in its own right, I'm afraid people into the first album may find the material perhaps a tad too heavy. Non-AOR music fans on the other hand, may possibly find thing quite the contrary, because there's still elements of AOR, see! Personally, I've enjoyed the album to a satisfying degree, but while I wouldn't pass by on the occasion to buy the album second-hand, I wouldn't wanna pay the new album price! This is clearly one for the fans of heavier AOR and Melodic Heavy Rock!

80/100

Tony.