Nautilus
North Pole Pilgrim
CD / 11 tracks / 72.51 mins

An instrumental album inspired by the novel 'Voyages et Aventures du Capitaine Hatteras' (1866) by Jules Verne and performed by Martin Ludwig on keys, synths, sequencer, Werner Stratz on E-Guitar and Ralf Obel on synths, sampler and sequencer, a.k.a. 'Nautilus'. The opening track 'The Fog Dance' sets out the stall with brief ambient introduction before the lush melodic electronica and Stratz's guitar up the tempo augmented by percussion before the gentle fade out. Nautilus' sound deploys keyboards, sequencers, guitar and percussion to produce an EM based prog sound, which can be bright, upbeat and optimistic as on 'Pilgrimage' or more mellow like the remastered version of 'Iceland'. On the latter there are hints of classic prog rock such as Camel or Pink Floyd circa. 'Wish You Were Here' and sequences are used in the main to good effect. 'Earth Hymn' features some powerful sequences and bright, upbeat, melodies and electronic percussion and the end product is probably the most commercial track on the album.

'White River' features a somewhat discordant guitar solo in the opening section before some melodic keyboard work improves things considerably before a distinctly T.D. style denouement. 'Hatteras' with hypnotic echoed keyboard motif and more rhythmic structure changes the mood, but here the guitar is, to my ears, outstaying its welcome and the track ends abruptly with a jolt and then Stratz's guitar drives 'Snowflake' into prog waters. 'Morning Dawn', clocking in at nearly 16 minutes is the longest track on the album and begins sedately with warm textures and gentle percussion accompanied by gentle keyboard improvisations and tasteful guitar which slowly builds until around the 9 minute mark when a fine Jarre-like sequencer is accompanied by more prog guitar which to my ears is a guitar solo too many. A pity as the electronic backing sounds impressive as it grows in intensity over the 15 minutes.

'Frozen Landscape' begins promisingly with strong sequences but is spoiled by some heavy handed percussion and unconvincing keyboard soloing. The remix of 'Airwaves' is much better with some powerful sequencing and percussion interspersed with radio excerpts, a cliche perhaps, but it works convincingly. 'Message of the Earth', a warm, mellow, melodic piece closes the set. This time the gentle guitar textures work well to bring the album to a satisfying close. I like the idea of Nautilus and the general direction of their music. However, I sometimes find that the music does not always work and the guitar is sometimes overused and does not always blend in with the electronics whereas on other pieces it works well and makes for a pleasant listening experience. Overall, throughout the seventy+ minutes there are more than enough good tracks to warrant investigation. 'Warm ears for Cold Times' indeed. (SR)

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