Nowhere Land is a land you can't go? Nowhere Land is the land that is not discovered yet? Nowhere Land is the land you can't come back from? Does 'nowhere' stand for negativity? For perfectionism? For the unfulfilled? I strongly suggest someone should arrange the sequence of these hypothesis series, in order to accomplish genuine answers. Mike Slamer & Co partially did this.
A little bit far away from the average Frontiers release of the last two years, this album looks a lot like the goals we (should or really) have in our lives. Courageous equilibrium, a wandering spirit, time to think, philosophy in mind, recognition of the creation of the simplest things in life. Maturity is not that coherent when you grab your guitar and create harmonies deriving from the soul, from landscapes, from deep experience, from mutual human agreement.
Mild rhythms with practiced vocal melodies, furious technical themes applying mystic instrumentation and symmetric grooves featuring groovy measurements is what Nowhere Land consists of. Credited songwriter Mike Slamer's (Streets, Steelhouse Lane) 'fresh' release features Terry Brock (Strangeways, The Sign) on vocals plus Mike's eternal colleague Bill Greer (Streets, Kansas, Seventh Key) on guest vocals. The playing is suitable and it would be a pity to suppress this album under the poor 'pomp/AOR' even if basic 'facets' from Kansas or Spock's Beard are obvious at most times.
Even for the regular Frontiers releases consumers, Nowhere Land is something somehow different. Eleven songs with an average duration of something les than six minutes can stand for an 'experimental' status. Was not that eager to admit it, but the mellow tunes are the aces in this one. If the melodic moments of Saga, Kansas, Yes, Marillion or - even - 'latest' Magellan have 'touched' your spine you should try this one. On the other side: you need to give Nowhere Land a chance if you once applauded the 'research' of acts like Survivor,  80' Journey or 'mainstream' Chicago. There is something 'progressive' and 'heavy' in this AOR album, in other words.
No rating needed.