TOUCHSTONE is a five piece Progressive Rock / Metal band from England. "The City Sleeps" is their third studio album and in my opinion third time is a winner. This band has said about their sound that they are "A band who combines the Progressive sensibilities of YES with the hard rocking aptitudes of VAN HALEN".In my opinion this is kind of right. Right from the first tune "Corridors" you can hear a Progressive vibe, the odd time signatures, abnormal harmonics textures and great out of the box drumming shows that these guys know what they're doing.

The next step is Kim Seviour's entrance. Even though she has a very gentle voice it fits right in the music and compliments her vocals. The thing I liked from the start is that even if the music is very complex, choruses are very catchy and poppy and fun to listen to even if you're not a Progressive Metal fan or even a Metal fan in general. "Sleeping Giants" is a power ballad and we can hear a singing duet between Seviour and keyboard player Cottingham that sounds very good. This is a great song that can easily be on MTV.

The album has a very good flow and it's easy and fun to listen to. The only thing that bothered me is that it's sometimes sounds too poppy almost if they wanted to make a hit out of every song. Another thing is that in my opinion the guitar work is a little over shadowed by the great keyboard work and that's a shame. Overall it's a good album, not sure the typical Metal fan will love it but more open minded listeners and more Symphonic Rock / Metal oriented listeners will love this one.