by Dave Sleger

This was Subway to Sally's first release upon partnering with BMG. It was on this album that they truly were able to effortlessly merge the diverse influences like Brian May, Jethro Tull, Kansas, and Horslips with '90s progressive metal. It must have been a formula that both the band and BMG approved of due to the similarity of their three albums from 1996-1999. Had this band sung in English and not German they would almost certainly have made significant impressions in both the U.K. and North America. Heavy on electric guitars, their songs were augmented tastefully with violin, bagpipes, and Irish whistles but not to the extent of detracting from their hard rock persona. Both this album and Bannkreis are their most creative and stimulating works and likely influenced Tempest's 2001 release Balance as it seems to mirror many of the same qualities that make Subway to Sally click -- guitar-heavy hard rock intermingled with prog and traditional instrumentation.