Reviewed by Marc on 05 Jan 2015

New World by Dave Kerzner is certainly an album that will be to the liking of 70's Pink Floyd/Genesis fans. This in part because of the guests musicians involved (Steve Hackett, Keith Emerson...) but also because the music refers a lot to Pink Floyd and Steve Hackett/Genesis.

At the beginning of the CD there is a strong Pink Floyd influence to be heard (similar vocals, instrumentation...) but more and more as the albums goes on, other references appear; Steve Hackett's solo music being the strongest. In fact, Hackett  does contribute a lot of guitar on two tracks (Stranded and Redemption), together clocking at just under 30 minutes of music and for once, in a guest appearence on an album, his guitar in a main part of these tracks.

New World starts out as very much a Prog album, but in the second part poppier songs appear (but poppier in an Asia/GTR sort of way). Prog fans won't be alarmed by this because the material is still very good and musically interesting. The album ends with the afore mentioned Redemption, a 17 minutes track that finishes the album in a grandiose manner, it's conclusion featuring an extensive guitar solo that is very much similar to the end of Supper's Ready, in its recent Genesis Revisited version by Hackett.

Even though it is hard not to play the "Spot the reference" game while listening to New World, the compositions are quite good (and original enough), the musicianship excellent and the performances near perfect. In my book this makes this album an obvious purchase to be made by any 70's Prog music fan, and Dave Kerzner a musician to keep a watchfull eye on.