NEW REVIEW FROM POWERPLAY MAGAZINE UK: Those American pomp rockers, Stencil Forest return with a brand new album. 'The Abyss' follows hot on the heels of 2004's reissue of their debut, 'Opening Act'. If you remember my review of that album, way back in issue 69, then you'll know that I compared them to early Styx, Starcastle, Avalon and Alpha Centauri. Well nothings changed in that department, in fact, nothing has changed full stop! The arrangements are still overblown, if a little bit more laid-back, this time, the musicianship is still of a high quality and in vocalist Doug Andresen, they still have one of the best vocalists to grace this genre, in many a year. 1st Review on The Abyss courtesy of Kev Rowland, Feedback Fanzine, West Yorks, England-UK: After the success of the reissue of the Stencil Forest debut 'Opening Act' the guys have now released their second album, only 23 years later! Three of the guys who were on the debut are on the follow-up, Doug Andreson (vocals), Frank Cassella (guitars, keys) and Rick Cassella (keys) and they have been joined by Jim Cassella on percussion who played with the guys as part of the later band Five by Five and bassist Ron Perron who has played with Frank and Rick in bands before Stencil Forest originally came into being. This is an album that I can honestly say I have been eagerly awaiting. When I was sent the reissue it got onto my player and it just stayed there, I couldn't take it off as it was so good. There is always the worry that a follow-up, particularly after so long, could well be something of an anti-climax so I am very happy indeed to report that is not the case. This is an independent release but the production is spot on and the artwork within the booklet is very good indeed, so much so that one definitely feels that this is an album that has been put out by a major, and certainly the music contained within it definitely reinforces that view. This is melodic AOR pomp rock that contains elements of bands like Boston and Styx, throws in some Kansas and then their own special dose of hook-laden songs and the result is an album that yet again defies all attempts to have it removed from the player so that I can listen to some other albums. Doug has a great voice, and the band have arranged the music so that it is pushed to the fore - it may be rocking along with great choruses or there may be some delicate piano and lush harmonies as on The Captive Heart and the quality stands out a mile. This really is a superb album and I can only hope that the band don't wait so long until the third as this is music that deserves and demands to be heard. Stencil Forest - The Abyss. Reviewed by Ken Whowell It was in 2003 that I was invited round to a fellow Ambrosia fan's house to listen to several Ambrosia tracks as well as other obscurities on vinyl and tape. That friend was Mike Jones, an AOR aficionado who knew about many more 'Good Music' albums and groups than I could ever hope to discover. After pleasant hours listening to Mike's rarities, he played a couple of tracks from a rather battered old cassette tape. In my amazement, I asked him why he had not told me about these tracks, which I insisted were previously unknown early Ambrosia songs. 'Not so, kennyboy' he scoffed. 'It isn't Ambrosia at all, it's Stencil Forest'. That was my first encounter with 'Opening Act', Stencil Forest's first (and at that time only) album. Now, after the impossible has happened, and Stencil Forest has re-formed, I am sat here reviewing SF's new album, 'The Abyss'. If you haven't heard it, I have not the slightest doubt that, after this review, you will want to hear it. It is an amazing assembly of songs put together as if the band had woken from a quarter-century of cryo-sleep and continued without realising that the band had been in the freezerinos all this time. It is continuity to the 'N'th degree. Only last week I wrote about Ambrosia and how the guys needed to put aside their apprehensions about a new album and just 'get out there and DO it'. Joe, if you are reading this, get ahold of 'The
