Reviewed by Tim Cockram

'The Trial' follows the trial of Christ from the pouring of the perfume to Christ's Ascension. It is largely instru­mental with an odd smattering of vocals. Musically it reminds me of Camel and there is something of a 70's feel to the instrumentation used. This is by no means a criticism as it is refreshing to hear music that doesn't try to ape the latest trend in production values. So what of the music? Well it ranges from being inventive and stimulating to the sort of thing that you would expect to accompany an eastern European cartoon about a rhombus. The "songs" let Phillip down as his voice is at its strongest when used as part of the sonic palette. Phillip needs a decent budget from a record company and possibly a producer to do justice to his work. There are just too many good ideas here for Phillip to be ignored. The ultimate question, is it worth parting with hard-earned readies for a copy? If you want a flash, smooth album for casual listening then the answer is no. But if you're willing to work at listen­ing to investigate this gifted young man the answer is yes

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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