Review: Marcel Singor – Anemoia
Marcel Singor – Anemoia
Format: CD – Vinyl LP – Digital / Label: OOB Records
Release: 2026
Text: Martien Koolen
‘Anemoia’ is Marcel Singor’s third solo album and of course every guitar addict/lover knows Singor from his work with Kayak, Ayreon and Star One; so, this wonderful Dutch guitarist needs no further introduction indeed.
‘Anemoia’ contains twelve tracks, featuring musical elements of classic rock, guitar rock, synth pop, blues rock, and prog rock. The three instrumental songs Seer, To Town and Little Too are my personal favourites, as these marvellous tracks highlight the versatility of Singor as a guitar picker for 100% indeed. Some of Singor’s riffs, hooks, solos and melodies in for example Little Too are almost second to none and they make me think of other guitar virtuosos like Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. I would have loved to hear more instrumental tracks of Singor on this album, as they show that this guy can play a mean and lean guitar indeed.
However, unlike his fantastic guitar picking, Marcel’s vocals really got on my nerves on Anemoia, as they are exceptionally monotonous and even corny in certain songs. The nine tracks featured on this album with vocals in fact all sound rather the same to me; up tempo songs that sound rather poppy, funky, or rocky and they all feature rather dull, predictable choruses, but then again also some wonderful soaring guitar solos.
The two ballad-like songs All In and Where Did It All Go so Right? feature 100%, too sweet, poppy choruses, while tracks like Rock And Roll Halo or Ear Candy seem to go nowhere.
So, overall I am a bit confused and disappointed about Singor’s new album, on the one hand he plays guitar like a god in tracks like Seer and To Town and on the other hand he comes up with expressionless tracks like Hard Pop or Shaking Off The Shadows that I wanted to skip after one minute….
Conclusion: Singor is truly one of the best guitar players in the low countries, but it would be better if he let someone else do the vocals for him on the next album!
Tracks:
01. Electric
02. All In
03. Lifer
04. To Town
05. Hard Pop
06. Shaking Off The Shadows
07. Where Did It All Go so Right?
08. The Show
09. Little Too
10. Ear Candy
11. Rock ’n Roll Halo
12. Seer
Website: https://marcelsingor.com/