Let's put all cards on the table from the very beginning. The Canadian band Saga has had a special place in my heart since I was a kid. The main reason for that is the monster they created in the shape of a live album entitled In Transit. It was Christmas in the year of 1982 and I was at a friend's house participating in a table hockey tournament. The tournament lasted the whole weekend and one single record was occupying the stereo during the entire tournament and as you might have guessed this album was In Transit by Saga, a band that I was unfamiliar with at that time. A couple of days later I discovered that my older brother already had this particular record in his collection and I taped it instantly. I just couldn't get enough of In Transit and played it constantly until I could sing every line, hum every solo, mark every drum fill and so forth. My humble opinion is, which I tend to state every now and then, that In Transit is the best live album ever to be released. Yes, I have heard Made In Japan and Live & Dangerous but that doesn't change my opinion at all. After this discovery I found out that the four studio albums they released before In Transit all were magnificent with my personal fave Worlds Apart at the very top of the scale.

It's quite fantastic that Saga nearly 30 years after the release of their debut still can produce albums that a lot of people out there are waiting for with high expectations. It's not a secret that they from the very beginning has been in possession of a very dedicated fan base that without hesitation invests in every new product that is linked to Saga. This most probably has to do with the high quality releases they always, with the exception of a couple of poor albums recorded in the nineties, have been delivering. They have however never been able to once again reach their days of grandeur which in other words mean the quality level of their first four albums.

Trust is the seventeenth studio album from Saga and the band members themselves think of this as a natural follower of its predecessor (Network, 2004) with a bit more progressive elements. After listening to the album constantly over a period of three days I partly agree even though I find Trust to be more back to the roots than Network. At first I wasn't that impressed and didn't think it deviated from the level they have held on their last four albums. The more I listened the more I realised that Trust is their best offering in a long, long time though. It is quite obvious that they have tried to capture the atmosphere from 'the golden four' and surprisingly they have actually succeeded with that task. The lion part of the album is classic old school Saga with a fresh and updated sound. This means symphonic rock with bombastic keyboards and the fantastic and original guitar work from Ian Crichton.

Even though the progressive, old school sounding Back To The Shadows and the catchy I'm OK both are fantastic songs, the splendour of this album really starts with the title track. After a short intro with atmospheric keyboards the chorus instantly explodes with surprisingly heavy guitars and effective melody lines. Trust is followed by the even greater It's Your Life that thanks to a guitar melody to die for is extremely catchy without losing its credibility. It's Your Life is understandably chosen as the first single from the album and has all ingredients to be a genre classic. Footsteps In The Hall is more intricate but almost as infectious, brilliant work from Mr Crichton once again. Another favourite is You Were Right, another song in the vein of the older days but maybe a bit more heavy. If you look away from Time To Play and My Friend, two very lame tracks that sticks out in a negative way, the album holds a fantastically high quality level from the beginning to the end.

I honestly didn't believe that Saga still was capable of this, recording an album with a quality level close to their earlier albums. It took several spins to realise this but now when I'm there, I'm a happy man. Trust won't change anything for the ones who never have liked them before but the diehard fans are really in for a treat and for those who never have heard the band, I actually can recommend Trust as well as Worlds Apart. That, my friends, should speak for itself.

8,5 chalices of 10 - Hawk