On the surface, Turn of the Tides could be a retread of 1992's Rockoon, from the similar cover art to the Edgar & Jerome lineup augmented by Linda Spa and Zlatko Perica. As the album, starts, however, expectations are subverted, as the opening arrangement of the Promenade from Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures At an Exhibition features field recordings and a full brass section. Certainly, utilising classical music in pop and rock is a tricky area, and the straight-forward arrangement here is a little puzzling (no indication is given of what the point is), but it does a good job of starting on the album on a different note.Firetongues, the first original composition, could be a Rockoon-era piece at the start, but as the tempo increases, a Spanish-style guitar takes the lead, and the piece fast becomes a kind of electronic flamenco. Around the five minute mark, Zlatko's showy electric guitar comes in and, although Jerome continues to add intricacy to his drum programming, the piece begins to lose its identity. This tends to be the case for much of the album: seemingly realising that Rockoon was bogged down by an unvaried sound-palette, a much broader range of sounds is found on Turn of the Tides, including further use of Spanish guitar, field recordings, various percussion, chorus vocals and saxophone; furthermore, the pieces often have interesting structures, breaking away from one theme to incorporate contrasting sections across their longer runtimes. However, for all the variation the father and son duo try to introduce, there are still not enough musical ideas to justify the album's run time, and it quickly begins to all blend into one: a murk of minor key synth pads or sequences, mid-tempo drum loops and endless guitar or saxophone soloing.Occasional moments are enjoyable - the mid-section of Galley Slave's Horizon; the atmospheric elements of Jungle Journey; the vocal outro to the title track - and the bonus track on later issues, Story of the Brave is a genuinely pleasant track. However, while the band's experimentation with their sound is admirable, the final product is underwhelming, and generally lacks the focus that even Rockoon had.