I guess when you take your name from an Indian state, you should expect a turbulent career. And so it has proved for Welsh proggers Karnataka. After three exceptional albums, it all went ti... well let's just say they imploded, scattering their fair maidens far and wide.

Founder member Ian Jones then reformed the band not once, but twice, settling on the line up of himself, guitarist Enrico Pinna, keyboarder Gonzalo Carrera, drummer Ian Harris and vocalist Lisa Fury. This is the line up that recorded The Gathering Light - but it isn't the end of the story.

The album starts off in stereotypical celtic style with the Uilleann pipes of Troy Donockley to the fore of The Calling before the instrumental State of Grace chimes in. This is obviously a bold move, ten minutes of pure music at the start of any album is brave, but on a comeback album? Luckily it works well, with nine minutes flying by, showing that this incarnation of the band knew what they were doing. The next track, Your World finally introduces vocalist Fury to us all, and it's very much to her credit that the change over is seamless. It's another track that seems shorter than it really is.

The following track, Moment in Time, I think shows the band at its best. Beautiful piano work from Carrera, soaring guitar work from Pinna underpinned by fine drum and bass playing from Harris and Jones. And on top of this, possibly Fury's finest vocal. It's so good, it probably didn't need the ubiquitious uilleann pipe break from Donockley. Not only that but it rolls elegently into Serpent and the Sea, another song that doesn't let up, varying enough during its ten minutes to hold the listeners attention, while constantly returning to the "lost in the dea " refrain.

The album finishes with two epics in Forsaken and the title track The Gathering Light which sandwich the Eastern sounding Tide to Fall which is the shortest proper track on offer here. Both of these longer tracks showcase the bands playing beautifully, and highlight the improvement in songwriting as well.

Overall then, this is an excellent return from Mr Jones and well worth the wait.

However, since the album was released, Carrera, Fury and Harris have left the band and it remains to be seen if Jones is the Alec Ferguson of Celtic tinged prog and can put together a third title winning incarnation of the band. Or will he retire to work on his Chasing The Monsoon project.

Only time will tell, but I wouldn't put it past him!