I've hesitated a long time before purchasing my first Pete Jones album, because he's got quite some ambiguous reputation as a "Genesis" epigone. Well, after listening closely to "The Depths of Winter", I think this suspicion isn't really substantiated. Granted, he clearly draws on the 70's symphonic rock heritage, but not to a greater extent than many others counted among the typical representatives of the neo-prog genre. While this album contains a couple of tracks that I won't listen to very frequently, this is more than compensated by overwhelming monster ballads like my favorite track "Hygge". Pete Jones' voice is outstanding, and Mark Wardle's occasional brass arrangements are an additional pleasure. Sven B. Schreiber