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Coming up with a concept album with only their second CD demands a lot of courage and confidence in their own capabilities. “Zarah - A Teartown Story” is the title of the new work by the Hamburg progressive rock formation Ricochet. With it, the quintet proves that the years spent working on the concept were anything but wasted

The vast diversity of this album is impressive: from the melancholy, depressive-sounding piano ballad entitled “Final Curtain” through to the progressive mid-tempo rocker “Red Line” right though to the instrumental firework “Disobedience”, the entire range of the genre is exhausted. Yet each and every one of these songs only reveals its true strength and power of expression when seen in the overall context of the album - for each song has its own significance within the concept, and expresses a certain mood and situation.

Yet what exactly IS the concept behind “Zarah”? “Put simply, it is about the short and painful life of a young girl - from her abuse through to the murder of the culprit, through to her suicide during her period in jail”, says drummer Jan Keimer. Yet it is actually about much more, too. It is about the anonymity of the city, the fear of missed chances, the burden of the past and of life itself - yet, despite all the gloomy or melancholy elements and the tragic end of the protagonist, there is nevertheless the recognition that life goes on and there is still hope. However, above all, it is the expression of various emotions, emphasised by music which is just as diverse”.