In the beginning of 1994, the new dutch progressive band DILEMMA released their first demo cassette, "Trapped". It contains four pieces: 1. Arrival (1:53), an instrumental opening theme to 2. The Horror Of Time Travel (8:45), a song about the dangers of modern science, 3. In The Trap Of The Gods (4:50), a song about high minds and deep falls, and 4. Believe (9:53), an emotional testimony of personal struggles and beliefs.

The lineup:

Toll		guitars
Robin Z		keyboards
Case		bass, backing vocals
Butler		lead vocals, effects
Essen		drums, violin, backing vocals

The drummer, Frank van Essen, has been a guest musician on the Iona albums "Book Of Kells" and "Beyond These Shores".

On april 30th, Dilemma gave their first public performance during a band contest in the Veluwehal, Barneveld, The Netherlands. It was a shame the main public aged about 16 and was unable to be part of the performance. The minority of more matured people had a very good time though.
The performance itself was simply stunning. The emotional expression of frontman Butler is overwhelming and reminds of Peter Nicholls and Geoff Mann. In his best moments he is able to enchant the public, to capture their minds until the end of the song gives a breathtaking release. His voice sometimes reminds me of Midge Ure and sometimes of Geoff Mann.
Guitarist Toll likes the heavy work and gives himself completely. During the closing section of "Believe" he was on his knees and played like he was the last man in the world.
Bass player Case is a solid keeper of the rhythm and the driver of the many rhythm changes. Sadly he could not contribute any vocal backing because he had lost his voice shortly before the performance. On the cassette his voice provides firm backing.
Drummer Essen is the most experienced of the band. His drumming has quality but never overrules the other musicians. It was a pity he did not play the violin part on "In The Trap Of The Gods".
Keyboard player Robin Z is the main responsible for the harmonic layers built on the steady rhythms, surrounding Butler's voice and sometimes cut through by the squealing guitar of Toll.
Next to the songs of their demo cassette, Dilemma played a new song called "Rock Blossom". It is about 10 minutes long and deals with suicide. The intro was only vocal and showed Butler at his strongest. His expression was serious acting and when he let himself fall down great parts of the audience were truly shocked. Musically, this new song is even better than "Believe", which is my favourite of the cassette.

It is not easy to characterize the style of Dilemma, for they combine the american and the british tradition: parts remind of Rush, other parts remind of IQ and Twelfth Night. Sure is that this band has a distinct sound of its own and apart from shades of IQ, Twelfth Night and Ultravox their music can only be characterized as Dilemma. Once you heard it, you'll recognize it everywhere.

In my opinion, Dilemma is a very valuable newcomer on the dutch progressive stage, and it would be no bad suggestion in the direction of SI Music to focus their attention on this band.
Their next step should be a CD and/or a performance as a support act for IQ.

1 May 1994,
Peter J.R. Vermaat