The brainchild of Rick Hromadka, Maple Mars' debut may not make you forget the brilliant Double Naught Spies (Hromadka's previous outfit) but there's some solid material here that reveals an ambitious talent worthy of more than a few spins. Hromadka goes for more adventurous arrangements here, perhaps best served by the likes of the title track and it's charging guitars and crashing drums - both distracting enought to make you stop wondering what the hell a "Maple Mars" is. In fact, Welcome To Maple Mars succeeds best when the guitars do most of the talking. Hromadka can turn out a hook with the best of them, and one need not look further than Perfect Song or the Weezer-like Souvenir for proof of that. Where Welcome To Maple Mars succeeds a little less is when we find the proceedings driven by ballads like When Atlas Falls and the acoustic Silver Spy Satellite. Under this guise, Maple Mars becomes a little more ordinary and ultimately forgettable. The "highs" here are high enough to bring a smile to almost any pop fan, and Hromadka remains a talent that definitely deserves to have his music heard. It will be interesting to see where his muse takes him. (* * * out of 5) Claudio Sossi (Shake It Up)September 2001