The first time I ever saw this band's name was on a t-shirt at a Porcupine Tree concert years ago. When I attended Steven Wilson's show last year, I saw several more. Figured it was time to find out who they were. A quick history check revealed they were Swedish in origin, circa 1994/5, obtaining domestic distribution in 1999. For the life of me, after looking at the five albums released over the following four years while I was at Music 4 Less, I don't recall ever having one in my stores. When I spotted this new record release in late October, I added to my next bulk purchase six weeks later. A double-disc, I was prepared for prog-rock magic...what I got was passable art-rock. Substantial is the Yes influence with the vocalist sounding more like Jon Anderson than the replacement the original band now employs. Other arty rock bands I heard in this were ELP, Marillion and Genesis. Heavier moments invoked Rush and one track that could have been a Deep Purple/Ian Gillan castoff. I may have heard a smidgen of a Phish jam, too.
Looking for videos from this record to add, I found very few. From their label comes this one official lyric clip...
Meh...
I mentioned double CD earlier but apparently the second disc is bonus material. Let's break it down: album proper is ten tracks clocking in at 60 minutes...I'll keep a third of it; bonus material is eight songs @ 32 minutes and I'll keep half. There are a boatload of 5-star positive reviews out there to read if you're so inclined. The band obviously has a loyal legion of followers. Can't say they are enough in number to translate to sales as I found this record on just one world chart for one week. Will I be moved to investigate the next release?
Doubt it...
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