It didn't take too long for me to figure out that Spock's Beards eighth album was highly interesting and had a lot of music to take in. On the other side of the Progressive coin called Octane we also find a quite down to earth and direct album with songs having the duration of around five minutes.
The first seven songs make up the overall title A Flash Before My Eyes, a deep, comprehensive and at times very moving piece of high class Progressive Rock.
After the introductory intro the mellow
I Wouldn't Let It Go sees the light, being based on soft acoustic guitars, hypnotic leads, symphonic backgrounds and a fantastic vocal effort reaching several climaxes with the memorable chorus line.
Surfing Down The Avalanche enters a groovy and rather heavy path, thick guitar riffs and raw bass chords take up central roles in fittingly hard song.
The tempo gets turned way down with the next part of this huge epic with
She Is Everything, which is a clear favourite. The sedative atmosphere created by harmonious piano passages, dreaming keys and Nick D´Virgillio's warm voice is really incredible. When added a spectacular guitar solo and a great diverse drum approach it only gets better and very grand in scope, still very accessible.
At the end
Of The Beauty Of It All manages to wrap things up in a symphonic creation that nicely links up with the intro theme. I would have liked this song to have more content due to the fact that it ends a bit abrupt.
The second part of the album consists of five independent songs, here follows a closer description:
NWC: An experimenting instrumental reminding us that we are dealing with some serious Progressive Rock that dares to challenge the listener, a really cool track.
There Was A Time is another fave of mine and again it relates to a huge catchy vibe coming to life through an up-light drive and the recognisable chorus.
I think that
The Planet's Hum has something strange to it that's hard to describe, I just don't think that the different parts melts together in the smooth way I had hoped for, the refrain is very cool though.
Watching The Tide is another slow song and again it's a good one with a very striking mood. These relaxing atmospheres are recurring themes throughout the album, still this one could have had that really exciting moment worked into it.
As Long As We Ride puts out an easy going and hard rocking vibe, the uuhhuuhh uuuhhh parts gets on my nerves but the jamming feeling is quite successful.
These guys definitely know how to handle their instruments; I even think that they could have made more use of their elaborate skills and created more elaborate passages. The songs themselves are mostly very good and I have a certain soft spot for the. soft tracks, they are really melodic in a cool way. With that said not every part of the album seems to fit naturally in, its not like the album has any bad songs I'm just left wanting something more from time to time. When it all comes down to it this is all in all a very good Progressive Rock album.
Lyrically the album is very focused on personal issues and the things we experience and learn in life. Fighting your own battles and the notion of love are some of many topics.
The sound is very balanced and clean, unfortunately also a bit sterile but overall a professional job.
A very solid and enjoyable album with some limitations, very fitting for a quiet afternoon when you need to gear a bit down from a stressful day.
Written by
Tommy Tuesday, February 8, 2005
Show all reviews by TommyRatingsTommy: 7/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
This article has been shown 4871 times. Go to the
complete list.
