I've spent a lot of time with this album in the past couple of months, first gazing at
this picture of the cover artwork and then listening intently to the music. Two discs spanning one hour and 40 minutes of music can be a lot to take in and sometimes the experience has been brilliant, other times frustrating. With this being progressive rock, it all depends on how you like your music served.
Immediately captivating are the warm, lush vocals of Mark Trueack as he sings the short opener, only accompanied by piano. It sets the album off to a grand start and the continuing 22 minute title track makes things no less ambitious. However, already in the first song is a small sign (unnecessary bird chirping) of the albums main problem. The band tries too hard and want too much and in the end are not able to constrain themselves. This results in songs that often feel too long and filled with too many unnecessary detours, combined it makes the album unwieldy and not as entertaining as I feel it could have been.
There are many amazing passages scattered all through the album, which made me sit back a go "Wow!". Everything is played very extremely well and an abundance of different instruments are used to flavor the sound, saxophone, mandolin, flute and clarinet among others. The melodic element is in place and several songs have hooks that stay in the mind after the album is over. The missing link is a feeling of consistency in several songs and it is a shame since it hampers my overall impression.
The 10 minute
Angeliqua is one example of a song taken too far. The mellow passages are filled with emotion and a convincing atmosphere while the heavier passages break up the song in small bites which end up choking the song since the shifts from heavy to mellow come too quick, too often and lack both proper build-up and a convincing way back down. Each passage has its strength but together they don't work so well.
The two longest running songs,
The Garden at 22:33 minutes and
Journey's Friend at 16:30 both almost succeed in being captivating all the way through but also share this problem. Several fantastic passages inhabit the songs, but neither succeeds in capturing the consistent feel that for example inhabits songs like
Lifeline and
Many roads from the latest
Neal Morse album,
Lifeline. Comparing these two progressive rock albums there is much more focused feeling to
Lifeline. Both albums share a lyrical theme of inner struggle but again
Lifeline is more accomplished in this area.
The soothing threesome of
Here I am,
Amelia's Dream and I wish I could fly provide a successful passage midway through the first disc. Then
Inside the Power brings an inconsistent feeling again as a melancholic verse section combined with an upbeat chorus doesn't mesh in a convincing way.
It's impossible to get into every nook and cranny of the two discs but rest assured that the second disc holds many highlights, including a female guest singer, a sweet piano interlude,
Love Never Ends where a theme from Lord of the Rings suddenly flows in and the effective album closer
321, a tribute to the
Beaconsfield miners.
I can't help shake the feeling that there is an outstanding one disc album here but as it is spread over two discs, like butter scraped over too much bread, the feeling I end up with is not as gratifying as I wish it to be. Even if The Garden is less than the sum of its parts, a sparkling but flawed jewel, it is still worth investing time and money in for those into progressive rock.
Written by
Steen Saturday, November 22, 2008
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