Nothing too new in this brew. Start with a base of soft rock grinding into prog rock. Infuse with big, heavy, slow beats, sludgy bass, Procol Harum organ, “Dust in the Wind” arpeggios, keening harmonies, King Crimson confusion and the odd trippin’ out guitar solo. Stir in aching pangs of bourgeois infatuation amid the desperate hopelessness of existence, etc. and this stuff is ready for slurping while slow dancing around a fire on a silvery half moon night. The first song on the album, “Full Circle,” has all the ingredients of a bona fide hit. It’s catchy, urgent and haunting. But you have to wonder what’s going on with the production when the liner notes list eight engineers versus three musicians. For my money it’s like this dirge that Sony left on my MP3 player as a sampler that pops up when I am wandering through a cemetery on a foggy night.
[rating:3]
-Peter Jabs
