SNOW

I got into Spock's Beard through the excellent V. I couldn't believe I'd never heard such a great band and I picked this up since many called Snow SB's magnum opus. I got off of iTunes and gave it a spin and...I didn't like it. Undeterred, I gave it a few more spins, but still nothing. Snow is a farfetched concept album about an albino who leaves home and a series of bizarre events unfold. There are many overt parallels to The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, from the setting (NYC) to the overall sound. Perhaps this is why why I don't enjoy this album as much as others, since I never did like Lamb.

Neal can't pull off the multiple voices of Gabriel, but he doesn't sound too bad. The instrumentation is good, but nothing special. Only Ryo's keyboards and Nick's drums do anything for me. Lyrically, this is a murky and indecipherable as Lamb, but it is more believable than Gabriel's double LP.Occasionally, the album has a good song, but nothing is even remotely unique. In the end, this is music too long and fails to excite me, but fans of Lamb Lies Down will probably enjoy this.

Grade: D+