V

Fun to listen to, but barely more progressive than any fun to listen to pop rock band. To me, prog has to be artistic (something which has merit greater than its face value), and like the last few Dream Theater album, this feels like it's not actually trying to create anything special. Also, prog has to creative and unique. Their sound sure isn't, and despite the long songs, I fell like this just isn't anything new for Spock's Beard or the prog community.

Lastly, all the great prog albums have had some incredible emotional impact on me. Close to the Edge and all the others are albums where the lyrics and music collide in some amazing ways, spiraling out of control and allowing me a euphoria like opening up a new circuit of your brain. However, the lyrics of Spock's Beard's peak moment come off as trite, unemotional, unremarkable. This is without having listened in great depth to the final and reportedly greatest track. It's possible that by only analyzing the first five tracks, I've missed some great unifying factor, but even if this does exist in The Great Nothing, I just can't be convinced that the album will come out as something that feels, to me, carefully composed with great artistic and emotional depth. However, to all who have read this, the most I could ever give this was 3, and that's only if the last track is a truly progressive piece of work, and not just epic in length.

So maybe I've been a bit harsh, but it's just not prog, no matter how nice it is to listen to.