ROCK ISLAND

Probably their heaviest album overall, with more rock-heavy and harder rock songs, with very little acoustic work. This may have been in response to the backlash they received after winning the Grammy Award for best hard rock/heavy metal album in the previous year for an album (Crest of a Knave) that was considered neither hard rock nor metal. So they came back with a more rock-heavy album To solidify their hard rock credentials. Unfortunately, the result is one of their least enjoyable albums, without much to recommend it. I really could not pick out the best and worst songs here, as all are just OK. Nothing really bad, but also just not that good either. Contains many familiar elements of Tull songs, but the songs just don't gel into anything substantial. Somewhat generic songs, mostly not very memorable. Rating: 2.5