UNFOLDED LIKE STAIRCASE

In my opinion this is one of if not the best symphonic prog albums of the 90s that I've ever heard. The two biggest influences here are probably Genesis and Van der Graaf generator, but I can definitely hear some King Crimson as well. Of course, there's also quite a bit of neo-prog influence along the lines of Marillion and IQ, but don't worry, this is no copycat album.

The album starts off very strong, with the powerful opening notes of "Canto IV (Limbo)" hitting the listener like a sledgehammer right away. The track continues to be probably the best on the album, going through several dynamic motifs and finishing with one of my favorite finales in prog. "Crutches" begins a bit more sedately, but it quickly builds intensity and is quite a good epic in its own right despite the fact that it's stuck between two more powerful tracks. The latter of these, "Into the Dream" has pretty much everything you'd expect from a 20+ minute epic; it's no "Supper's Ready," but it's very, very good progressive songwriting.

The album concludes with "Before the Storm," which is a bit more downtempo, but works very well as a finale. In addition, the introduction to the song, which features Matthew Parmenter on solo piano and vocals, is some of the most beautiful music in the modern prog canon. The song builds in intensity from there and is a worthy closer to this great album. A masterpiece of modern progressive rock.

5/5