THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

While I don't find this album to be the masterpiece progressive rock opera that many here have deemed it, "The Theory Of Everything" as a prog album provides the listener with an astounding experience.

And a big surprise is the guest musicians. Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Steve Hackett and John Wetton are here. The last time we had so many veterans of the top 70s prog acts together we ended up with the disappointment called Asia. Arjen Lucassen does a superb job of using their talents not as cheap celebrity cameos but to truly elevate his already splendid music. He even has the audacity to pit Emerson against Jordan Rudess on the track Progressive Waves.

Throughout the album, Lucassen has provided top notch metal tinged symphonic prog that drives his story along. That's where my issues with this album lie. He has created splendid and exciting music, but it is not meant to stand on it's own. It's there as part of the rock opera. Each piece gets into a heavy and exciting groove, but every track is so short that we don't have time to fully enjoy what he has written, and the amazing performances before the music changes completely.

And, unlike many of the great rock operas of the past, "Tommy", "Quadrophenia", "The Lamb Lies Down On Breoadway", and even lesser works like "Snow", Lucassen doesn't tie the work together enough with recurring themes. It often sounds like many short ideas thrown together in a patchwork manner.

Nonetheless, I can't seem to stop listening to this. Another great album in a great year for prog.