THE SEVENTH HOUSE

Martin Orford is such a talented keyboardist and he's all over this one. I don't know if i've ever seen a picture of him not smiling. You can tell he's genuinely a nice guy. Well as far as the music goes "Seventh House" is right up there as one of the best from the Neo-Prog genre.

"The Wrong Side Of Weird" opens with some lush synth work from Orford as the main melody starts a minute in. There is such a beautiful section 6 minutes in where the vocals are soft and accompanied by piano. Synths come in before it all gives away to a bombastic soundscape of guitar and drums eventually becoming quite uplifting. This is a fantastic tune. "Erosion" opens with synths and fragile vocals. The sound increases as the drums come in followed at 4 minutes by an incredible guitar solo that is scorching at times.The song fades out quietly.

"The Seventh House" is probably the best song on the record. The guitar melody with synths and vocals are good for 3 minutes until it gets heavier and it's even better. The vocals are great in this one.This is an epic song at over 14 minutes. "Zero Hour" is a pretty good song. Acoustic guitar, piano and sax help create a pastoral vibe. Nice guitar solo 5 minutes in as the song ends on an uplifting note. "Shooting Angels" has some interesting lyrics.This is a cool song and one of my favourites from this album. It's almost industrial sounding early on as the drums pound away. A good beat throughout as well as some sax and guitar. "Guiding Light" is an emotional ballad. "But we passed each other like seasons out of time". Nice. It gets surprisingly heavy 3 1/2 minutes in with guitars, drums, organ, and well everything playing a part actually. Well done !

This is a winner folks ! I'd rate the one before it and after it higher but this is highly recommended.