ICE CYCLES

Not the best album to be reviewing on Halloween night I suppose. Bad planning on my part although I did play UNIVERS ZERO's "Heresie" and ART ZOYD's "Nosferatu" tonight while giving out treats. This is PLATYPUS' second album and it has a strong KINGS X flavour at times with Ty Tabor singing, playing lead guitar and writing all the lyrics. This sure doesn't have the prominant bass that KINGS X has though. I'm not sure why Myung's bass always seems lost in the sound of whatever band I hear him in. His ex-DREAM THEATER bandmate keyboardist Derek Sherinian is here along with former DIXIE DREGS drummer Rod Morgenstein.

"Oh God" opens with keys as a heavy sound eventually comes in. Vocals before a minute. Nice guitar solo 3 1/2 minutes in. Good song with some great lyrics. "Better Left Unsaid" is again a relaxed yet powerful sounding tune. Some organ in this one as well. It gets heavy late. "The Tower" opens with drums as guitar then organ joins in. Vocals follow. I like the guitar 2 minutes in. "Cry" is the heaviest tune yet. Again the tempo is mid-paced at best. "I Need You" is another laid back but somewhat heavy song.

"25" is the first track where they let loose.The guitar and organ are outstanding here. "Gone" opens with some atmosphere that floats in. The song kicks in around 2 minutes. I like the meaningful lyrics on this one. A touching track. "Partial To The Bean (A Tragic American Quintogy)" is the closing 10 1/2 minute suite that is divided into 7 short songs. Some heavy Fusion early followed by a relaxing section on parts 3 and 4. The sixth part has some energy before it closes out in a laid back way.

3.5 stars. I really like this album perhaps in part because of Ty's involvement and he has the most promiant role. KING'S X fans should give this a listen.