FREE

(Side note -- I'd originally given this album a 4 when I'd first gotten it... it was also my first review. After listening to it recently I've decided to completely overhaul this review)

Stunning a good chunk of the prog world with their self titled debut, masterminds Joey Vera and Kevin Moore regroup and release this effort. Unfortunately for the people more acquainted to OSI's progressive side the band would choose to take (at once) a more heavy and electronic sound over their spacey and meditative debut. The songs here are shorter, more strait forward, and less inclined towards experimentation.

There's no instrumental overture as the album kicks off into SURE YOU WILL. A good, electo-rock song that still has it's moments the song more or less sets the pace of the rest of the album. Others to follow such as FREE, KICKING, GO and BIGGER WAVE follow this formula fairly closely wile some others such as HOME WAS GOOD take the slower route.

Still some standout above the generally 'good' tracks, a couple of them branch off into the territories that they were in before. The longest track on the album, the six and a half minute ONCE is probably the most progressive thing that the album has to offer, and this is one that would have fit right in on the first album. OUR TOWN is a beautiful outro that it very emotionally sung and played giving off all the feelings portrayed in the music.

Still a 'good' album, this one is hardly essential. If you're a big fan of the first album you might like this one, and if you like your music a little bit more electro-rock this might quench your thirst as well. The rest of us will just have to wait for their next album. 3 stars, good but not essential.

A couple more things to note. If you go out and buy the special edition you'll also get a bonus disc of some of the tracks left off the album. Apparently this is where everything that would have made this album sound more like their first. Perhaps they didn't want to do that (and kudos for that), but one still sheds a single tear over what the album could have been. A bit more on the electronic side, this disc is actually very very experimental and any one who liked the first album will get an intense kick out of this disc. If you're getting the special edition then tack another half star onto this rating.

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