THE WORLD IS A GAME

"Mystery Solved!" Is this Mystery's Magnum Opus? The previous release "One Among The Living" was a great album, but when under a magnifying glass this album takes it up a notch with grandiose arrangements and the complimentary, organic embellishments of Nick D'Virgilio's drumming. These songs ooze experience, maturity, tasteful playing. It's an album that you can find yourself enjoying with repeated plays.

The past year this reviewer has listened to the other Neo-Prog icons like, Izz, IQ, Sylvan and Marillion, but when the iTunes player calculated what albums got played the most, "The World Is A Game" (surprisingly!) was only bested by a couple prog artists from other genres, which means the 4 stars simply can't do the album justice as a rating. Definitely one of the better Neo-Prog releases in 2012!

Michel St. Pere and Benoit David are stellar songsmiths. Benoit, who replaced Jon Anderson in the band Yes for a spell, delivers a similar tone with commanding authority. The dynamic juggernaut of rhythm is provided by Nick D'Virgilio and bassist, Antoine Fafard. Nick's drumming is a unique contrast to the calculated, focused (and sometimes clinical) drumming on the previous release and adds just the right amount of organic spice to enhance the sonic stew. Marilene Provencher-Leduc provides a compelling flute in the opening track, which leads into "Pride," a bastion of symphonic prog. The bass pedaling about 10:50 minutes into the other epic song "Another Day" should get the nod of approval from fellow bass players. The chorus to many of the songs on "The World Is A Game" have (shhh, dare I say it') even catchier and more memorable hooks as well. It's music that is provocative, exciting, serene, compelling and comforting. Something worth returning to again and again.