BE

Perhaps it would help the listener to realize that this is not an album of songs, but an album of one complete piece of music. Perhaps if fans of the band would have expected something this different it might have been more appreciated. Still, it gets a quite good overall rating here, so most people seem to like it.

For myself, I can't quite call it a masterpiece but I took to it pretty quickly. The thing that I realized right away is that there are no songs to grab on to on this album, other than the album as whole. If you consider it as one long track it works better I think. Though even that isn't quite the case, as the tracks don't flow into each other like on most album length songs I've heard.

Still, it's a great album and a great departure from "typical" (if there is such a thing) PoS material. The concept I related to right away, as I have had similar notions about humanity, religion and existence for some time (I've also read a number of the books Daniel listed as reference material). Not an easy concept to grasp to be sure, especially if you are just a casual listener and not familiar with any of the reference material. But still, I think the album is listenable regardless. My only complaints are with the spoken dialog, which can get old after repeated listenings, but I think it is necessary for the concept and is incorporated pretty well overall.

There is far less metal here, though still a good amount. The singing is quite good and more varied than any other PoS album. I happen to like that aspect, others probably don't. The piano gets a wider use on this album, which I quite like, and I can tell that Daniels time with The Flower Kings has give PoS a more symphonic leaning, especially on this album.

All in all, a very good album. I think in many ways it is Daniels masterpiece. But not mine. Still, a solid 4 stars and a great work of art.