CONFLICT AND DREAMS

About two years ago I was a huge progressive metal fan. So I potentially praised every release by Inside Out or Magna Carta. And so when I saw a Magna Carta label on Cairo's "Conflict And Dreams" I immediately bought it. That was the time when the legend didn't meet my expectations. Two years ago this CD was for me too hard to digest. It was to minimalist in approach for a prog-metal release, the production was too raw ( in a negative meaning ) and I couldn't stand the horrible vocal melodies that Bred Douglas was singing. But since those two years my tastes in music matured. But did I liked Cairo's second release better? No! I find it now even worst than earlier. Still I think that it has a bad production and the singing is terrible. This is a pretentious recording with a lot of annoying crescendos, uninspired melodies and irritating rip-offs from Yes and ELP. I admit that there are some "moments" but they are so rare that you probably don't want to find them anyway. If you are looking for today's good progressive rock, go for Spock's Beard or even Glass Hammer and leave Cairo to people that didn't like them. Try at your own risk.