BEWARE OF DARKNESS

The career of Spock's Beard started with a good omen.''The light'' was followed by the addition of keyboardist Ryo Okumoto in the line-up, thus leaving Neal Morse focusing on his vocal and piano work.The band started immediately rehearsals for a new album and signed with various labels for a worldwide release of it.Officially ''Beware of Darkness'' came out in December 1996.

Compared to ''The light'' this new effort by Spock's Beard contains seven songs of varied time length, but all being deeply progressive and strongly rooted in vintage influences and nostalgic melodies.The biggest surprise comes from the opening track, which is a whole different version of George Harrison's ''Beware of Darkness''.Spock's Beard transformed it into an excellent Prog piece with a rich sound and intense vocals by Neal Morse.The original material of the album is simply outstanding and a great example of why Spock's Beard along with The Flower Kings are considered the fathers of the 90's Prog revival.Impressive compositions with a symphonic flavor, where melody meets complexity, containingg amazing time changes, breaks and plenty of crafty melodies all the way.The music of Spock's Beard creates so many different emotions that are hard to describe.The mass of sensitive passages with acoustic vibes and warm vocals is overblown by the grandiose, captivating and tricky instrumental themes of the group.Filled with heavy organ runs, Mellotron touches, clever synths and delicate piano interludes, the album seems to explore the whole era of the 70's, especially speaking of UK, with obvious nods to the music of GENESIS, YES and GENTLE GIANT.And all these unique keyboard-driven textures are beautifully combined with the clever and sparkling melodies coming out of Alan Morse's guitar, while Okumoto sounds as good as the missing piece in an uncompleted puzzle.

Another Spock's Beard winner.Emotional, adventurous and intelligent quasi-vintage Progressive Rock, supported by great vocals and polyphonic harmonies.Highly recommended.