FROM THE DAYS OF DEUCALION - CHAPTER 2

Oh dear! Yet again I find myself swimming against the tide of opinion. It must be some sort of conspiracy. Either that or I need a wholly new set of ears.

Leap Day announced themselves on the prog scene in a big way with Awaking the Muse, with great melodies and musicianship to the fore. Skylge's Lair maintained the high standard and was only slightly less enjoyable overall. Sadly, The Days of Deucalion Chapter 1 witnessed a spectacular decline, with little originality, and no genuinely memorable tunes - apart maybe from Changing Direction which bounces along joyously (and the refrain of which gets a shameless - and welcome - second airing in God of Wars in Chapter 2).

And so to Chapter 2 itself. About which I regret there is very little to say. We have now hit the ground at a hundred miles an hour. Multiple changes of time structure, disjointed rhythms, intermittent reggae back-beat, plaintive vocals, heartfelt and self-consciously meaningful lyrics, animal noises ...yep, all very familiar. There is nothing original in any of this. I will partially tip my hat to the aforementioned God of Wars and also Phaeton (because of its terrific guitar break towards the end), but 10 minutes in total out of 63 doesn't amount to a worthwhile percentage.

I note that a fellow reviewer regards Chapter 2 as being too good to be true. Quite an accolade. I really must be on a different wave length.