SILENT NATION

Asia

Prog Related

3.12 | 170 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

SILENT NATION is the last official ASIA album featuring John Payne as lead vocalist and primary songwriter... and it hearkens back to the band's 1994 ARIA album in many ways, although somehow not quite as vibrant.

The songs are all quite straight-forward. Some are basic upbeat Rock, while others are slower and more moody... Unfortunately, however, there are only a couple standout tracks here... and the almost-hypnotic atmosphere established on their 2001 album AURA is completely missing this time around.

Being a fan of all incarnations of ASIA myself, the biggest gripe I have with this particular album is its lack of "embracing" the ASIA heritage... I understand that times change and bands do different things... but an ASIA album should never leave the listener disappointed by lack of instrumental dynamic... Here, it seems like the guitar parts are completely understated, and the drumming is lackluster at best... Why ??? Guthrie Govan was the guitarist for Pete's sake !!!

Oh well. Geoff Downes was apparently losing his inspiration for the Payne partnership by this point anyway... so I guess we can simply chalk this album up as just a lost opportunity all around.

Lastly, the existing track sequence doesn't necessarily help the material either... so here is my suggested sequence for those just being introduced to the album...

Midnight... Long Way From Home... Ghost In The Mirror... What About Love... The Prophet

I Will Be There For You... Darkness Day... Gone Too Far... Silent Nation... Blue Moon Monday... Rise

PS: Just a warning for fans of Wetton-era ASIA who NEVER heard any Payne-era ASIA... You probably won't appreciate this album at first (if at all)... Try to preview the songs "Long Way From Home" and "Ghost in the Mirror" somewhere online beforehand.

1 star on the Prog-o-meter

2 stars on the Personal-Taste-meter

2 stars overall.

altaeria | 2/5 | 2016-4-4

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