SHOOTING ALBATROSS

IS THIS THE BEST SYMPHONIC PROGRESSIVE ALBUM OF 2008 BY A COUNTRY MILE? Well on the first listening it has got to be in with a shout! Don't like the genre name Neo-prog, because Abel Ganz are out and out Symphonic prog and this CD is a sparkling example of the genre, GET OUT AND BUY THIS, YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED. Well you won't be if you like Steve hackett, because this cd is more like Hackett than anything else, I hear Hackettesque classical & Electric guitar in all four tracks, with sort of Genesis undertones. And what tracks - ALL FOUR, nice and long, beautifully crafted instrumental passages, and too much singing, but the vocals are the weakest part. But on more than one occasion I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rising as my prog-sense was stimulated! The Epic no 2, So Far is so good (it's 23:31) but they should have made the mellotron break a lot longer and taken it out to 30 minutes....I wanted MORE! Splendid bass work, great synths and guitar. The track Sheepish has an AWESOME instrumental break and the last track Ventura, starts with Fantastic synth work, this track then has a heavy guitar solo then silence (The album is dedicated to a Jane (Late) (incidentally my wifes name), thus presuming that the silence is for her, then it starts again with un-listed lyrics, perhaps private. IM GIVING THIS A FIVE, YES FIVE!, well if that french effort (SI ON AVAIT BESOIN D'UNE CINQUIEME SAISON) gets in the top 10 of all time, this CD should get 100 stars!!!! AND YES THIS IS ESSENTIAL for 2008 and the best since DARK MATTER by IQ.