DIAGONAL

This is definitely an album you will want to add to your collection of contemporary retro prog. It captures the vibes of many eclectic prog bands of the from the late 60's early 70's era, such as: ELP, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, etc.

Does it push open a new frontier for the genre? The short answer is no. This album is a reverent nod to their predecessors and will definitely soothe the nostalgic needs of generation brought up on this particular palette of prog.

Audio production is standard, so any of you audiophiles looking for ear biscuits, I suggest you look somewhere else.

The compositions are great for the most part, but at times it lacks to keep the listener on a continuous ride. For example in my favorite track "Child of the Thundercloud" has you listen through a build up with the main vocal melody up until there is a studio produced crescendo, which ostensible punctuated the end of the song. However, in the midst of the rumbling things begin to ramp up again with a riff that felt kind of tagged onto the end of the piece, for no discernible reason other than either: They had an extra riff they wanted to use; they wanted to make the piece longer; they were worried that the piece didn't have enough Umph. Were this riff a standalone track, maybe it would make more sense, but from a composition point of view, it poorly executed development.

The vocalist is a complete pleasure to listen to. On the track "Deathwatch," you hear this very dissonant melody that almost twists you into a pretzel before quickly resolving the tension. This kind of gentle giant-esque dissonance has mostly been discarded by contemporary prog bands due to its impracticality and lack of appeal, so kudos for experimenting with that.

"Pact," one of the better compositions in the album, has a long ambient section in the middle that doesn't feel forced. It places you in a trance before a forgettable stereo guitar harmonies fill the space with some Pink Floyd-esque vocal swells.

If you played this album alongside other prog albums from that era, I don't think I would notice much of a difference, other than a slightly better audio production. Which is both the advantage and disadvantage of this album. For anyone looking for a reverent piece of eclectic retro prog, this is your guy, but if you're hoping to hear something that pushes the genre to new frontiers, keep looking.