AQUARIUS

'The age of Aquarius' this is not. After repeated listenings to any and every sample and full-length song stream I can find--including the band's own MySpace site--I am going to go out on a limb and write a review. Aquarius is a well-crafted, well-constructed, well-engineered, awesomely performed album--and I LOVE "Point of No Return" (vocals reminds me of Wetton with UK)--but this is just not my cup of tea. Even the slowed-down "Sun" with it's acoustic guitar arpeggios, fretless bass (Lord knows I'm a sucker for fretless), congas, piano, monk-like male background vocals, and eccentric vampire-themed lyrics, can't convince me to actually buy this album. It would never get played! I have to admit, (again?): I don't like heavy metal or even heavy prog much. Sure, the occasional work, like ALCEST, ORPHANED LAND and some PORCUPINE TREE have won me over, but, on the whole, I've always gone for subtlety and beauty over power and volume. I've never been won over by even RUSH or KANSAS, so obviously this album is not going to bring me into the fold.

It's so difficult for me to see this album atop the ProgArchives poll for best album of 2010 because it just shows me how mediocre--how unexceptional--2010 has been so far. And my favorite album of the year, COLLAPSE UNDER THE EMPIRE's The Sirens Sound hasn't even arrived on ProgArchives yet!