OCTANE

Contrary to the opinions I'm reading on this site, I personally instantly fell in love with this album. I've heard all of the band's material to date, and I can frankly say that I consider this album to be among the three best Beard albums, together with The Light (and I'm leaving some vacant space for one more album ;-)). I have already reviewed this album on metal-realm.com and gave it a 10 out of 10, which is a VERY rare thing for me. I only gave two 10s in 2004.

The band has obviously changed their sound, towards a somewhat more straightforward musicstyle, with lots of more pop-py moments, such as "She Is Everything", "I couldn't Let It Go" and "The Beauty Of It All" but the proggy moments still remain in many songs in "Octane". Also, in "Octane" you're to find some very special (although rare...) orchestral parts, like for example in "The Beauty Of It All". The keyboards remain as good as always and Nick D'Virgillio's voice fits this kind of music incredibly. Moreover, the performances on both the guitar and the drums are among the best I've ever heard from Spock's Beard.

In short, I think this is a very consistent and solid album and I just can't stop listening to it! Simply amazing!