BOOK OF THE DEAD

Oh, how extremely enjoyable is this album. Symphonic prog of highest degree with neo- prog touches. Wonderful guitar by Allan Holdsworth, beautiful violin by Yvette Devereaux, impressive but not-overdone keyboards by Ryo Okumoto, and of course huge talent of multi-instrumentalist Ken Jaquess (just listen to his bass solo on track 4 - awesome). Actually all and every musicians on this project are just brilliant. Vocals of Shaun Guerin suit music superbly. He is kind of mixture of Gabriel and Pete Nicholls. I would give it five stars, unless he had reminded me Nicholls' moaning too often. Othewise very close to masterpiece. Solid 4/4.5 stars.