THE LIGHT

Magnificent debut from Neal Morse and co. Unfortunately, some flaws hinder it from a 5/5. Anyway, as a debut, one could not ask for more. 3 epics lasting more than 12 minutes each, bizarre concepts, watery hammond organ, and searing guitar solos, who could ask for more? Alan Morse plays a nasty lead guitar that has a nice rough sound that doesn't stray into the metal foray. Neal Morse plays some awesome piano throughout, hammering through vocal sections with precision. Dave Meros plays a jagged bass, with a sound similar to that of Chris Squire and Geddy Lee combined. And finally, Nick D'Virgilio plays some complex patterns and sings some very nice back up vocals. This ensemble combines into a cohesive progressive unit better known as Spock's Beard.

The highlights of this album are Go the Way You Go and the Water. Go the way you go begins erratically, but after a minute or two of this jagged riff, some nice acoustic guitar comes in and Neal begins to sing. The rest of the song has a very hard-rock oriented sound, but keeps the rest of the instruments at the forefront. The wah guitar and the solo on this song are also among the best of the album. This song also has a very catchy chorus, a thing that Spock's Beard would become good at doing. The other song, The Water, is a 23 minute epic of harsh and pretentious scale. With a section that features some very premiscious vocals (Neal Morse swearing over and over again), and some very impressive guitar and bass interplay. But that's not saying that Neal's Hammond is left out. It is one of the main features of the song, with its watery sound that is very fitting of the mood.

Overall, I did enjoy this album. I only had a few problems. The sound quality during some of the vocal sections and instrumental parts was questionable, and the vocals from Neal aren't terribly spectacular (they're adequate). Minor faults aside, this is a brilliant debut that no one should miss. 4.5/5.