RHETORIC

It took me a while to fully enjoy this CD, but the patience has paid off. This is a great little album, with surprisingly catchy riffs! One thing to note is the definite similarities with Fish-era Marillion. While sporting a very neo-prog sound, the lead singer Mark Colton also has an uncannily similar voice to Fish himself. Let's dive into this great album.

Skintrade is a 'classic' Credo song, if there ever was such a thing. The lyrics set the dark mood for the album: 'Another 14-year old first time whore.' This song is quite memorable and has some very good riffs. A highlight for me is the singing of 'Maga-zi-zi-zine'.

Turn The Gun is less memorable than Skintrade, but it's still a good song, with aggressive riffs and great lyrics.

The next two songs form a single 19 minute epic track From The Cradle To The Grave. The first half is a relatively poppy track with a great guitar solo in the centre. I wasn't too sure about the chorus at first, but it grows on you. The second, and longer half is more progressive in nature. The second half is quite aesthetically pleasing as it starts with a 3 minute instrumental and ends with a 3 minute instrumental. The latter instrumental is just fantastic and lets guitarist Tim Birrell and keys player Mike Varty show off what they've got. The remaining 6 minutes of this song feature some great lyrics and stunning riffs. All in all this makes a great epic track about the trials and tribulations of love between two people.

The Letter is quite a clever piece. As the track continues, it gets more and more aggressive, climaxing with the shouting of 'You Lied!'. There is precious little instrumental on this track though.

Probably the catchiest part of this album is the chorus to The Game. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that this is very much a pop song that has been somehow made into a prog song (in a good way). I say this mainly because it has three verses and three choruses. However these are stretched out over 11 minutes, and there is a lot of progressive playing in this track making it very good listening. The melancholy ending to this track is very tasteful.

To Late To Say Goodbye is inspired by World War I, and a picture of soldiers from this era can be found underneath the CD in the case. The first half of this piece is more rocky than the second half. The second half of this track feels more like a tribute to those soldiers. The second half is genuinely moving and ends with the sound of explosions and gunfire.

Seems Like Yesterday is a very different sounding track altogether. This relatively short track begins with a guitar intro and ends with an anthemic instrumental. I don't find this track particularly memorable, but it's a good song nonetheless.

I am very glad to have this album in my library. It is not very deeply progressive: the songs are long, but the arrangements are never very complex. For a progressive album, the lyrics are also extremely literal, and it's a sort of awakening to hear such hard-hitting lyrics after listening to mainly fantastical and mystical lyrics. The songs are a lot of fun, and as I experienced just last night, they sound great live! If I had to give some criticism though, I'd say that there are too many lyrics, which can on occasion feel overwhelming. 'Rhetoric' is an album full of emotion and meaning, and is an album that any band could be proud of.