ARDOUR

Ethos

Symphonic Prog

3.91 | 87 ratings

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Progbear
Prog Reviewer

One of the more infuriating albums out there. I guess you could call this the North American equivalent to TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS.

Some passages of this album are blistering, unique and amazing, with fiery guitarwork and dual keyboards (Hammond, Moog, piano, Clavinet, Mellotron/Chamberlin, etc.) that really do add an extra dimension to the music, some of the finest moments of any American prog album ever. Some passages are downright embarrassing-derivative and saccharine, exemplifying the worst tendencies of American prog-rock.

The big problem is, you can't pick out any one track. They're ALL like that, with amazingly excellent and abysmally bad sections sitting side-by-side. This is why the album is so infuriating! You're FORCED to listen to the bad stuff to get to the good. Combine that with the fact that this contains what surely must be the worst sets of lyrics by an native-English-speaking band EVER and you'll understand why I don't play this one much. Silliest lyrics (and there's serious competition for that, believe me) are probably found in "Everyman" a conceptual piece (centered around the imaginary river Si, pronounced "sigh". I can hear you groaning already.) with metaphors so obvious you can see them from space.

Second prize probably goes to "Spirit Of Music", whose lyrics would become highly ironic mere MONTHS after the album's release.

Progbear | 3/5 | 2005-9-3

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