ALL RIGHTS REMOVED

I have to admit to being a bit disappointed with this album. The band has moved far to close to PINK FLOYD--to the point of duplication, or at least sounding as if they were offering alternative versions or extended remixes of old PF classics. And Asle's amazing voice has been mixed far too back--amplifying its STEVEN WILSON timbres and singing style. I like the fact that the band has explored the longer, more extended song formats--and applaud their amazing replication of the PF/PT sound. But, "Identity" was such a wonderful album filled with amazingly rich textures, great vocals, awesome lead guitar solos, incredibly emotional chord and melodic progressions, and perhaps the best 'background' keyboard playing I've ever heard on ANY album. The band may be more mature, more polished, but their originality is, IMHO, a bit lost in the direction they've chosen. Still, FLOYD did some amazing music, and few have done it as well while truly being able to create 'original' songs that we all wish Pink Floyd had done (more of). 1. "All Rights Removed" (8/10) sounds like Steve Wilson's "Time Flies;" the Floyd-imitation layers, sounds and structures are so precise it's scary! 2. White Walls (7/10) sounds as if it comes straight from "The Wall." 3. The Bridge (6/10) is just too derivative/familiar for me. 4. Never Coming Home (7/10) has more of the Identity sound and feel . . . only, with the layers of Gilmour guitars (DSotM). 5. Light Them All Up (7/10) is an instrumental saved by an eerie keyboard background over which an Eastern European-sounding viola solos. 6. Homesick I-III (8/10) starts like another STEVEN WILSON-pays-tribute-to-PINK FLOYD song. Even the electric guitar kick in at the 1:20 mark are right out of "Animals." But the, zoiks, an original (Airbag) section sneaks in from 2:10 all the way til a Richard Wright- like Hammond organ checks in at the 4:05 mark--followed by a fairly nice, NON-Gilmouresque solo. Synth washes with Floyd-like effects from 5:50 til 7:25 when a jazzy bass-line takes over, joined by cymbol play and R Wright's keyboard sound from "Welcome to the Machine" soloing to 9:05. Slow, methodic bottleneck electric guitar solo takes over (on a "Shine On You Crazy Diamond"-kind of solo) as background rhythm section gains in strength, volume and urgency. Great section!! Ends in quiet key washes at 11:25 before Gilmour's other "Shine on..." axe sound enters with, I swear, the duplicate tempo, instrumental support, and chord structure as "Shine on..." Oddly builds into a strumming crescendo at 13:40 before quieting down again at 14:05. Delicate electric guitar picking while synth solos in the background/R channel. Very interesting diversion. But, no! The guitar arpeggios from "Shine on... Part Two" enter... and are inverted! To fade. Interesting song. Obviously a tribute to "Shine on You Crazy Diamond." Nicley done.

Well made, extraordinarily performed. Unlike WOBBLER's "Rites at Dawn," there just isn't enough truly original ARIBAG music here to prompt me to jump and shout. 4 stars.