THE ART OF NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

While I can understand the disappointment of some with this comeback album, I'm afraid I cannot share it. Initially my reaction was "Oh they've gone back to 'A Sense of Change' style, and at first I too was a little disappointed. But a few days on and I must say that this is a great album and definitely my album of 2005 (although I haven't been inspired by much this year, too be fair).

I really like the way the band have structured the album as a concept split into parts and I don't really agree that it all sounds the same. Yes there are recurring themes, but for example 'Lighthouse' stands brilliantly on it's own, which is not something you could say about the individual parts of 'A Pleasant Shade of Gray'.

I take the point about the lyrics, but not being big on lyrics myself I am prepared to overlook them for the simple reason that Arno Menses is a great singer. The importance of this cannot be overstressed as I personally find it very hard to listen to the first two albums because of the atrocious singing which spoils some very good music.

I think that fans of Fates Warning would probably appreciate this album, as it seems to me to inhabit a similar field (if slightly less Metal), where melody is King and the techno bits are used sparingly. Personally I think that's a good thing. Sure I used to like listening to Watchtower and things like that but after a while it becomes a competition rather than music and I think that's a shame. A well placed passage always serves much better in my book, but I have to admit that if SE hadn't put those passages in I might not have found this album quite so enticing.

I also think that maybe Marillion fans might like this album, there's one part which really reminds me of late Fish-era Marillion, well, it's more of a bass line really...but it certainly stands out. (Sorry - can't remember which song it's in).