DARK MATTER

In spite of the fact i'm not a fan of Neo Progressive, i really enjoy every time i listen to this album, it is an excellent release and a very fine example of style and good songwritting. In general it is very emotional as Neo Prog in generall, but in contrast to most Neo albums i've listened to, this has also a high quality level of musicianship. All over the album you can find this dark atmosphere that really fits on the main theme, really a great job on the keyboards, but sometimes this is mixed with 'white'and emotional melodies and lyrics, and this drives you to a strange feeling while listening to it,sometimes touchy and sometimes more obscure . The drumming may not be as complex as many progressive compositions, but it shows a wonderfull taste and delicacy, i can say the same to the bass lines with a very consistent work, and the guitar solos are beautifull and not even one is out of place. The album starts with a keyboard intro, that tries to get you into those Dark but touchy feelings, in Sacred Sound. Sacred Sound can be described as a beautifull and emotional song, with fine and strong melodies, at first not a very variable song, but then it starts being a dinamic song, with a really intresting drumming,specially in the instrumental only parts when there are some fine pasages , and with intresting mood changes, and always very atmosferic, i like very much the keyboards work here in this track. At the end the song kind of reaches it's emotive peak at the end of the song. To sum up a great song this one. The second track contrast the first one,this is a melancholic and depresive track, thet turns you down in a second after the emotive first track. Emotive ?, yes,a lot, but in a dark and depresive way. Musically maybe the weakest song, but it is not bad at all. It starts with an acoustic guitar, and then the keyboards setting kind of a melancholic and quiet atmosphere, the vocals start with a depressive tone. Then when the quietness breack and the drumms appear the song turns to be more agressive, but still melancholic. Drums are good here too. 3 - You Never Will . It continues in the mood that the last song ended, more agressive and melancholic, but i find it a little boring, not very dinamic this one, and predictible, on the other hand melodies are strong and consistent. This is the weakest song of the album. 4- Born Brilliant. This Song is excellent!, it has a dark mood, the black surronding given by the keyboards and the agressive singing at the beginning makes you go to a state of angry emotionallity, and this is the main subject of the song. It's strong, very strong, the singing and songwritting here is excellent. The keyboards and sound effects are perfect, the band in generall showed a really good taste IMO. 5- Harvest Of Souls - The first time i heard this epic reminded me to Supper's Ready. This is by far the best Track of the album, and one of the best compositions of the 21st century. Harvest of Souls is awesome, it has everything, emotion, beauty, strong melodies, and passages of high quality music. When listening to this you kind of pass throguh every state and feeling you had in the past tracks. It's very cleverly done, a gem. At the beginning it starts with an acoustic guitar beautifully played, and at this point it's very white ambiented and the singing is very touchy. At some point, it brakes into a more dinamic and agressive part, with really good instrumentation. This part has awesome and dinamic drumming, mood changes and breaks perfectly played and very clever. Then it continues with all the mood changes, with beautifull guitar solos, beautifull and sometimes agressive melodies,always changing, some hard passages, and some high quality ( in musical terms) passages. It seems like everything is were it has to be, not one single note out of place, excellent job, very touchy. To sum up, the album is very very good, and you should give it a chance even if you don't like Neo Prog (It worked for me, now it is one of my favourites albums).

It deserves 4 stars.