BEWARE OF DARKNESS

This is a better-sounding album than its predecessor, with better recording and egineering. It also features Ryo Okumoto on the keyboards for the first time, adding some great Hammond organ playing, even better than Morse's, which wasn't bad at all. That said, I find this album a litlle more irregular than The Light. The highlight for me is The Doorway, possibly their best track ever, with its outstanding piano intro (courtesy of Mr. Neal Morse, who, I insist, is a good keyboard player himself), great melody, Yes feeling, beautiful acoustic interlude... incredible piece of music. Other great moments are the cover of George Harrison's Beware Of Darkness, which seems to be done by Yes, specially when you hear that Rickenbacker bass lines at the end of the intro; and Thoughts, a track with evident influences of King Crimson and Gentle Giant, but so well-done and inventive that ends to be even better than the originals. There's also an acoustic guitar instrumental, Chatauqua, similar to Steve Howe's typical compositions, written and performed, again, by Neal Morse. This man is a genius! The second half of the album, though, is not as good as the first. Walking On The Wind and Time Has Come are good prog-rock tracks, but not as good as the songs I mentioned first, and perhaps too long. Waste Away is more an AOR anthem than a progressive track but it's not bad. Counting it all, this is a very good album, but not a masterpiece. At certain moments it is an improvement over The Light, but not every track keeps that outstanding quality level. Highly recommended anyway.