CONSERVATION OF MASS

Debut album by this rather young Canadian band is obviously (not only in neo-prog circles) a well accepted and beloved one. I listened several times to it and hesitated a long time to add my opinion about it here. Unfortunately I'm failing completely to detect any relevance and find any enjoyment here I've got to say. I beg a pardon to all my highly respected fellow reviewers but where's the mentioned challenge here to find. And what is the point if a young 21th century band is just repeating and copying every well-known cliche in prog all over again? Certainly influences from all bands listed in their biography are more than obvious, starting from YES (bass play,vocals) and GG (vocal harmonies) over MARILLION (songwriting,vocals) to DREAM THEATER (heavy guitar riffing,playful keys). But actually these facts are not sufficient to make a prog album interesting for me. Leaving the music (which is undoubtedly very melodic, pleasant and even catchy at times) aside for a moment and speaking about enjoyment I've got to drop some notes about the vocals presented here which are to say the least quite annoying and almost unbearable to my ears. With a different singer I could call this one a rather good though highly derivative and uninventive album, but like this it's merely a mediocre and redundant one IMO and does not deserve more than 2 1/2 stars.

Being aware that I'm obviously standing vastly in the minority here with my negative impression I'd like to emphasize that perception of music and art in general is to be all times a very personal and subjective thing and my contribution is just meant to help finding a more or less objective rating at the end.