CORVUS STONE

First of all what is up with the number of tracks. I don't understand why these guys don't take the time to make a few well developed songs out of the fragments recorded on this release. There is good stuff here and it seems to me that if they took the time to pull this stuff into a couple of refined tracks, they would really have something here; but nonetheless they did not do that. Second of all, there is way too much cheese. I mean there are at least a dozen epic starts or endings with no completion of the track in between. Don't get me wrong, there is some great music here, but the release is underdeveloped as an album to the point that the good stuff is hard to enjoy. Here is my track by track review:

The Curtain Rises - This first track sounds like an intro to something bigger, but never develops into anything.

The second track "October Sad Song" is horrible. The drums, lead and piano are not in sync. They sound like they are all playing different songs at the same time.

This third song "Highway to Emptiness" is one scale, one time signature and a flat melody. Enough said.

The forth track "Ice Kings" starts with something that would have been interesting in 1974, but in 2012 sounds a little corny. It gets better as the track progresses, but then falls apart at the end. To be fair, there is some talented music embedded.

The fifth track: I'll Leave It All Behind" is straight out of the seventies. What can I say - Startsky and Hutch anyone? It has a funky feel that I like, but just when I start enjoying what is there, it ends.

This is the title track "Corvis Stone": This track sounds like it is trying to be progressive but does not quite get there. The band stays in the same mode continuously and does not do anything special. The track is good but not special.

Moron Season starts in a Latin beat and accompaniment is well executed. It abruptly moves to a heavy fast pasted driving track, but the musicianship here really falls apart. There are moments of solid progressive music but lacks composition, which results in an incomplete track.

I don't even want to review Horizon. It is a song at less than less than 2 minutes of noise.

Intermission - this is a good track but is way too short. It is not long enough to be evaluated.

Moustaches in Massachusetts - It sounds like the typical progressive rock song. The tambourine drowns everything else out. This poor mix distracts from what would otherwise be a decent track. This is one of the better tracks on the record.

Pilgrims - I like this track. It starts with ambience and integrates some nice leads. It moves into an excellent rock ensemble. There are parts where the drums and keyboards are off time with the other instruments, but overall this is the best track on the release.

JussiPussi - This piece start sounding a little like the "Star Wars Bar Scene". Then there is a lot of random noise. There is nothing in this track that is memorable.

Iron Pillows - It starts with a fine guitar solo. The guitar work is really good, but the track does not developed. There is no melody at all. The Keyboards simply follow the guitar lead note for note, and the drumming is boring. As a track it starts relatively strong, but then goes downhill and gets worse as it goes. The song continues into what sounds like a jam session that was not planned or rehearsed.

After Solstice - This song has a very strong start. I like the way this one uses the guitar and keys moving back and forth between lead and follow. The song winds down into a really nice acoustic semi-electric symphonic compilation. If the rest of the release was more like this track, I would be great.

The Rusty Wolff Attack - This is just a drum solo and not a very memorable one.

Lost and Found - We start with the little drummer boy. So it starts sounding a little corny, but then the rest of the instruments join and the vocal starts and it am a little surprised at how good it is starting to sound when it suddenly ends ? why does it end prematurely as does the best material on the release?

Scary Movie - This starts with sounds effects that reflect the name of the song. There are several epic sounding movements, but it never really gets going into anything that I would consider a song. The final jam that does evolve is boring.

Cinema- Step onto the elevator. This is your musac track. It progresses into some bad sounding Latin stuff and keeps going for a LONG, LONG time. This is one track that I wish would end early.

You're So Wrong - This track starts with a vocal that is pretty darn good. There is some good piano and flute in accompaniment. A distant horn with a really good lead guitar foreground keeps it all interesting. Where was this musicianship on the rest of the record? This is a really good track but sounds out of place with the rest of the release in terms of theme.

Ice King - this is a repeat of track four without the vocal. Once again, it would have been great in another era. Why twice on the same release though, I don't get it.

Ten Inch Lisa - This is a nice acoustic guitar piece that does not last long enough to be appreciated.

Overall, the guitar is really good at times, but keyboard and drumming is subpar at best. This release has moments of individual genius talent mixed with subpar performance and horrible composition. Given some of the other reviews, I expected a lot more. What I found was a collection of very short disjointed tracks and overall, a work that lacks continuity of theme. While there are some very talented individual efforts throughout the release, there are very few moments where it sounds like a complete band is playing.

I am a little torn because there is a lot of talent hiding in the individual musicianship, but the release does not come through as a coherent performance. The composition is non-existent. The quality of the recording is not bad.

My overall rating is 2.5 rounded down to 2.