BE

I hardly know where to begin on this album. I had heard a few strains of PoS's previous albums prior to hearing Be, and as a result, I had tagged the band as "just another Dream Theater clone." As it turns out, I would have had a hard time being more wrong. A friend sent me the .mp3 files of this album, so I gave them a play. Initially, I was only minorly impressed, but that quickly gave way to a sense of absolute awe.

Anime Partus gets the album off to a decent start. There's not much to it besides some sampled voices, but it does an excellent job of telling the listener, "This is a concept album."

As the previous track fades out, Deus Nova begins with a bit of string and keyboard work. This lays down a nice dark feel, which is something I definitely enjoy in an album. After about a minute, the guitar enters. The guitar here never really impressed me that much; sure there's a few decent riffs going on here, even some really tasty solo-ish work, but who doesn't have that now? At this point in the album, I was amused, but not blown away.

So remember that part about not being blown away? All of that was shattered at the opening notes of Imago. The tune is simply phenomenal in every way. There are no downsides to this track. The instrumental play sets up a delightful medieval-esque feel, despite maintaining a driving, pulsing intensity. The vocals are wonderful, and the lyrics are nice. This little balad instantly blew any preconceptions I had about the band out of the water.

Next up comes Pluvius Aestivus of Summer Rain. This track is the reason that in addition to being a masterpiece of prog, this album also makes an excellent soporific. If I'm having trouble dozing off, I can throw this album on, and as soon as this track hits, I'm out. If you make the effort to stay awake, though, you will find a lovely little instrumental, primarily driven by a piano track. The quick runs set up a dense background for the extremely simple melody.

Lilium Cruentus (Deus Nova) On the Loss of Innocence begins with some swirling picking before kicking into an intense but brief metal portion. Once the song settles down a bit, the vocals start with a spoken intro, detailing the death of a loved one. I love the lyrics to this tune, how it manages to encapsulate the feelings of loss experienced over a death. All in all, an excellent tune.

Nauticus is a decent interlude, but I find that if Pluvius Aestivus hasn't put me to sleep, Nauticus finishes the job. The guitar is actually nice, but I usually find myself ignoring it. I'm reminded of the "You've Got to Go" tune out of the movie Oh Brother Where Art Thou.

If Nauticus was a bit of a low, Dea Pecuniae is definitely a perfect foil to it. The longest track on the album, Dea Pecuniae also makes a decent bid for the best track on the album. It's an extremely bluesy tune with excellent and extremely ambitious vocal work throughout.

Vocari Dei sordes aestes is another interlude-style tune. The band gave out a phone number prior to recording this album, where their fans could leave "letters to God". They then played several of these over a light instrumental track. The effect is rather interesting.

Breaching the Core is rage given voice. Opening with the line, "I will never submit to all the things that you said, God," the tune then drops in a harshly dissonant piano over distorted guitar. The mood is effectively set for this raging track. After about 2 minutes, you get the first break from the intensity, which lasts long enough to set up the next run of intensity.

Nihil Morari is a nasty little tune, going to the edge of complete chaos and back on a couple of occasions. If you ask me, this is also one of the better tracks on the album.

Latericus Valete is another instrumental, mostly a sweet little number, until at the end, when a more edgy tone breaks in. It also echoes the countdown that began the album.

Omni Permanere is a curious track. An organ comes in, followed by a very choral-esque vocal part. there's not much besides those elements and a little sampling.

Iter Impius Martignea, Son of Mars Obitus Diutinus is a tune I had never really noticed until recently. Musically, it failed to stand out from some of the other tracks, save for the gorgeous solo in it. Then, I started paying attention to the album's lyrics. This song is downright heartbreaking.

Martius/Nauticus II begins with an off-kilter run, before normalizing it into a form of march. I love this tune, as it echoes Imago beautifully. It serves to tie things together at the end nicely.

Animae Partus II has no reason to exist. It consists of 3 minutes of near silence, followed by a child's voice saying one sentence. Martius/Nauticus II is 10 times the ending of this. Seriously, never listen to this.....ever.

Okay, so all told, this album instantly hit my top 10 and hasn't left there. Buy it....now.