THE AUTUMN YEARS

Poverty's no crime is one of my favorite bands. It's a pity they are not appreciated more, which presumably is the reason for their long periods of inactivity. They've got such a perfect mix of hard rock, AOR (smooth mid range vocals) and prog metal - intricate and slightly boring - that a middle-aged metal head would not ashamed to listen to. This is one of their earlier albums. I would describe it as intelligent hard rock rather than prog metal per se. Songs are in 6 minute range, nicely developed with long intros and bridges building up to an emphatic conclusion. All songs are solid (what does not happen often). But not too adventurous. Maybe because I got it as mp3, but the mix sounds quiet, I have to crank up the volume very high and then it kind of blurs. If there were a better production, I would have given it a 5.