THE PROG COLLECTIVE: DARK ENCOUNTERS

1. Darkest Hour crimsonian stoner prog psyche atmosphere 2. Ominous Signs with swirling guitar on an airy new wave synth base 3. At the Gates synths, do you want some here, pronounced space tune with the melancholic violin, brightened up; its like King Crimson chance or not 4. Dark Days sung and haunting tune on a cottony Asia, especially for the guitar solo; odd, 5. Lonely Landscape is worth the strident and eclectic metronomic space tune, redundant, hypnotic 6. The Long Night vocal by Angel, track on Yes, Asia, UK

7. The Quasi Effect for the BOF Miami Vice for example, fruity, well-crafted and consensual sweetened theme 8. The 11th Hour well from the looks of it we are in full matching mole for some fruity jazzy psyche; here again the guitar solo is highlighted between two space synths from Flash Gordon, very new wave synths 9. Between Two Worlds with the atmosphere that sinks into the 70s psyche genre; vocal which can recall the Archangel, air well perched 10. Distant Thunder continues with a synth from the time of special effects... spatial, hard to write that, kitsch time! The flowing marshmallow solo 11. Dark Money very 80's again with Joe who enjoys playing a tune that I would have liked to hear on the BOCs of yesteryear 12. For All to See variation in the tormented Eric Serra style where the bass shows that it can be primordial and that we too often forget; the enjoyable, dazzling guitar solo 13. Beyond Reason again a keyboard base and a percussion forward, the guest must be a drummer!

2 bonuses on CD on 2 flagship tracks featuring Billy on a light piano with I Saw the Light and on I'm Not in Love the flute for the finale of an album to be taken for what it is, a great reunion of musicians who come here to just have fun without trying to make a hit; They understand that prog is very outdated these days!

Here we have the third album in three years from the project put together by Billy Sherwood in 2012. Yet again he has provided a lot of the music himself and then brought in loads of guests, with only Rick Wakeman credited on more than one track, where he plays with Nektar on one and Todd Rundgren on the other. Billy only credits himself as soloist on one song, and for the rest we get Steve Stevens, Steve Morse, David Cross, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, Patrick Moraz & Omar Hakim, Kasim Sulton, Frank Dimino & Marco Minnemann, John Etheridge, Steve Hillage & Gregg Bissonette, Todd Sucherman, Joe Bouchard, Pat Mastelotto, Chad Wackerman. I have never been a huge fan of this type of album, which were so beloved by some labels back in the Nineties, and while I admit I enjoyed Billy's last one, 'Seeking Peace', it must be said that this is not at the same level.

Part of that may be due to the musical style, as this takes a deliberate turn toward a more brooding and melancholic musical path, filled with ambient and eerie melodic passages, and for some reason it feels very middle of the road. Some of the soloists, especially Steve Stevens and Steve Morse, take the opportunity to show exactly what they can do and definitely stand out, which in many ways also does not help in the overall feel as this comes across way more as a project and far less of a cohesive whole. Even Dimino seems strangely subdued and given I have been a fan of Angel for more than 40 years I was very much looking forward to his contribution but was disappointed. This is a pleasant album which will undoubtedly have its fans, but for me there is far more exciting stuff out there to discover.