PERMISSION TO FLY

"The Final Threshold" starts groovy just before showing a keyboard solo; the complex verse, captivating with the wonderful voice of Joe PAYNE whose place must be noted, the best since THE ENID. A choice place launching this bucolic title. "Into the Lair" and the first of the three long pieces of the album; highlighting Darby's well-honed pads. Joe grandiloquent as it could not be otherwise on an Olympian verse. Jordan shows his inventiveness with a trumpeting solo, astonishing; it is Joe who gives comfort to this title by eyeing the operetta, a little marshmallow. Aggressive, feline notes of the keyboards accompanied by Bastian's strings; the finale rising like a wedding march. "Haunted Reverie" with the intro as only Jordan knows how to do; a musical jumble before the jazzy piano, a modern, dry, catchy sound; Joe comes to put a bluesy layer on it, his melting and theatrical voice, whispered, simmered, captivating, out of time. The guitar solo with the energetic pad to end this marshmallow rock ballad on a tempo in 6/8. "The Alchemist" with Rudess as much as you want; the verse suddenly on a catchy rhythm, I find some sounds of YES from the 80s, crazy and fluid. The break, heavy guitar solo that brings the lava of the synth, astonishing; Joe comes back calming the ardor making his angelic voice rise, ah how good he is there; his voice is highlighted, not cloying but Olympian. It rises, it explodes, jazzy hard prog, with endless tempo changes. The grandiloquent piece, in sensitivity and Darby's pads that balance it all.

"Embers" and the airy ballad full of emotion, the regulating pad, the solemn sound. The guitar solo forward, fat, dropping notes in all directions; the piece melting candy. "Shadow of the Moon" in the same vein to the point that this album could be Joe's with its palette of guests; velvety romantic ballad, mid tempo and colorful air with this easily integrated chorus. The break lets Jordan's synth do its job without... shadow, with mastery, final "decrescendic" reverb to get out of the space train. "Eternal" has a hard air, heavy prog from a BOSTON for the analog keyboards in a wink. Jordan puts himself on stage like on an instrumental from DREAM THEATER, the sound explores, looks elsewhere, bossa nova, Andalusian, sampled fury, notes of embers, sublime. Joe intervenes trying to tame the slightly mawkish piece. The air starts up again, we scan the sky, a heavy guitar solo, prog metal associated with the turbulence of the keyboard and a bewitching groove with sampled trumpet, finally the fat, sneaky, enjoyable keyboard, à la DREAM THEATER. "Footstep in the Snow" romantic ballad encore, questioning the 'After' divinely staged if you are a believer. The suave voice looks at the ethereal climates of FOREIGNER and makes you want to take your fiancée in your arms. "Dreamer" as a cinematic finale, a languid air that we find on the last QUEEN, grandiose. Once again it is the ether, the heavens, those that Freddie had sung before leaving for good. The song that could be played on 'Barry Lyndon': Dramatic, serene air, filled with emotion to rest the ears.

JORDAN RUDESS releases the orchestral, cinematic, melodic, experimental, theatrical and dramatic album, all that. Originally on profilprog.

Dream Theater keyboard player Rudess is back with his latest solo album, and while he has often gone down the fully solo path in the past, this time he has brought in That Joe Payne (The Enid) on vocals, Darby Todd (Devin Townsend) on drums and Steve Dadaian on guitar, as well as guest guitar solos from Bastian Martinez. He also relinquished the task of writing the lyrics this time around, as he decided to focus on the music, and asked by his daughter, Ariana to provide them for him which is a nice way of keeping them in the family.

The result is a pleasant release, no more than that, with Payne often spending a lot of time high in the register and falsetto, which provides quite a contrast to the music beneath him which can be quite heavy in nature in places, far more pop in others. I have heard a few of Rudess's solo releases over the years, while of course being very familiar with his work with Dream Theater, and he is rightly regarded as one of the very finest keyboard players in the business, but this album feels to me as if he is just playing it safe. When he allows himself the opportunity to demonstrate his skills it lifts this album to new levels, but unfortunately there is just not enough of this as he is often happy to sit back in the middle of the road and relax while Payne lulls us to sleep with his very high but often emotionless vocals. It is not a bad album, but there are many places where it is just plain boring, and one just wonders what is the point? Possibly he has taken this as a relaxation period in his life, as there is no doubt that his work with DT is way more demanding but for me this is just too twee and he is taken way too much of a backseat to Payne.