Struggling with Neo

SINISTER STREET — The Eve Of Innocence

The Eve of Innocence is not a perticularly remarkable album. Sinister Street hasn't emerged from the 80s blazing new trails with an immediatly effective and emotive style. To the contrary, they've basically stuck with the same sound that so many Neo Progressive bands have worn to death. For a relative reference, the musical style on The Eve of Innocence is quite similar to Pendragon's The Jewel and the lesser-known (and not entirely without reason) Solitary Witness by Landmarq.

My main gripe with this album--and I hope this doesn't turn into a tirade--is that the music is very pop-oriented and saturated with cheesy nuances. Chances are, if you are prejudiced against Neo-Prog, or simply don't like what you've heard from the genre, hearing an album like The Eve of Innocence might've been the reason why. It's really a shame too, because honestly, there is a lot more to Neo-Prog than a pop song with crisp, unnaturally uplifting keyboard work and overly dramatic yet somewhat childish singing. All of those characteristics, however, lie in The Eve of Innocence, in varying degrees.

I feel, though, that the biggest fault in The Eve of Innocence is not the chessiness nor the thoroughly uniteresting vocals, but more the complete lack of effective production. I feel that this album would be far better if the production packed a bigger punch. As it is now, the songs just pass on by like a parade. But if there were a sense of urgency that some of the songs seem to demand, then the music would be much more interesting. If Sinister Street decided to re-record The Eve of Innocence with today's modern technology, I'd be eager to hear it for sure.

There are some good moments on The Eve of Innocence, but no songs that I enjoy entirely. These moments usually occur when the band takes a break from the prog-pop format and go for a bit of diversity, such as the slide bass and grand piano introduction of "A Prayer for the Dying," or the atmospheric parts of "Summit." But overall, The Eve of Innocence doesn't bring anything new to the table at all, and it basically falls flat.