INTO THE ELECTRIC CASTLE

Boasting great playing, complex and operatic song writing, stellar production, and passionate vocal performances, and the only story line that could be goofier than "Ayreon", "Electric Castle" is as success at everything it attempts, and will take the listener on a spacey/heavy/dynamic/mystical rock journey for more than an hour-and-a- half.

The silliness of the story and narrator aside, there is a lot to enjoy throughout "Electric Castle", with the songs and movements bringing a tremendous amount of variety and proficiency to the table. Arjen and his "players" show their chops at every turn, providing some memorable instrumental moments and melodies.

As far as the famous vocals go, I have to admit that I enjoy them more for their camp than anything; they aren't as good as on later albums, but I admit that this is probably just a matter of taste. I am not familiar with the majority of them which makes it hard to gain real perspective of their talent-- luckily they're usually singing about barbaric conquest or Egyptian gods (which is AOK with me), which is pulled off with surprising taste.

As a whole, "Electric Castle" is absolutely worth picking up for fans of most genres of artistic rock, and makes for fun listening (and how often do you get to hear songs sung by Roman legionnaires side-by-side with cosmic hippies?)

Songwriting: 4 Instrumental Performances: 3 Lyrics/Vocals: 3 Style/Emotion/Replay: 4