BLUEPRINT

I realized Sebastian Hardie reunited in the 1990s to play at Progfest '95, but then I never expected any brand new material to surface from these guys, but that's what happened in 2012. It's the same guys as before, Mario Miller, brothers Alex and Peter Plavsic, and Toivo Pilt. This album is really a mixed bag, there are some simply incredible passages that's just as good as anything they did on Four Moments, but then the music often switches towards a more mainstream style. During these more mainstream moments I get reminded of what I hear on public radio, especially when Mario Millio starts singing. I feel like this group was doing what too many prog rock bands in the American Midwest were doing in the 1970s: trying to please their artistic ambitions, and throw in some crowd pleasers and radio friendly material, but here's it's Aussie style, although Australia wasn't known for bands doing that "of two minds" approach that Midwestern American bands, like Kansas had done. Not that Sebastian Hardie sounds anything like Kansas, in many ways, Blueprint still sounds like Sebastian Hardie with a more updated sound. There's still Mellotron from Toivo Pilt, actually I believe it's samples this time (I can imagine him frustrated with the tron back in the day as Four Moments is loaded with it, while Windchase has quite a bit less, and Symphinity only had a bit on one song). I like it when they have a more ominous tone, so when they try to sound "bright" is not to my liking too much. Get it, because it does has some worthy material, but it's not a classic.