THE WORLD THAT WE DRIVE THROUGH

It's often been said that The Tangent really is ''Prog music for prog fans by prog fans'', and this second effort by the supergroup really is no exception. Yes, the boys are back after their stellar debut with another killer disc much in the same vein as their first. The difference here is that the albums seems to have taken a turn for the more ''mature'' as some people would call it. Not that the first album wasn't, but this one makes more use of slower parts, something the first album didn't do so much. This album still is really a sequel to the first one though, since they even put a nice big 'II' on the spine of the album and had the longest piece on the album act as 'part II' to In Darkest Dreams from The Music that Died Alone - And then of course there's the similarities in cover art and name. Looking at the cover art for the album you can already tell that this is going to be a somewhat darker album that the first, and if you though that - you'd be right. But lets move onto the songs shall we?

One of the nice things about the album is that this time they actually combined all the suites into their own tracks (A Gap In The Night is one 18-minute song while In Darkest Dreams was about 8 shorter songs), making the album feel solid right off the start. Once more we hear Roine Stolt of The Flower Kings as the first voice on the album with the opening track The Winning Game which right off the bat states a theme in the album with it's look at people and culture. And while this one is heavier and slower than most of the material on their first album we get a kick in the face right afterwards as Skipping The Distance explodes into motion with saxophones and flutes. Theo Travis by now has proven as an ample replacement for David Jackson who was around for the band's first album, and Andy takes over the mic once more.

From here we get more into the moodier side of the band once more. One of the most relaxed songs by the band, Photosynthesis provides a nice break from the sonic bombardment and then we get to the title track. The World That We Drive Through is a fantastic tune. Ripe with emotional guitar work and some very sad riffs this one is very memorable.

A Gap In The Night may be a bit weaker than In Darkest Dreams in parts, but that doesn't mean it's a let down in any way. The shouting of voices in chorus, ''turn of the gap!'' packs a punch of cacophony, but the rest is simply wonderful! Voicing from just about every member makes for some great variety and the instrumental sections have the same emotional punch as the title track. Vocal parts in the later pieces of the song are excellent and make for some very attractive melodies that are often times enough to send a shiver down your spine. A very well done piece.

Some of the newer editions of the album also feature a lengthy bonus track, Exponenzgesetz. This one is more or less 14-minutes of ambient zone out which is great if you're into that kind of thing. It really doesn't add to or take away from the original album, so if you feel like you can do without it then don't worry about trying to hunt down the special edition.

All in all this is an excellent album. I would say that this one is even better than their first by a very small margin. It certainly is more dense than their first album and harder to get into, so I can see where some of the lower marks for it comes from, but it's always with this kind of album that the moment you see what's great about it it becomes a very rewarding album to listen to. 5 excellent pieces of music on this album make for a strong 4 out of 5 - and if you fancy yourself a fan of the band you can tack another half star on there. Highly recommended.

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