HOUSE OF THE MIND

Neo prog of the first order with a bit too much familiarity and simpleness where and when divergence and experimentation could have made it so much more interesting. Plus, the production is flawed by sterile sounding individually-separated instruments.

1. "Tachyon" (6:21) the cheap imitation piano sound used in opening does not bode well for this album. The bouncy "Dreamer"-like piano foundation in part 2 does not inspire any more hope or confidence. We're already almost two minutes into this and it still doesn't feel ready to "start"--and yet the vocals enter in the third minute--distant multi-voiced 80s/Thomas Dolby-sounding voices melodically duplicated by a synth. By the fourth minute we at least have a little more fully developed weave established. The vocal melody just doesn't crack it. (8/10)

2. "House Of The Mind" (14:47) a decent prog epic that, unfortunately, shows little novelty or freshness. (8.5/10)

3. "A Moment's Peace" (4:15) Wow! does this belong on a New Age/Adult Easy Listening radio stream, or what? And not even a word much less lyrics despite the ABACAB set up. (7/10)

4. "One Fine Day" (2:48) Seriously! This is the finished product? This is the vocal of a professional? It sounds like a demo by some one-man garage band! (6/10)

5. "Song Of Wandering Jacomus (13:47) nice atmospheric instrumental opening for the first four minutes. The third section that begins in the fifth minute is too syrupy--even before the sappy vocals enter. The guitar and keyboard work is decent. It's just those vocals... Horrible build and peak. Too bad. This one had potential. (7.5/10)

Bonus song (on CD): "Ever Be the Prize" (9:00) decent song. If it only didn't sound like IQ trying to be GENESIS... (8/10)

Three stars; an acceptable addition to the Neo Prog catalog--though nothing I'm going to shout out about.