BELIEVE

I applaud PENDRAGON for the change of direction here. I was surprised at the amount of acoustic guitar here, and the lack of keys.The big Symphonic sound is all but gone as well. For me parts of this album work beautifully, while other sections not so much.

"Believe" is a powerful, atmospheric intro track with female vocals.Male vocals join in as well. "No Place For The Innocent" is a straight forward guitar led track. Nice beat in this one as vocals arrive a minute in. Even some violin before 2 1/2 minutes. A calm 4 minutes in but it kicks back in a minute later with some great guitar. "The Wisdom Of Solomon" opens with that mysterious atmosphere from the opening track with those female vocals again.The guitar takes over tastefully, then acoustic guitar.The vocals before 3 minutes sound fantastic. Love the guitar before 5 minutes and 6 minutes in. "The Wishing Well" is divided into 4 parts. First up is "For Your Journey" which begins with more atmosphere as Nick comes in vocally. She's back after 2 minutes. Spoken male vocals follow.

"Sou' By Sou' West" opens with acoustic guitar as vocals and synths follow. The sound gets fuller after a minute. Electric guitar and more passionate vocals are up next. It calms down again. Some nice soaring guitar before 4 minutes. Some uptempo acoustic guitar after 5 1/2 minutes as vocals join in. It blends into "We Talked". Electric guitar before a minute as vocals come in and the tempo picks up.This is catchy. Guitar is back before 2 1/2 minutes.That atmospheric section from earlier returns again here after 4 1/2 minutes.

"Two Roads" ends this epic in fine fashion. Acoustic guitar and vocals to start as the sound gets fuller after a minute. Soaring guitar 3 minutes in. "Learning Curve" doesn't have a melody until around a minute. Vocals 1 1/2 minutes in. Nice bass too. I like the beat with guitar after 4 minutes that continues right to the 6 minute mark. "The Edge Of The World" opens with acoustic guitar before spoken words then vocals come in. Synths 2 minutes in. Electric guitar is laid back after 3 minutes. The sound is building. Vocals are back after 6 minutes. Spoken words and acoustic guitar end the song the way it began.

I think the change in direction is good, even though I love their old stuff better. They just need to find the right path and improve upon what they've done here.