SHIP

While Yuka & Chronoship is a neo-progressive band, I'd classify this album as primarily symphonic-prog with some distinct aspects of progressive metal and fusion. It's a solid effort, although only a handful of the tracks are distinctive. The rest of the album sounds interchangeable with other current neo-prog offerings.

A glance at the tracklist and a quick sample of the first song may give you some incorrect impressions. For one, as other reviewers have noted, this is primarily an instrumental album, although it opens with a vocal track. This track is the first of seven parts of what appears to be a cohesive suite called "Argo." I preemptively joined these tracks together on my computer so I could enjoy them as a continuous epic. Alas, I had not read the reviews here and didn't realize that these are separate songs, though they certainly do sound like they're from the same album. Two sections of "Argo," "The Ship Argos" and "Landing," are among the strongest tracks here. There are no weak songs.

Overall, very good playing, especially by keyboardist and bandleader Yuka Funakoshi and by guitarist Takashi Miyazawa. Since Ship is good, but not essential, I rate it a three-star album.