UNWEAVING THE RAINBOW

I've got to say I can't get crazy about this side project with James LaBrie. It's a concept album about the topic science versus nature as the title implies and it's quite divers though the more mellow parts predominate a bit. Tracks more in a symphonic metal vein like "ARM RACES", "ABOVE THE GRASS", "MESSAGE" or "FROM THE MOUNTAIN" for example are rather well done, the songwriting is ok and the vocals not really bad, well it depends whether one likes LaBrie's voice or not. Of course it's a complete different stuff than Dream Theater's music, only the voice reminds of it but it's much more light weighted. Still I would say it's not a too bad album and recommended for those fellows who like LaBrie as a singer but who find DT too intricate or self-indulgant and hard to listen to. One could call it "DT-Lite". Apart from mellow, ballad-esque songs like "RIVER OUT OF EDEN", "YOUR EYES" or "LA MER" it has also some nice catchy rocking ones like "OFF THE GROUND" and some more in a Prog Metal vein like "THE GENE MACHINE", "CULTURAL GENETICS" or "BATS". Good for 3 stars!