DICE

I can see why people are divided over this album, and I'm sorry to say that my reaction towards this album isn't favorable. While they did have the chops to potentially make great prog, the major problem I have with these guys is Robert Holmin, the lead vocalist. I assume that's him doing the bulk of the singing, but his nasally, accented vocals really detract. This coming from someone who heard his share of Eloy albums and love many of them (Ocean and Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes are masterpieces). The problem with Dice is the vocals really sink the album. I understand the never-released-at-the-time The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is an all-instrumental album and for many listeners, including those not too keen on their sole album (released during their lifetime) seem to gravitate to that one. I do like the cover; it looks like a Salvador Dali painting (it's not actually him) with the band's logo done in the Disney font. I imagine that's a reference of Walt Disney and Salvador Dali actually meeting each other in 1946 to make a film called Destino (which was never finished and only to be completed in 2003 (long after Disney and Dali had passed away). I do like some of the humor involved, but this album simply left me cold. Änglagård were influenced by these guys, but I often wonder if it was The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse that inspired them. There are lots of prog rock albums, some of them masterpieces as everyone says they are, there are overrated albums, and there are those albums that I just can't get into, and this is one of them.