DIAGONAL

This 2008 release has been praised by pretty much everyone so far, which is the reason why I didn't waste my time and got this album in early 2010. Since then, this album have received around 10 sporadic revisits where I, each and every time, wanted to believe that there was a clear growth in the material. We're now approaching the end of May 2011 and I'll just have to admit my failure of comprehending the magic of this record.

It's not that the band members are necessarily bad at what they're doing. Writing original vintage Prog music is something that I wish that many more would actually attempt wholeheartedly, without relying on all those old clichés. My main concern comes from the fact that this music feels bland and never reaches either the highest heights nor the lowest lows. This might just be the reason why so many actually enjoy this record as much as they do, combined with some atmospheric jams added to the mix. Most of these compositions drag on for way too long and have little to offer in return for the invested time. The biggest sinner in this category is the 7+ minute atmospheric interlude called Deathwatch. I call it an interlude since the composition really goes nowhere and therefore shouldn't have even been longer than 2-3 minutes!

Semi Permeable Men-Brain and Pact feature some memorable arrangements but I neither enjoy the very laid back vocals nor the extremely long jam sections. At times, I almost get the feeling that the band had around 20-25 minutes worth of album material which they decided to stretch out into this 45+ minute record. The only truly spectacular moment here is the 5+ minute instrumental Cannon Misfire, which returns me to the great energy that I experienced on Heavy Language, from the band's short two-track debut release.

One might assume that I really hate this record after reading this review, but this is not true. I might be a bit more demanding on this material considering that it's such a highly praised recording, which I expected a lot more out of. I simply find it lacking on a broader level in order to award it anything higher than the good, but non-essential rating.

***** star songs: Cannon Misfire (5:32)

**** star songs: Semi Permeable Men-Brain (10:54) Child Of The Thunder-Cloud (8:49) Pact (14:00)

*** star songs: Deathwatch (7:18)

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