TALL TALES

Crucible were one of the top symphonic prog acts from late '90's early '00 releasing two albums and then gone into oblivion. Thir first album from 1998 is a damn great one in every aspect, both musicaly and lyricaly. Tall tales is the name of the album with an excellent covert art. This is one of the most exciting records I've heared in long time, even is almost 15 years old this record never stops to amaze me every time I've listing to it. Combining symphonic prog passages a la Genesis Trick of the tail era with arrangements taken from Rush Hemispheres perios, Tall tales is a total winner. Bill Esposito vocal parts remind me a lot of Geddy Lee from that period fiting like a glove in the kind of music they offer here. Complex instrumental passages, the keybords sounds vintage like overall sound of the album, but in a modern way aproached here, never boring a moment. The guitar , druming all is top notch. From the opening track Over the Falls with nice ans mooth Horan's keyboards passages, through the Lords and Leeches and ending with epic piece An Imp's Tale divided in smaller parts this album is a killer one. Very good are the vocal parts, the guitar ones and the keyboards, really strong and inventive, with a clear '70's sound. Dan Esposito guitar is all over the places, showing that he is for sure a very strong and talented musician. All in all a great work by this band, the for some reasons never made it in prog scenes. 4 stars , reacommended , excellent album.