MEI

echolyn provide the definitive and unambiguous proof of their credentials as a fully-fledged symphonic prog band on Mei, their stab at the good old Thick as a Brick album-length song format. With the band handling the core rock band instruments and a micro-orchestra of additional performers providing a more varied range of sounds, the band have all the tools to hand to produce something truly proggier-than-thou, and they certainly don't disappoint.

Definitively moving out of the shadow of Gentle Giant, echolyn come up with a sound which is distinctly and unapologetically echolyn, though at the same time the piece is a little less consistently gripping than I like and part of me wonders whether this really needed to come out as a continuous song. Sure, it's a very prog rock move to present it like this, but at the same time some of the parts feel a bit like filler existing only to bridge more interesting sections.