ULTIMA RATIO

Superior is very influenced by Dream Theater, and this still applies here. Like on the Behind album, the rhythmic guitar riffs are still powerful, thundering, razor and aggressive, but the guitar sound is slightly less clean. Also, the overall sound is less bombastic than on Behind. There are still excellent lush acoustic guitar parts. The piano is found on many tracks, and it seems more elaborated and adventurous than on Behind. The comparison with the Queensryche's "Operation: Mindcrime" album is correct; however, Ultima Ratio is much more powerful and more atmospheric. It seems there are more electric guitar solos than on Behind, but they are not the main attraction, although the ones on "Fallen" are very good. The lead vocals are OUTSTANDING, probably even better than James Labrie. There is often an alternance of mellow and heavy parts. Nothing is spectacular regarding the global technical performance: Dream theater did much better regarding that. Globally, I prefer Behind to Ultima Ratio, because the guitar sound is superior and the atmosphere is more bewitching and bombastic. On the other hand, Ultima Ration is better than "Operation: Mindcrime". Is the very end of the album a wink to Roger Waters' "Amused to death"?