Reviewed by Lins Honeyman

Although this release by Oklahoma City's Patterson only has eight songs, it's playing time of 38 minutes qualifies it as a full-length album. 'Welcome To The War' sees the multi-instrumentalist/producer evoke the progressive rock sounds of the '70s to offer up a piece of work that succeeds in encapsulating something of the battles that go on in the spiritual realm. Understandably given the shared war footing, Patterson borrows quite heavily from Jeff Wayne's 'The War Of The Worlds' with gritty guitar lines and moog synthesizers sitting in front of a hard rock backing to bring song titles like "Army Of Deception" and "Rally To The King" to life. Elsewhere, the multi-faceted "The Battle Of Darkness And Light" has an epic widescreen feel to it in order to reflect the song's gargantuan theme whilst the more considered "King In His Glory/Saviour Of Peace" provides a peaceful interlude on this hugely enjoyable slice of sanctified prog.

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