Reviewed by Paul Keeble

Follow-up to the well-received debut 'Albatross', this is one of those American albums with a production clean enough to eat your dinner off. The playing is incredibly tight and the sound full, even occasionally overbearing. You have to admire the skills of musicianship, arrangement and production, but after awhile I did long for a flat note, bit of studio chatter or even a left-over guide track count-in as a human touch. Ironic then that many of the songs are themed around human issues of life, death, weakness and failure: in fact (say it quietly in case any prog fans are around) the album is almost a concept piece. The atmosphere is a bit dark overall, but with chinks of light and hope, plenty of insight and food for thought, and, I suspect, further layers still to be revealed with further listens. There has been some debate about how 'Christian' these guys are, and apart from saying they don't want to be limited by being labeled, they're leaving each of us to work it our for ourselves. Well, they're in good company - Jesus provoked people into questioning who he was.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

Interested in reviewing music? Find out more here.