ORIGIN OF SYMMETRY

It's a masterpiece.

Unfortunately, the 5-star rating does not say "A masterpiece of proggy music". So, this gets 4 stars. However, let me say this.

This, is quite easily one of the best rock albums released since 1990. It's energetic, it's aggressive, and it's just damn cool. For prog fans, highlights include the classic opener, "New Born", that combines 80s like keyboards with some of the most face-crushingly thrashy riffs you'll hear from that side of the Atlantic. Of course, it's not really prog, but prog fans will like that song. EVERYONE likes that song. Except people without souls.

ACTUAL PROG is to be found in Space Dementia, a creepy piano POWAR BALLAD-ish song, with some truly amazing keyboard sections that will no doubt appeal to the Wakeman-Emerson audience. Even more actual prog is found in Citizen Erased, the 7:00 monster (which is kinda like a 20 minute epic in pop terms). Citizen starts with an amazing riff that I definitely heard somewhere before, before progressing(!!!) into one of the most beautiful songs on the record. Seriously, that ending? God.

And, unfortunately for prog fans, the rest's pretty much pop with prog tinges. It's brilliant pop, though. Bliss, Plug-in-Baby, HYPAR MUSIC, Dark Shines, and Feeling Good are all excellent, catchy rockers with nice keyboard parts. THe only flaw with these is that they tend to sound same-ish, if you listen to them all at once, anyway.

Which is why there's some other odd stuff on the record. The boring-as-hell Megalomania doesn't work, and the "???" Micro Cuts doesn't either. But Screenager. Screenager. It's a song about cutting, as in the long-standing tradition of Linkin Park, and Limp Bizkit, and who freaking cares. Somehow, this is a good song, and the best on the album. The falsetto delivery (if you don't like falsetto, this album probably isn't for you) of the chorus is simply chilling, and the overall FEEL of the song is brilliantly creepy.

So, in conclusion, don't expect a Foxtrot, or a CTTE when you buy this. Expect something along the lines of In Absentia, but without the slow numbers. It's not full-blown prog, but fans of energetic prog, like PT and such, will love this.

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