PART THE SECOND

Like many of the albums going into the tops 20's each year I'm not familiar with Maudlin of the Well and their previous records. I came into this album completely blank and with no expectation except for the MASSIVE praise it had received here.

At first I was rather dissatisfied with it. My impression of it was that it was very much a progarchives album, something that the hardcore prog-lovers raved about while us infidels who grew up with(or still listen to) more mainstreamed music have a hard time getting our hearts and minds around. Eventually I was proven wrong in a big way.

Maudlin of the Well's music is ethereal, like many other reviewers have mentioned. It spans numerous genres and schools of music. My first thought on the first listen was "I have never heard music like this before" and being such an avid music lover as I am, that's a pretty impressive feat in it self. From heart wrenching violin pieces to double bass drums and then back to progressive rock in the lines of King Crimson or Van Der Graaf Generator. It's hard not to get dazed by the swiftness and ease Maudlin of the Well travel through their music. This is both their greatest strength and the reason why they probably won't ever rise from sub-genre obscurity. This is music that grows on you slowly and expresses itself in a secret language you have to learn yourself.

After the initial disappointment I decided set aside the album; thinking I'd give it a proper listen through later on when I was able to tackle its depth and variety seriously. But as life would have it I never fully managed to do just that. Whenever I would feel tired of the mediocrity and staleness of music in general, I'd just pick up Part the Second and listen through it. Somehow it turned into a gem among the many great albums of the year, becoming something that truly moved and amazed me in its own special way.

As always I feel rather cornered by the rating guidelines of Progarchives, sometimes I wish I could just leave my reviews unrated. I think what I've written speaks much better for this album than any arbitrary point system can. The 5-star masterpiece rating is not something I like to throw around and I feel that however I rate it's either to optimistic or the other way around...

I'll settle with a rating of 4,5(yes, I added a half point after my remark on rating; sue me!) in lack of any better number. This is essential in terms of progressive music, but I don't think of it like a masterpiece deserving the attention of everyone, everywhere. Part the Second is a unique record only suitable for some; but for those few it might be one of the greatest albums of all time.

4,5/5

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