STAINED GLASS STORIES

About a year ago I posted my first review on PA. Reason enough to crawl out of my summer hide-out for a couple of reviews. But contrary to my cheerful nature I won't take the occasion to applaud a series of masterpieces. Instead I decided to make a real nuisance of myself by selecting a couple of popular PA titles that I either find inferior or that I can't bear to listen to.

Cathedral hails from US and has nothing ado with the UK band of the same name that spread doom and gloom over the UK back in the 90ties. This Cathedral is a Prog outfit clinging on strongly to a sound that sits somewhere between Foxtrot and The Yes Album, with prominent bass guitar, dynamic drumming, big organ and mellotron waves and frantic lead guitars. Their vintage sound must sure have inspired bands such as Anglagard, Sinkadus and more recently Wobbler.

The compositions are promising, inspired and natural. But there's a but. The recording can sound a bit amateurish at times, especially when vocalist Paul Seal chooses to disgrace the nice musical flow with his grating vocals, trying to add some Gentle Giant cleverness to the stew but resulting in a sloppy, strained and over affected performance that is melodically very poor and often almost out of key. He is the unfortunate weak link that diminishes the possible excellence of this album to plain average.

Stained Glass Stories delivers the kind of Prog we want to hear, but your listening pleasure will largely depend on your success in tuning out the vocals. Even if the album is mostly instrumental, I can't. The music is worth 4 solid stars, the vocals about 0.5.