PARAMOUNT

a very interesting follow-up to The Art of Navigating by the Stars, indeed. sticking with essentially the same line-up and essentially the same sound as its predecessor, Paramount is only slightly below their crowning glory album.

songs 1-4 are good, strong Sieges Even at their best but nothing extraordinary. then comes along the beautifully dreamy Where Our Shadows Sleep. they shift up a notch for the quick- step up tempo Duende (i love the bass riff with the verse).

Bridge to The Divine and Leftovers continue to prop up the album in the very high ratings, both excellent with a continuing contrast of upbeat and fresh (Bridge...) and dreamy/ meandering/ soul searching (Leftovers).

Mounting Castles combine an interesting use ot Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" with some interesting instrumental work.

the closer - the title-track paramount clocks in at just under 9 min and is the longest song on the album (contrast with TAONBTS where the title track is the shortest and the opener - maybe the band was going for some kind of message?)

too bad that this was the last we heard from them - i personally can't stand the vocals on anything before The Art...most of the awesome instrumentation is overpowered by horrible singing, so i'll just have to make do with 2 albums...