IN EXTREMIS

What happens when you put Peter Banks, Tony Levin, Colin Moulding, Billy Sherwood, and Rick Wakeman together? You get a band with big names and high expectations. Oftentimes the result is a huge disappointment. Luckily, however, In Extremis wasn't one of them; I was instantly excited by the first track, "No Cause for Alarm," which showcases some mega- bombastic orchestration and heavy work from the rhythm section. In other words, this cast of stars gets off on the right foot. From here we basically get an album which is full of nice groove and a sort of ambient, almost neo-prog atmosphere. "In Utero" works great as spacey background music, "Visionary" showcases nicely textured guitars along with some fantastic drumming along with Levin's top notch bass playing, and "Eggshell Man" turns out to be one of the strongest tracks on the record with lots of variety, moving from pastoral and folky acoustic sections to powerful sitar, mysterious Russian sounding folk influences, and a powerful, screaming synth solo which moves the piece to a heavy and moving ending. While there are some moments which recall much of what I don't like about the neo-prob vibe, particularly "The Man Who Died Two Times" with its poppy Asia-esque leanings, the album certain has some brilliant and epic moments, such as "In Extremis," which opens up with epic choir harmonies leading to an ominous organ before really getting started with some fantastic lead vocals and otherworldly moods laid down by drums and leads guitars. In the end, while the various members of Days Between Stations have produced their best work elsewhere, this is certainly an album that die-hard fans of these accomplished musicians can pick up and not feel disappointed.