HERETICS

Some of the best music I've heard all year. The music has an energy and urgency and excitement that is rarely felt in modern studio music. Great songwriting, great musicianship, great vocals, songs that pack a wallop yet are filled with many unexpected twists and turns. Heretics puts up some awesome, but not over-the-top, walls of sound. If there is a drawback to some of it, it's that it often sounds and feels too derivative of the music of U2--including the vocal stylings sounding like U2 lead singer, Bono. Otherwise, this is, start to finish, an exciting album of high-energy rock. I have a feeling that Heretics will win over a lot of new fans for this group of American alt/prog rockers. There are some very special songs on this album, especially the title song opener, "Heretics" (4:51) (10/10), which takes The Beatles and King Crimson to places they never dreamed of going! It opens with powerful chords that hook you in from the opening riffs. The closer, "Ashes Fall" (8:08) (9/10), is another stunner, this time for the continuous list of "waiting"s heart-wrenchingly read by a female voice.

Favorite songs: "Heretics;" the U2 War-ish and doves-like "Elizabeth" (8:22) (9/10); the doves-like "Utopic" (6:38) (8/10); the brief folk-with-Bono-ish "Lost Our Faith" (2:06) (8/10); the full-out U2 sounding "How Long We Wait" (9:29) (8/10), and, of course; "Ashes Fall."

Solid four star album of high quality, highly creative, highly detailed music.