666

It seems that 666 is universally hailed as the Grail of greek prog and who am I to disagree? I may well be so and I'm fine with that. The album is an achievement, no matter origin. If one is to ignore the Coronation of this king-like album and look at it simply as a progressive rock recording, how does it fair?

I am proud and delighted to have this album in my Collection. The mere glance at the cover fills me with joy and I stand in awe, somewhat, when listening to it. The music possesses everything prog ought to. It is pompous, dramatic, eclectic and furthermore based around a concept of biblical thematics. Wow! That seems to be just about enough and more required. Or isn't it?

There is no denying that the musicality and power of the concept is very impressive. The main problem, for me, lies in the overall material. I don't think that the album is as brilliant all the way through, as it is in some of it's parts. Obviously the record is intended to be sat through, that is listened to in one sitting. To me it is rather difficult to do that. I find myself wander off, both in mind and body.

There is no shortage of great songs on 666. The first seven tracks or so are great, "The four horseman" is one amazing track. Dramatic and exciting. The trembling vocals of Roussos is really fitting the musical context. The finest track of the first disc (I own the CD version) is "Aegian sea" which is an almost ambient track and to me forebodes the future of Vangelis. This is such an emotive track and really gets my blood flowing. Simply outstanding. "The battle of the locusts" is Another great track. Short but very powerful.

The second disc holds "Hic et nunc" and "All the seats were occupied". Together they form the epic center piece of the album. "All the seats..." is a 19 minute prgressive monster and manages to be both dramatic and engaging. I do not rate it all that high, since I feel it noodles on a bit, sometimes going nowhere. I does not manage to keep up my interest all the way through.

I guess that the conclusion of my ramblings must be that 666 really is an overbearing album, too heavy and meandering to keep up the interest and quality. It is an impressive album and I think one ought to have taken part in it by listening once or twice but I fear it is not the Classic it is supposed to be. The band bites off too large chunks of musical flesh to carry it off. It leaves an album of good and sometimes great songs. At times even pointless ones. To me it is an album worth three stars and no more.