SOLA SCRIPTURA

Sola Scriptura is the 5th solo album from Spock Beard's former front man Neal Morse. For the new album Neal has recruited the extremely gifted guitarist Paul Gilbert, bass player Randy George and long time friend Mike Portnoy on drums. The album contains 3 epics and one short ballad. Sola Scriptura kicks off with the amazing "The Door" clocking in at 29 plus minutes. This track is full of great keyboards, beautiful vocals plus heavy and intricate guitar sections. "The Confict" follows and this is probably the heaviest track Neal Morse has recorded to date. Mind you, it not just heavy riffs, it also contains a great acoustic section that leads into what can be described as symphonic latino prog with jazz overtones. Next up, "Heaven in my heart" is a ballad and my least favourite track on the album. Album closer, "The Conclusion" starts out in a furious tempo with wild keyboards and thumping bass runs before it calms down. The tempo picks up again and the song evolves into symphonic epic. One of the criticism's aimed at Neal Morse previous albums is that they all sound the same. Well, that may be the case but the fact is that with Sola Scriptura, Neal Morse has come up with his best music since Spock Beard's, "V" album.