THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS

For me, a much more coherent album when compared to their first release. The band is maturing and it shows. The musical playground is still there but this time the ideas that make up the music are allowed to breathe and are given room to claim their own space. The sound quality here is a great deal better than it was on their first album. There is the raucous nod to the first album here but there is also musical subtlety which is so important to coherency as a whole. Neal Morse is not as grating here in the vocal department as I found him to be on the bands first release. The musicianship here is strong as it was on the first album although more restraint is shown and things are tighter and more under control. All in all a much more mature and coherent album from the Beard, one which will be explored again very soon as there are depths to the music herein which demand more time to absorb fully. A four star effort to my ears.