TIME IN ELEVEN PICTURES

I have been trying to figure out which are the eleven pictures that give the album its title. It contains 11 songs, so perhaps each is simply an aural representation of a traditional artist's oeuvre. The music of DICE is generally very visual and sensuous, so presents more vividly than that of many better known groups, and here we see the group slowly transitioning into more "serious" prog, with a few hiccups along the way.

The best material on "Time" stacks up well against what came before - "Cloud Freedom" with a typically catchy chorus, swirling keys, and guitar solos; "Life in Space 2133" and its comedically tragic, "I have a machine to call my mother, and no one to call me"; and "In Just One Day" and "Heaven" show DICE at its songwriting and ambient best respectively. Shadows of CAMEL in particular lurk over the latter.

The substandard quotient is a bit higher here though. "Time Machine" and "Time Game" go beyond mere heavy handedness into awkwardness, a relatively rare feat for DICE, while "The Gates of Heaven" lacks even the minimal focus we expect, regardless of track length, even if its chorus is interesting in a 1980s way. "Time is Always Ending" is banal by anyone's standards.

While possessing several highlights and trademark DICE moves, I wouldn't gamble on it as a place to start, not when the group has released so much better material. 2.5 stars rounded down.