SHOWING PACES

You got it all here with the opening track: "New World Anthem" (???), features the Gabriel oriented vocals (no news here), there are different characters (like?) and the general mood is fully respectful of the great band we all love. Having said this, it is not a bad song at all.

On the contrary, "Broken Heart" holds little to speak in its favour: heavy and noisy. Like when they were three (starting from "Abacab" if you see what I mean). Press next (you can also do the same while reaching "Asylum 32" even if the closing guitar break deserves a mention).

Few tracks from this album deserves attention, most of them sound REALLY cliché. Almost all songs are shortly formatted (except a couple) and easy listening prog is the result. Don't expect any complex neo-prog à la early "Marillion" because this quest is vain : "Misunderstanding?" will surely convince you.

The longest song from this release ("Darkness") started promisingly, but as soon as the vocals enter the stage, they ruin the whole. It never catches up, except again during the very good guitar finale.

The second longest (by one second) is more an ELP affair for while. Heavy and quite enjoyable keys to start, formidable electric guitar solo from Vesa Auvinen, pleasant rhythmic section and quite melodic keyboards. It is my fave track from this "Ageness" debut (their "Scarab" disc refers to a former version of this band). The fact that it is a pure instrumental is probably not alien to this feeling. The highlight (but there aren't many).

The weak "After All" seems to march on the path from "Slippermen" at times, but dramatically fails. It is not very rewarding to listen till the end of this long album. Over an hour of such a treat is quite hard, to tell you the truth. The worse is probably achieved when you reach "Revelation" (which includes the chorus of "I Know What I Like").

The last instrumental is decent as well but can't raise this album to the next level. Two stars for these "Showing Paces".

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