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I am quite torn regarding my star rating for this album. I knew it had to sit at 3.5, but should I round it up or round it down? In the end, I felt it had to be rounded down.

I'm very much an "album-orinentated" kind of listener. What I mean is that for me, an album can't just have some good songs here and there, it has to be consistent and it has to flow and I'm just one of those people who can't ignore the presence of a bad song, no matter how hard he tries. Unfortunately, this album throws two complete stinkers in my direction.

There are three tracks which are completely excellent. These are the first and last tracks (the two epics) and Thoughts (Part II) which is easily my favourite track. The songwriting on display throughout these tracks warrants praise and adoration.

Track 2, Revelation, is passable but somewhat bland. It sounds like it could have been written by any 90s hard rock band. I don't skip it, but it's appeal is certainly limited. If this had been the worst track on the album, we'd be looking at 5 star rating for sure. Unfortunately...

The remaining 2 tracks, as I'm sure you've figured out, do absolutely nothing for me. No, it's somewhat worse than that. They both actually annoy me a little bit. Which is horrifically frustrating as they completely destroy the flow of the album. I hate, hate, hate having to skip tracks and yet with these two I can't resist.

It's not that the song writing is particularly awful, it's just that the songs are in a style I don't normally appreciate (pop) and don't have interesting elements that jump out at me. Genesis received similar complaints over songs like 'I Know What I Like' but at least that song had Mike Rutherford's captiviating bass line pulsating under it, and Phil Collins' excellent percussion to keep me interested. I can't say the same for these two tracks.

'All on a Sunday' has an infuriatingly saccharine chorus which annoys to no end. I honestly believe it sounds like a song written for a boy band. Worse still, I can't detect any single trace of prog in the song. 'Goodbye to Yesterday' is probably slightly less offensive, but still hopelessly boring, and definitely not prog. I don't mind the poppy melodies, as long as they are incorporated into proggy songs. Track 1, 'At the end of the day" is a perfect example of pop-prog done right. If only they could maintain that energy and creativity throughout the album.

3 stars awarded for 3 honestly excellent tracks which are totally worth hearing. If you're an album-orientated person, perhaps you should be slightly cautious, as 1 mediocre track and 2 terrible tracks ruin the flow completely.

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