THE HUMAN CONDITION

This album has the distinction of being the only Saga album not to feature the singing of Michael Sadler and instead features Rob Moriatti handling vocal duties. Michael actually does a rather fine job although I'm sure when Sadler returned he wasn't missed by most fans especially considering how Sadler's voice was such a big part of Saga's sound and identity.

While I'm not familiar with most of Saga's work I can see how this fits in with the rest of their canon style wise. It retains their signature heavy guitar rock sound with keyboards providing a nice backdrop much of the time. While most fans who might be identified as elitist prog snobs probably won't enjoy this (not to mention probably not consider it true prog) I think for the long time fan and even casual fans looking for good proggy hard rock will find much to enjoy here.

The album starts with the title track which doesn't feature any real lyrics save for the refrain of "running, from the human condition" which is repeated several times throughout the course of the track. It's a very good way to start an album. The third track "hands of time" is nice, but it is almost a direct rip-off of "silent lucidity" by Queensryche (it's even more or less the same tempo which should be a big clue that they definitely heard that Queensryche tune- then again, who hasn't?). The sixth track "now is now" is particularly catchy and probably one of my favorites. The final track "you look good to me" is also very strong(even if it's a bit repetitive) and not a bad way at all to end the album. The rest of the album is mostly very good and there aren't any real weak tracks on here. All in all a rather solid release of mostly up-tempo rockers with some prog embellishments via the keyboards and an album that will likely grow on you with repeated listens. Nothing too complex here but nonetheless probably a must for most Saga fans.