BEAUTIFUL & MONSTROUS

A very nice sounding album, well constructed and delivered, Beautiful & Monstrous just doesn't have enough fresh/newness to be considered more than a 3 star, Good, but not essential album. There are plenty of good songs, nice melodies, a very good lead singer, an interesting and creative keyboard player, and very nice engineering and production?but nothing really reaches out and grabs me, sucks me in, gets my adrenaline pumping or goosebumps bumping. The music often sounds like a cross between GEOFF DOWNES-TREVOR HORN era YES/ASIA and SAGA/STYX/KANSAS?none of which are my favorite music producers?they're all good, but not great; not my cup of tea. My favorite songs are "Walking with Ghosts" because of its 'HORN-DOWNES plays OCEANSIZE' sound; the pleasant, melodic "The Last Light of Summer;" the spacious, darkly mooded though too heavy for my tastes "Beautiful & Monstrous;" and "The Sea"?which reminds me of PORCUPINE TREE "Fear of a Blank Planet," TEARS FOR FEARS "The Hurting," and 21st Century (Christian) NEKTAR. Nice work, nice album. 3.5 stars.