AQUARIUS

I've tried likely this album and forced myself to listen to it several times before writing this review. But, the truth is that this has to be the most overrated album of 2010 and if it really is the best, then prog is in very sad state of affairs at the moment. When I first listened to Aquarius I was very dissappointed, not only with the disjointed nature of the tracks and the needless death metal growls that seem totally out of place, but also I found myself extremely bored with the monotonous sound and carnival like portions that were inexplicably laced within, as well as the Phantom of the Opera musical like production that seemed quite over the top and although other reviews have praised the vocals of Ross Jennings, I found them to be like nails on a chalkboard, almost impossible to make myself listen to for any prolonged period of time. In all fairness though, after listening to this a few more times, I started to find the vocals a bit more bareable and heard some signs of musical skill in portions of the tracks to show that this group does have potential for better things in the future. I will say that I saw signs of this potential with Eternal Rain and in portions of Celestial Elixir. Overall, a decent first effort, that on balance is deserving of three stars.