PAWN HEARTS

There are the artists I would have never or seldomly given less then 5*, such as PH, VDGG, GENESIS, RUSH and YES. Even in their weaker opuses, I am able to follow just those lines which i like and ignore shortcomings. I love VDGG very much because of their silence and roaring, peace and agressivity, changes, melodies, expressivity, impressivity, and whatever. It is everything here. But, when I immerse more into and compare with e.g. my beloved Still life and Godbluff, or H to He, I like it less and find it less compact and coherent. I have not been able to find my way to the style of this album. The plague is an adventorous fantastic journey to the centre of the earth, that is clear, but the rest two tracks I do not enjoy so much. They might be important in the light of Hammill's works, dealing with serious morality and deep personality, yet, musically they escape my attention. Especially the lemmlings. And, I have also one big objection dealing not with the music. May be it is just my ignorance or the lack of humor but I do not like the musicians hailing in the cover photo. That only would be the reason for 0*. However, if not seeing that i give 3.5*. let me round it up.