PAWN HEARTS

What a masterpiece of Prog! Close to the Edge's shadowy counterpart, this album strikes with a terror and fury right alongside sorrow and lament. Riddled with passages that seem to bray upon the ears, over time these strains serve to enhance the better moments; a reflection on the trial of man itself, which some argue is the concept behind this album.

Though I may not consider it a concept album, Pawn Hearts does exploit feelings that many people (including myself) would normally choose to ignore. The division of morals within one's own mind (Man-Erg), the guilt and contemplation of blindly following peers (Lemmings), and spiraling depression that ends with a soulful releasing suicide (A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers); this album is something not to be approached lightly.

VdGG presents with us an album as tragic as it is beautiful, and each moment of each is unique in and of itself and does not take away from the album as a whole. Whether it's the prominent saxophone in place of lead guitar, the maddening yet expert keyboard work, or Guy Evans' complex drumming, Pawn Hearts makes its name in Prog history as the tragic album that, in my opinion, cannot be paralleled by any other in its own right.