KAILASH

Got this after seeing a gushing review on another site. This is prog metal with heavy doses of keys. The keyboardist wrote all of the music, while Hubi wrote all the vocals and produced. Meisel has a very good voice, although it is one of those that perhaps would turn off a few people. The vocals are clean throughout, not like where LaBrie will vary from clean to rough. And speaking of LaBrie, after several listens, you get a real Dream Theater vibe. There are two guitarists and they each play on certain songs, not together. They both are very good and hard to tell apart and they both channel Petrucci throughout. There are some very good solos on this disc.

I hate to dub it another DT clone, as I know that Meisel really poured himself into the project and the results are very good. It just is something that nags at you throughout without being a blatant ripoff at all. The production is pristine and everyone plays outstanding. I don't know that it is a concept album so much as theme based, with the songs being about Tibet and the Dali Llama and that part of the world. Kind of an exestential journey of thought that Meisel puts out there as kind of a "food for thought" without being preachy.

A solid 4. The songs are consistently above average but none of them really blow my doors off. An excellent addition.