EMPIRES NEVER LAST

I have always loved the dramatic style of strong vocalists in the old Marillion Fish type vein and the accompanying dramatic music that makes up a large portion of the neo-prog genre. I love just about all forms of music aside from a very few which I am usually vehemently outspoken against. The kind of music that this album is made up of kind of is the water that I usually prefer to float my musical preference boat in. It is no secret that I love the old 70's "prog" music - old Genesis, Yes, Rush and possibly that is why I really enjoy dramatic music with almost classical music nuances attached to it. The opening track to this leads the way to the rest starting off sweetly with female vocals singing a kind of anthem and seguing into anger in part 2 of the track before crossing two sides of a coin - the sweet with anger. "Termination" starts of very gently with piano before heading into heavy dramatic territory with gusto. Very interesting, strong track. There is a definite Metal sound in the track which I do enjoy. "I could be God" - again is a very dramatic track that starts off in an almost operatic, metal drama way- it softens towards the third of the track mark into an interesting section where we hear a portion of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech whereafter the music punctuates that speech with a lot of emotive hard music before the vocals come back. "Sidewinder" - starts of softly with childrens voices heard in the background before Nicholson's vocals come in and the volume gradually increases. In the track a feature is George Bush's voice giving some of his typical "pearls of wisdom". I have no doubt that this track is about following leaders who will only lead you into a whole mess of trouble as a people if you allow that. "Memories of an African Twin" - pretty much an instrumental track to break the angst of the previous tracks. "Empires never Last" - starts with a thumping bass that's joined by keyboard sound until it hardens before Nicholson's voice comes in in a contrast of emotions and nuances. This man can inflect just about any emotion into his voice. At times on this track he sounds like a bluesy crooner. A giant of a track. "This life could be the last" - starts again with piano and crooning (like out of the fifties). A third into the track the music fills out in a hard rock fashion.

I can't emphasise how impressed I am with this album enough. It holds a variety of pleasures throughout. It is an angry, in places sarcastic, album full of emotion and drama. Lovers of old Fish fronted Marillion will drink this album down with a great deal of pleasure. It isn't, by any means, a copy of old Marillion however it is in the same style with a little more emphasis on keyboards.

A four and a half star album for me rounded up to five stars as there was nothing that I didn't enjoy a great deal about the music. It's not perhaps an essential album to someone with a preferance for certain kinds of music but I would call it essential if Neo Prog is your thing or if you really enjoy dramatic music.