DISOBEY

This album is a recording debut but it is hardly a band debut in that the band first formed back in the late 80's although they didn't find much success back then. They reformed and recorded this album and listening to it I wonder if they were this good back then. The late 80's was hardly a time for good prog music so perhaps the timing was not right for this crowd and their musical offering then. The Comedy of Errors band name is probably garnered from one of Shakespeare's earliest plays.

It is an album packed to the brim with melody and dramatic neo prog. I do pick up a strong resemblance to Fish era Marillion in a lot of the structure and for me that is not a bad thing at all as I loved that iteration of Marillion. If I find a weakness it is on the vocal side - as although Cairney is good here on vocals I would love the band to have been fronted by someone who could shift between acid and anger or honey and lace in his delivery the way Fish could. I find that a problem in much of the neo prog releases today. Having said that, Cairney isn't a weak vocalist by any means. I had a major problem getting into Pendragon at first as I didn't cotton onto Barrett as a vocalist quickly however I got over that thankfully. Nicholson fronting Galahad is really my idea of what a neo prog vocalist today should sound like. Cairney isn't weak in the vocal department however and is by no means unpleasant to listen to.

The melody throughout this album is fantastic as it is a melody packed listening experience. The giant track on the album is "The Student Prince" epic divided into four parts. It is a bombastic, melody driven epic that claims its space in neo prog territory up amongst the very best that the genre has to offer.

From my side a solid 4 stars and I'm looking forward to reviewing the next album and hearing the one after that - should the music world be so lucky as to experience a third Comedy of Errors release.