ALIGN MYSELF TO THE UNIVERSE

The band's evolution is impressive. They began in mid 1990s with Moonsadness, a weak and faceless album which may be described as diluted early Fancyfluid and/or Notturno Concertante, or spoiled early Ezra Winston. In the new millennium, the artists found themselves and developed a very individual style, slightly grotesque, with pulsating rhythms in the vein of Galahad circa 2002-2012 and melody making technique not too far from Indisciplined Lucy. Now, with Align Myself To The Universe, they appear as true masters of prog - masters in both meanings, as high professionals and, on the other hand, prog landlords if you like. Indeed, something 'sovereign' may be heard in their new music, as if they felt responsible for what occurs in modern prog in general. While Round Midnight, Songs From The Lighthouse and especially Voyeur were first of all distinctive, original, individual - and written as only Moongarden can write music, Align Myself To The Universe is 'pan-progressive', written as if the musicians partially forgot about their personalities and acted as direct successors of Genesis and other protagonists. That's probably why they changed their creative manner from mostly distinctive (as in Voyeur) to mostly universal (as never before). But everything has a price: instead the artists refused to further develop some very interesting and perspective tendencies started with Voyeur, and as a result their music lost a part of its charm. So, I'd say Align Myself To The Universe is a great asset to any prog collection, but really essential still are only The Gates Of Omega (original version, not 'revisited'!) and of course Voyeur which remains the band's acme.

Competent, sometimes quirky Neo Prog using dated instrument sounds while projecting a positive spiritual message. Not the direction I thought Moongarden was going!

1. "Here Now" (7:02) hard driving rock with the Neo Prog sound/instrument palette. Nice chord play from the synth strings bank. Violin work is cool with its echoed and/or chorused (or multiple track) sound. Vocal "whoa-oa"s kick in in the third minute. The song is just racing along at such a fast pace! We should be driving down the country roads with the top down! The vocal melodies do hook in. (8.5/10)

2. "Step After Step" (6:26) electric piano and voice open this emotive ballad. 12-strings and delicious cymbol-play come in after first chorus. Multi-voice harmonies are good. Bass and drums kick in toward end of third minute while vocals are parroting each other. Nice electric guitar solo ensues over the next minute. After the lead gtr solo, things strip down to near opening simplicity as voices sing. Everybody rejoins in the final chorus and outro--another nice electric guitar solo. (8.5/10)

3. "Run" (4:10) abrasive metal guitar chords and metal speed-riffing open this one. Sounds like something from METALLICA until the vocals come in when it becomes more like OZZIE, DAVID LEE ROTH, and/or UNITOPIA. Weird trip-hoppy whispered Italian rap in the middle (8/10)

4. "The Golden Circle" (2:56) space synths and solo voice open this one before picked electric guitars, bass synths, and multiple tracks of vocal harmonies join in. Closes with space synths. (8.5/10)

5. "Planet of the Absurd" (5:17) piano, synths, bass and drums open this one while lead guitar wails. Then all breaks down into silence sauf piano. Voices come in singing about the piano of the absurd while music picks up and sounds like And Then There Were Three-era GENESIS playing in style of THE POLICE. Even the solo sections in the second half are cheesy. (7.5/10)

6. "The Immutability" (12:07) contains an amazingly gorgeous chorus--whose melody is extended and then picked up and embellished by the guitar soloist(s) in the sixth minute to great effect. (9.5/10) I) "The Immutable" (3:22) okay melody and lyrics. It's the chorus that gets into your brain. (8/10) II) "Acqua Terra Fuoco Aria" (6:13) (10/10) III) "OM" (2:32) trip-hop bass, keys, and drumbeats are added as piano (and, later, "Om, shante" voice) carries forward the three chords of the chorus into infinity. (And beyond.) Awesome finish orchestrated by bass and drums! (10/10)

7. "Shiva" (6:00) beautiful GENESIS-like Neo Prog over which a rather dull, weak vocal is planted. (8.75/10)

8. "The Union" (2:14) guitar soloing over synth banks and washes. (4/5)

Four stars; a nice contribution to the lexicon of Neo Prog. As a long-time Moongarden fan, I'm not convinced that this is a step forward for the band; they just haven't ever achieved the tremendous potential that I've seen in their music.