REBIRTH

Fourth album from this band for quite a line-up change. I quite liked their first two ones (and the heavy prog genre as well) and even if the band might call this one as Rebirth, I wouldn't go that far while speaking about this work.

If the opening number is quite decent, "Mister Hero" features too many boring and funky parts to please me, even if some very good organ play is featured during the second and last part of this song. But all these trumpets are really unbearable IMO.

If you are ever familiar with "The Knife" (yes, THE one), you will be surprised by the intro of "No Shade Is Real". Not for long, unfortunately. Vocals kind of ruin this one but the instrumental and heavy keys oriented part does deserve a mention.

"MPC" is an incredibly soft (but alas waaaaaaay too short) and one of the most beautiful musical moment out of this album. Deep, emotional, and profoundly beautiful. Nothing to do with "Together Alone Tonight". A "shouting" event with little inspiration, I'm afraid. Some good keys here and there as well as good guitar breaks is holding this album out of water. But only by an inch.

The best of Rebirth being "Back From Hell" (which is the closing number). An orgy of great keys and a fantastic rhythmic section. The highlight. A great drum solo (which is not frequent on a studio album) is featured, and I tend to like such efforts when performed at this level.

I can't really say that this "Birth Control" record is great. Just a good album. Three stars.