THE NEAL MORSE BAND: THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM

Here's another concept double album of Neil Morse band based on the story of a man who writes his own story in prison and how he has faced many obstacles. This time there's no epic song but many ideas throughout this long adventure. The music covers different styles of rock, from classic rock to hard rock and Progressive Rock. The album starts with some big instrumental sections that are played at the fast pace,reaching the symphonic Prog Rock and the heavy Prog Rock in a rather dark atmosphere. There's still that emotional Neal's singing his heart out that we all know from his past albums. But what really strikes me in this compared to his previous projects is how Bill Hubauer keyboards are showing more vintage sound and superb melodies. Overall the songs seem to go to the point with more concision. The song "Back to The City" is an example of a track that really works. "The Ways of A Fool" is a retro song taking the Queen and ELP influences. "The Man from the Iron Cage" is close to Led Zep with a powerful guitar solo. If you skipped the song "Freedom Song", you have a perfect album less demonstrative restraining the instrumental parts into shorter sections which result in a more exciting listening experience. There're other highlights songs like "City of Destruction", "The Battle","Confrontation"and also some ballads passages because you can't listen to an hour of music without moments of rest. It will be interesting to hear this whole thing live. This album is really the project of Neal Morse band and not your typical Neal Morse solo album, and this little detail make all the difference.