GLUTTONS FOR PUNISHMENT - LIVE 05

A recent re-emergent Prog listener, this is my first review. I've been experimenting with some of the highly rated albums from the 90s and 00s, including Ozrics, PT, Epica, Nightwish, The Tangent, Dragonforce, Pure Reason Revolution, and this, Spock's Beard's acclaimed 2006 live album. Wow. If this is some of the best "modern" progressive rock has to offer, the pickens must be pretty slim. The music lacks complexity, layers, surprise, innovation, SUBTLETY, and effects (a la "Enossifications"). The best piece, "The Light," has such awful lyrics and vocals---is so corny over-the-top theatric, that I thought I was listening to Spinal Tap. I find it hard to believe that these guys are taking themselves seriously! Perhaps Americans just lack the sophistication, the vocabulary, the literate presence of English/British groups. While the musicianship displays technical competency and even flashes of brilliance, there is very little innovation or inspiration---often playing music that feels forced, as if they're trying too hard to be a prog band. Though influences of Tull and even Genesis are present, they sound more like Kansas, neo-Tull (a la "Bungle in the Jungle"), Starcastle, Journey, and several Christian rock bands. When Yes played in the 70s they needed very little theatrics: their amazing musicianship and very layered, complex music did all the showmanship for them. Where are those bands now?