THE LOST ART OF TIME TRAVEL

Quite good second entry from S.F. progmetal pioneer Kurdt Vanderhoof's venerative project celebrating the more marketable sounds of the classic prog era with plenty of nods to Journey, Genesis, Styx, Kansas, Rush, ELP and Yes. Well-recorded and full of good ideas & enthusiasm, in league with Andy Tillison's like-minded Tangent but with a notable Americanism from Scott Albright's perfectly Stygian vocals and cheesy acoustic guitar chords. Also some solid songwriting is on hand, making The Lost Art of Time Travel considerably better than the average prog tribute. Eleven-minute 'The Mind Machine' preaches a little but satisfies with good doses of prog excess, Ryan McPherson's insistent organs, synths & faux classical piano and painfully tight rhythm team of Raymond/Rehaume. 'Thieves' snarls open with bass pedals and becomes a rather nice Steve Perry-style ballad, a theme continued on 'You're Alive', and 'One Tragedy at a Time' is a mammoth fourteen minutes of Vanderhoof's heavy guitar layers, many clever changes from the band and Albright's fine vocal making it a special highlight. It wanders out into space for awhile through the middle - and why not - the band gradually returning for a reprise. 'I'm Not Blind' is a lackluster hair-metal job but soulful 'Easy Tomorrow' is better with nice riffing throughout, and 'Haze' is a quiet goodbye. Easily confused for Neoprog or just plain old arena rock, Presto Ballet are a bit more than that and gave us one of the better nostalgia pieces in the retro wave. Good solid stuff.