DON'T PANIC

The debut album by this group of Americans from Provo, Utah. Solid musicians performing their own interesting, very proggy compositions competently and engagingly. Definitely of the Neo Prog sub-genre.

1. "Intro" (1:49) nice instrumental album intro. (4.25/5)

2. "Between the Lines" (4:43) very pretty music over which singer David Thomas performs a nice STYX Tommy Shaw-like vocal. I don't understand the complaints over David's vocals: he does a remarkable job of hitting and holding notes, of creating catchy melodies, and conveying convincing emotion. (9.25/10)

3. "Grayslayer" (2:37) an instrumental of nice sophistication and excellent performances that reminds me a lot of the work of band HAPPY THE MAN. (4.75/5)

4. "Procyon's Demise" (9:52) some timing issues with the opening (unless they're actually trying to express the instruments in a polyrhythmic weave). Unfortunately, all of the instruments sound as if they're being generated from or feed through some fairly cheezy effects boxes or engineering console. Again, the musicianship is top notch, the composition fairly sophisticated (and without question proggy), it's just the sound that suffers (the first four minute section being the worst). The slowed down, spacey middle section that begins at the four minute mark is quite IQ-like before going slightly over toward FOCUS. The Jan Akkerman-like guitar play over the piano and synth strings is quite lovely. At 6:35 begins a bit of a tarantula rhythm by piano and percussion. The lead guitar joins in and shreds us into another section--first fast, then slowed down. Nice keyboard performance throughout even if the sound is flawed. (17.75/20)

5. "Mutants Over Miami" (12:17) almost avant/RIO in its tongue-in-cheek comic feel. Reminds me of the debut album from Uzbekestani band FROM.UZ, Overlook. Nice instrumental performances over some very sarcastic (Frank Zappa-like) music. (22.5/25)

6. "Midnight Comet Dreams" (12:56) spacey intro forming into YES-like "Machine Messiah" start, turns quickly to classical guitar finger-picking display on heavily-reverbed electric guitar. Interesting! David Thomas joins in, singing over the guitar as bass, keys, and drums join in. Switch at the chorus to a not-unpleasant, more dynamic STYX-like sound and feel. The next section, a fast-moving rock section provided to allow the instrumentalists to display their dueling skills, is okay (a step down, actually). I really like the drums and keybaord strings support here; the soli are okay (too much reverb). Back to the vocal sections for the 8th minute--the vocalist's story-telling style (and maybe the story itself) are getting a little tiring. Then a Andy Summers-type of strummed synth-guitar interlude ensues over the ninth and tenth minutes, sadly turning into a kind of blues-rock, STYX-like jam as the band slowly spews forth over the gradually speeding up music. (21.5/25)

Total time 44:08

Solid and sophisticated Neo Prog from America that could have used some better sound engineering (but feels right for the 1980s--which this came out of). There is a nice diversity of prog styles attempted here--all fairly adequately composed and performed. Sound is the main issue.

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of progressive rock music and a fairly surprising debut album.