THE GREAT DIVIDE

I bought this CD last month because of the review provided by Progarchives. I find no regret at all having this album in my prog collection. Thanks, reviewer! I intentionally did not write the review right after listening to this album just to "pre-empt" my mind with previous review so that what I write here is purely what I experience, what I feel and what I think about the album. Typically, I never read others until I post mine. Just to give an independent opinion. People are different ..

This album is an excellent debut album in the vein of progmet music (the kind of DREAM THEATER, SYMPHONY X). For those of you who like this kind of music, this album is a MUST have. "Perpetual Child" opens the album with heavy guitar riffs with stunning keyboard sound. I think the keyboard that accentuates the song, while the guitar plays the background riffs at intro. The short guitar solo just before vocal enters is fascinating. When vocal enters, it's definitely DT stuff especially on the way drum is played and singing style, even though the voice is different with LaBrie. I think the voice of its lead singer is sort of STYX vocalist, Dennis de Young (?) with more of high tone voice. The overall track is keyboard-based. Great composition!

"Sleepwalker" is another good track with great guitar and drumming; good variety of melodies and riffs. "Spare Chicken Parts" is an excellent instrumental piece with stunning lead guitar and riffs played harmoniously with keyboard. This track reminds me to RUSH' "Yyz" with much more varieties in melody. The drum solo in the middle of the song reminds me to NEIL PEART. The keyboard solo that follows is really wonderful. Interesting composition. Absolutely, this track is a masterpiece! I even advise you to spin track 4 first before you enjoy other tracks.

"Because of You" indicates the effort to escape from typical prog met music. So, this track is just straight rock with sometime the band puts sort of metal flavor at the end of the track. "The Bottom Line" is opened with soft keyboard sound and great riffs when the music enters. "Ice Age" is the song that I expect would represent the band's "theme". It starts with soft keyboard sound followed with guitar "fills" and vocals. It's not as excellent as I expect, the music flows so flat with not much dynamic. "To Say Goodbye Part I & II" are much more dynamic: speedy lead guitar and keyboard (and excellent combined sounds between the two) with high and low points, good melody and great piano. I personally love these tracks. These two tracks are well positioned to conclude this album.

Overall, this album is excellent: tight composition, great musicianship (especially guitar, keyboard and drum) and excellent performance. The only thing lacking is the production quality: the volume control is too high and there are some distorted sounds due to this high volume. Mixing on some segments are also lacking. However, this album is RECOMMENDED. Gatot Widayanto, Indonesia.