IN THE HOT SEAT

Yeah, this still isn't much better, unfortunately. Well okay, I should give it this much credit: It sounds like the boys at least tried to steer more away from the generic pop rock format and model most songs on here more after ELP's classic period, but... they're just not really that good at it anymore.

Alright alright, I'll give them a little more credit: unlike Black Moon, which was mostly consistent in its badness, I can point to at least three songs on this album that I can call relative successes, even though they by no means stand out in ELP's wider catalog. "Hand Of Truth" has an odd time signature, an interesting buildup towards the vocal part, and a really cool portamento-rich synth solo. Everything one would want! Well, almost. The chorus and the lyrics are pretty generic but still, this is a respectable effort. It can actually be called progressive rock. "One By One" is not quite as memorable for the most part but distinguishes itself at least somewhat through its menacing (by the standards of this album) coda. Finally, there's a haunting, gloomy cover of Bob Dylan's "Man In The Long Black Coat" which is quite atmospheric and would probably rank as my favourite track on here if it had been produced better (more on that later). It doesn't help either of course that Lake's voice is somehow slightly worse on this album than last time: throughout many tracks he sounds tired and hoarse, but my expectations were already lowered significantly after Black Moon so I can mostly forgive this.

What I cannot forgive however is that the production has gone completely down the drain. The production style on this album is so disgustingly 90s that it makes my skin itch. While it's especially noticeable on the ballads, pretty much all of the arrangements on this album, with their generic synth sound, dumb backing vocals and electronically processed guitars and drums, seem to draw influence from the worst of 90s electronica and adult contemporary, with the worst example being the sickeningly melodramatic "Daddy", which takes the top spot among the stinkers by considerable margin. Sounds like something Phil Collins might have produced on a really bad day after listening to too many Haddaway records in a row. To put out trash like that and call it Emerson, Lake & Palmer should be illegal. The band did try to add some diversity in the instrumentation, with the army of digital synthesizers being broken up occasionally by pianos and organs, but these somehow still sound fake, because there's too much reverb on them and they're covered in a slight layer of kitschy string synths. Everything just sounds a little too slick. The amount of drum machines gets on my nerves as well, but at least Carl Palmer had an excuse this time, as he was hindered by carpal tunnel syndrome during the recording sessions. But the worst part is just how damn quiet and scaled down everything sounds. The opening to "Hand Of Truth" for example, while solid from a compositional perspective, really just consists of high-register keys and some basic bass notes and ends up sounding quite flat. This is not a wall of sound: there's little of the meticulous overdubbing we saw on earlier releases, and the few melodic ornaments that do get sprinkled across certain tracks are not mixed very well. As a result, no track on here even manages to recreate the epic, bombastic feel that could be found on pretty much every other ELP record up until now.

There's really no other song on the album that I particularly want to listen to again. 'Rocking' tracks like "Gone Too Soon" are at least less lethargic than on the last album, but are still painfully forgettable and dull. Elsewhere you get dreck like "Give Me A Reason To Stay" and "Heart On Ice"; just some more fake-sentimental power pop/gospel stuff, something that was never ELP's forte and which they don't cover convincingly or interestingly on this album either.

What about Keith? Well, the aforementioned solo on "Hand Of Truth" is good, and he has another one on "Street War" which isn't quite as good, but still: can you believe it? Two whole solos! And it's a miracle that we even got that many out of him, because the poor guy was suffering from a severe case of RSI at the time (an ailment that would haunt him until death) and essentially had control over only one arm, meaning he was forced to overdub all the right-hand keyboard parts on this album with his left hand. With all of the boys clearly in poor health, it really makes one wonder why on earth they still decided to record this album at the time instead of waiting for a more opportune moment. Contractual obligation again, perhaps? Ah, well. In any case, it's no wonder really that Emerson, Lake & Palmer never made another album after this, and seeing how two of the band's namesakes are no longer among the living, it's fair to assume that no new ELP record will ever hit the stores again, unless Carl Palmer does a Pink Floyd and starts pumping out some 'from the vaults' release for a quick buck.