THE OLD MAN & THE SEA

This is it for me. This is the apex of what organ-driven prog can acomplish. In line with another poster, I would strongly push for this band to be relocated to the Eclectic Prog category, but at the end of the day categories are just applied labels. The music of The Old Man and the Sea is timeless, powerful, beautiful, and breathaking. For me, at least.

What makes this band such a powerhouse? They jam, extensively, with plenty of virtuosic improvisation; I've neer really heard a group of musicians in such delicious, perfect sync with each other. The vocalist (and the lyrics he sings) were a pleasant surprise - here lieth no hokeyness, no poorly iterated english cobbled together in a bid for wider appeal. OMatS seem completely at home in a language not their own. Tack on some really very surpringly solid production values, and...wow. My mouth doesn't stop watering, not once.