THE DARK THIRD

This album is a real treat. THE DARK THIRD might not be the most upbeat thing, but there's a certain charm to it. It kind of answers the question, ''What if Nirvana and Pink Floyd mated and gave birth?'' Add in some good production, a few trip-hop elements and Jon Anderson lyrical nonsense and you've essentially achieved Pure Reason Revolution.

The music at the beginning can be rather sedated. The two opening numbers plus the big epic in ''The Bright Ambassadors of Morning'' never really spike it on the volume, but all are delicately crafted pieces of alt/psych/prog. The heavier moments are more of my interests such as ''Nimbos and Tambos'', but all of those types of songs have more subdued, luscious moments like the volume contrasts between the verses and choruses of ''The Masters Apprentices''.

It's all fun prog n roll, but THE DARK THIRD gets old even before the album ends. ''He Tried to Show Them Magic'' suffers in quality simply because it lies at the end of the album, and I tend to suffer exhaustion at that point. Strange because the best track, ''The Intention Craft'' comes immediately before this and has the best of everything the album has to offer with a great, airy ending. It's a unique form of prog that will turn off any detractors of alternative rock or those that want more technical solo stuffs. This is purely melody and atmosphere driven, and it works well because of it.