BE

Be, just be. A tribute, a concept album about philosophical thoughts, questions without response, ethical concerns, God and death itself. A concept in which God is seen as a omnipresence force who created the world, at his "own image", fusing his own "doubts and hopes", ending to be the union of every human "Together they became Me". A declining God, as the album evolutes painfully to the cathartic end of Mankind, where God vanishes himself. Very controversial message indeed, but it is emotionally dramatic the way it's used to criticize the worst of Men, since his own genesis to our days.

The album surely is strongly different from PoS previous releases, ending to be almost a majestic opera rock, perhaps influenced by the latest AYREON releases, particularly "Into the Electric Castle". It continued to keep the band's main characteristics, their somewhat unique progressive metal, while incorporating haunting symphonic elements and tribal patterns which assented like a glove in the album's concept atmosphere. The album starts truly with "Deus Nova", a crescendo track laded with its sinister piano and percussion, haphazard drumming rhythm and nervous organ as a disturbing narration reveals, date by date, the terrifying growth of Human population till our days and the fore come future. But then, Humankind history is told, tribal rhythms and flutes recreating the joyful ingenuous happiness of Humankind genesis in "Imago", revealing in a very funny way the crescendo egoism in our thought, the main refrain starting with "Take me to." at the beginning of the track, progressing to "Teach me of." in the middle, culminating with "Give me of" then "Give me all" at the end. Then the trebled instrumental "Pluvius Aestivus" with its classically emotive piano and percussion starting to construct the bridge to the present, culminated with "Lilium Cruentrus", which presents us the beautiful main motif of the album, repeated in the end of the album. Present is personified in "Dae Pecuniae", a beautiful track with a very catchy guitar solo and melody, ending in the Floydian gospel singing of "Dark Side of the Moon". Here, another critic to Humankind prototype, exemplified by Money character itself "I Could have bought a Third World country" showing all our hypocrisy and insensibility.

The disturbing cinematic narrations of screaming pain on "Vocari Dei" lead to the heavy "Diffentia", with its tense piano and strong guitar arrangements. Some more tracks follow representing the Present and opening the way to the dramatic "In Iter Impius" where Mankind has all been vanished except for Mr. Money who can now control the whole world - mountains of dust and ruins. Ironic. The album ends with the retrospective "Martius/Nauticus II", one of the best, which joins magnificently several arrangements showed around the album.

A stunning album. One of the best works of 2004. Varied, original, well played, with a dramatic, very controversial and metaphysical concept.