RED QUEEN TO GRYPHON THREE

I'm really not as much in pseudo-mediaeval or pseudo-renaissance music as I used to; but this album is really a treat. First of all, the instrumentation is unique (bassoons and krumhorns are not commonly used in rock music, not even in prog). It seems that by now the band had taken influence from Yes and Genesis, and the first track indicates that. The absence of vocals really helps to digest the album, even as you might not remember most of it on first listen.

The chess game starts and you shall feel immersed into it; from "Opening Move", to the sweet tension in the players' concentration as portrayed in the initially cheerful "Second Spasm", to the more depressing yet beautiful "Lament", which builds the tension in the middle-end section until the coda suggests that the goal is about to be fulfilled in "Checkmate"; the tension still prolonges as the winner proceeds to overthrow the opponent's king.

All in all, there's no fault in this album; the musicianship is quite obvious, the arrangements are as complex as you might expect and yet it won't be the most you can say about this album and this band. Flawless... the "forgotten" masterpiece.