THE SENTINEL

This is one of the most talked about neo-progressive rock albums in the '80's. It has a reputation of being a masterpiece and a classic album in this genre. Despite all that, I hadn't heard it until InsideOut re-released it in the CD format this year, so it was with high expectations I started listen to it.

- This is a concept album with a war theme. The music is a mix between 70's bands such as EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER, GENESIS, PINK FLOYD, RUSH and YES, and eighties and nineties bands such as ARENA, IQ, MARILLION and PENDRAGON. The high-quality compositions have great melody lines, intelligent lyrics, many instrumental passages, great musicianship, bombastic keyboards and intricate rhythm and mood changes. In a retrospective view the sound is very eighties, much due to the keyboard sound.

- Besides the tracks that were on the original release there's also some tracks that never made it onto the vinyl version. The CD also includes a Multimedia section with pictures and a video of the band performing "Atlantis" live on stage. The highlights on the album are "Cut and Run", "Eastwest", "March on Atlantis", "Heart Attack" and the closing "Ark of Infinity", but every track is a masterpiece in itself.

- The gatefold cover artwork by Patrick Woodroffe is very beautiful. It's very reminiscent to Roger Dean's works, and it illustrates the music very well. If I have some negative critic it would be that I might have had too big expectations on this album, because it didn't really fulfil my dreams. I even doubt that "The Sentinel" were such an innovative album when it was released. Despite my few negative words, this is without doubt an album that deserves its place as a classic album in the progressive genre. The compositions are top-notch, and all in all this are a highly recommended album that you ought to buy.