IMAGINOS

Being a long-time BOC fan, I was thrilled when this album came out, as it had seemed that they had gone the way of the Reaper as a band. Once I listened to it, I was just as pleased, but equally confused. The best news is that it holds up years later as a very strong release by the band.

The first thing that hits you with Imaginos is how heavy it is. The album is thunderous and over the top in all the right ways. After the bland releases of the past few years this was a real suprise. More that half the album is outstanding, but special notice must be made of 'In The Presence...','Les Invisibles', and 'I Am The One You Warned Me Of', all of which harken back to a better time for BOC. The real standout track is 'The Siege and Investiture..', a song that is almost absurd by the huge vocal choir, the guitar wall of sound and Bouchard's histronic vocal. This track is big and absolutely fantastic.

Mush attention was given, at the time, of its reworking of two of their classics 'Subhuman' and 'Astronomy', both of which fare well, but are not improved by the redo. They seem to be here to flesh out the story and maybe harken back to glory days for the band.

Which leads to the only two troubles of this album. First, the story is not fleshed out in any fashion, more a suggestion of unity than any strong thematic flow. The problem here comes mainly from the troubles this album went through in its inception, with much of the story pared out for a single release. Even still, having read Bouchard's original idea, I feel that it is muddled and confusing without any drive. The other issue is that this is not a band album, but a solo album by Bouchard that was grabbed by the record company and sold under the BOC name, having the other members overdub vocals and adding a few guitar bits to the procedings, given it a slightly disjointed feel. The real shame of this is that the everyone involved has distanced themselves from the album, and as a result it is briefly mentioned in their history, never represented on any collection (of which there are too many) and is now out of print. A real shame since this is actually one to be proud of.

Highly recommended for beginners and fans alike.