ON THE THRESHOLD OF ETERNITY

This is a three-piece band in which one of the members, Randy George, contributed to the solo album by Neal Morse, "Testimony". I was not paying close attention until I knew Ajalon and I opened the CD sleeve of "Testimony" and found out Randy as one of session player. I was not aware about the band history when I got this album but it made me curious to enjoy the music from a band The I had never heard it yet.

I was impressed with the opening track "Anthem of the Seventh Day" which basically an instrumental piece with excellent drums solo at the opening part. It reminds me to CAST (Mexico) song called "Initiation" from "Angels and Demons" album. The unique part of this opening track is the use of "Penny Whistle" that gives traditional nuance. In fact, listening to this whistle, my mind relates this with one of the songs in Kayak's "Close To The Fire" album.

"The Promised Land" sounds like a ballads with good vocal quality accompanied with acoustic guitar as rhythm section and keyboard sounds, plus drums and bass, of course. "Sword of Goliath" kicks off beautifully with a keyboard solo that reminds me to the intro of Marillion's "Garden Party". The tempo of this third track is faster than previous two songs. The vocal quality is like a blend of Alan Parson's project vocal line and Andy Latimer of Camel. "Holy Spirit Fire" style is very Alan Parson's Project's. "Psalm 61" continues the style of previous track - it's basically a pop rock scene.

"What Kind of Love" opening acapella reminds me to the music of Yes "Talk" album. But when the music enters, there is relatively complex arrangement with keyboard as main player as well as guitar. The music then flows in pop rock style. "The Highway" brings the music back to ballad pop with acoustic guitar providing fills as well as rhythm section. The same vein is carried forward into next track "Forever I Am". The concluding track is an epic "On the Threshold of Eternity" with nice pulsating keyboard as opener.

Overall, this album has good compositions especially in combining melody line and music arrangements. With many curved lines in some of compositions, the album is not a straight forward music, it's a prog album. I think the musicianship is also good especially with great names like Neal Morse, Rick Wakeman as additional musicians. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW