A GENTLEMAN'S HURRICANE

Mind's Eye's last album, Walking on H2O was my introduction to the band. At first, I was a bit disappointed, melodies didn't hook me and frankly they sounded a bit too poppy and traditional. This feeling didn't last long though and now I wonder what was going on with my head, because it quickly grew to be one of my favourite albums of all time. Work of Art, the name of the also excellent previous album could also describe Walking on H2O.

Fortunately the wait for successor for Walking on H2O was not as long as with albums of my other favourite, Tool. A Gentleman's Hurricane, the new concept album - graphic novel and making of dvd set was released last Friday by Lion Music (have to mention them as a thank you note for shipping and me getting the new album in record time). This was my most anticipated album since Tool's 10 000 Days and fortunately it was worth of the wait, actually they could have taken the 5 years like Tool and it still would have been worth the wait!

So what we have here is more of the same, symphonic prog rock with the emphasis on arrangement and melodies instead of complexity and technical brilliance. The difference to previous albums two albums is probably slightly heavier sound, but I would call this metal though. There is a clear focus in each song and arrangements sound really tight. Each note and section seems to have a place, no pointless stuff here, which seems to plague a lot of prog music. I could list all the praises the last two albums have got and they could be used to describe this album and my initial impression is that this album is probably even better, only time will tell. There seem to be small but definite step forward with uniqueness, songs feel tighter and more... "lush"?. They took all the ingredients of the last album, added some and used them with more experience and skill. Oh yeah, there is also enjoyable story under all this brilliant music!

A Gentleman's Hurricane is one those rare albums which I really enjoy completely and has that extra something which raises it a step higher than most good and excellent albums. So I include this to my small bunch of five star albums.

As an additional note, the Making of DVD was really good and kept my short attention span after a bit clumsy beginning. It really helped to appreciate the talent the guys have (especially mastermind Daniel Flores) even more. I really hope this band will get a lot more notice and press, because they really deserve it!