NOT OF THIS WORLD

Crushed between the two greatest band's studio releases, "The Masquerade Overture" and "Believe", this album looks like a kind of PENDRAGON's sabbatical. No, it's not a bad work; in fact, it's fairly audible and amusing even catchy but I'm quite sure to have expected a bit more from this fine band or maybe I should have listened to "Not Of This World" in the correct sequence which didn't happen and so not to sound biased I'll place myself within the correct space and time to review this album in a fair manner.

Maybe I didn't get totally the amount of cheesy songs and the fact that Barrett's voice, sharp and dauntless, fits better for rock-folk- prog acts but runs senseless when venturing through romantic-balladesque sceneries. Also, PENDRAGON looks like giving one or two steps backwards while playing dated neo-prog tunes much more suitable for the mid-80s than the turn of the century. Instrumentation, even righteous, seems a bit over creating at times a choking and artificial atmosphere.

Good parts are mainly inside the songs, especially 'A man of nomadic traits', the best and proggiest song here and the dual parts of 'Dance of seven veils', being the second superior than the first. Here and there we may pick interesting segments inside other tracks, more specifically in either parts of 'World's end'. Bonus tracks, which are acoustic versions of two songs from "The Masquerade Overture", add a different perfume to the album even being a little misplaced.

In the end, a fifty-fifty work but worth to receive a upgraded rating thanks to PENDRAGON's history and so "Not Of This World" is honestly a non-essential good album.