SONG FOR AMERICA

Kansas

Symphonic Prog

4.15 | 831 ratings

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LinusW
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator

How come this album isn't up there with Leftoverture and Point of Know Return when it comes to fame? For me it's close to impossible to separate the three when it comes to pure greatness.

The band gives us six songs, five of them are excellent and three of them are epics.

Down the Road is a perfect starter, chunky, with a stomping rythm worthy of any smoke-filled, gritty bar in Texas. This one's about drug dealing. But don't be frightened by this, it's still not a simple run-of-the-mill rock song. There's talent in the music and after a rolling bass comes a crazy violin that carries this song into a frenzy. My god what an energy! Robbie Steinhardt is magnificent.

and then all the sudden...

Song for America. Such a beautiful song. Such contrast compared to Down the Road. With atmospheric keys, poignant piano and mellow arrangements we're sweeping over the plains. Delightful indeed. And that Dave Hope knows how to handle a bass guitar. The warmth of the debut is there again, even with the ominous lyrics.

The wall of sound that follows is Lamplight Symphony. A perfect marriage of beauty and tragedy. I love listening to this song with really high volume. The soundscape always sends chills down my spine, especially when reaching the violin crescendos.

Lonely Street has nothing to do here, so I won't bother writing much about it. Skip it.

Now it turns into heavy/hard prog with the vibrant The Devil Game and you can feel that the band is having a lot of fun during this one.

Closing the album is Incomudro - Hymn to the Atman, the most experimental of the songs on the album. The arrangements are quite close to Lamplight Symphony but moves on to higher ground with, among other things, a drum solo and some spacey synth.

This is a masterpiece.

LinusW | 5/5 | 2008-2-9

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