DICE

The album Dice featured a decent but somewhat distracting vocalist, but is a little more polished than The Four Riders. There's still the same mix between upbeat major-key ditties, lush symphonic epics, and dissonant ostinatos. All of the tracks are very strong, but I find the instrumental breaks on "The Utopian Suntan," the Focus-like instrumental "Annika," and the glorious mellotron dirge "Esther" to be exceptional. The 22-minute suite "Follies" is an interesting look at schizophrenia. The lyrics are often poorly written but still well-sung and they suit the music pretty well. As is often the case, this album sounds more professional but less distinctive than the rawer predecessor. A lot of the songs are based very much on chord sequences or academic-sounding melodic patterns without a lot else going on. That doesn't bother me, but it seems to strike others as being bland and unmemorable and more like exercises than well-developed compositions. I think they're great though.