THE NEAL MORSE BAND: THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM

In the months leading up to the release of "The Similitude of a Dream" it was clear in all the promotional material that Neal was particularly excited about this one. In more than once instance his drummer, Mike Portnoy, was even quoted in saying it was the album of his career. Since its release Neal even said on his Facebook page that it was his favorite album of his.

It's worth noting that "The Similitude" marks as the second album with the new lineup aptly named "The Neal Morse Band." Up until 2015, Neal Morse's solo albums mainly consisted of him, his drummer Portnoy, bassist Randy George, and a host of guest musicians who show up occasionally throughout the music. But with the release of 2015's "The Grand Experiment," Neal brought into the band two full-time musicians: Eric Gillette on guitar, and Bill Hubauer on keys. Both of which are also excellent vocalists. With the release of "The Grand Experiment" it was clear that Gillette and Hubauer had contributed somewhat to the songwriting style, giving the album a different flavor than the preceding Neal Morse albums. With this in mind, I looked forward to hearing another installment of this new flavor.

So how do I feel about it? It's pretty much the best album Neal has made since "Solo Scriptura," but I wouldn't say that it's better. The sharp, dramatic quality that holds together the excellence of his earlier concept albums like "Testimony" or "One" has been somewhat dulled here. Having said that, it was refreshing to hear another concept album that covers deep, theological ground, and "Similitude" does that in a very interesting way: writing the songs on themes from the 1678 book "Pilgrim's Progress."

So how's the music itself? Every time I listen through it I feel like I can hear the joy of everyone in the band. It just sounds like they had a blast recording this album. I was glad to see that Gillette and Hubauer have moments singing lead vocals. Even Portnoy sings on one track. The diverse character of each vocalist allows for them to fit different characters in different scenes, such as when Neal is playing the part of the sloth in "Sloth," urging the main character to sleep ("Why do you work so hard?"), and Gillette gloriously enters as the main character with lyrics climaxing on the line "I can't sleep or slumber or I could get lost here." There's also a very catchy track near the end of disc one with a possible Beatles influence, "The Ways of a Fool," which also has some excellent vocal tradeoffs as well as harmonizations that seem reminiscent of the Beach Boys. "Breath of Angels" has a gospel touch to it, "The Man In the Iron Cage" is built around a hard, bluesy guitar riff, and "Freedom Song" has more of a country/folk flair to it. Needless to say, the album diversely covers many of the styles seen on previous Neal Morse albums.

Would I recommend this album? Of course. Is it the best Neal Morse album? I wouldn't put it in my top three favorites. Overall I give it four stars, but it may be deserving of four and a half.