LIFELINE

My God (no pun intended) people are split on this album. I think the problem that some people are having is that without an epic concept to be dealing with, Neal's lyrics have become even more straight out Christian. For me though this isn't a problem and the lyrics are generally pretty god damn good for Christian lyrics. So Many Roads particularly has some epic lines, but more importantly, the music is awesome as always. The people who say Morse is repeating a formula are missing the fact that almost every band in history has a formula for writing their music, I would say that Morse is one of the most creative and open-minded (well, musically, that is) rock musicians of all time, he never holds back a musical idea if he thinks it'll sound good and that is truly what the progressive mindset is all about. Lifeline starts out with one of the coolest intros I've ever heard, it's this high pitched little piano melody that rings along for a bit before exploding into an epic uberheavy prog riff. The rest of the track is excellent as well, up until the part where he yells, Jesus is my Lifeline! but his uberchristianness is easy to overlook in light of the awesomeness of the music. The Way Home is one of my favorite ballads by him, with a great little catchy melody at the beginning and a really euphoric one in the middle. So Many Roads is brilliant all the way through and features one of the greatest parts in any of Morse's music; The Humdrum Life, which features an incredible duel saxophone solo that puts most modern jazz to shame. Overall, this is Morse still at the top of his game and not failing to release the greatest album of the year, as has been his tradition for many years running now. A must for Morse fans and fans of great musicianship alike.