ROMANTIC WARRIOR

I used to think for a long time that a huge part of this album was just unnecessary noodling, as if the musicians were trying to play fast and complex just for the sake of it, and that was why I couldn't hold my attention to this album. It bored the hell out of me sometimes. So I gave it another listen. I was hopeless, I whought it would be just the same: I would enjoy Duel Of The Jester... only (I still think it's their best piece on the recording, and the one that led me to it). Luckily, I was wrong. Okay, it's HIGHLY technical, but finally I could understand all the sense of this, and the compositions are just superb, as is the musicianship (BIG names in the genre). It's very polished and perfectly executed from the beginning to the end. You can hear every second was thought, there isn't unnecessary improvisation here, it sounds tight as hell. But beware, it may take a long time to finally 'click' on you (as it happened with me). But it's a masterpiece definitely, I wish more bands make this kind of music these days.

Rating: 4.5/5