INFINITE SYMPHONY

The first time I noticed this album was because of the high rating it had at a certain moment in time, it was some 4,71 out of 10 ratings I believe and then for symphonic prog. I mean if it would have been for Zeuhl or extreme prog metal, well in those cases it's most of the time a few fanatics of the genre that all give 5 stars because of that but that doesn't mean everybody will like it but with symphonic prog it's more a case of general prog that almost all proggers could love. So when in that subgenre an album has such a high average rating, I get stimulated to buy it because there is 99% chance we are talking about great music.

When I played it after the purchase for a couple of times I was somewhat underwhelmed by the whole thing because it wasn't as great as I hoped for. But as so often happens in these cases you have to give it some more tries and carefull listenings because it's logic your expectations are huge at first and it's almost bound to be disappointing. So I did that and my enthusiasm grew more and more.

First movement isn't really impressive to me and is probably one of the reasons for my initial dismay and after over 10 listenings I'm still not impressed by it. It's a bit uninspiring and monotonous and will get no more than 3,5 stars if I would rate it. Second movement though is already an enormous improvement and is more or less the counterpart of the first. More energetic, great guitar, more variety, this all combined results in an almost perfect score of 4,75*. Downside is that we've had the best with this one. Third movement was already very familiar to me because it's the great Boat Builder track of the Finnish Epic three CD release from same year as this album, 2003. It's a bit unclear which was first, the song for this album or the epical track for Kalevala. In the booklet of this clearlight album it says: Inspired by the epic Finnish poem Kalevala. But that doesn't prove either possibility, whether the contribution for the Finnish release was first or the track for this album and they leant it to the Finns later on. Anyway, it's almost exactly the same song, the version on this CD is some two minutes longer. It's the first and only of the movements with a vocal contribution. The singing is good (bit like Gabriel) and so is the composition although I don't think it's as good as Movement II (4,25 *).

Movement IV is another instrumental but this time it's with many instruments, like great flute, piccolo (tin whistle ?), saxophones and electric violins and of course guitar and piano. This results in a wonderful almost orchestral piece which is still growing on me with each listening. Second favourite and highlight for me of this very fine album (4,5*).

5th mov is going more or less the same way, also with many instruments but mainly the saxophones are replaced by clarinets. An important difference is that the song on itself is less impressive than previous movement. It's still a very nice listening enjoyment but at this point the weariness starts to creep in a bit because all in all it's a bit much of the same. It's all great music, don't get me wrong but there are a few themes in this entire album and they keep coming back in variations which is on itself not a bad thing, it's even a quite rare and unique concept but it's the small danger that's lying around the corner when playing this disk. If you love what this band is doing it's an unbelievable treat but if the whole sound of the band is not really your thing (like in my case) it tends to become a little bit prosy. This 5th movement by the way is the most classical sounding of the album probably by the prominent violin and piano. Still a pretty good piece of music (4*) 6th and last movement is in my opinion proving the statement from above that it's all been enough by now because this one is summing up a lot of what has already been played, the main theme is prominently there but by now I have had enough in most of the times I listened to it (3,5*) And for those who love this so much they can't get enough of it there is a bonus track of over 5 minutes repeating parts of the 3rd movement once more and there even appear to be a couple of mp3 tracks as well with a demo track and another version of the 3rd movement.

And these movements prove this CD is linked to classical music because there movements are very well known and common as the connoisseurs of classical music probably know. This piece of art can even be called a bridge between classical and popular music and may even be one of the best examples of this in musical history.

For those who have become curious and feel drawn to a piece of music like this, it's higly recommended and I even believe it's an essential album for most and certainly the more serious proggers. Despite of this it's not quite a masterpiece in my book and probably also because it's not a 100% for my personal taste. But 4 stars is the very least it deserves.