BELIEVERS & DECEIVERS

Their previous album "Stories" was barely 3 stars in my opinion. This is a huge improvement and very close to 4 stars. It's 68 minutes long and there's only 4 songs including the almost 35 minute closer.

"Pointless Living" is one i'm not too fond of, it's a straight forward, uptempo track. It opens with some huge bass as the tempo picks up quickly. It settles down and vocals come in after a minute.The tempo continues to change. Not bad really, it's kind of fun. "After The Storm" reminds me of some of the current Jazz flavoured U.S. bands like LITTLE ATLAS. I like this one, it sounds so different from the rest of the album. The guitar after 4 minutes is outstanding. "The Harvest" is over 20 minutes long. Church organ to start with as vocals arrive before a minute with keys. Bass come in prominantly. A haunting calm 3 minutes in, then the guitar starts to make some noise. Spoken words 4 1/2 minutes in. The tempo starts to pick up before 6 minutes. Some great organ runs too. Sax 11 1/2 minutes in over a nice heavy soundscape. Fragile vocals with acoustic guitar 14 minutes in. Cool section. Piano comes in. Mellotron 16 1/2 minutes in. Guitar ends the song in style as organ and bass shine.

"The Grand Event" opens with strummed guitar and mellotron. I like it. Sax comes in briefly. Vocals 1 1/2 minutes in, sax returns a minute later. Mellotron continues. There's a GENTLE GIANT-like vocal arrangement 4 1/2 minutes in.The tempo coontiues to shift as does the mood. Mellotron 17 1/2 minutes. Nice heavy sound 21 minutes in. Huge bass before 24 1/2 minutes followed by piano and mellotron. A change after 32 minutes and spoken vocals come in, followed by guitar to the end.

This reminds me of SIMON SAYS a little, although it's not nearly as bombastic. The bass in both are quite prominant and although both are well done and very proggy, I just can't give them 4 stars. Close though. 3.5 stars.