THE NEAL MORSE BAND: THE GREAT ADVENTURE

The Great Adventure is a concept double album from Neal Morse Band, as a sequel to the 2016 album, The Similitude Of A Dream, which was very well received, both by the fans and by the critics. Similitude of a Dream was not my favourite NM album, neither when was released and neither today, but I had high expectations with The Great Adventure. And I'm very happy with the result: a strong album, full of passion, with many dark and heavy passages combined with mellow songs, great solos and ticking clocks. There are many similarities between these two albums, starting with the theme, album structure, songs structure (long "ideas" divided into short songs), etc. Yes, there are some recurring themes from the previous album(s), there are many parts that sounds so familiar, but as a whole, the album feels very fresh and captivating and requiers dozens of listenings before you will instantly recognize the songs. My ratings for the songs are: Overture (9/10), The Dream Isn't Over (8.5/10), Welcome To The World (8.5/10), A Momentary Change (8.5/10), Dark Melody (9.5/10), I Got To Run (9/10), To The River (9/10), The Great Adventure (9/10), Venture In Black (8.5/10), Hey Ho Let's Go (8/10), Beyond The Borders (8/10), Overture 2 (9/10), Long Ago (8.5/10), The Dream Continues (8.5/10), Fighting With Destiny (8.5/10), Vanity Fair (8/10), Welcome To The World 2 (8/10), The Element Of Fear (9.5/10), Child Of Wonder (9.5/10 - my favourite song from the album), The Great Despair (9/10), Freedom Calling (9.5/10), A Love That Never Dies (9/10) Overall this is an excelent album, with many impressive keyboard passages, nice guitar solos, many vocal parts from Eric Gillette and Bill Hubauer (although I will always prefer Neal's powerful and warm voice), a five star album, a very good album that most prog rock music lovers will probably enjoy and Neal fans will probably love.

PS: please excuse my poor english. PPS: Hope to see Neal, this year in Barcelona.