? [AKA: QUESTION MARK]

Neal Morse

Symphonic Prog

4.20 | 686 ratings

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Rune2000
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Honorary Collaborator

This is where I think that Neal Morse has finally come fully into his own as a solo artist!

Question mark or simply ? starts off with my favorite Morse album intro tune titled Temple Of The Living God. It's such a grand way to begin a concept album and the melody drags the listener effortlessly right into the storyline making every new track another piece of the adventure. The material flows smoothly up until the section where the album goes into Neal's trademarked ending that he uses quite frequently (Snow, Testimony, Sola Scriptura, Lifeline and all the Transatlantic albums). What I mean is that it starts with a slow buildup to the ending, in this case Inside His Presence, and finally repeats the title track melody in the concluding section right at the end.

This is a wonderful album that takes the listener on an hour full of great music adventures filled with nice melodies and neat instrumental sections. Unlike most complaints about the religious content of the lyrics I could only find one particular part of the album that made me slightly disturbed by it. But even that section, on Solid As The Sun, seems to be aware of this flaw and pans all the vocal/narration to one side of the speakers which make it easy for me to lower the volume on one side and just enjoy the instrumental work.

So far this is my favorite Neal Morse release, but I feel that another great album is just around the corner!

***** star songs: Temple Of The Living God (6:13) Inside His Presence (5:30)

**** star songs: Another World (2:36) Outsider (2:21) Sweet Elation (2:32) In The Fire (7:24) Glory Of The Lord (1:41) Outside Looking In (4:19) 12 (6:46) Deliverance (6:22) Temple Of The Living God (4:27)

*** star songs: Solid As The Sun (6:12)

Total Rating: 4,10

Rune2000 | 4/5 | 2009-12-20

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