MERLIN - BARD OF THE UNSEEN

Well, first let me say that I am a "classical" prog fan, meaning symphonic rock in the style of Genesis, IQ and the like but I also have a certain weakness for musicals (like Jesus Christ Superstar).

Therefore I really can not give less than five stars to this album as it mixes those two genres perfectly imho!

For me, it doesnt hurt to have the music orchestrated at all, I even like the new versions of the 5 original "Merlin" songs slightly better than the originals.

And the new songs are by no means fillers!

Six out of the 14 songs (3 of them new) are just perfect in my view and I get never tired listening to them:

The first three: "Merlin" (just one of my all time favorite tracks), "Tintagel", "The future King"

Then "The purest of knights", "The Kings Enchanter" and "Avalon"

All of the other eight have some weak moments in my view when it gets too "poppy" but all of them have some great moments, too! Strangely the song I like the least is "Niniane", which is praised by most others .. for me it is just too mellow..

So, overall it is not perfect, but as it is within my Top five music albums I can not give it less than five stars (lets say 4.,7) :-)