VISION

I have been conditioned to like this album by some of my progmates who regularly visit my blog. They said that this album by Martigan will remind me to Marillion's Fish era. Well, I was not interested at all, actually, with that kind of statement because I thought Fish' voice is so unique (I disagree that Fish is emulating Peter Gabriel exactly) so I did not really believe that there would be band(s) that is similar with Fish era of Marillion. Finally I got the album and I conclude that ...

Quality does not correspond directly to outcome

Well, yeah ...I believe you would say that the musical quality of Martigan in this album is good or in fact excellent and in some ways I agree and some other ways I don't. Let me elaborate my reasoning, in particular with this album.

It does not sound original in terms of music style as the first time I listened to this album I did not find something unique delivered by this band. The style is totally copy cat to any bands in neo progressive bands - mellow and keyboard based with some efforts to make the tagline melody is going to sound in memorable way. To put it in simple way, I was not impressed with the opening track as it demonstrates more on its mellow style and is trying to make the song melodious but it sounds like being forced to become melodious. What makes me feel something like bored is when there is part where it copies the style that Pallas made in its "The Cross and The Crucible" album. Oh man .. it bores me... Why these gentlemen copy the style very easily from Pallas? It scores the music down - in my view. So the epic "Boatman's Vision" which consumes 23 minutes in duration does not stir my emotion at all and I really get bored.

Nice music segments. Despite its lacking on creating good nuances due to its copy cat to previous bands (Pallas), I have to admit there are excellent segments throughout the music especially those with electric guitar or keyboard solo. The music segments that in some way to another make them associated with the kinds of neo prog music are the things that I can enjoy the music. I have seen the guitarist plays good parts in providing his solo shot in some important segments of the music. The instrumental segments in "Much More" is quite good, really.

Melody is quite melodious in a away but it does not sound quite natural to my ears. It's probably the vocal quality is not something that I expect from neo prog music like this. I can imagine if the vocal is something like in Arena, it would sound excellent to me my ears. In my opinion the vocal part does not sound blended with the music and in some segments the vocal sounds awkward like those parts in second track "Craze This Town".

In conclusion, musically this is a good album as you would find in nice segments where it has solo guitar. But unfortunately the music fails to stir my emotion it sounds just flat to me. Keep on proggin' ...!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW