THRENODY FOR A DEAD QUEEN

Back for their sixth studio album release since 2010, Comedy Of Errors' stalwart lineup produces another impeccably engineered collection of smooth prog songs. I would think this album would only serve to increase the quintet's fan base.

1. "Summer Lies Beyond" (15:27) checks all the requisites for a solid if mellow NeoProg classic. I like its spaciousness and ALAN PARSONS PROJECT I Robot-era sound, but dislike some of the engineering choices that leave it feeling a bit stark and remote. Still, the final five minutes and finish may make up for any sonic deficiencies. (27/30)

2. "The Seventh Seal" (14:10) I do not like the effects used on Joe Cairney's voice. Though his Geddy Lee vocal similarities are here matched by the song's RUSH-like musical sound palette, there is also a STYX/ALAN PARSONS PROJECT syrupyness to it as well--especially the longer the song goes on. Actually, this could very well have been a cutting floor outtake from one of the BUGGLES or ART IN AMERICA albums. (26/30)

3. "We Are Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On (3:02) a pleasant, dreamy, atmospheric instrumental that suffers from some of the same engineering choices I've already noted. (It sounds like a 1980s New Age piece.) (4.375/5)

4. "Jane (Came Out of the Blue)" (4:00) Joe's voice is a little pitchy over this rather simplistic, pop-oriented construct. This is simply not up to par with modern prog song standards--more like a demo for an OZARK MOUNTAIN DAREDEVILS piece. (8/10)

5. "Through the Veil" (3:33) a fairly obvious attempt at a replication of STEVEN WILSON's "Perfect Life" only left as a one-dimensional instrumental. The violin isn't even a violin! It's a sound generated from a cheap computer keyboard! (4.125/5)

6. "Threnody for a Dead Queen" (12:28) a nicely hypnotic three-minute electronic intro that reminds me a lot of something TANGERINE DREAM or TORTOISE might have done for a movie soundtrack is augmented in the fourth minute by bass and drums, propelling the main theme forward though causing no shift in direction or pacing, but then everybody seems to fade into the ether leaving only a weave of keyboard generated (sequenced?) tuned percussives mixed with space atmospherics. What strikes me as odd is that a threnody is defined as a "wailing ode, song, hymn, or poem of mourning composed and performed as a memorial to a dead person" and yet nothing in this song feels sad or funereal, and there aren't even any voices, lyrics, or singing until the tenth minute! The vocal point that joins the party in the tenth minute feels totally as if it came out of one of JON ANDERSON's spiritually-expressive solo albums. While I like the music--and song--I always find myself a bit confused as I try to match the music with the title. (22/25)

7. "And Our Little Life Is Rounded with a Sleep" (3:09) another instrumental filler. At least this one has multiple motifs worked into its three minutes--and the sound feels cleaner, better engineered. (8.6667/10)

8. "Funeral Dance" (3:09) an oddly ironic electronic attempt at an ancient/mediæval sound. It sounds okay but would never fly at a Renaissance Faire. Maybe it would work at an Emerson, Lake and Palmer tribute band competition. And, to knock it all off, this seems to have come from a performance before a live audience! Go figure! (8.25/10)

Total Time 58:58

I've not felt as engaged and attached to any previous Comedy Of Errors release as I have with this one, and yet the engineering and production choices as well as the repeated use of half-baked instrumental fillers between the epics leaves me with a sour taste. It's similar to my reaction to Andrew Marshall's WILLOWGLASS releases: I love the sounds and ideas of the songs but feel as if they could have all been further developed and polished As a matter of fact, the album as a whole feels more like three fully-worked out (but perhaps not-fully-polished) epics with a bunch of partially-realized ideas included for the expressed purpose of reaching the proper length for a CD release.

C+/3.5 stars; an enticing-sounding album of prog lite that feels under-realized and/or prematurely released, which, ultimately, I find to be rather disappointing--especially from veterans--(veterans whose skills I know to be far superior to this).