NEWBORN

Cosmic rockers DICE are virtually always good for a pleasant listen or 100. their prolific nature in the face of what must be a modest audience is laudatory, almost as if the group carries on as a project as much for the fans as for themselves. The last few releases have eschewed variable song lengths in favor of consistently extended pieces, perhaps in an effort to appeal to progressive fans who presumably constitute the lion's share of their base. They have also added flutes and saxes in an attempt to stave off predictability and stagnation.

On "Newborn", their 2011 offering, the commitment remains the same, notwithstanding a few very welcome and hypnotic keyboard passages. The vocal melodies continue to veer towards the type of AOR that we wish we could get out of our heads, particularly in the choruses of "Dancing with All Gods" and "Crying Angels", the weakest numbers here, and it's all a bit too languid too often. However, most of the remaining tracks like "Tomorrow's World" and "the Future is Still Waiting", while far from earth shattering, do more than survive on the goodwill of previous albums, and might serve as entry points to the group's expansive new agey meets PINK FLOYD approach. In fact, "On the Way", in spite of the aforementioned shortcomings, possesses a riveting outtro, all the more impressively so for its minimalistic keyboard melody and woodwind accompaniment.

While I yearn for the enthusiasm and energy of "Waterworld" or the emotion of "Within vs Without", if you seek to become a newborn fan of the group, almost any role of the DICE will do just fine.