NOT OF THIS WORLD

The two things that I do not understand are complaints over NICK BARRETT's voice and the lack of innovation/complexity in this album. BARRETT's voice on this album is the most emotionally intense that it has ever been. And IMO, this is at least as complex and ambitious a work as "The Masquerade Overture" (and probably more), which is no mean album in itself. I disagree with anyone who says that PENDRAGON have taken a step back with this album.

As an album, this work holds together better than any earlier PENDRAGON albums - as the reviewer "Chessman" points out, it is truly a concept album, which may account for any complaints about repetitiveness. I definitely do not think that the "repetitiveness" occurs due to the band's lack of ideas, or just for the sake of making the songs longer. The musical pieces are very complex indeed, with both keyboards and guitars getting emphasis at different points in the album (and in many places, emphasized together). There is a large variation in the intensity of the music, which ranges from quiet to bombastic, and it all fits together beautifully. To top it all off, there are a lot of subtleties in the music, and I discover more every time I listen to this album. I did not find earlier PENDRAGON albums to be as multi-layered as this one. The lyrics are as good as any on the previous albums.

In summary, the whole is a lot greater than the sum of its parts as far as this album is concerned (so I won't discuss individual songs in my review). Get this album! If you're new to PENDRAGON, this album, along with "The Masquerade Overture" is as good a starting point as any (I repeat though that this album must be listened to as a whole).

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