MUSIC INSPIRED BY THE LORD OF THE RINGS

After hearing "The Gap is too Wide" on Internet Radio, I got curious about this "Mostly Autumn" band. I searched the stores in search of anything from them, in hope of giving them another listen. No music store in Portugal had it in stock. Like most curious listeners nowdays, I recruited the services of the Internet, and searched for anything dowloadable. The only result found was this album, that became my first Mostly Autumn audio experience. First of all, a single note. I hate The Lord of the Rings. I hated the books, the movies and most music drawn from it. So in my perception this album was a complete failure, for it did not remind at all of Tolkien's work (musically, of course, for the lyrics are quite obvious). This made it an even more fantastic listening. Great acoustic melodies followed by a dark environment that made the album sound like a permanent battle between good and evil. Of course comparissons arose. They DO try to sound a bit floydian. But that really didn't bother me. I only wished a lot of bands out there sounded "floydian" as well... However, although this was my first "true" encounter with MA, I am writing this after hearing four more of their albums, a couple of DVD's and a live performance. That said, I recon that this album, perhaps due to it's quick recording, has its flaws. The basses are too loud on some songs, almost making the guitar parts hard to hear. The vocals by both Josh and Findley are considerably weaker than on previous and subsequent eforts. All and all, it is a pretty good effort, by a band that stirs a lot of mixed feelings. Because it is an album that can be apreciated even if you don't like Mostly Autumn, since it's different from their other albums, I give it a 4-star rating.

PS: Just so you know, I went on and bought the album, getting rid of the MP3.