ALMOST HUMAN

I cannot confirm the positive impression of my fellow reviewer at all (sorry, Eric!). I used to like Vynce Leff's previous band SAENS (at least considering only the music, not that much the vocal parts). Although his new project is listed here under Symphonic Prog I've to say this record is revealing for me even more a typical NeoProg sound than the ones by Saens. First I still have big problems to support Leff's vocals, which fortunately occur now only occasionally anymore but the addition of female lead singer Jenny Lewis does not really help me to overcome this. They're sounding in a way painful to my ears, just too kitschy.What we get offered here is another one of this GLASS HAMMER-MAGENTA type of mainstream prog stuff that I'm not able to listen to anymore at all. The concept of the album is highly elaborate I've to admit and big efforts have been done to create a pseudo-classical and opera kind of atmosphere. But on the other hand it appears much too overblown to me. From the point of musicianship there isn't anything I could blame, it's absolutely flawless. Considering the comparison to MALDOROR and NEMO (both bands I happen to like very much) there isn't any similarity to those. Thus all these rather negative aspects are raising for me two questions. First whether this sub-genre of prog (which used to be one of my favorite ones) is mainly represented by such type of (Retro-Prog) bands in future. If this is the case I doubt that Symphonic Prog will still be something I'm highly interested in. Second quite acute question is: How can I rate such a work done in a music style I usually like if I'm not able to enjoy it at all? To provide a quick answer to the last one: I cannot give more than 2 stars.

I just can advice anyone having a similar taste to mine to listen to this one carefully before wasting any money!

Edited 5/29/2006