LEGACY

For me this isn't nearly as good as "Tyranny" or the follow up "Room V". Lots of good moments of course, but not enough for me to give it 4 stars.

The first song "Cliffhanger 2" opens with some piano and atmosphere. We get some power 1 1/2 minutes in as riffs and vocal melodies come in. Vocals 3 minutes in as the sound gets heavier. Great section. It's spacey 6 1/2 minutes in until a really good bass / drum section takes over. The guitar then comes in ripping it up. This is the best track on here. "Destination Unknown" is ballad-like for the first 3 minutes until the guitar comes in and just goes on and on. Nice. "Colors" is pure, thats the best way I can describe it. It's very uplifting. "Society Of The Mind" has some nice crunchy guitars at times and some good guitar solos as well. This is good driving music.

The song "Legacy" has an interesting story behind it. Gary the guitarist wrote 9 songs for James Labrie's MULLMUZZLER project, and this was one of them that was called "Forever" originally. Anyway James and Gary hooked up again and Gary actually traded two songs in order to get this one back. Joe the drummer really liked the song and it ended up on this record, they just changed the name to"Legacy'". Not surprisingly the drumming is fantastic on this song. I really like the heavy intro as well. Not a fan of the harmonies though. "First Light" may be listed at over 34 minutes but in my opinion this is no epic. I just find it meanders along too much, plus there is that annoying 6 minutes of silence. Hello ?

Good album with some great moments.