INFERNO

Having shown us through two fine previous albums that he was willing to experiment and diversify, Scott Mosher's third album has to live up to some high expectations. While he continues his diversification here, there is an element of settling in to a defined style. "Inferno" has much more in common with its immediate predecessor "Virtuality" than it does with his debut.

After the doomily atmospheric instrumental opener "Descent", the album bursts into life with the pop metal title track. The song reminds me a bit of Porcupine Tree's more recent commercially orientated material, with swirling synths, a catchy rhythm, incisive guitar, and the vocals of Todd Corsa. The tracks here sometimes segue from one to the next, giving a concept album feel. This is the case with the transition from "Inferno" to "Dark sun", the latter being a building keyboard instrumental reminiscent of Hawkwind's "Hall of the mountain grill" period.

The album settles into something of a pattern from here on though, with most of the tracks relying heavily on the vocals. "Mindfield", "Left behind", "Look into you" and "Ghostland" are all decent but unremarkable pop rock songs. On the plus side, Corsa's vocals sound less like Geddy Lee impersonations, but for me the overuse of vocals detracts from Mosher's immense instrumental talents.

At 9 minutes, the second longest track "Exile" is a rather odd blend of Tangerine Dream like ambient synths, and an Ayreon power ballad. The synthetic drums are striking, but lack the warmth of the real thing. The highlight of the track though, and indeed one of the album's highlights, is the fine lead guitar solo which bursts forward in the latter part of the track. While the guitar style has echoes of Steve Wilson, the solo is wonderfully enticing, another 10 minutes would have suited me fine.

The Porcupine Tree references continue in the heavy riffing of "Engines of industry", only the third instrumental track on the album. Even then, this is not really a vehicle for Mosher's virtuosity, although he does add some nice lead guitar to close.

The final official track "The world fades to gray" runs to over 11 minutes. The track is effectively in two halves, with opening section following the rock ballad style of some of the previous songs. The latter part is given over to some more fine lead guitar. While the song is enjoyable, for me it does not justify its de-facto status as feature track.

The album features a bonus track, a remix of "Season of fire" from the previous album. This trance based Tangerine Dream like instrumental harks back to Mosher's fine debut album, with floating synths and a pounding rhythm.

In all, another fine album by Scott Mosher, even if it does lack the progression and innovation of its predecessors. The generally shorter track lengths offer less room for development, rendering the songs more accessible, but ultimately less rewarding.

This album can be downloaded free from the artist's website (see the link on Scott Mosher's ProgArchives page).