MONOLITH

The opener "On The Other side" is a very nice piece of music : melodious vocals, great violin and good guitar arrangements. It is truely a great song : Kansas how I like it. Instrumental passages are really great. It is definitely the best number of this album : a superb opener. From the very first note of "People of the South Wind", one knows that this track is going to be a real bad one : pop / FM oriented. Kansas at his low. What a contrast between those two tracks ! I have a hard time to understand how they could have produced such a crappy song / one of their worst so far, with no doubt. But maybe I'm too critical...This song is rather commercial and might appeal to some Kansas fans. But not me. The Kansas I love is the one of their epic songs with these incredible violin, guitar and keys moments; so with this poor number, there is no wonder : I can only hate this. Which direction will choose the band for the other songs ?

"Angels Have Fallen" is a good track. Several tempos : a quiet intro as well as a good final section. In between a good guitar break, at times a bit heavy. From time to time, Kansas did propose truley hard-rock tune. I must admit that I do not dislike that. Again (like Purple) we get a very peaceful moment (piano and vocals). A quite elaborate track indeed which is welcome to forget the dreadful experience of the previous number. A good track indeed.

"How My Soul Cries Out for You" is a pure hard rocking song. After an hesitant debut, it evolves to a very good tune when Steinhardt violin solo enters the scene. Again Kansas at his best (although the short drum solo is not really relevant). The end though is rather rare : the sounds being faded away very low for about 40 seconds. The medieval intro for "A Glimpse Of Home" might have announced the worse but it is not the case. Not a superb track of course but thanks to nice vocal harmonies it has its charm. It turns out to be heavier in its later part (but this is a general feeling for this album).

"Away From You" is a good middle of the road rock song. Strong rythm, and superb backing band. Great vocals as well. Nothing too fancy but not bad either. The abrupt fading (again) at the end of the track is a bit annoying though. "Stay Out of Trouble" is a classic Kansas song (hard-rocking side) : a bit similar to "The Devil's Game" from "Song For America". One of the best number here. Very dynamic with a very strong guitar solo and a good bass playing (but, again, this weird fading at the end ...).

The rock ballad "Reason To Be" closes the album in a weak way. Mellowish and worthless. One number too much I must say.

This album is not a masterpiece, but it is well balanced. None of he tracks will remain in the memories as being great Kansas anthems but I will rate this effort three stars for its consistency.

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