TARDIGRADE

Turgid symphonic retro-prog from Sweden, Simon Says' Tardigrade is a concept album telling some sort of oblique story about the titular character - though how often in retro-prog has the concept actually mattered much, or even made sense? Flashy guitars and keyboard and technical flourishes are piled on top of each other, but the album feels like it lacks a certain something. The musical partnership of Stefan Renstr'm and Daniel F'ldt would face constant delays in getting the trilogy of concept albums of which this is a part out into the wild, so if you liked the earlier two albums you may as well get this one, but for my part it doesn't quite stand out from the likes of Flower Kings, Spock's Beard or Karmakanic.