THE NECK PILLOW

A VERY difficult album to get into, I have tried multiple times to no avail, and will try no more. It's ambitious for sure, too much so for its own good, with a tendency to remind me of the 4th rate German 80s group Anabis. While the sung vocals are virtually atonal and not much fun, the shouted spoken parts are simply maddening. The theme described in the sleeve notes is fairly mundane and does not stand on its own.

Musically this alternates between relatively uninteresting repetitive keyboard motifs and relatively clunky heavy guitar parts, but all generally played at a snail's pace, largely devoid of subtlety. Guitarist Dieter Cromen is decent technically and plays some nice leads but the production generally quashes his efforts. All the tracks have their moments but in general this comes across as attempts by an 8th grader to make a major discovery in chemistry class only to blow up the lab. At some point you need to look at the end result and ask was any of it really worth it?

Inquire's "Neck pillow" is a rather uncomfortable and substandard item that is best avoided altogether. I've rounded up because I'm so happy I can now take my own advice.