UNSPOKEN WORDS

High time for the review of this album but the long waiting has to do with problems with making up my mind for the rating. This only releasy by the Dutch prog metal band is another very hard doubtcase for a 3 or 4 starrating. In fact it's right in between so only thing you can do then is listen to it a few more times until you do know what to do. Well, right now I'm not entirely convinced but I will have to do the review one day so why not now ?

It's a bit of an unusual album because of the spoken interludes between some of the songs. The album starts with a short tune before my personal favourite track is next. The Betrayal is a great track, well composed and executed, pretty heavy but alternated with more quiet parts. The theme is catchy and really impressive. It's a pity it's a bit short but that's the only criticism I can think of. After a short spoken interlude it's time for a short acoustical track before another great song takes the turn (The Untold Prophecy). Also this one contains very nice guitar work and is a bit more progressive than The Betrayal. The Event Horizon is a longer track starting with great instrumental contribution and gets alternating heavy and more quiet several times. After this one of the mentioned spoken tracks but this time a long one of almost 6 minutes. I don't know what it's all about but it's SF for sure. Fans of this subject will certainly get curious with this one but I don't count myself in for that. The talking is only accompanied by keys. The Gathering is another long one with significant keyboard contribution. Sometimes they create a spacy atmosphere which comes in handy with a science fiction story. Good track this. Unspoken Words III is an instrumental track, not too heavy, a bit mysterious feeling about it, really nice. After another short interlude Nocturnal Lament continues the mysterious idea but is yet an accessible song. Last interlude sets up the grand finale called The Resurrection. Another very good track which means a pretty equable album in terms of quality. To me that's always a plus.

As stated above I'm still a bit unsure about the final rating so I will let my visit to their gig in a prog festival do the job here. They played a lot of the songs on this album live on Symforce 2007 (Tilburg) and I have to say they impressed me big time. They played on a very small stage, could hardly move but did an impeccable job there. So because of this they turn the scale to a 4 starrating. Recommended for fans of Porcupine Tree and Riverside who want to check out something else.