THE SUM OF NO EVIL

I find this album, The Sum Of No Evil to be the most overtly Yes-influenced of all of their albums to date. You are thinking "No sh*t, Evolver, they even named a song Live Is The Only Answer, but they forgot to mention that hate is the root of cancer." And you are right. While the music evokes Yes at many stages, including Close To The Edge, and Relayer, the vocals, especially the harmony arrangements, seem to harken back to the first two Yes albums. Which does not make it a bad listen. On the contrary, this is a great album, full of masterfully written and played epics.

While, Love Is The Only Answer is the longest song here, it is hardly the best. It's a bit too diverse and lacking in focus for my tastes, and despite my usual desire for longer pieces, I find myself tiring of this one at about the fifteen minute mark. The best song here is the title track. Heavy and dark, with the usual Flower Kings moments of lightness, this is one of the band's best.

And while the bonus disk is nice to have for completionists, the songs are not up to par with the main disk, but not bad.