SONIC ORIGAMI

One should know two things before reading this review. One, I am going into it with Demons and Wizards being my only other Uriah Heep experience (which I enjoyed), so I am not comparing it to previous albums. Second, I understand the sentimental spot Heep occupies in many reader's hearts. This is feeling empathize with in other bands myself, which I find lets one accept a flawed album as part of a greater body of work-- so know that I am not slamming anyone/thing with what follows.

Sonic Oragami is 75 minutes of bite-sized, gutless rock, occasionally showing moments of thoughtful composition but more often playing it very safe with friendly melodies, predictable song structures, and bleeding-heart lyrics that smack of unoriginality and stretch those 75 minutes out into what seems like an interminable length of bland, made for non- offensive FM station blah.

Sonic Orgami is without exception an approachable, feel-good, catchy, repetative, and unchallenging experience. Song length is a uniform 4-6 minutes in length, of similar tempo, feel, and effect. Themes are those which one might expect to hear at a political rally, and there's narry a memorable instrumental moment in sight. This album is a tragic example of the turns some prog bands took in the '90's-- abandoning creative dignity in favor of a record deal and sabotaging future credibility with very topical, and probably very personal lyrics.

The saddest thing about Sonic Oragami is that beneath all this schlock I can still hear a faint pulse of energy and enthusiasm . I'd be much more on board with their contemporary sound if the group made a show to present it as more than a package of commerical AOR.

Fans of Heep may enjoy Shaw's singing voice, which remains strong, but I advise anyone else to steer clear!

Songwriting: 1 Instrumental Performances: 2 Lyrics/Vocals: 1 Style/Emotion/Replay: 1