MISSA ATROPOS

I'll be up-front right from the start. I can't tell whether my continued lukewarm response to this album is because there's only so much of this sound one can take or because it is genuinely inferior to the two previous GAZPACHO masterpieces, 'Night' and 'Tick Tock.' But lukewarm I am, sadly, as this band is at the forefront of the ongoing prog revival. This album, in my opinion, simply isn't as good as its immediate predecessors.

Where 'Night' and 'Tick Tock' flowed, this album is stop-start. Where they soared, this one remains mired. Where their previous lyrics haunted, these are bland. I loved the way their previous two albums ebbed and flowed like an ocean. This album is a bit like a series of disconnected ponds, pretty but not powerful. There are few exalted moments. 'Snail', I suppose, is not bad. They manage to sound a little bit like RADIOHEAD and even incorporate some PORCUPINE TREE-sounding sections, but these don't lift the album to the heights I expect. Multiple listens do not yield this album's secret heart to me. Perhaps my ears have turned to cloth.

I'm misleading you a little here. This is a very good album. But it is the sound of a band treading water and not quite succeeding. It's worth a listen, but whenever my thoughts turn to GAZPACHO my fingers reach for 'Tick Tock' or 'Night'. Can't help myself.

Solid but uninspired.