THE VISITOR

John Mitchell is a guitar god! No doubt a graduate of the Joe Satriani School of David Gilmour Guitar Playing. Despite many great guitar moments, this album mystifies me for its lack of proggy-ness. What here is fresh, new, or innovative? To my ears this sounds most like MARILLION--both Fish-era and Hogarth-era--with a very straightforward rock'n'roll sound to it. This is to progressive music as Triumph, Styx, Journey, Survivor, Boston, Alan Parsons Project, Ambrosia, Heart and even ABC, Psychedelic Furs, and Whitesnake were: creative, artful and melodic. I do, however, prefer the voice of Paul Wrightson to that of Rob Snowdon.

Highlights: the instrumentals, "Elea" (8/10) and "Serenity" (7/10), the Gilmour-esque "Hanging Tree" (8/10), and the Marillion-like "The Visitor" (9/10). A good, but not essential album for true progheads.