THE LEAST WE CAN DO IS WAVE TO EACH OTHER

This was Van der Graaf Generator's first step into the dark and uncompromising terretories, and about half of the material here is almost threatening in nature such as the doom laden "After the Flood" that by my opinion is the scariest track the band ever did, the last half of it representing the world flooding over backed up with even more disturbing music. Similar onslaughts can be found at the end of "White Hammer", a masterful dissonant conclusion that is probably the tensest moment in the british prog scene, a true volcano of organs and saxes.

The rest of the album is really good as well, "Darkness" effectively sets the tone for what to come followed by the beautiful "Refugees" that is easily one of Hammill's most emotional moments with the band. The overal quality of the album though is not as good as it's followers but it's still a solid effort (think "Trespass"-era Genesis mixed with the most chaotic moments of early King Crimson with shadows of Pink Floyd).