LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

Yet another album I have found as a result of my search for hilariously bad records, Ajalon's debut 'Light At The End Of The Tunnel' was recommended to me on the basis that it was the worst symphonic prog rock album ever made. Naturally, I would reserve my declaration of such a prestigious title until after I had thoroughly digested the album. Now, while I have not yet become an expert on this style of progressive music, Ajalon's debut sits at the bottom of the barrel. 'Light At The End Of The Tunnel' is equal parts sappy sweetness and shallow depth, not unlike a child's birthday party at the local swimming pool. What may have been conceived as an earnest tribute to the work of Marillion and Yes comes out as a ridiculous example of everything that can go wrong with the style, and like everything else that's too sweet, I end up feeling sick by the end.

Ajalon's sound comes off as a bleak budget rendition of some of prog rock's most legendary and enduring acts, specifically Marillion. The classic bands like Yes and Genesis are still loved today because they were able to merge complex instrumentation with warm emotions. Ajalon cannot be blamed for the sake of not trying to tackle that goal, but the music comes across as being neither complex, or particularly moving. The band's sound and skill would not sound out of place at a rec centre or church recital. The musicians are not necessarily poor, but the performance sounds one-dimensional and there seems to have been little to no effort made to give the instruments and interesting sound. The basic clean guitar tone sounds like it could have been plucked out of a teenage pop song and the keyboards are a worse offender, sounding more like a ridicule of prog rock, rather than an honest representation of it. Whether its the soggy dramatic dialogues of the final 'epic', or the Radio Disney-worthy stinker 'To Fly With You', there aren't many strengths riding on the side of 'Light At The End Of The Tunnel'.

Vocalist Will Henderson's performance is probably the strongest aspect of the band. While his voice falls flat a few times too often, he bears a resemblance to Marillion vocalist Steve Hogarth, and he is able to lead most of these songs on passably. The lyrics are another matter altogether. Ajalon makes it blatantly clear that they are a Christian band, and their lyrics seem geared solely to either appease the religion's followers, or haplessly convert godless prog fans. If Ajalon's debut was the one representative that Christianity had to spread their influence, I would take immediately to donning the corpse paint and burning down churches. As one sappy spoken word section puts it so delicately, Ajalon "is destined for mediocrity".

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