Label: Insideout Records
Release date: 11. 9. 2020
Production: Neal Morse
Length: 65.44 min
Genre: Progressive Rock
Rating: 8.0/10
God-fearing prog rock icon Neal Morse never rests, whether we’re talking about his solo career, his work with various (super)groups led by Transatlantic and Flying Colors, or his involvement in a heap of side projects. “Sola Gratia”, a biographical album about the life and conversion of the Apostle Paul that is also a stylistic and thematic follow-up to “Sola Scriptura” (2007), about the life and conversion of Martin Luther, is his latest solo effort. Once again Neal had a couple of old buddies who share his religious and philosophical convictions helping out with the music: Mike Portnoy on drums and Randy George on guitar. Because of the peculiar state of the world, this time the creative process happened remotely.
Saul of Tarsus, or (later) St. Paul, is for Christians one of the most important Christian saints and martyrs, regarded as the founder and originator of the Catholic Church and as pretty much the most important figure in Christianity after Jesus and St. Peter. On the other hand, most atheists and religiously unburdened historians see St. Paul as a controversial figure, since he’s the man who finally fused the Christian faith with an organized institution. Over two millennia, that institution has committed an incalculable number of heinous crimes in its name. St. Paul is also credited with an attitude toward women and homosexuals that is pretty contemptuous by today’s standards, as is clear from his famous sermons and letters written during his missionary journeys.
Saul, who held dual Jewish and Roman citizenship, went from being a Jewish Pharisee and zealous persecutor of Christians to suddenly converting into a fervent Christian on the road to Damascus. After being renamed Paul, he became a missionary who spread Christianity across southern Europe, especially ancient Greece, and became the historical founder of the Catholic Church. According to legend, his head bounced off the ground three times after he was beheaded, causing three springs to appear at those spots, and he supposedly died a martyr’s death in Rome, in the middle of Nero’s persecution of the early Christians. Today St. Paul is venerated in every kind of Christian church, from Catholic and Orthodox to Protestant, and reportedly he’s growing more and more popular among modern followers of the Jewish religion too.
Through its individual compositions, “Sola Gratia” tells of the main events in Paul’s life up to his decisive conversion on the road to Damascus, when his path was ‘lit up by a heavenly light’. For all the atheists, gnostics, Muslims and other fans of Neal’s music who don’t feel any personal connection to Paul’s adventures and teachings, the lyrics on “Sola Gratia” will be a pretty hard pill to swallow, but most of them have been used to that since 2002, when Neal went through his ‘conversion’ and changed his personal philosophy and the nature of most of his personal lyrics for good.
“Overture”, which features almost ‘Wakeman-esque’ keyboard arrangements, is right away one of the album’s highlights, which it partly manages thanks to being an instrumental. On “In the Name of the Lord”, Neal shows off his more aggressive side with ‘metalized’ guitar passages and a raspy vocal approach, although the occasional female vocal harmonies between the transitions make sure the whole thing doesn’t sound too prog-metal. Among the ‘more serious’ compositions there are also a few shorter ‘space fillers’ under three minutes long, like the ‘sing-along’ number “Ballyhoo (The Chosen Ones)”, which has a goofy chorus that no party power metal band would be ashamed of. Short ‘fillers’ like the instrumental “March of the Pharisees”, which is about Saul’s Pharisee days, mainly serve to tie the concept together.
On “Building a Wall”, Neal surprisingly catches a whiff of an eclectic version of ‘powdered’ eighties hard rock that, with less complex rhythmic elements, might even get the nod from someone like Bon Jovi.
“Overflow”, which has some very pleasant female vocal harmonies, is a somewhat clichéd, epic hymn to ‘God’s greatness’ of the kind Neal has cranked out in enviable numbers throughout his career. With very different lyrics, it could even recall some of his past work from his Spock’s Beard days. Among the album’s better moments is definitely the very atmospheric “Never Change”, where you can also hear some Pink Floyd influences, especially in the ‘Gilmour-esque’ guitar soloing. On the epic “Seemingly Sincere”, Neal also uses some electronic-tinged textures to create a futuristic vibe. Commendable and innovative, but that kind of vibe clashes badly with the concept of a figure from antiquity, which obviously didn’t bother Neal in the slightest.
“Sola Gratia” will make every fan of Christian progressive rock happy, since almost every year running Neal proves he’s a one-of-a-kind master of composing, arranging and performing, who steadfastly makes sure he keeps drawing attention to his fervent religious convictions. Nobody can really take that away from him, and it’s no different this time, even though this is a noticeably less eclectic effort than, say, the solo album by his Spock’s Beard-era comrade Nick D’ Virgilio, which came out the same year (RockLine review). One of the main problems with “Sola Gratia”, which is a very decent achievement musically and vocally, is that rather than a concept about the conversion of the Apostle Paul, it feels more like yet another album about Neal’s own conversion, and there have been plenty of those in his solo career.
Author: Peter “Dr. ProgRock” Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Preface (1:28)
2. Overture (5:59)
3. In the Name of the Lord (4:27)
4. Ballyhoo (The Chosen Ones) (2:43)
5. March of the Pharisees (1:40)
6. Building a Wall (5:01)
7. Sola Intermezzo (2:10)
8. Overflow (6:27)
9. Warmer Than the Sunshine (3:22)
10. Never Change (7:52)
11. Seemingly Sincere (9:34)
12. The Light on the Road to Damascus (3:26)
13. The Glory of the Lord (6:17)
14. Now I Can See / The Great Commission (5:17)
Lineup:
Neal Morse – vocals, guitar, keyboards
Mike Portnoy – drums
Randy George – bass guitar
Guest musicians:
Eric Gillette – guitar
Bill Hubauer – keyboards
Gideon Klein – string arrangements
