Artist: Spock's Beard
Label: Inside Out Records
Released: 2005
Rating: 3/5
“Octane” confirms the trend the guys hinted at with “Feel Euphoria” (2003), after the charismatic mastermind Neal Morse left the band following “Snow” (2002). There are fewer and fewer solo-fests, keyboard-vs-guitar duels, psychedelic detours, in short, prog-rocker “drag”. Spock’s Beard lose some unpredictability, but gain compactness and punch in how each song hits. Tracks like I Wouldn’t Let It Go (with a country feel), There Was A Time, Climbing Up That Hill or the closing As Long As We Ride in particular carry a nice dose of tight, groovy rock looseness. There’s no longer any doubt that Nick D’Virgilio (lead vocals/drums) is becoming the band’s little leader, the way Neal Morse was before him. The songs are tailored to his voice to the max. Sure, the transitions are still backed up with solos, but tastefully and within reasonable limits. You won’t find any pretentiousness on the new record.
The album is no “V” (2000) and no “Snow”, but in the same breath it’s excellent once again. Genre-wise it’s colorful, proper neo progressive rock of the kind only the Americans in Spock’s Beard can conjure up. The first seven tracks go under one name, A Flesh Before My Eyes, and each of them really is its own story genre-wise. The first track of this suite, The Ballet Of The Impact, opens with a proper charge, or rather sounds like a “musical” lifted from some Rocky (the great winner), when real Memphis Bells kick in midway through the opening motif and even woodwinds accompany the main theme. Needless to say, the seventh track is a reprise of the first, with an extremely dramatic ending. Why? Because A Flesh Before My Eyes is about a man who has a car accident (this time sadly a fatal one) and, before his eyes (before he passes away, ha, how encouraging, right?), his whole life plays out like a film. The script is just a bit dull, since it offers nothing new. The guys already used something similar in A Guy Named Sid (“Feel Euphoria”). About a kid who grows up into a mischievous boy, falls in love, etc.…The kind of level only the USA can muster (Home Alone style), and Dream Theater end up in the same pot here too.
Surfing Down The Avalanche is a rebellious, metallized riff that turns into a proper doom experience midway, with outstanding singing from Nick D’Virgilio, who changes his vocal color like a chameleon changes its skin. It’s a bravura song that mostly keeps the record’s mood highly dynamic. After it the guys move on to the atmospheric She Is Everything, where Al Morse’s heartfelt guitar soloing leaves a special mark. He put his solos together so brilliantly polished that you can honestly say you couldn’t write a better solo for a song. Of course Al “Sustaniac” once again reaches for his “sustain” effect like a baby for a pacifier, and combined with Ryo’s mellotron it really sets things on fire in places, building wide, deep sonic space. The riff and mellotron blaze especially in NWC, which has plenty of the wacky twists past Spock’s Beard records were otherwise full of. On the new record, all the true “progressive freaks” will miss Ryo Okumoto’s longer solo keyboard breakouts most, because there are really few of them this time. The wittiest song as far as the band’s exploratory side goes is The Planet’s Hum, with a clever interplay between guitar and organ, an “alien” choir and a chorus done in the style of some Ayreon.
So the band still carries a terrific potential in the progressive sense, but right now it suits them to spin their story in a more sophisticated way. In this new role the guys find their feet phenomenally. Their music remains unique, one of a kind and recognizable, in other words convincingly inimitable and something only Spock’s Beard themselves can build on. The fusion isn’t as intense, the record isn’t as sprawling as the ones with Neal Morse, but Spock’s Beard haven’t lost one bit of their usual fire. They remain witty, mischievous lads who can literally throw a wild party “out of nothing”. As always! At heart, forever true “Beatles freaks”, progressively supercharged.
Line-up
Nick D’Virgilio – lead vocals, drums, percussion, guitar, bass guitar, programming, keyboards
Alan Morse – guitar, “theremin”, saw, cello, backing vocals
Ryo Okumoto – keyboards, backing vocals
Dave Meros – bass guitar, bass pedals, French horn, backing vocals
Track list
1. The Ballet Of The Impact (5:34)
(I) Prelude To The Past
(II) The Ultimate Quiet
(III) A Blizzard Of My Memories
2. I Wouldn’t Let It Go
3. Surfing Down The Avalanche (3:43)
4. She Is Everything (6:46)
(I) Strange What You Remember
(II) Words Of Forever
5. Climbing Up That Hill (3:31)
6. Letting Go (1:52)
7. Of The Beauty Of It All (4:53)
(I) If I Could Paint A Picture
(II) Into The Great Unknowable
8. NWC (4:16)
9. There Was A Time (4:58)
10. The Planet’s Hum (4:42)
11. Watching The Tide (5:07)
12. As Long As We Ride (5:35)
Album length: 55:50
Special edition bonus CD:
1. When She’s Gone
2. Follow Me To Sleep
3. Game Face
4. Broken Promise Land
5. Listening To The Sky extras from “A Flash Before My Eyes”:
6. Someday I’ll Be Found
7. I Was Never Lost
8. Paint Me A Picture
9. The Formulation Of Octane (video)
