Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Morse, Neal
Label: Inside Out Records
Release: 2007
Rating: 4/5
Mr. Neal Morse is a tireless workhorse, and ever since he traded a successful musical career with modern prog icons Spock’s Beard for an almost even more successful path as a solo artist, so he could focus more closely on his encounter with the “all-seeing and all-knowing”, to whom he sings grateful odes through his music (which, poetry-wise, are a matter of personal taste or religious conviction) after supposedly “discovering himself”. So in recent years he’s been putting out excellent solo albums almost without a breather (steeped in religious themes, mind you), and they don’t lag one bit behind most of his work from the Spock’s Beard days. Neal kicked off his winning solo streak with “Testimony” (2003), followed in similarly successful style by the no less thrilling “One” (2004) and “?” (2005).
Neal’s current album, which sports a rather un-Neal-like, fairly gloomy cover of a Benedictine monk at manual labor, is called “Sola Scriptura”, which roughly translates to “Scripture alone” (or something along those lines), supposedly proclaiming that only the personal power of faith matters, not those who preach in its name. It probably goes without saying that this is a concept album, devoted chiefly to the events surrounding the religious movement that went down in history as the Reformation. The very first piece on the album, the typically epic Neal masterpiece “The Door”, spells out pretty clearly what Neal had in mind. It’s a healthy critique of the Catholic Church, which in its day made a fat profit off the mass gullibility of the faithful, especially in the late Middle Ages, when it lived in perverse luxury by selling indulgences and church offices to frightened, God-fearing souls, and barely lived up to its self-proclaimed role as God’s deputies, commanded to obedience and poverty. And that’s only part of Neal’s critique of the Catholic Church, which runs through most of the lyrics. Neal of course isn’t attacking the Catholic religion itself; he’s stressing that what matters is the strength of the individual’s faith, not the church, which mostly profits in its name. You could say Neal quietly sympathizes with Protestantism as the best (or least bad) of the Christian denominations, which surely has something to do with his own personal beliefs. The remaining lyrics are in the typically cheesy, trademark, rather pathetic spirit, devoted to his hymns of praise to the Lord on high. On the one hand, that will certainly thrill most believers, and even some “heathens” will find a few very useful life lessons here and there, while I personally couldn’t care less about his personal and religious convictions as long as he keeps making music this good.
As for the music itself, it’s a cheering relief to start with that after making a fool of himself and temporarily losing touch with prog rock on the recordings released in 2005 and 2006 under the name “Worship Sessions”, he’s back with an honest-to-goodness progressive album of epic proportions, just like we’re used to from him. So the music is excellent as usual, but don’t expect anything radically new. Neal sticks to his standard recipe. That means bombastic arrangements are successfully matched with plenty of rhythm and mood changes, best showcased on all three epics running over 15 minutes, each split into multiple sections. Among the (well-)known musicians guesting on the album, besides his regular bassist Randy George, there’s once again the drumming “beast” Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater and a whole pile of assorted side projects), who as usual doesn’t skimp on his drum orgies. Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big, Racer X, solo), a hugely respected guitar virtuoso who doesn’t need any special introduction either, handles the guitar duties this time. Thankfully, Gilbert never falls into any long-winded solo exposure that would confirm his immeasurable ego, but neatly fits his guitar work in with Neal’s ideas. The latter, of course, is still a true master of keyboards and vocals. Overall, the album is a bit less symphonic than I’m used to from him. It also has a few more prog metal passages, which will please above all those who happen to think Neal went soft after his close encounter with the “higher power”. Even so, he manages to sail successfully between the two sonic faces the whole time, and together they give off that unmistakable Morse style.
“The Door” opens with majestic keyboard sounds, followed by an energetic section of drums and guitar interplay from the two technical masters mentioned above. That’s of course just a warm-up for what comes next. After Neal’s trademark vocals and a witty hammond organ solo, we get a section with a chorus that’s a bit Abba-like. That’s followed by an extensive heavy section that sounds a lot like some of the work of Portnoy’s side project Liquid Tension Experiment. Next comes an atmospheric keyboard section building a bouncy melody, further enriched by an excellent guitar solo that convincingly imitates the sound of a violin. The final section brings a passage with a bluesy flavor and an exceptionally bouncy chorus. The mood of the whole composition peaks here and primes us for its ending. Just when it seems like it’s all over, an excellent, layered guitar solo kicks in, a trademark of guitar virtuoso Gilbert’s.
“The Conflict” opens with fiery guitar and Neal’s singing, which in places on this track occasionally veers toward John Lennon in tone. A witty passage morphs into a very pretty section of piano and percussion with thrilling vocals. Some sections of the piece once again recall the best days of Morse’s Spock’s Beard era. The keyboards often take the lead. After numerous swaps between more and less energetic sections, a calm, balladic part arrives, best marked by a lovely acoustic guitar passage. The peak comes somewhere in the middle of the piece, with a very good Latin-spiced section featuring excellent guitar playing. The keyboards then announce a harder section once more. A chorus follows, typical of Morse’s Christian confessions on previous solo albums. The ending brings a jazz-flavored guitar section, kind of in the style of Santana, with emotional vocals added on top. Right at the very end, the main melody returns and repeats a few more times.
“Heaven In My Heart” is admittedly by far the simplest and shortest piece on the whole album, but it’s still not to be dismissed. It’s a very pretty and by no means mawkish ballad on piano with orchestral arrangements, creating one of the album’s emotional peaks.
Perhaps the best piece on the album is the closing epic “The Conclusion”, which opens with a mighty rhythm line on drums and bass that swiftly turns into a fiery section of Morse’s keyboard wizardry. The mood of the composition soon becomes quite dramatic and almost tragic. Then come emotional vocals and piano and a chorus that’s more than obviously inspired by, if not lifted from, the Spock’s Beard classic “Long Time Suffering” (Snow, 2002). Right before the end there’s another section and mood reminiscent of the Marillion classic “White Russian” (Clutching At Straws, 1987). Toward its finish the song gets exceptionally calm and built on lovely melodies that keep building up until the close, which wraps up with delicate guitar playing.
In closing, the inescapable conclusion is that “Sola Scriptura” is yet another fantastic album, and I won’t be exaggerating if I say it may even be the best of Morse’s solo career so far. The guy has once again managed to brew an extremely effective and downright delicious mix of varied melodies, harmonies, rhythm and mood changes, dramatic and tense prog metal passages, and polished, dreamy prog rock sections. The sound of the whole album is incredibly dynamic, and the entire lineup sounds like a small orchestra. Over an hour of Portnoy’s drum orgies combined with Gilbert’s guitar wizardry and thrilling contributions from George’s bass, along with the master’s trademark keyboards, are reason enough to call “Sola Scriputra” another top-notch achievement in Morse’s career, easily placing him among the elite of solo prog rock artists. Still, you can’t overlook the album’s less thrilling sides, since some elements of self-copying of past creations are present again, but it’s also worth remembering that Neal Morse will always sound like Neal Morse, even in today’s times when it’s extremely hard to sound original. Portnoy’s drum orgies may also grate on some, since they sometimes get slightly repetitive. But these are real and barely noticeable trifles that do nothing to diminish the main strengths of this fourth Morse masterpiece, a real treat for all avowed fans of symphonic prog rock, believer or not.
Lineup
Neal Morse – vocals, keyboards
Paul Gilbert – guitar
Randy George – bass
Mike Portnoy – drums
Production
Neal Morse
Track List
1. The Door (29:14)
2. The Conflict (25:00)
3. Heaven In My Heart (5:11)
4. The Conclusion (16:34)
Album length: 65:59
