Description

After a very solid debut with Silicon Messiah, Blaze put out this concept album which is extremely consistent throughout, with song quality ranging from decent to killer and not a single low point. Also, the quality of all the tracks on their own aside, they all work together so well that the album as a whole manages to be greater than its parts. Throughout the course of the album, we get to several highlights, and yet it all works best when played as one from beginning to end. The Theme of the album – about the abuse of science by powerful authorities – is never pushed forward all that strongly, and unlike on Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime ( or many another concept album), is almost never portrayed through spoken passages, but solely through the songs themselves ( with roughly two exceptions in mid-track). It's all through the perspective of the involved scientist – to follow it, it is important to read the lyrics from the booklet. By the way, a HUGE compliment for that one – both for the design (made out to look like a scientist's journal, featuring additional notes along the lyrics to go along) and for the content, in particular the notes by Blaze himself on the last page on both the making of the album and the story. Musically, it's the trademark Blaze style as pioneered on the debut, but executed far better. Heavy guitars, plenty of quality riffs and solos, solid drumming and basswork, and Blaze's excellent, extremely powerful and atmospheric vocals ( bitch about his range for all you want, but when it comes to emotions, there is no vocalist as versatile as Blaze Bayley ). As said before, there are also several tracks that stand very well on their own live. Track listing: 1. Forgotten Future 2. Kill And Destroy 3. End Dream 4. The Tenth Dimension 5. Nothing Will Stop Me 6. Leap Of Faith 7. The Truth Revealed 8. Meant To Be 9. Land Of The Blind 10. Stealing Time 11. Speed Of Light 12. Stranger To The Light