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Vertical Alignment - SignpostsI thought "what the heck is this" upon my first look at the cover of the new album just popping in from the mailman. I had never heard about progressive rock group Vertical Alignment before but after reading the booklet I slowly began to understand that this could be something more than your average album. Among the people contributing to this album were some of my favorite progressive artists such as "Fred Schendel", "Randy George" and "Carl Groves".And when I (and my wife) started to listen to it, it became clear that this album lived up to the expectations you get after knowing that some of your musical heroes are in there. All over the album are strong melodies and multi-layered vocals to make this quite a fascinating progressive journey at times. "Dress Rehearsal" is a song that reminds me a 70's YES at times and contains many fine melodies. Another highlight is the epic "Freedom's call", which is a 16-minute giant with elements of late 90's "Glass Hammer", which isn't surprising since "Fred Schendel" is handling the keyboards. The highlight for me comes in the beautiful and emotional "Children in the Son", which a majestic piece with many melodic hooks and great singing. I only find one song a bit weaker is the "The Towers", which is not in my taste at all. The lyrics are also interesting, telling different subjects, ranging from Titanic to the evil regime of former dictator Ceausescu. The production could be a clearer as it sounds a bit muddy at times, not saying that it's bad but it could get better. Overall this one an excellent debut from Vertical Alignment and I really hope that they can go on from here and release many albums in the future; I'm already waiting for the next one! |
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| Style: Symphonic prog rock | |
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| Year: 2006 | |
| Review by: Victory | |
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