Spock's Beard
Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep

The band named from the beard of Spock that we saw in one Episode of the original series of Star Trek, it was an episode about alternate realities and alternate is something we can clearly say about this band. Their music belongs in the alternative realms of the musical world, a progressive rock band that has been around since their debut saw the light of day in 1995. During these years a lot has happened, the main creative force in Neal Morse left the band to pursue religion and they have managed without him. They are today releasing their eleventh album which has a really lovely album cover artwork and it sees the band presenting a new singer and also welcoming their long time live drummer into the studio. It also sees the return of Alan Morse’s brother Neal as a songwriter for two of the album’s tracks, I would say that it appears as though Spock’s Beard really has something interesting going for them here.

It is progressive rock, it is offered in seven tracks and fifty five minutes. The tracks have quite distinctive character between one another and therefore offers quite a large variation, despite these distinctly different tracks the album still remains coherent and feels like a unity. The production is brilliant with a soundscape rivalled by a very small amount of bands, it is an impressive musical adventure that takes us to many places in the musical landscape, some of which that are new to the guys of Spock’s Beard. They do also walk down more familiar paths, like the vocal harmonies of the past but also their more straight modern sound adapted after Neal left. The band sounds quite recognisable for who they are but they do also sound distinctly fresh and new, I think this album sounds nothing like anything they have done before while still in a sense sounding like they have always done. It is an impressive production, the vocals and instrumentation is brilliant and so is the musical sense of adventure shown in this album.

Ever since I heard the album V I have been a bit of a fan of this band and own most of their albums. Several of those albums are really good but I still think that the band hasn’t to date reached its full potential and made that impressive album that has really sold me on their music. This album is different, it is that crown in their collection, that impressive piece of work that crowns their career so to speak. I think that this new album is by far and away the best album that Spock’s Beard has ever made, it is such an impressive collection of music an album that has both brilliant songs but is as brilliant as a whole. When I hear songs like A Treasure Abandoned, Submerged or the amazing Something Very Strange it is almost like a musical equivalent of an orgasm, those are brilliant tracks. All in all the album is absolutely stunning.

All who knows my writing knows that I am not easily throwing out the highest ratings and superlatives, this will be the third album (out of almost 100) reaching a score of six or more this year. I was for a while considering our highest rating but decided against it as there are some smaller details like the track Afterthoughts that is somewhat average for a place on this album and that the ending does not leave the same lasting impression as the track before it. These are however just small problems and the album is brilliant nonetheless, it just isn’t perfect but then again how many albums are?

I would conclude that this is one of the absolute best albums I have heard lately and with strong, brilliant songs it clearly gains a place in my heart and also establishes Spock’s Beard as one of the strongest progressive rock bands out there, always solid and now also amazing at times. I am impressed by this album and it will most likely be amongst my ten favourites when I am summarising 2013 which is a year that has started rather well this far. So for all of you who wants to get your hands on some amazing musical art, this is the album to get as this one is as good as it gets.

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