Interesting band: sort of like a more overtly symphonic Motorpsycho. I like the story and the easy flow from cut to cut, but I dunno...the album has a slight plodding quality to it that dulls the overall listening experience for me a bit. That being said, the title track has a cool Floydian mood about it (with plenty of flute and Mellotron: a nice plus). Liked 'The Holy Innocent' a lot too, especially the sax over the last few minutes.
I guess for me, I'm looking for some kinda obvious "oomph" factor in my modern prog. Bands like Moon Safari have their mindblowing vocal harmonies, Big Big Train have former Genesis vocalist front-runner David Longdon at the mic and a full-fleshed brass band accompanying the main group, Brother Ape have a Yes-meets-Rush-meets alternative rock energy, Subsignal have an incredibly charismatic lead singer, etc. etc.
I think these guys could go far if they could bring in some kind of "x factor" into their core sound, because while the songs are alright the overall execution is missing the distinctive power of their more "popular" peers. Its that elusive factor that separates the Tier 1 guys from everyone else, but these guys don't quite got it yet.
But again, I'll cut any young band who are trying to craft pure symphonic prog fun over in the Land from Down Under a lot of slack. There's definitely some great stuff here. Especially when they pull out sax and flute despite those things not being trendy in any genre outside of jazz or fusion nowadays.
I'm pretty interested in hearing everyone else's thoughts in any case. Maybe I'm just not emotionally resonating with Anubis enough here?
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