STYLE: Roots/Acoustic RATING OUR PRODUCT CODE: 74611-15101 LABEL: Independent FORMAT: CD Album ITEMS: 1
Reviewed by Matthew Cordle
Prog rock is not a common genre in Christian music and Greg states that he "began to revisit a passion I had for prog rock back in its heyday in the '70s" and "this type of music is not exactly setting the charts on fire these days and yet the concept of 'to thine own self be true' rings true." Greg claims to not be a classical or jazz musician, yet the tracks here are musically quite complex and proves him to be technically extremely gifted. From the very outset there are many hallmarks of the prog rock genre - 5/4 and 6/8 time signatures with the odd 5/8 bar thrown in, the way woodwinds are used, long developing musical sections, rich close vocal harmonies, long keyboard and guitar solos, track lengths of up to 10 minutes. Thematically very much about heaven, with songs such as "City On A Hill" and "Day Of Reckoning", there is a very upbeat, hopeful feel to the music. In terms of musical influences, there are definite echoes of Yes and early Genesis, but much of the CD strongly reminded me of Alan Parsons. I feel it drifts a little in the middle around the long instrumental track eight, but it's soon back on track up to the victorious ending "Darkness Fades." It all made for a refreshing listen.
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