Departure 2009

"Their gritty and satirical themes don't leave any room for myths or fantasy. In Burn (part 2) they have managed to cut and paste a Bush speech with hilarious (but tellingly accurate) results.

The Lyrics are intelligent, challenging and occasionally darkly humorous. The bottom line is that the IT experience will inform your thinking, feelings and memory long after the last notes have ended. Did i mention the music? Ahem well, as a prog rock fan i've been waiting for something like this to come along for ages. There are singles on here that should be getting decent airplay - God Is Dead and the 1st single Killing Me are two examples of how to make a commercially viable 4 minute song while at the same time not departing (no pun intended) from the feel and flow of the album. There are shades of Porcupine Tree and Floyd (Departure) and i also drooled over the Hackettesque guitar on Burn (part 2). You'll want to come back to the bluesy 'Fighting for Freedom' and the sublime 'Disappear' but to single out two tracks would be unfair as there isn't a dud on here. This is their 4th album and quite how they have escaped mainstream success is probably more to do with genre than talent. IT have a sound whcih fuses the classic melodies of prog rock’s past with a passion and intensity usually only found in punk or metal bands. If you're getting tired of the new wave of electro pop and indie plagiarism then this album is a recommended purchase. It also comes with a DVD featuring live footage and a documentary for the price of a regular CD. Read and weep freeloaders. 5/5"