[Cheiron]

Masterpiece. Best album they've done. As good as anything he has done since Streets (and I think I had said the same about Maniacal Renderings, but this is better than MR).

I love the Queen influence on so many of the songs. This album makes so many other bands sound like amateurs, from the singing to the song arrangements to the melodies to the guitar solos.

The album is a mix of songs about a rising temperature of human termperment, and of songs that are more personal about I think the chaos and unpredictability of one's own life. I'll have to read the lyrics closer to really piece it together.

But I can't emphasize -songs- strong enough. While most bands are happy to produce a certain 'sound' and go with it. JOP changes things up from song to song. Its clear when one ends and another begins. Each can live with you long after you stop listening to the album. The art of quality sound crafting is so rare, especially in metal (as most bands seem just satisfied to -be- metal, and to mimick other metal bands), that when you come across an album that has nearly mastered that art... its just incredible.

The only part I take issue with at time is the lyrics. At times they are overly simply and cliche. But I think that Jon wanted these certain lyrics to be so.


I can't recommend this album more.