Spock's Beard
Snow

One of the most exciting and imposing concept albums in the history of music... bears the signature of Spock's Beard. Is that surprising? I'd say not! Because it's not necessary for a true masterpiece to belong to a well-known name with twenty or thirty years of career behind it. In fact, Spock's Beard, despite not being very well known to the general public like the sacred monsters of progressive rock, have authored great masterpieces of the genre.

"Snow" is undoubtedly one of them. The story of a man who loses his powers, regaining them through faith. To tell it, two really intense CDs are needed. 26 tracks, 11 in the first, 15 in the second. We encounter complex pieces, more immediate ones, angrier ones, and more melancholic ones. An album that although it has a substantial length, can be pleasantly listened to throughout its duration without boring, without making you say "what a drag" to the point of ejecting it from the CD player and taking a painkiller because your head's about to explode. None of that, the album is capable, thanks to its excellent dynamism, of keeping the listener's attention for its entire duration. Perhaps it is true that there's always that little bit of innovation missing that would make each of the band's releases more interesting (an innovation that will start to be felt when Nick D'Virgilio takes over the leadership of the group) but the band always maintains that freshness that has always distinguished past compositions.

It's a pity that it's the last time we can enjoy Neal Morse's voice and songwriting because when Nick D'Virgilio takes over the lead, the band will certainly experience some innovation, producing undoubtedly very valid albums, but will lose that taste for the complexity of the classic prog-rock style that characterizes the productions with Neal at the helm. Among the most complex tracks on the album, we remember the two intros "Made Alive/Overture" and "Second Overture", the intro of the first and second CD respectively; in both, the musicians' technical abilities clearly emerge; also noteworthy is the instrumental duo "Snow's Night Out" and "Ladies And Gentlemen: Mr Ryo Okumoto On The Keyboards", two short instrumentals rich in delightful virtuosities where in particular the keyboardist Ryo Okumoto stands out. In terms of technique, notable are also "All Is Vanity", which contains in my opinion the best instrumental part of the album with an excellent Ryo on the synthesizer, and "Devil's Got My Throat", a frenetic and energetic piece that Spock's Beard had never managed to produce in the past. More immediate tracks are "The 39th Street Blues", "Long Time Suffering", and "Freak Boy", songs where clear hard rock and blues influences emerge that permeate the entire album. A more pop-rock orientation can be found in tracks like "Open The Gates Part II" and "Looking For Answers" (the first track with Nick D'Virgilio as the main voice, a preview of what we will hear later) but especially in the delicate and melancholic "Wind At My Back", which might easily appeal to those who love groups like Backstreet Boys and Westlife due to its easily memorable and exciting melody... Truly touching are the numerous ballads on the album; these songs are truly capable of opening the heart like even the greatest Italian and international songwriters can't. I can't find in the productions of various artists like Ramazzotti, D'Alessio, Raf, Baglioni, Ferro, Venditti (people who, for heaven's sake, I don't listen to) ballads more exciting and moving than those in this album. To mention them, we list "Open Wide The Flood Gates" with jazz and gospel influences, "Love Beyond Words" with that piano interlude that melts in your mouth like dark chocolate, "Solitary Soul", "I Will Go", and the splendid duo "Reflection"/"Carie". It's just a pity for some fillers that unfortunately appear in an album with so many tracks, such as "I'm Dying", "4th Of July", "Freak Boy Part 2".

But once again we are faced with a masterpiece. Everyone should listen to this album, whether they are fans of the genre or not, because I think it contains a sort of magnet: once listened to, you will fall in love with it and it will be difficult to abandon; if you despise it, it only means that you are weak-hearted. Word of a heart patient!