The Beard is back! Yep, that's right, with the departure of Nick
D'Virgilio, we are presented with the third incarnation of the band. Have no fear, though as D'Virgilio is replaced
by a pair of familiar faces.
Joining the band on a permanent basis is their previous
touring drummer Jimmy Keegan and new to the band is former lead singer of
Enchant, Ted Leonard.
Rounding out the band is the core of Dave Meros on bass,
Alan Morse on guitar and Ryo Okumoto on keyboards.
After Neal Morse left the band in 2002, the next three releasess
were somewhat darker albums, with 2010’s X
being noticeably lighter and proggier.
Brief Nocturnes and
Endless Sleep continues that trend, the movement back towards the type of
music and energy that gave the band its reputation in the first place.
In what is a bold move for a band with twenty years under
their belt, Ted Leonard gets a fair amount of writing credit on this disc, and
Keegan’s drums are mixed to provide a new found energy, the cohesiveness with
Dave Meros as a rhythm section showing after years of playing together live.
Ted Leonard had to follow two of the better known singers on
the modern progressive scene, but he quickly makes his mark on the band’s
sound, as is evident on “Submerged.”
Lifted from Leonard’s solo album, it
becomes the best ballad the Beard has ever done.
The album has all the prog that you could want, tight
rhythms, obscure lines, rolling bass lines, Mellotron, keyboards all over the
place and catchy choruses.
The solos features great tradeoffs between Ryo
Okumoto and Alan Morse, and the songs co-written with the aforementioned Neal
Morse bridge the band’s different incarnations together.
Neal Morse's contributions are strong, but meld beautifully
with Leonard's writing style, each song great in their own right.
Don't miss
this one-truly, the Beard is back, and better than ever.
SUBMERGED (live)
WAITING FOR ME (live)
SOMETHING VERY STRANGE
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