Verdict (& Rating): Modern prog with positive message (75%)
More Info: http://www.littlekingmusic.com
Little King were formed by Ryan Rosoff in El Paso, Texas in 1996. After one album, "Time Extension", the band went on hold until 2003 when work on this album started. This album continues Rosoff's tradition of conceptual writing. This time the album revolves around the story of how an anonymous man is moved to change the world after watching the new coverage of Columbine High School tragedy.
It took a while for me to figure out that opening track, "All I Need", reminded me of Fleetwood Macintosh, mainly due to the drum pattern. A gentle, yet complelling start to the album. If I tell you that Terry Brown mixed the album, then maybe it won't come as a surprise that several tracks, such as the next couple, "Narcissus & Echo" and "Peacemaker", display a similarity to Rush. The two gentler tracks, "Second Wind" and "Pase Del Norte", are the type which don't' do that much on their own but seem to fit in well with the over flow the album. Evident particularly on "Antibodies" and to a lesser extent on most of the other tracks, is an almost indie-vibe which I've seen described quite well elsewhere as Porcupine Tree-lite. Of course, a concept album has to have at least some progressive rock elements, and in this case the title track is the one that displays the most obvious ones. "Horsefeathers" closes the album with a bit of jangle guitar pop.
This is one of those albums where I find myself getting to the end thinking "that was quite good", despite not really getting that exited about individual tracks - a case of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts? My only criticism is that the 'whole' is pretty short in terms of duration.
