NEAL MORSE — Sola Scriptura (review)

NEAL MORSE — Sola Scriptura album cover Album · 2007 · Metal Related Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
AtomicCrimsonRush
One of the finest efforts from Morse, full of progressive elements that would satiate the pallete of any proghead (like myself).

It begins with the blistering 29 minute epic The Door which is broken into many parts like a multi movement suite in classical music. This is an incredible sophistocated piece of prog that thunders at times with awesome guitar riffs and at other times there is a solitude of acoustic and mellotron beauty. Portnoy on drums is at his best as usual, but it is Morse's vocal performance that gives this a majestic quality outside the realm of the type of material he was doing with Transatlantic or for that matter Spock's Beard. His heart and soul is poured out on this CD in 76 minutes of musical virtuosity par excellence.

The Conclusion is a mini epic running for about 17 minutes. It is a worthy addition to the Morse catalogue with complicated tempo changes and metrical patterns that range from Adante to Presto time signatures - 4/4 standard to complex couplets or triplets in 9/8 and beyond.

Heaven in my Heart is a beautiful ballad in true Morse style with emotional depth about his pure faith in God. Listen to that heavenly guitar for a great example of accomplished musicianship.

It ends with the wonderful 16 minute The Conclusion. What else? The concept of theological church history is strong but never overbearing towards the music as a whole. I appreciate how Morse has not sold out his prog roots even though his music has changed direction from the SB years. In fact the material on this album is some of the heaviest Morse has performed - including crunching guitar riffs and a very dark tone overall.

This is definitely an Excellent addition to any music collection.

Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Nova Atlantis Power Metal
KINGCROWN
Buy this album from MMA partners
Deep Down The Tides Melodic Death Metal
PRECIPITATION
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Years Ahead, The Miles Between Deathcore
CYTOKINE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Deviance Deathcore
ASHES INTO BLOOD
Buy this album from MMA partners
Equilibrium Atmospheric Sludge Metal
BESRA
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

PRECIPITATION - Cosmic (Official Video)
PRECIPITATION
Bosh66· 1 day ago
PRECIPITATION - Hideout (Official Video)
PRECIPITATION
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Cytokine - Old Exit 50 (Official Music Video)
CYTOKINE
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Cytokine - Henry Law (Official Music Video)
CYTOKINE
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Cytokine-Man On Fire(Official Lyric Video)
CYTOKINE
Bosh66· 1 day ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed