THE NEAL MORSE BAND — The Grand Experiment (review)

THE NEAL MORSE BAND — The Grand Experiment album cover

Album · 2015 · Metal Related

4.5/5 · 2020-07-31
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I have a lot of favourite bands, but not so many individual musicians I could single out as being of particular renown to me. Sure, most bands have one or two more key members to their writing process, but historically it's only been Arjen Anthony Lucassen that I really felt was one of my favourite musicians. But I'm come to realise that there is one other I should put on that very short list. Neal Morse. A modern champion of progressive rock and prolific since getting his start with Spock's Beard. The Grand Experiment (2015) is the debut studio album from his The Neal Morse Band venture.

Many may see this entity as just an alternately named Neal Morse release, especially since the line-up features his usual collaborators Randy George (bass) and Mike Portnoy (drums), but it is actually a separate project, with a five piece main line-up completed by Bill Hubauer and Eric Gillette, both of whom provide vocals in the band in addition to their instruments (keyboards and guitars respectively), as does Portnoy, not just Morse, though he does remain the lead, especially on this debut, but that would change with their next release. It also features a collaborative effort at song-writing. With the notable exception of One (2004), Neal Morse solo albums are usually written solely or majorly by him alone.

It's easy to hear that this isn't the case with The Grand Experiment. While many Neal Morse elements are present, it has a distinctly differently feel, including the use of more hard rock/heavy metal elements (Eric Gillette has released progressive metal solo albums and Mike Portnoy is course best known for being the original drummer of Dream Theater) than most Neal Morse work does (the notable exception being Sola Scriptura) within his usual symphonic prog sound. While Morse has used those before, it's not been to quite the same feel as on this album, which the five musicians went into the studio for with no pre-prepared material at all, hence it's title. The result is some songs that feel very typical Neal Morse like the epic length The Call and Alive Again, but others that feel fresher for him, especially the hard rocking Agenda, a track that I personally wasn't sure of at first but have quickly grown to love. It's a short and quirky number, hearkening back to Spock's Beard's use of humour.

There may only be five tracks on The Grand Experiment, but that's not an unusually low number for a progressive group. The album is bookended by two epics as well, with the closer Alive Again running for a mammoth 26:45. The three songs in-between are all much shorter and more direct compositions showing off different styles of music. The Grand Experiment is nothing if not a varied release and I dare say the most exciting Neal Morse release since Transatlantic's comeback six years prior. The group as whole proves once again that Morse is as much a team player as a leader and while this particular group may still have his name on it, it's clearly the sum of all its parts and more.