Beware of DarknessThis was the first Spock's album I ever heard, and while I remember liking it at first, I have zero recollection as to what songs or even what moments grabbed me at first; I just remember liking it. Being that this was 2000, shortly after I got into Transatlantic and
SMPTe, I thought Spock's was a little rougher around the edges than TA, but the sound and style was obviously similar enough to where I knew this was a band I would become a fan of pretty easily. And the four-some was now a five-some, as Ryo Okumoto was an official member of the band as a second keyboardist, focusing mainly on mellotron and hammond organ, while Neal handled the synths and piano.
The album kicks off with the title track, a cover of a George Harrison song from the early 70s. I had no idea it was a cover the first time I heard it (I didn't hear the Harrison original until years later), so judging it on its own, without any type of comparison to the original, I always thought it was a good song. Nice beginning to the record.
"Thoughts" began the Thoughts series of songs (which has seen parts 1, 2, 3 and 5 so far; where is 4?? :Lol). This is by far the best of the four done thus far. I am not always wild about the songs that center around those multi-part harmonies that are reminiscent of Gentle Giant, a band the Beard was clearly influenced by early on, but I am very wild about this song. It's so quirky and so odd, yet so insanely catchy. I love the creepy musical bits in the song.
I talked the other day about songs that are in the discussion for best Beard song ever. Track 3, "The Doorway," is in that discussion. This is a perfectly written mini-epic tune, featuring a gorgeous piano intro (that always strikes me as Neal Morse's attempt to do a "Firth of Fifth"-type intro), soaring vocal harmonies, a rad as hell acoustic section in the middle, and two epic endings (!!), the first being the fake-out before the real ending. This song is just freaking killer.
"Chatauqua" is a short, nice, little acoustic guitar number, played, I believe, by Neal Morse. Someone correct me if I am wrong. It's a nice bridge between the two mini-epics.
The next mini-epic, "Walking on the Wind," features one of the more bad ass bass lines David Meros has ever laid down. There is so much going on in this song that is wonderful, but I often find myself getting lost in the bass line when listening to this. Chris Squire was clearly a big influence on Meros, and nowhere is that more evident that in this song. This is also one of the Beard's best overall tunes.
"Waste Away" is catchy as hell, and the hook appears to be in the keyboard main melody, not the vocals, not always an easy thing to pull off. I think this song sometimes gets overlooked, which is a shame because it shows Neal Morse's ability to write insanely catchy melodies. For as complicated and "out there" as prog can get, you still need good melodies, and this song shows that Neal could sing the phone book and it would sound awesome.
The final track, the 16-minute plus "Time Has Come," is a bit of a strange track, almost maniacal at times, but I find is strangely appealing. It has some of the best melodies on this record, not to mention some goofy lyrics, but the vocal effect Neal uses on his voice for much of this song gives it a somewhat twisted feel, which I like a lot. There is no other Beard song that sounds like this one, and Nick D'Virgilio's often-underrated drumming really shines through on this song. His sense of timing and restraint and knowing when to let loose is really on display here.
Like
The Light, I put
Beware of Darkness in their top tier of records, and some days it is my number 1 album of theirs. A phenomenal sophomore effort.