Neal Morse - Testimony

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Music reviews of Testimony

Music Review: Deeply personal effort not for everyone.
Rating: 3 Stars

I must admit that when Morse left the band last year I was distraught. I felt an incredible connection to his music, his lyrics and its departure from the mainstream garbage that the music industry serves up to the mindless masses. Spock's Beard was that rare band able to put together a consistent string of incredible albums, each equally original and as good as the last. The music was new, fresh and upbeat. By comparison this is not, and that, in a nutshell is where I think Testimony strays.

Lyrics aside the music on these disks is full of incredible effort and talent. Morse pulled out all of the stops with layer upon layer of orchestrations, harmonies, instrumentation and reoccurring themes and melodies. His musicianship is quite impressive and his weakness is covered superbly by drum ace Mike Portnoy. However, despite all of the emotion, grandiose themes and theatrics, the music itself is, in this listener's opinion, a far cry from his best work. It appears that Morse is so determined to tell his story that he sometimes forces the lyrics or molds the songs around them to send a message. In its entirety the resulting product is impressive and has many beautiful moments, whether melodic such as "Wasted Life" or the emotionally charged "It's all I can do". However, intermittent songs lack the spontaneity and originality of his work with both Spock's and Transatlantic. As I listened to each new song, I found my mind wandering back to the triumphant finale of "The Great Nothing", or "The Healing Colors of Sound." There's simply nothing on this album that matches the originality of those creative moments musically. And, while some of his more melodic and slower songs are touching, they simply lack the magic of "June", "The Distance to the Sun" or "We All Need Some Light."

The disk opens with "The Land of Beginning Again" which kind of sets the tone, dripping with meaning for Morse, but lacking the songwriting his followers have come to expect. The inner struggle of the album seems to be whether it should be a more subdued Christian piece or a progressive masterpiece, or both? He tries to cross both bridges, and in many cases he comes close. "Overture No. 1" followed by "California Nights" and "Colder in the Sun" seem to pick up right where Spock's last effort "Snow" left off, sometimes sounding too much the same. But then "Sleeping Jesus" kind of knocks the whole groove down with one of the worst songs in the set. The music picks up with heavy prog on "Interlude". And that's how the entire effort goes, good moments followed by let downs with forced lyrics into songs that musically never would have made a Spock's or Transatlantic disk.

The second cd is full of majestic songs with full and sweeping orchestrations, but it starts off dry with "Transformation." The second disk just oozes with emotional Morse's passion which is really quite touching, but the content gets simply too "churchy" for this listener.

But, once wasn't enough... so, after the second listen to Testimony I thought to myself what an incredible accomplishment this is for Neal Morse. He put his heart and soul into the music. And, while I'm glad he made it and I hope it brings him the peace and comfort he so badly craves, I also hope he got it out of his system. There are other ways to musically deliver spiritual messages without forcing songs or beating listeners over the head with religious lyrics. Morse may never be able to out "produce" or perform this album, but there is no doubt that he is capable of writing better and more appealing music. The question remains, does he want to?

Description of Testimony

Hard Rock & Metal CDs

• Music > Styles
• Pop
• Rock