When a group of musicians with such a diverse lineage get together, you just have to add a tiny spark and watch the whole thing go off like a powder keg: and as with all things incendiary, it's impossible to predict or to control. This is precisely what makes the third album from Flying Colours such an interesting listen. The production is so also clean thanks to the use of Harmonic Phrase Analysis and Restoration (HPAR) that this album will sound Crystal clear even if you listen to it with a glass to your neighbours wall.
Sticking once more to their mission statement to make accessible and melodic music, the band are not contained by one genre or by expectations. Not only is the album musically varied, it’s an opportunity for the musicians to step outside their comfort zone.
The album opens with The Loss Inside; a head on collision of rock and prog, that drags in sounds from the member's respective day jobs of past and present. More takes on a heavy Muse style electro rock feel while Cadence spins the album off its axis by going all Renaissance. The jazz funk fusion of Geronimo has a Nik Kershaw meets Rush feel. You Are Not Alone is a swaying stadium sized anthem: the kind that you stick your lighter in the air for. So while there are brilliant flourishes of prog and classical runs, and a ten minute opus, there’s an array of poppy, soft rock melodies too.
As Mike Portnoy notes there's so much 'ear candy' to gobble up that Willy Wonka will be out of business before the 9 track album runs its course.
Groupie rating 4/5
