Roswell Six - Terra Incognita: Beyond the Horizon Review

Great (four stars out of five)

When a musical project such as Terra Incognita comes along, with its grand scope and all-star contributors, it’s easy to expect a revolution. After all, when the best names in the business get together, shouldn’t that be the expected outcome?

In the case of this touted project from Roswell Six, which features names such as James LaBrie, Lana Lane, and John Payne, the expectations have been extremely high. It’s an incredibly ambitious project, with lyrics penned by and relating to the work of author Kevin J. Anderson. While the results aren’t quite a revolution, the music offered on this disc is undoubtedly strong, and despite some surprising shortcomings, it’s one of the best albums of 2009 so far.

Let’s get that pesky shortcoming out of the way first off. As a Dream Theater fan, it’s hard to admit this, but I find James LaBrie’s performances on this disc extremely weak. Whether it’s his awkward vocalizations on the opener “Ishalam” or the strained chorus on “I Am the Point,” his performances simply fail to impress on this disc. In addition, LaBrie’s voice just doesn’t seem to fit in with the others vocalists.

On the other end of the spectrum, Michael Sadler offers performances that are simply stunning in many cases, especially on the song “Letters in a Bottle,” which easily earns him contention for best male performance of the year. The song is a slow and emotional tune that has a wonderful acoustic guitar focus with some great string support. Sadler’s performance here is absolutely spot on, very effectively conveying the emotion in the song and doing so with incredible accuracy and power. It’s the sort of performance that stops listeners in their tracks, and I was truly taken aback with its beauty upon my first listen.

Both John Payne (who is underutilized on this disc) and Lana Lane offer fantastic performances as well, which is standard for these great singers. In addition, the interaction between the vocalists is strong aside from the issues mentioned with LaBrie above.

Musically, the album doesn’t break new ground, instead offering songs that are quite strong but stylistically traditional. In essence, the album can be thought of as a strong mix of 70s style prog and modern heavy prog rock with plenty of symphonic sounds throughout the album. There’s not a lot of complexity, making it accessible though unexceptional for those who love to focus on the instrumentation. That’s not to say that the performances aren’t strong: they’re all stellar, with some characteristically great guitar work from Shadow Gallery’s Gary Wehrkamp and tons of great keyboard work from keyboard master Erik Norlander, who is also the main composer. But it’s an album that is much more focused on the vocal performances and overall soundscapes than displaying instrumental prowess.

The concept is very well done, especially since the album stands as a companion piece to the novel The Edge of the World. I wish it had been possible to read the novel before reviewing the album, but it’s easy to assume that this combination offers the best experience, giving a more thorough telling of the story in the book. However, for those who plan to pick of the album only, you shouldn’t worry about feeling lost in the story.

So while this project isn’t going to change the world of progressive rock forever, it succeeds in achieving what it set out to do: offer a very strong stand-alone album that also (presumably) complements Anderson’s book well. For fans of symphonic prog rock, it’s an album that’s easy to love, and the fantastic cast only adds to the feeling that the ambition of ProgRock Records paid off in a big way.

Andrew Kauz
www.progressivemelodies.com