Album of the Day

mei, by echolyn (2002): One of the things that sets echolyn apart from lots of the other modern proggers that came out of the 1990s is that when they talk about influences, most of them aren't older prog bands. Rather than dip into the well of 70s prog pioneers, they have collected their own set of influences and blended them into a unique sound. That's particularly obvious on mei, with it's one 50-minute title track. There's very little padding in it, with the long solo instrumental passages that generally characterize such epics largely absent. Which isn't to say that Chris Buzby doesn't have a couple of fiery Nord leads and Brett Kull doesn't throw in some nice licks here and there. But in "mei" they serve the music as a whole rather than exist just as personal showpieces. This is truly a masterpiece.

UPDATE: Appropriately enough, an Album of the Day entry is post #2112 on this blog. Hello, all the Rush geeks who get that reference.