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Progland was founded by John Gabbard in 2005. It's purpose has been to provide you, the music community with the latest music and dvd reviews. It will continue to be your link to the most popular music reviews in the progressive world.

 

OSI: Free

Reviewed by: Drew Koscelek
Genre: Prog Rock
Country: USA
Language: English
Length: 48:16
Release Date: 4-25-06
Label:
InsideOut America
Band Members: Jim Matheos / guitars, keyboards and programming Kevin Moore / vocals, keyboards and programming
  Mike Portnoy / acoustic drums Joey Vera / bass on tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 7
     
     
Track Listing: 1.)-Sure You Will (3:46) 8.)-Better (4:06)
  2.)- Free (3:28) 9.)- Simple Life (4:00)
  3.)- Go (4:16) 10.)-Once (6:38)
  4.)-All Gone Now (5:15) 11.)-Our Town (3:21)
  5.)- Home Was Good (5:04) 12.)-
  6.)- Bigger Wave (4:33) 13.)-
  7.)Kicking (3:54) 14.)-
     
The Review

As a general rule, prog supergroups tend to never equal more than the sum of their parts. Often, memebers are self-indulgent, and strive to be the brightest beacon amongst the other members, instead of contributing to the greater good of the band itself. Fortunately, that is not the case with OSI.*****

Comprised of Kevin Moore (Chroma Key, ex-Dream Theater), Jim Matheos (Fates Warning), and featuring stellar performances by Mike Pornoy (Dream Theater, Transatlantic) and Joey Vera (Fates Warning, Armored Saint), OSI strives to create a new atmosphere, and a distinctive sound for themselves. The musicianship is certainly top notch, but these songs are not about the fastest solo, or the oddest time signature. They are about the amazing production, tight sound, thoughtful lyrics, and endless textures.*****

From the beginning, it's clear that this disc is different than their excellent previous last effort. There is more focus on samples. This perhaps comes from Mike Portnoy sticking to specifically acoustic drums, instead of allowing his drums to be sampled. Portnoy tends to stick to simple, driving beats for the most part, kicking it up where appropriate, and allowing Moore and Matheos to fill in the samples when needed. This is fairly obvious in the opening track, "Sure You Will," as well as the song "Go."*****

Much of the album takes a more atmospheric approach, with extended sections of keyboards and strings, and buried guitars and samples. "Home Was Good" displays this atmosphere quite well. The keys and guitars layer beautifully here. There are no drums, either, but truthfully, this track doesn't need them.*****

There are some very upbeat tracks too. "Bigger Wave" has a nice groove to it, but with Moore's haunting, monotone vocals, there's a nice contrast. Musically the song is somewhat uplifting, but Moore's lyrics and vocals bring it back down. This style reappears in the track "Simple Life." Of course, this wouldn't be a Jim Matheos album without his signature guitar riffs, and of course, they are tastefully done. "Free" and "All Gone Now" are heavy on the guitars, and have a fantastic mix of samples and acoustic drums. Matheos is quite versetile, however, and we get to hear that versetility one last time on "Our Town," which has a very folk-ish feel to it.*****

Fans of the first album likely already have this preordered, and they should feel confident that they made a wise choice. OSI are becoming more comfortable with their sound, and the pieces are falling into place. I believe that Free is a much more cohesive album than Office of Strategic Influence was, and because of this, it is a better album. The first OSI was good, this album is great. This is definitely a must-have disc

Final Score - 9/10

 

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