With their latest album, Spock's Beard continues as one of the best prog bands on the scene. The Southern California quartet has continued to seek new forms of expression, with a focus on combining complex compositions with a more song oriented feel. Fronted by vocalist, drummer and guitarist Nick D'Virgilio, the band begins to explore other genres and assimilate some new sounds and textures into their trademark sound.

The title of the new album is simply 'Spock's Beard.' Something you might expect for a band's debut but not for the band's ninth studio album. "We never had a self-titled debut album, so we thought it'd be cool to make up for that," explains bassist Dave Meros. "It doesn't necessarily signify a new beginning, but at the same time we do hope that this CD is successful enough that we can look back to this album and realize that it WAS a turning point in Spock's Beard's career."

Meros, who had begun to contribute more to the song writing on 'Octane,' has also contributed a lot to the new record. "'Feel Euphoria' was quite experimental for us," he recalls about the first album after their split with founding member Neal Morse. "It took a long time to find out how our various methods of composing could take best effect, what constituted the 'new' Spock's Beard and how we could write for the band without pinning it down to a certain style. With 'Octane' we succeeded in doing this pretty well, but the new album is much more the kind of thing that I personally think captures the new Beard sound."

This new sound flirts with blues, rock and occasionally even jazz, soul and funk without ever neglecting the traditional Spock's brand of prog.

"Well, we're just a bunch of old guys that have been playing all kinds of music since we were kids. We have lots of musical influences and love lots of different styles. And since this IS progressive rock, we feel like we can get away with slipping in different styles here and there if the mood strikes and if we can still make it sound like a Spock's Beard song. We usually do something to make whatever style we're playing "proggish". For example, one song on this new CD has an almost Tower of Power groove. But we are playing in 5/4 and the vocals have a very Peter Gabriel treatment, so even though it's a funky sound, it's still got something for the prog-heads, too."

The track in question here is "As Far As The Mind Can See". At 17 minutes long, it is both the longest and the most demanding piece on the album, which shines with enchanting vocal harmonies, virtuoso rock, brilliant prog moments and gripping solos, most notably Ryo Okumoto on the organ.

'Spock's Beard' features some of the band's most amazing moments yet, such as the instrumental powerhouse 'Skeletons At The Feast'. The song begins with a breath-taking B3 riff and odd timing in 11/8, which simmers into a Canterbury style middle section before climaxing in a fierce ending. 'Is This Love' is another adventurous trip which is paved with many rhythmic stumbling blocks.

Apart from the harder numbers, 'Spock's Beard' also has its fair share of quieter moments such as the piano and vocal duet 'Hereafter'. There's also the powerful 'Slow Crash Landing Man' which has the perfect blend of piano, strings, organ and virtuoso guitar playing and the album opener 'On A Perfect Day', which combines a string quartet with heavy bass riffs and a wonderful interlude featuring two acoustic guitars.

All in all, the album offers 78 Minutes of captivating melodies, amazing twists and cleverly constructed songs. On this album the string and brass ensembles were utilized to a far greater extent than on any other Spock's Beard CD. The string quartet performed on several parts (sometimes doubled and tripled); and the two horn players, trombonist and trumpet player add much to the flavor of the album in various combinations.

"Even with all the real strings and horns, you still can't have a proper prog album without the Mellotron", Meros says finally. "So there's plenty of 'Tron in there, too!"