Judging by the sound of this disk, it was a pretty dangerous choice for a title. In other words, ALX, be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.
The bombastic opener, "Mister Relations Man", shows promise despite sounding like Tears For Fears with Trent Reznor on vocals. With a repetitive chorus (the first of many on this CD) chanting that "love is like a rainbow/all elusive, multicolored, changing all the time", I hoped I was headed more towards the Jellyfish or Queen side of seventies pomp. No such luck.
Buried beneath this wall of synthesized music there probably lies the beating of a pop heart. "I Won't Tell A Soul" sounds like an INXS knockoff, has some nice vocals and could probably rip with a real band sound. Here it's buried by the wall of synth noodling. "The Meaning Of Life", despite the title, is another pop melody rotting on the vine. A third attempt, "That Is Immortal", is a by-product of listening to Harrison's "The Inner Light" once too often -a misdirected homage.
Mid-record we are graced with the title track followed by "Cybergenic Silo", a one-two punch even Spinal Tap would run from. Sample lyrics: "Yet one more century passes by/bye-bye/Let me out of the box/Let me out of the box...". No, let me out of the box! I understand that the lyrics in music like this are secondary (cue Jon Anderson and Yes) but the lyrics throughout this CD are sophomoric at best.
ALX, whomever he is (the cover drawing looks like Ron Perlman in "Beauty And The Beast"), certainly has musical talent, a decent voice and an ability to arrange vocal harmonies. That's not enough, though. There's thirty minutes of sound here but no cohesive musical statement, no lasting melodies, no message to remember. ALX sings in the closing track "I'd like to tell you all about the things in my head, but they're so far away". For me, even after thirty minutes, they still are.
