Saga
House Of Cards
Steamhammer
Here’s the deal, and it’s been this way with me for a long, long time: the dividing line between prog rock disguised as “hard rock” or metal is this band. Go ahead and hate me if I put Dream Theater on Saga’s side, but• OK, like it matters. Well it does, it’s false metal. But it doesn’t change the fact that I’ve listened to House Of Cards several times over, and it’s quite listenable for someone like me. “The Runaway,” a surprisingly profound song about the current digital revolution (that would be the one occurring every six months), has a really catchy pop melody and is my favorite on the album. “That’s How We Like It,” “We’ll Meet Again (Chapter 15),” “Money Talks,” and the title track follow a similar course – that would be some sort of essay on modern life being a façade – and frankly they’re pretty catchy, though they didn’t hold my attention like “The Runaway” did. I suspect no one can stop them, nevertheless.
SPV GmbH/Steamhammer, Brüsseler Straße 14, 30539 Hannover, Germany; http://www.spv.de
