Album Review: Pattern Seeking Animals - Pattern Seeking Animals

The recent incarnations of Spock's Beard have been a mixed bag. They've put out great albums like "X" and "Brief Nocturnes & Dreamless Sleep", but also efforts like "The Oblivion Particle" that were tedious compared to their best work. What I've always found a bit odd is their relationship to John Boegehold, who has never been a member of the band, but who provided many songs in the post-Neal Morse years. I'm not surprised he would want to make a name for himself, but I am surprised that the band he put together to do so is... current and former members of Spock's Beard. So what we have here is a prog band made up by a guy who writes Spock's Beard music, being played by Spock's Beard members, that isn't actually Spock's Beard.

The press release says this project is consciously trying to do some different things than Spock's Beard, which is absolutely necessary, but something I'm not sure can be done. Most musicians have a particular way of writing and playing, and throwing a different synth patch on the keyboard isn't going to change that. My thoughts upon hearing the first song released, "No Burden Left To Carry", was exactly that. The building riffs, layered harmonies, and even the synth tones themselves, are exactly what I thought they would be. The differences are only apparent to those closest to the music.

"The Same Mistakes Again" does point us in a slightly new direction. It's a short song that tries to wring drama out with some string arrangements, and does so with a slightly Beatles-esque feeling. It's a lovely sounding track, and it's melodic, but it's too subtle. It needs to have both the hook and the drama revved up even more to hit greatness. This is prog, after all, where there's no such thing as not going far enough. Yet, this song doesn't go far enough.

Six of the nine tracks on this album are short and straight-forward, focused more on the songwriting than the prog. I like this decision, but it also highlights when there are deficiencies. Take "No One Ever Dies And Made Me King" for example. It's a short, almost pop tune, and I can argue it hits the mark by being catchy, but it does so in an annoying, lazy way. The entire chorus is just the title repeated over and over again, which is weak writing that has always (even when it was Iron Maiden doing it) reeked of not knowing how to give the song a proper chorus.

The other issue is that the entire album is too smooth for its own good. Neither the riffs nor the melodies have any real bite to them. That was one of the main issues I've had with the last two Spock's Beard albums as well. These are fine enough songs, and it's an enjoyable listen, but there's no spark, no energy, to these tracks. The whole thing sounds like very mature prog, but I spend most of the record begging for something to reach out and slap me.

They might say this is a completely different animal, but I'm going to compare this to Spock's Beard anyway, because they sound pretty much identical to my ears. Pattern Seeking Animals fits in the middle of that hierarchy. It isn't as good as "X" or "Brief Nocturnes..." (the best Spock's album, and made by this basic lineup), but it's easily more engaging than the last two albums. Frankly, they might as well had waited for the usual album gap and called this a Spock's Beard album. It sounds like one, it feels like one, and it's actually an improvement over what they have been doing.

So let's call this a mixed bag. It's fine, but not thrilling, if you get my drift.