When your band was named as a joke about a ridiculous episode of a sci-fi show, a thirty year career is probably not what anyone had in the cards. And yet, despite their name being a reference to the evil version of Spock (I would have gone with Garth Knight on "Knight Rider", myself), they continue on into their third decade of neo-prog.
There have been up and downs along the way, with the transition from Neal Morse to Nick D'Virgilio forcing the band to completely reinvent themselves. They did that, only to find themselves shifting yet again when Ted Leonard took over for the third chapter of their career. This album might be the biggest shift of them all, as we find the creative engine being provided by keyboardist Ryo Okumoto, which is in essence the only difference between this and the now several albums the rest of the band has put out as Pattern Seeking Animals.
So without any of the key songwriters from their career doing the heavy lifting, does Spock's Beard have anything worth saying... or worth listening to?
"Invisible" doesn't do much to answer that question as it starts the record, going through the motions of prog riffs while offering very little in the way of the band's trademark melodies. Neal was expert at injecting pop fun into their sound, and Nick had a slick charm, but this song sounds more like one written by someone who has never been a singer, nor worked with one. Ted is given very little to do, and what he does sing has little appeal or hook. A band that was able to transcend the cliches of prog is now slipping right into them.
"Afourthoughts" adds a new chapter to the band's "Thoughts" series, which is a nod to the past, but also a tether. Yes, it shows that Spock's Beard is still Spock's Beard, but having a song that borrows so much influence from their own history can also come across as the band running low on inspiration. It's a fine line, and I'm not sure which side I currently fall on. Perhaps if the song was a touch sharper I would be more generous to the concept.
The meat of the album comes at the end, with the twenty minute title track followed by another ten minute song. These journeys are what prog fans love, but they also give an easy 'out' to the band in not having to write compelling songs. Too often, fans will accept anything that is long, thinking that somehow writing a longer song must be harder, or that length indicates quality. 'Size doesn't matter' is a real saying, they should learn.
The longer tracks, because they demand so much of our attention, are where Spock's Beard shows the shortcomings of this incarnation. Neal has made a career out of writing epics constructed from masterful pop tunes stitched together, and Nick's era had a few that were able to keep momentum going. These songs, though, struggle to maintain either flow or energy. Much of "The Archaeoptimist" is instrumental, and the various riffs and solos are not the kind of playing that is likely to lodge in your mind. Couple that with the vocal sections that are flat, and you get a song that is twenty minutes of trying patience. The only bit of interest was trying to figure out which 80s pop song the second vocal section feels like it's ripping off. I'm not sure I figured that one out.
Ultimately, this album reminds me of the story of Credence Clearwater Revival. In that band, John Fogerty wrote all their songs, and they were hugely successful. Eventually, the rest of the band wanted to prove they were just as capable. That led to an album considered one of the great disasters of classic rock, and the end of the band. This isn't that bad, but it does serve to remind us that great songwriters are rare. It's amazing Spock's Beard was able to survive losing Neal Morse's writing, but now that they don't even have John Boegehold providing songs, the fact is that the rest of the band doesn't have the same killer instinct for writing great songs.
Whether it's this album, or Pattern Seeking Animals, the entire Spock's Beard sound has gotten as played out as... well... the idea of a stupid beard indicating a character is evil.
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