Where has Hourglass been hiding all this time? Their latest album is awesome. Each track has an abundance of melodies and transitions. A lot of creative thought can be found here. The quality is fairly consistent, and there are virtually no weak spots. To be perfectly honest, Subconscious is superb from start to finish. This album has a lot of range, but it's probably closest to Dream Theater's discography. While progression from one style to the next can be heard from Falling into Infinity to Train of Thought, Subconscious covers all this ground in just one album. Since Subconscious is neither too light nor too heavy, it is probably closest to Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. There are so many references to Dream Theater that it would take a thesis to point them all out. Bottom line, if you like Dream Theater, you'll certainly like Hourglass. Then again, this group is far from a simple clone. Be prepared for much, much more.

Hourglass is a modern day A-Team. Clark Woolstenhulme (bassist) and Brick Williams (guitarist) are so technically proficient, it seems like John Myung and John Petrucci are part of the crew. While Clark incorporates many juicy bass bits, Brick appears to have mastered many tips, tricks, and techniques throughout his tour of duty. They each astound the audience with a spectacular showing of special effects. As for the others, John Dunston (drummer), Eric Robertson (keyboardist), and Cody Walker (vocalist) put a unique spin on the progressive metal angle. While John Dunston has Mike Portnoy's chops, he comes off sounding more like Robert Risberget Johansen from Gazpacho. He can be heavy-handed, but most of the time he is cool and controlled like a major in a drum corps. Eric, however, holds the keys and he uses them to unlock decadent doors. While others are slicing, dicing, and thrashing, he alone makes the music melodic and unquestionably progressive with his covert operations. Last, but certainly not least, Cody has a voice that is both youthful and fresh. His voice is much less operatic than James LaBrie, but he has the animation and character to keep up with this agile bunch. Each musician has talent in their own way as individuals. Together they become an overwhelming force capable of attacks from multiple fronts.

Subconscious is laced with many clever melodies and riffs. At 79 minutes, very little room is wasted. It is hard to believe they've crammed all these ideas into one album. The music is accessible and the hooks will reel you in. Yet, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who could process them all on the first rotation. Hourglass squishes many catchy melodies into a blender. With the appliance set to liquefy, you are left with a concoction that's quite easy to digest. It explodes with flavor, but never tastes pretentious or overblown. These traits are the precise recipe for good songwriting. There are many jaw-dropping, head-turning moments littered over the floorspace of every room. I am thoroughly impressed with the remarkable foundation they have built. They add sophisticated furnishings and luscious landscapes to an architecture that's already quite alluring. Hourglass has designed a great trademark graphic of a black widow spider for use on their cover art. Instead of the usual tiny red dot on its underbelly, this arachnid dons a red H. I figured these guys were graphic artists who dabbled with music on the side. It was a surprise to discover their talents and learn my hypothesis was backwards. Regardless, the artwork is still a real attention-grabber. It is great to see musicians put a lot of time and thought into every aspect of their album. This music is too good to scrutinize, but I'll raise one complaint. The band makes one mistake, and it pertains to the promotion of this album. Why haven't more people heard of this band and this tremendous album? Getting Subconscious into my grubby hands was a good first step, but this material warrants critical acclaim that goes both far and wide. Once this material is circulated, I'd be willing to bet it is met with rave reviews. Nonetheless, as far as this reviewer is concerned, this is the surprise hit of the season.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2005 Year Book Volume 1 at https://garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2005.