This is the band’s first release since the highly acclaimed “Vox in Excelso” and this, like its predecessor, is a concept album – this time about the life of Marilyn Monroe.

The songs are good, but not outstanding and this may be due to the production not bringing out the best of them, as one feels that something is missing.  Robin Beck, Issa and Steve Overland all contribute to the album and all produce admirable performances but, again, the magic is missing.  There are some great songs on here, “Unfinished life” being one of them, but it’s still not enough to convince me that this is a classic release.

This will require a fair number of listens to get into, but this is not the essential album it is touted to be.

Nick van der Meulen