Xurtio

Album Title: X
Artist: Spock's Beard
Nationality: U.S.
Year: 2010
Subgenre: Grunge-Prog
Player(s): Nick D'Virgilio (Drums & Lead Vocals), Alan Morse (Guitars, Backing Vocals), Ryo Okumoto (Keyboards), Dave Meros (Bass, Additional Backing Instrumentation)
Familiarity: Never heard before, but have heard of. Guess I never got past the novelty band name to give them a listen
Favourite track(s): “Their Name Escapes Me (nameless)”
Why? Groovy intro, vocals are more tolerable here than most other tracks (but also kind of remind me of Tenacious D's Jack Black), nice mellow break with an intense sax outro. I also liked Kamikaze a lot, probably due to the lack of vocals.
Least favourite track(s): "Emperorer's New Clothes"
Why? It was really a toss up between several track's where the vocals sound like a grunge rocker like Eddie Vedder singing over prop musicians... basically ruining my enjoyment of the groove.
Any preconceptions prior to listening, whether good or bad?
Not really, other then the name being novel.
Factoids you'd like to share? Don't know any factoids... I guess I read that the vocalist was the drummer, and I had to know because the vocals sucked so often.
End impression: Well, I'm glad I was introduced to this band, I thoroughly enjoy their progressions and their transitions and their melodic rifts. They can tell a story really well with their instruments. But I'm completely turned off by most of the vocals, because they rip me out the prog immersion that the instrumental introductions submerge me in.
Rating: 3 Great musicians, but bad vocals over good music is one of my pet peeves. It's not that the vocals are particularly bad, musically, but the grungy vocal styles conflict with the progressive themes.

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