Review: The Neal Morse Band – Innocence & Danger

Style: traditional prog metal/neo-prog rock (clean vocals)
Review by: Nick
Country: US
Release date: 27 August, 2021

The Neal Morse Band is a supergroup made up of Mike Portnoy formerly of Dream Theater and a million other projects on drums, Randy George on bass, Bill Hauber on keyboards, and Eric Gillette on guitar. The last three may have been relatively unknown prior to TNMB, but believe me when I say that they are anything but ordinary musicians. While they each have clear influence from various legends on their respective instruments, they still each carve out their own sound and style and are true masters of the craft. And these musicians are used to their fullest potential on these albums. See, The Neal Morse Band isn’t just Neal Morse despite what its name may make you think. I know I covered this already, but I specifically mean that each other member has plenty of say in the songwriting and their respective parts. The project is extremely collaborative which is something you can see in their documentary that covers the making of their previous album The Similitude of a Dream. 

It’s actually super important to mention The Similitude of a Dream, because that’s one of my all time favorite albums and has really impacted the way I’ve seen a lot of the projects that Neal and the other members put out. The Similitude of a Dream was a double disc concept album based on the classic story Pilgrim’s Progress, an allegory of religious discovery that has long been applicable to any personal challenge or turmoil. So while there is the religious aspect it was still applicable to a variety of situations. They played well into this strength and kept the hardcore religious lyrics from Neal’s other projects on the backburner in place of exploring the allegory itself. They then followed this up with The Great Adventure drastically disappointed me. The general metaphors were turned into something far more overtly religious, the prog excitement was bogged down by ballad after ballad, and the prog bits that were there felt forced. It was disappointing and far thicker with the preachiness that turns me off of Neal’s solo work. Beyond the work in TNMB alone, I was also super disappointed in Transatlantic’s new release (yet another supergroup prominently featuring Morse and Portnoy). Between The Great Adventure, the new Transatlantic, and the two fairly generic double disc concept albums that he put out himself in the last year, I was very skeptical about what their newest release would bring to the table. 

Innocence & Danger was announced in early 2021 with an interesting approach. Rather than being a story-based concept album, it would be a normal album split up into two halves. The first half of the album consists of a number of shorter cuts that are focused more as bite sized chunks of prog rather than the two larger compositions that make up the second half. I thought that this is actually a really neat idea and my interest was definitely piqued. Say what you will about their execution, but these guys never lack ambition and I think that alone is worth giving them the time of day.

Musically it calls back a lot to older prog especially to the sounds of Genesis. Not only is there an extremely Steve Hackett-esque acoustic interlude track (“Emergence”), but the legendary piano melody from Genesis’s “Firth of Fifth” is copied and pasted to be the meat of the intro of “Bridge over Troubled Water”. This isn’t the first homage that’s made an appearance in a Neal Morse Band album, but I’d say it’s probably the biggest and most overt I’ve seen. Even if there are plenty of times where they definitely root themselves firmly into the sounds of neo-prog as done by contemporaries like The Flower Kings, Big Big Train, and IQ, they still have managed to bring their own sound to the table which really does feel like the culmination of five different careers worth of growth. Their verses are filled with attitude, their choruses are bombastic and epic, their solo sections are bright and energetic, the slower solos are soulful, and their ever-evolving compositions manage to remain fresh and engaging. There’s nothing especially new, but there’s so many cool little sections and creative sounds that they toy with to keep it interesting.

The real highlight of this album comes with the final two tracks, two tracks which make up nearly half of the album’s runtime mind you. The first, “Not Afraid Pt 2” clocks in at around 18 minutes. Meanwhile the second, “Beyond the Years”, absolutely dwarfs that coming in at a massive 32 minutes. This is a LOT of music to say the least which is impressive alone, but as always the big question is if the length is justified. In this case? I think absolutely. Each track is a long winding road of different sections built to create a sort of emotional rollercoaster and, while there’s nothing super new, the songs are put together in such an engaging way that it honestly makes no difference. I especially had such a blast listening to “Beyond the Years” that I didn’t even noticed its over half hour long runtime on my first listen. Top notch stuff.

Lyrically there isn’t anything at all different here than on anything else Neal has ever put out. It’s all the same hyper inspirational madlibs that you’ll be accustomed to if you’ve heard anything he’s written since Spock’s Beard. There is no story unlike the last two albums which I actually kind of like. It’s hard to maintain good storytelling while still delivering solid songwriting, so in this case he (and whoever else contributes) can write about the usual overcoming of challenges and love of friends and stuff that’s all over the lighter side of prog, sticking some solid lines here and there alongside some fucking solid songwriting.

With a lot of Neal Morse’s output and honestly all of the neo-prog side of the scene as a whole, it’s all too common that some albums will come out feeling forced. It’s not due to a lack of talent or inspiration, this is just a corner of the genre that has been existing and thriving for nearly 50 years at this point. Hell, both Morse and Portnoy’s careers have been thriving themselves for well over half that. This longevity makes this album feel kinda paradoxical in that it both feels like a young band full of energy and creativity as well as a group of seasoned veterans with years of refined experience. For all of the highs and lows of each member’s discography, any band would be lucky to have an album this good at any point in their career.

Recommended tracks: Beyond the Years, Your Place in the Sun
Recommended for fans of: Genesis, Big Big Train, Spock’s Beard
Final verdict: 9/10

Related links: Spotify | Facebook

Label: Radiant Records – Website | Facebook

The Neal Morse Band is:
– Neal Morse (vocals, guitars, keys)
– Eric Gillette (guitars)
– Randy George (bass, vocals)
– Mike Portnoy (drums, vocals)
– Bill Hauber (keyboard, vocals)