Third album from this French Canadian band, conceptually tied around the digital world and video games as a metaphor to the real world.

This is an excellent album that covers a wide range of dynamics from slow to fast and soft to hard. Hooky and melodic, with even some smooth jazz tossed in, this album remains very much good ol’ progressive rock. You will find yourself harkening back to many of the classic prog bands while listening to this album, such as Gentle Giant during Endgame. At 48 minutes, I did find myself wishing it was a tad longer, but only because it’s that good!

Some very fine moments lyrically, such as Endgame’s “But what's the point in playing the game, if you cannot even pull your own strings?” As a believer in freedom and personal responsibility, I appreciate this sentiment.

Étienne Doyon does a wonderful job on lead vocals, with my only nit pick being the common mispronunciation of the English “th” sound as “de.” I’m sure most won’t mind, and may find it adds to the “European” prog element of the album, but this Yak Yank did find it slightly distracting. You particularly notice it on songs like Into the Void where you repeatedly get “into de void, into de void.” As they say in Endgame, “To get better, faster, stronger, to go farther, higher, deeper, can't afford to go under these high performance standards,” so maybe work on that for your next album? (Before any hate mail comes my way, know that the I lived in Belgium for a few years and refused to speak English during that time, speaking only Dutch, working hard to perfect my pronunciation and the nuances of the language, such as the guttural “g” sound, which is quite challenging for native English speakers.) But, as I said, this is all nit picking, the album is so good, this should not prove a problem to most listeners.

A very listenable album from start to stop, and one many of you may not be aware of…so, check it out and enjoy! 4.5 Yaks