This is the second album from the Texan band who calls themselves Stride. This is one of the best surprises of the year if you like cool and mellowing progressive music. This is heavy metal with strong riffs and powerful melodies but however in general the music is cool and really sad especially hearing the lyrics. Some had compared his voice to Steve Perry or Steve Walsh, but if ask me his voice (Gary Belin's) reminds me a lot of the vocalist of Whitesnake, Dave Coverdale. His voice is so clean and pure and some of the 9 tracks on the album are soft ballads. It's an album you can put on when you have had a hard day. It's impossible for example to do any comparison between the single members, they have done a great job as a unit. Also, there are a lot of keyboards on this release and actually I think that it is even the keyboards that lead the melodies. If you don't like such sound it will be maybe a problem, but if you don't care and like this instrument you'll probably be really happy because the keyboards lines are really good and efficient. Imagine draws its energy from the technicality of Dream Theater and the polished AOR sounds of Journey. This album is a real jewel, a real success and if you like rock, prog and metal you will have to buy this release. These guys are a bunch of great talented musicians. So listen to me and check this album. I promise you won't regret it. For more info you can visit www.strideonline.com
