Detailed Review [Logos Affinity - 1999 - "Affini Logue"]

Line-up: Courtney Eckler - real and unreal drums, guitars, bass, vocals; Ellsworth Hall - keyboards, digi-drums, acoustic guitar, vocals; Erik Marks - bass, acoustic and electric guitars, vocals; Chris Marks - electric guitar, vocal; Mark VanNatta - electric & midi guitar, vocals

I don't really know, was the "Affini Logue" album released on CD officially or not because from the guys of Logos Affinity (who, by the way, are currently recording their second album) I have received just a CD-R copy. Some people still think that I don't like Neo Progressive at all (the wannabee bands' leaders are sure that I hate it), but lots of my reviews of Neos have words on the necessity of this sub-genre as a stage to comprehending more serious genres, at least. The latest Pallas studio album "Beat the Drum" I rated as a masterpiece. Lots of the other "Neo albums" I have reviewed were rated by me as excellent and very good, as the only point - at least, but this is, in my view, the most important point - I need to rate any album at least more or less positively is originality of music I hear. When the guys of Logos Affinity offered me to send their debut album for my review they tried to warn me in advance that the music on this album is a kind of mixture of Neo Progressive with some folk music structures, thereby as if saying me: "Are you (still) sure you want to listen to what we can send you?" Although I read negative on the whole reviews on "Affini Logue" often enough to doubt reviewing it myself. But I said to the guys as always: no matter how accessible or complex their music is, the only point I 'seriously' need to be at least satisfied with it is a fact of originality. And it turned out that the music Logos Affinity compose and perform is free of any direct influences. Of course, such quite simple music is not my cup of tea, but it's impossible not to hear how sincerely and, in some ways, interestingly it sounds. So, if I can't rate "Affini Logo" as a really good Neo album, closeness to the good status is more than just a satisfactory result, which overall is also not too bad, to be over the mediocre - especially for debut works. In any case, this album is better than a lot of "incubatory" wannabees whose professional capabilities don't satisfy me at all because all I hear in their music are just structures, schemes, themes, arrangements and solos that were stolen from the most successful Neo bands (most often from Marillion) practically entirely, but, what's the worst thing, these stolen (originally wonderful) things sound always terribly, performed by the progiarists (plagiarists of Prog).