Following directly on from ’s rare artistic misstep of 2000’s , and a bleak period of depression and emotional turmoil, felt like a deep gulp of clean Canadian air. The album on the theme of his homeland was born when the singer/guitarist undertook his first-ever extensive tour of the country with his extreme metal project , supporting Alberta band The Smalls. The result was a relatively understated classic that still ranks as one of his best solo albums nearly a quarter of a century on.
It’s certainly not a travelogue, but there’s an expansive feel to the songs that’s redolent of broadening horizons. “I started finding myself expanding outside the box..
. without a lot of the baggage that was part of the prior records,” he writes in new liner notes. That discovery translated into a melodic and atmospheric journey, full of breathtaking musical vistas.
The multipart swirls through symphonic swells, floating harmonies and pure prog guitars; while is a sigh of mellow acoustics, lilting vocals and ambient background sounds. is similarly laid-back – but there are strategically placed oddball mid-sections, set-pieces and mind-blowing solos that essentially present mini-songs within songs. Elsewhere the dreamy and the catchy are delivered with fewer curveballs.
Bonus track Universal sounds very much like a Terria outlier This reissue sees the album taking a star turn on vinyl, with the same mastering that first appeared on 2018 box set . Bonus track makes its vinyl de.
