Maxwell’s Demon returns after almost a decade with a follow-up to it’s debut Prometheus called Diablo. Both of which are instrumental works. While Prometheus was a single track song, Diablo has several parts for the three suites, First Impression, Second Impression and Third Impression. The band consists of John Galbraith (guitars), Craig Beebe. (keyboards) Jeff Martinov, Dow Draper & Christine Scheer (drums) and Chris Johnson (bass)
Diablo takes off where Prometheus ended. In fact many progressive rock fans were wondering if Maxwell’s Demon was a one-tick pony. Diablo seems to lean more towards a Univers Zero influence while Prometheus was hailed as an American counterpart of Anglagard. I’m glad that they moved into a more experimental orchestral direction.
Diablo is one of those albums that demands your full attention and requires the listener to take the time to listen to it from start to finish. One of the man y reasons for this is how the songs segue into each other. Most of the tracks are under 3 minutes except for some that are from the 5 minute to 7 minute mark.
I preferred the Second Impression most of all especially the song “Crash” which seems to be a mixture of an Anglagard and Univers Zero influences. Other than that, the entire Diablo album is a work of art that those that have been wondering if the Maxwell’s Demon would continue or not. Lets hope a future release is done quicker.
In closing, this is one of those albums that needs to grow on you before settling on an opinion of whether or not it‘s a worthy follow-up. I can tell you hands down it is not. In fact I was pleasantly surprised with Diablo from the get go. If you are a fan of the first album or any of the afore mentioned bands, then it‘s a no brainer that you NEED to acquire Diablo ASAP. Highly recommended!!.
Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on May 9th, 2010
