Wonderful sound!!!!Great prog music of the '90! Really

This album takes some dedication to fully grasp all that is going on in here. Much like Gentle Giant that this band obviously appreciated, this release will fully reward the listener when they give it the full attention it deserves. In my opinion it's already a classic of American prog or any other prog for that matter.

I have a love-hate relationship with As The World. On the one hand, it has some of my favorite moments in prog-rock, like "A Short Essay" and "A Habit Worth Forming", all angular and harmonic and melodramatic, and some sweet instrumental interplay on "The Wiblet" especially. All the instrumental tracks, in fact, are beautiful, albeit all very short. Nonetheless, they pull off instrumental virtuosity without ever crossing into instrumental wankery, an all too common trap in which many modern prog rock bands are caught. On the other hand, the lyrics tend towards bitter, angry criticism of intelligence ("Wormwood") and rational thinking ("As The World", "Never The Same"), with some tedious appeals to superstition (even on "A Short Essay", my favorite) as well as awkward, whiny indictments of "the cool people" (almost every other track) not heard since before Neil Peart could afford a second house. "Mei" or "The End Is Beautiful" this isn't, but only lyrically speaking. Overall, though, this disc has survived the test of time better to my ears than other prog-rock albums released around the same time by the likes of Spock's Beard, the Flower Kings, even Yes and King Crimson. Echolyn shows here that they may be America's finest prog-rock band, warts and all. Buy Mei first, but don't miss out on this, a document of what a progressive rock band can do when given a shot at the majors.

After 10 listens it all makes sense. A really great album!!!