Cog - Sharing Space

It's progressive rock you tell me? Well this should be interesting. Australians Cog return with their second album, the followup to their 2005 debut The New Normal presents an interesting mix of ethereal, floating soundscapes with a heavier edged guitar sound that at times seem to be looking towards Tool for it's inspiration.

Sounding good so far right? Well that would be true, if only it wasn't so... bland. With 13 tracks clocking in at over an hour you're going to be hard pressed to really draw any lasting impression from 'Sharing Space' other than a somewhat disinterested "well that was unpleasant". That I'm sure is not the way the band had hoped to have the album received.

Even the purported big hit 'What If' doesn't really stand out in any way, despite it landing in the top 50 in the bands native country. In fact if anything, it melds seamlessly into the overall drivel of the entire sound of the album.

In a weird twist of fate, they do actually sound like someone you might have heard of, albeit a weaker, watered down version. Turn the clocks back a year and you might recall a band called Mind's Eye who released the concept album 'A Gentleman's Hurricane'. Imagine that, but a damn site worse.

At least the cover arts interesting though...