:: ask me what I believe

:: "Ask me what I believe in, I'll say compromise…" rings the opening line of the album's first track, and in those vulnerable depths of "Flood" the mood is set. The music swirls in a textured wash of soothing guitar tones and gently cascading rhythms, and Tate's vocals shower the proceedings like the most welcome of spring rains, his words glistening like a morning dew. Fans of Queensrÿche will revel in the familiar, soothing warmth of one of music's most pure voices, while new fans will find themselves lost somewhere between the melancholy of "Forever" and the hopeful effervescence of "This Moment." Co-songwriter Scott Moughton paves a tantalizing trail of Spanish-flavored guitars into "Helpless," a piano lays the path through the peaceful calm of "In Other Words," drums propel "Passenger," and "Grain Of Faith" plays like the perfect culmination of Tate's lyrical harmony and Carrell’s guitar-based foundations.