So since there are only 4 songs to go through, I think it just feels right to look at each of the songs and sum it up at the end. First up is the shortest song of the record, the 9-minute short "Goliath's Moon" that tells the tale of a man and his diamond, of how he found it, sold it, found it again, and could not buy it. That's it, nothing more to take from this story that is as simple as it goes. This is definitely the catchiest song of the record, with a lot of resemblance to what Haken has done in recent years, having a little retro touch to this modern progressive sound. It is a nice opener that certainly puts you in the right mood, but it still leaves you wanting more, not setting the bar all too high for the remaining 3 tracks.
Onto track numero dos, "Cries For The Lonely". If the previous track was Haken, then this one is early years Dream Theater, with a lot of nice instrumental work in the beginning, before the bombastic vocals, courtesy of Danny Lopresto, kicks in with quite an entrance. The rest of the 19 minute ride is up and down through different tempos and moods, keeping your attention throughout its entire run time. It is a song that really show the capability of the band, like the nifty keyboard work of Sean Timms, or the perfectly weighed drumming of Brody Green. It takes quite some skills to make long ass songs, and Southern Empire definitely seem to have them.
However, I do think they bit off more than they could chew with the third, and the longest, track called "The Crossroads". It starts off promising, with a Middle Eastern vibe that is really cool and interesting, with some added xylophones and pan flutes as well. But it is around the 13 minute mark the song loses me, somewhere during the frantic uses of violins where the song just feels like it met a literal crossroad. It goes all over the place, until it almost comes to a stand still halfway through, only to become a completely different song all together. Nothing in this track sounds lazy or anything, but it is a divided song that cannot keep it together throughout all of its 29 minutes. It still sounds nice when you are just listening to it, not thinking about when a song starts or stops, but it ain't a mastodon master piece by any means.
Last one up is the 10 minute long "Innocence & Fortune", which sees the band go back to the Haken inspired sound we saw in "Goliath's Moon". It is a mellow song that does have an epic guitar solo to boot (good job there Cam Blokland), and it works nicely as a soothing end to this record. It might be the most underwhelming song though, not having as strong of a presence as its brothers, but it has a task, and it does so well.
So "Civilisation" is certainly a really nice progressive rock album that has a really nice flow to it, with 4 tracks that all have their fair share of cool moments (even though I still think "The Crossroads" should have been split into 2). It is a clean record that deserves a lot of praise, but might not get too much knowing of the competition in today's prog world, especially since Australia has produced a lot of good bands in recent memory. As far as a sophomore record goes, "Civilisation" is as solid as it can get, and it touches the clouds thanks to its quality. To reach beyond though, they might have to learn how to trim some of that extra weight.
Songs worthy of recognition: Cries For The Lonely, Goliath's Moon
Rating: 8/10 Crossroads
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