Every new Neal Morse album causes high expectations. I’ve been following this guy for the last decade now and he has only disappointed me on one or two occasions. The first being the Spock’s Beard release V, a mediocre release saved by the two epics, and Neal’s second solo effort One, the least favourable of his entire studio releases. When the word that Neal had teamed up with guitarist Paul Gilbert, a man I admire, reached me I was sure that the new album Sola Scripture had the potential to surpass the incredible Snow, the Transatlantic years and even the unbelievably beautiful ?, the best Morse album yet. My hopes were that Gilbert would give the music the well-needed boost, since I find Morse’s music to be more and more predictable with every single release. Well, to be honest, the excitement I felt when I first held the new album in my hands soon disappeared. Even before I had heard one single note. The track list, two half an hour epics followed by a five minute balled and a closing epic, immediately brought Transatlantic into mind, the super group with Neal Morse, Roine Stolt, Pete Trewavas and Mike Portnoy. Sola Scriptura could have easily have been a Transatlantic release if it wasn’t for the religious/historical concept. The music isn’t far from the stuff this band recorded either. The opening track also brings the previous Neal Morse album to mind. I’m pretty much convinced that the opening track ‘The Door’ was written during or shortly after the recording of ?. The structures, the sounds, all the familiar ingredients, hardly any surprises (I love the ‘All I Ask For’ section though).

There’s even not a single section within the first track where Paul Gilbert makes his mark. This changes slightly with the remaining epics ‘The Conflict‘ and ‘The Conclusion‘. The music isn’t as heavy as I had hoped for, especially since the drums are provided by mister Dream Theater, Mike Portnoy. I’d expected fireworks, not baby crackers. The music itself is high quality stuff, but too boring when you’re familiar with the entire Neal Morse catalogue. I know that this is a much heard criticism, Sola Scriptura proves the criticasters to be right. ‘Heaven In My Heart’ is the inevitable ballad on the album. Morse himself describes the track as filler (“the song originally wasn’t meant to be on the album”), and it sounds like filler indeed. After a few spins of the album I found myself skipping this track (something I have hardly ever done before). In conclusion: Neal Morse has given us yet another high quality concept album, this time with a slightly more accessible theme than the previous solo albums, the story of Maarten Luther. I definitely like the fact that the album is about a historical person rather than a religious figure. I absolutely love the concept and the way the story is being told. Yet the music on Sola Scriptura is so close to the stuff that Morse has previously released that it is hard to get very excited about the music. Even the incredible Paul Gilbert couldn’t change the sound enough to make Sola Scriptura stand out.