Not as good as Megalithic Symphony, but still better than most crap produced.
341900
Not as good as the first album, but contains many songs that I continue to play months later.  Run, Hallow Moon, I am are the ones everyone should already know, if you listen to the radio - but there are also some other gems here.  An album I can listen to all the way through without needing to skip a song.
3104804
This is the hi-resolution remastering so the sound is at least half decent. The world's best orchestra is best appreciated in other recordings than this though, which is thick and muddled.
Giulini rather ruins the first movement of no. 1 with a lumbering tempo. (But we don't really know who choose the tempi, do we, since Bernstein's priceless washing of hands before playing one of these concertos with Glenn Gould.)
ABM engages in some weird rubato in the cadenza and in the 2nd movement. He is really much better in the solo recordings of Chopin and Debussy. As for Giulini, he is at his best in some Bruckner and Mahler CDs, all on DG.
If you're not particularly in awe of these venerated artist's names, I recommend Argerich with Sinopoli instead, and there's also a great one of no. 1 with Richter on RCA.
1936978
Seeing that there was only 1 review of this album I thought I'd throw my two cents in so someone would be able to have more than 1 opinion.  To start, I consider myself a pretty big Midnite fan, seeing them whenever they hit the NY area(not to be missed, by the way).  I have a great majority of their albums and their style seems to vary quite greatly depending on the album and its production.  I've always been more of a fan of their works that get away from the electronic sound that sometimes dominates their albums which collaborate with I-Grade, Branch-I, Higher Bound, etc .  To me their strongest points are when they mix Benjamin's powerful vocals with the full rythym section backing them up.  Sadly, this one seems more Vaughn-centric than their better stuff.  "Unpolished" is one of my favorite albums of all time and "Ras Mek Peace," "Jubilees of Zion," "Seek Knowledge Before Vengeance," and even "Ainshant Maps" are by far my favorite titles of theirs.  But this one really seems to fall short.  If you are a fan of their stuff beyond what I just mentioned than I'm sure you'll like this one too but I was personally left uninspired.  If you are new to Midnite, buy "Unpolished" and enjoy one of the greatest reggae albums ever
3436197
I'll preface this by saying I own all Enchant's work, I love them, and they have been one of my three or four most favorite bands to listen to. I felt their last album, "Tug of War", was their weakest effort. But much like Spock's "guessing" on Star Trek is better than most people's facts, Enchant's worst effort is still pretty darn good in the progressive rock landscape. There are some good tunes on "Tug of War", it's just not as cohesive or as completely good of an album as its predecessors.

So what about "The Great Divide"?

It leaves a lot to be desired. I'd say it is even weaker than "Tug of War." There's just not a lot here to love.

The biggest problem with this album is the lyrical content. One of the reasons I've been a huge fan of Enchant is because of their lyrics. Albums like "Juggling 9 and Dropping 10", "Wounded", or "Break", just slay me. I love those albums. I can't get enough. They wrote some great, smart, often insightful lyrics on those albums. I mean, this has been a progressive rock band that has figured out how to meld challenging rock art music with great lyrical content. But both seem to be lacking on this album.

The lyrics on "Great Divide" are just weak. Really weak. Embarrassingly weak. Someone in another review mentioned the spoken word on "Within An Inch". That doesn't even touch the surface of how bad most of the lyrics are.  Doesn't matter if they're spoken or not. They just didn't write good lyrics.

And musically, this album falls short of the creativity that is evident on other Enchant albums. I say that as a guitar player who spends a lot of time figuring out Ott's work; I love Doug Ott and what he's written on the prior Enchant albums amazes me (the arpeggios on "My Everafter", for instance, are amazing to hear, and so difficult to play). I've always admired his work, how he managed to blend the technical expertise of a guy like Petrucci with the soaring leads of a guy like Neal Schon. Ott is a rare guitarist. He has a history of knowing just what notes to play, and how to phrase leads and melodies. But all his awesome playing is largely missing on this album.

Others have said the album and riffs sound recycled, but I'd disagree. I'd take recycled; at least I'd get to hear some of the awesome work from the previous albums. I think the reason this album sounds recycled to people is because the production, when compared to the past albums, is so spot-on. It doesn't sound like these guys took 10 years off. It sounds like they recorded this album alongside "Wounded," which is amazing.

What does sound recycled is the riffs *on this album*. Nothing on this album sounds interesting. Most of the guitar work is simple and boring. The lyrics are stale and uninteresting (and often quite cheesy). Where is the Enchant I fell in love with? It's not here on this album.

All that said: "All Mixed Up" is a good song, and sounds like it should have landed on the "Wounded" album.
797389
This album is not quite as good as their last album. Gone are the vocals with real emotion and great lyrics to match. Gone are the catchy guitar hooks. Gone is the actually talented drumming. Gone is the bass player all together.
This CD is so mediocre. Especially the drummer, who plays very basic, repetitive drum patterns that get kind of irritating. The vocalist has changed his singing style from Somewhere In Between. His voice is a bit annoying on this album (in my opinion). It kind of sounds like the band is trying to sound like Metallica or something.
If you liked the first CD, you might want to give this album a listen to before you buy. I didn't. I just bought it because of how much I liked their first album.
1448041
I was really looking forward to this release, given that I really took to Between two worlds' "I". Demonaz, I understand, writes a lot of the lyrics for immortal, which is great. But it's one thing to write lyrics, quite another to write music. The March of the Norse release is not as good as "I". I found "I" had a lot of variety and I really liked Abbath's voice on it, which sounded like a throaty Lemmy.  On the other hand, Demonaz' voice sometimes sounds almost NWOHB and I felt I was listening to 80's metal.

March of the Norse starts very promisingly with 2  solid tracks - the introduction "Northern Hymn" and "March of the Norse", which are probably the best and most original tracks of the album. From there, every song sounds very similar, with almost the same tempo and structure. The riffs are very bland and I thought the whole thing was just not inspired.

Overall, I was dissapointed with this release. I can't recommend it.
422247
This album could be described as two things: 1)More Instruments/Less Pro-Tools and 2) It seemed Rushed.  The focus of the writing of this album seems more to be what there IS in life rather then what they want.  But I listen to the songs, and they seemed to of been written a little hurried, i.e. not as intelligent.  (also the singer has an obsession w/ Sh*t this album, lol).  This album will please more people of basic rock distortion albums but strays away from the first two albums.  Old Saliva fans may not be into it as Every or System, but if you never heard Saliva before this, you'd think they love AC/DC and Motorcycle Gangs.  Still, its well produced and worth it, but def. not there best work...
3150483
Trashers out there would abhore this slomp effort of Metallica. And I, for myself, would prefer Megadeth--for having release the incomparable "Rust In Peace" a year earlier. This album is not trash metal that's for sure. There are good songs here. Classics as some might even claim...but just buried beneath  frustrated expectations. For starters, stick with the first four essential Metallica albums.
297590
I recently dusted this CD off and gave it a spin, wondering how well it has aged these past 15 or so years.

I'm afraid to say it's still as plain as I remembered it. It simply does not move me in any significant way & that is the whole point of being a music fan in my opinion. Finding music that you can connect with & that can move you. Stereolab's earlier louder guitarier dronier songs work their magic on me but this just doesn't.

It sounds really clean though, the production is top notch (I bet it would sound incredible on an audiophile's $100,000+ hi-fi system), and Miss Modular is a great track, but the rest doesn't really leave much of an impression even after many listens. But obviously looking at other reviews a lot of people do get it & find it amazing, so it must have something in there I just haven't found yet. If I keep listening maybe I'll find it over the next 15 years.
616212
Well, it's a pretty good performance, but the sound isn't that great. Hocus Pocus (the "Wipe Out" of prog-rock) is played at breakneck speed. Eruption, their most amazing composition/performance from Moving Waves, is not improved here. The solos from the tunes are different of course, but Focus were really rocking when they played, and this doesn't really translate to the recording. Interesting is van Leer's vocal performance on Hocus Pocus, which is different from the original. I hate to say it but Sylvia is kind of spoiled by Jan Akkerman's too-enthusiastic guitar playing. I love Jan and am a player myself, but live performance can sometimes make a player forget that nuance and touch are very important all the time. It may look good when you're playing it live, but the recording won't lie. Too bad there wasn't a better representation of this band live. But for fans, it's one for the collection. By the way I saw the original Netherlands cover last week at a vinyl shop, it had a unique tri-fold-out cover, which is different than the boring silver cover that I have, and now I see they changed the cover again.
431095
The first 6 songs are alright, until you get to the Trilogy of knowledge mess. It's downhill from there. I bought this album mainly because the other reviews say that it's just so cool. It's not that good. Let me explain why.
First of all...I've heard numerous other people relate this album to Slayer, Metallica, and one guy even said Death. That's funny! The only song on here that's fast for any good length of time is "No Apology"; the rest are pretty midpaced and too technical to even jam out to very much. This isn't what I consider to be a real thrash album. This is not a fast album, period.
The second reason I purchased this album is because other reviews said that it was pretty good sound production due to the reissue. Well, if this is a reissue, than the original recording must of sounded pretty bad. The guitars are clean and sound decent, but the drums absolutely sound like garbage. It sounds like an electronic drum kit to me. If you can get used to having no force really behind the music than like I said-the first 6 songs are alright. But if you're going to spend money on this, then don't expect anything amazing. The way they play can kind of be related to Cynic, but there's a catch in saying that. It's not as complex as Cynic by far, and it is considered thrash; not death metal. I'm just saying as far as their style of compositions go, cynic comes to mind. Just because I said that, don't think it's real heavy or fast, cuz it's not. And Trilogy of knowledge just sounds cheesy, I'm sorry. Maybe it's just cuz anything I usually listen to with symphonics in it is Symphonic unblack metal, but the symphonics in Trilogy of knowledge just sound like a bunch of teenagers from band practice or something. It just sounds stupid. I'm still trying to find some really good Christian thrash though, and the search continues...
795483
The Second Symphony recording could be much better. In the final movement, the orchestra sounds too undefined and the drum too near, so the melody loses its energy. Moreover, there's a bit of noise in the other recordings, specially in the calm parts of the works. And, in some occasions, the strings sound a bit far-off (the Fifth final required more strength strings). It's amazing, because these are English EMI recordings, and this combination has always a good result. Despite of it, Mutti's versions of Tchaikovsky symphonies are quite good and, sometimes, very Italian (in rythm and tempo, I mean).
402789
Being a fan of Megadeth is not an easy thing.  It is a love/hate relationship that has been lingering for nearly two decades.  Strange that when it comes to either being a Metallica fool or a Megadeth nut, I find myself divided.  I prefer some of each.  Now, as things go, we are faced with the "Remixed & Remastered" catalog of Megadeth in its less-than-entirety.  Hmmmmm.  If you go the Ozzy route to remastering, where you're pissed off at previous band members, so you just record over them with hired guns, that's fine.  I won't buy it, but get down with your bad self.  I don't think Dave Mustaine did that, although these recordings of Megadeth's 2nd through 8th albums sound very different in some places.  Reflecting upon their composition, maybe Dave would have been better off just coming out with a box set with the hits and the rarities.  Demos do nothing for me, so I don't know why they bother.  The kick-you-in-the-face feeling of some of these classics is missing, or been retoned, and it's not the same.  Symphony Of Destruction should push you down and kick you in the teeth, but it doesn't.  Neither does Holy Wars . . . The Punishment Due.  Now.  I digress.  The earlier works such as Peace Sells and SFSGSW really benefit from the retooling, but a simple remastering would have done that to boost the EQs.  It has been said that Dave had to re-record his vocal tracks on several songs due to the fact that Capitol lost the original master tapes.  So . . . should this be called original "Remixed & Remastered" or should this be called "Re-Recorded"  or better yet . . . Dave Mustaine's Obsessive Reconstruction of Megadeth's Catalog.  I'm not sure that these discs are essential.  As I said . . . a simple remastering would have greatly improved some, if not all of the recordings.  The exclusion of KIMB and Hidden Treasures makes this set eerily incomplete.  Overall . . . Capitol Punishement had the remasters of a few Megadeth classics, but this set soundz too different to be called original.  Stick with the past.  I gotta give it four stars, just because there are enough cool tune here to listen to, but you don't need to have this set.  If you've got the extra cash and you wanna explore the avenue of: How things could have been?  Go for it.  If not, you're not missing anything essential.
1309372
This one is only for die-hard GENTLE GIANT fans like myself.
The sound is horrible(Gary Green's guitar is inaudible half the time), but the song selection is interesting.
It's nice to hear live renditions of the songs from CIVILIAN
and the biggest surprise may be GIANT FOR A DAY. The version
here has more keyboards than it's studio counterpart. It's also
nice to hear PLAYING THE GAME from POWER AND THE GLORY. The per-
formances by the band can't be faulted, but it sure would have
been nice if the recording quality was better. Still, the liner
notes are very informative and entertaining and I like the photo
of DEREK SHULMAN wearing the mask from GIANT FOR A DAY.
 The five man percussion jam is cool, but I find it disappointing
that they kept it almost the same after all them years of doing
it in concert.
 Anyhow, fans of GENTLE GIANT during their later years will eat
this up like cereal! I'm giving the album three
stars because I really love this band and really like their CIV-
ILIAN album.
184639
While some fans heralded this disc as Yes' return to form, I see it as more of an experiment in sound than any magnificent opus. The production is almost faultless and the musical performances are amazing. But with the exception of about 3 tracks and the truly amazing 'Homeworld', the material probably isn't even as well-written as the songs from it's harshly-received predecessor "Open Your Eyes". I'm not knocking "The Ladder" at all. But it's not the best Yes album of the '90's... the studio disc from the first "Keys To Ascension" set claims that prize.
4713240
I actually tried to raise my review to 3 stars, but amazon won't let me. I love Symphony X just as much as the next guy. You figure after 5 years of waiting, this album would blow the doors off your cheap foreign car. Well, it doesn't. I can't put my finger on why it's not as good as V and The Odyssey, it could be the vocals, it could be the production, it could be the music. Truth is, it's a combination of these things.

I've listened to the album about ten times and I just can't get into it. Sure, there are some standout tracks, but overall I'm just not impressed. I compare these guys to two things: their previous albums and Dream Theater. In terms of their previous albums, Paradise Lost is nowhere near as good as V: the Mythological Suite and The Odyssey.

In terms of Dream Theater's new release, the best songs on that release are not as great as the best songs on Paradise Lost. So I guess that's a compliment. I find myself listening to Paradise Lost much more than Systematic Chaos. And I'm not a Dream Theater fanatic either, in fact, I think the last two Symphony X albums blow away the last two albums from DT.

In closing, based on the reviews and previous albums, I was expecting this album to blow me away and it didn't. In fact, it was really disappointing. Great band though, in a sea of mediocrity that is today's music.

Best Tracks: Serpent's Kiss, Paradise Lost, Walls of Babylon (Best track by far),and the last track.
1966808
This one is no match for their previous album called The Suffering Joy. The lyrics are extremely dark, but I will spare you the details. Also the chorus of The Silent Giant is a direct rip off of a Dream Theater song, but I don't have the time to figure out which one. The stellar musicianship is what saves this one from being less than 3 stars. There is also lots of repetition in the lyrics as in multiple quasi-choruses, hardly the mark of true progressive music.