Reviewed by Marc on 07 Oct 2008

Third offering from this Christian Progressive Rock project. The formula has not changed compared to previous CDs, a number of musicians/groups offering one track (usually exclusive) to this collection of spiritual and uplifting songs. Volume 3 does not feature as many big names as previous albums (Neal Morse - Glass Hammer - Proto-Kaw...), only Ted Leonard and Phil Keaggy being familiar to me, but this does not give us a product of lesser quality, all the tracks being in the good to very good category, in my opinion.

Most of the songs are in the 6 to 7 minutes range and they all feature vocals. I would say that about half the tracks have openly religious vocals. Most of the material is song based, but offer nice instrumental sections that should appeal to Prog fans. Musically, there is a common link between the tracks. The influences are clearly in American Prog music, groups like Kansas, Spock's Beard, Styx and Glass Hammer coming to my mind when listening to CPR Volume 3 . In most part, my preference goes to one track more than the other because of the lead vocalist's singing voice. My favorite song on the album is Lives Go Round by Unitopia that makes me think of Elbow.

If you like American Prog music and would like to discover some new talents, CPR Volume 3 is an album to seek out.