'Progressive' is a musical prefix that has seen much use and diversity within the entirety of the musical art form. It implies indirection and an infinite number of possibilities for creative diversification; one of the reasons why Progressive Metal is my personal favorite type of music. But even this had its roots in progressive rock of the 70's and 80's, such as PINK FLOYD, YES and FOCUS. CHILDREN IN PARADISE is, of sorts, a reimagining of classic Prog Rock, meshed with a variety of modern influences and vibes, as well as contemporary and concept lyrical content, specifically about Celtic myths.

I was immediately struck by the first track, "Little Butterfly", to hear the dulcet tones of a woman. It comes across as a lazy, acoustic-based alt rock track. Soon enough, however, trippy patterns in rhythm and melodic progression show the leaching through of Prog Rock tendrils. An incredibly listenable song from start to finish, with a poetic flair to the lyrics that exude no substantial amount of cheesiness. "Look Around You" is a seemingly less commercial-sounding track with a greater focus on ambience and a more significant lead guitar presence, which provides tasteful, background arpeggios as well as a blissful solo. While many of the tracks on this album may be different in terms of arrangement, dynamically, most of them are fairly similar. Not to demean them as inherently weak songs, because each and every one of them are beautiful; but to listen to the album in full may prove to be somewhat of a struggle, if you start to feel the tracks are growing in repetitiveness.

...It is therefore a nice surprise that "The Battle" came along, with a greater folk music influence. Partway through the length 7+ minute piece came an intriguing riff section venturing heavily into harder Prog Rock territory, overlaid with an adventurous pipe solo. From here on in the track grew into something much more bombastic, with a thicker sound, not previously heard so far on the record. "I'm Alive", the final track, is no more dynamically progressive than any other track on record; however, I felt there was exceptional attention to detail paid to the intertwining of beautiful guitar and vocal melodies; Kathy Millot has already demonstrated unearthly vocal talent on this record, and has an inherently beautiful way of telling their wondrous Celtic tales, but I felt this song showed her voice off the most.

A particular form of music does not have to consistently be at the top of your 'most played' in your music collection, to be considered enjoyable; most people even choose to listen to certain types of music for different, more personal reasons. Instead of getting hyped up to some Thrash Metal, if you feel the need to unwind and listen to a story told by a soothing voice, then I implore you consider CHILDREN IN PARADISE. I did already mention some may notice a possibly begrudging amount of repetition in arrangement, but to some, that will not matter.