Multi-faceted musician Vivien Lalu has been making music for over 20 years, and has been featured on over 20 albums from various record labels such as Universal, Sony, and Frontiers Records. Lalu is best known for his Progressive Rock/Metal work, but he also dabbles in other projects and genres including video games and movie soundtracks. The new album here contains eleven songs.

"Reset to Preset" leads off the album. It begins with clean vocals and a nice melody line. The instrumentation is rich and the song has a lively, positive quality to it. There is a nice crescendo towards the end, and it finishes on a delicate note. "Won't Rest until the Heat of the Earth Burns the Soles of our Feet Down to the Bone" is a shorter song that begins with another jovial rhythm and some keys mixed in with the guitars. This one has dreamier tones but I wish there was a little more meat to the track. "Emotionalised" opens with some chunky bass lines and pensive vocals from Lalu. The rhythms here are both subdued and ethereal, and the vocal harmonies are very alluring.

The title track begins with some more sonority and hopeful tones abound. The bass work is wonderfully done here as are the guitars and keys. You have to wonder if Vivien has any guest musicians; I would assume so but it could be all him as well. This song is particularly well-crafted and reminds me of something that STEVE VAI might compose. "Witness to the World" opens with clean guitars and a slower, more emotional sound. Again, the bass work is very well done here and I appreciate the highlighting of this instrument. The chorus leading through the guitar solo is one of the most beautiful passages you might hear this year.

"Lost in Conversation" is yet another feel-good song that will wash your worries away. The chorus reverberates with these tones in the most grandiose fashion. "Standing at the Gates of Hell" is perhaps the first song that doesn't feature overly positive tones. I suppose the title should have given that away. There is a nice jam session within the song here, as Lalu jumps from one instrument to the other. "The Chosen Ones" is another pretty song that features some really charming melodies in the chorus. This one will stick with you long after the noted fade, and you will find yourself wanting to sing along.

"Sweet Asylum" is a short, one-and-a-half-minute instrumental of acoustical guitars. "We are Strong" is another extended song that runs you through a gamut of positive and strong emotions. The vocal performance in this shining number is especially strong, and the positive lyrics are a reminder of the unflappable will of the human spirit. "All of the Lights" closes the album. It's a short, two-minute piece of frailty and emotion. It closes the album with the question of where do we go from here?

As I mentioned, I am still not sure whether or not Vivien plays all of the instruments here, but if he does, that is most impressive. Even if he doesn't, the choice to pick the musicians here was the right one, because there is a balance on the album that is quite striking. Both the songwriting and the musicianship are fantastic, and through the course of 11 tracks I never got bored. Surprises were around every corner. In a modern era of darkness, where a lot of artists want to express their feelings in music, whether it be due to COVID, mental illness, addiction, or many other harder things to deal with, it's nice to listen to such a warm, positive, and inviting album.