Peculiar title, isn’t it? What’s also peculiar is Casablanca’s course over the last couple of years and the two consecutive albums of theirs. I mean, they started with the impressive debut “Apocalyptic Youth” that included outstanding songs (paying also tribute to the 70s and 80s hard rock sound) yet the follow-up “Riding A Black Swan” was not up to par with its predecessor.
Now comes the band’s third album called “Miskatonic Graffiti” and in order to be as honest and precise as always, it is quite disappointing. Casablanca chooses this time a more progressive path and the compositions themselves are so lifeless that bear absolutely no characteristic element that was so obvious on the debut record. In addition, the majority of the songs are unnecessarily lengthy and the overall concept that is based on a story by HP Lovecraft would be more fitting to a band like Wishbone Ash than Casablanca. Truth be told here; I am not certain that I can give a third chance to Casablanca after the mediocre “Riding A Black Swan” and now their worst effort to date “Miskatonic Graffiti”…
Highlight: We must give credit to the band for trying to come up with a quite ambitious concept album.
