Personally, I cannot see past alcohol and cigarettes but those who indulge in mind-bending drugs may obtain a better understanding than I of Obscured By Clouds whose album, "Psycheclectic" takes the spaced out sounds of Pink Floyd and turns up the distortion.
Progressive rock has always been the whipping boy of rock music. It's all too easy to laugh off epic 7-minute journeys for continuing long past the point of no return. That's the problem.
"Soft Cheeked and Worried" is pretty much what you'd expect from the opener on a concept album. The intro is slow and futuristic. This must be the part when the aliens arrive. Through to "Love's Love", it's still difficult to pinpoint exactly where the album is going (or, if you are tripping, where you are going), but on "Faith's Soul", the album comes to life. Whilst certainly one of the more interesting songs on the album in musical terms, the lyrics are still annoyingly formless.
Crashing cymbals, menacing chords and flailing solos see out the album and, as far as heavy metal goes, the second half of the album is a dream. Too bad that the lyrics are harder to make out but metalheads care little for lyrics anyway. As the album ends, you are returned to middle earth naked and confused.
Obscured By Clouds make the music that they want to make and they do so very well. However, as has been seen with acts such as Rush, you can be in a technically and lyrically fantastic prog rock band, but you're still in a prog rock band. People will either worship you or vilify you. There's no middle ground.