Level 2

On Level 2, Last Chance to Reason's mental capacity (their ability to reason, you might say) seems to have expanded to match their musical chops. The heavy metal band was already one cut above standard-issue metal, and here it continues to be, with the guitars sometimes diddling into Steve Vai territory and, in particular, keyboards that, with the stop-and-start rhythms, evoke the sound of prime-era Yes. The vocals go back and forth from howling to singing, but there is at least the semblance of a story line this time around, and it involves the technological society and its discontents. "Is there truth to this digital life?" ponders the lyric of "Programmed for Battle," and in "The Prototype," it is revealed that "Technology did not bring them peace." This is certainly on another intellectual plane from, say, the first album's "Cock Eating Bullet." It's not quite brain surgery, but it will do as Last Chance to Reason progress from level to level.