It is with extra respect I try to write some words about a product I know hands down that an immense amount of work has gone in to. It is from people who are really passionate about what they are doing. "34613" has become an album where it is relatively easy to identify the strengths and weaknesses, but as a whole appears to be positive. A slightly boring intro begins the work, and the subsequent "Gate To Freedom" is basically an alright song, but gets a little trite in comparison to the newer songs. "Glass Mountain" with Graham Bonnet is an alright song, but it's starting with "A Song For You" that the album gets a boost. This is a quiet and gentle, yet very pleasant song. This noticeable lift in quality coincides with vocalist Mike Gorham first real entry into the album, and it is no coincidence. The guy has a typical American metal voice that he also shows total control over. The subsequent "Doubt", sung by the same man, punctuated by great vocal melodies and tasty guitar work. "The Ethereal Dream" is also a good song, whether sung by Gorham or Michael Kiske, and these three songs have a uniform look, largely because they are sung by the same man, but also because they have this light, airy and a little dreamy feeling about them. Here the band is on to something that can be extended, even if a whole album with this type of songs can be somewhat monotonous. The rest of the album is something more ordinary. Not bad, but the more typical metal-oriented material suits do not project as well. Former Deadly Blessing vocalist Ski sings several of these songs, and like with the Faith Factor album, is somewhat strained, and in addition, over dramatic when he sings the quiet parts. None of the cuts in the latter half of the album are to be considered as direct gastric splash, and it's appealing elements at all, but lacking that little bit extra in terms of compositions of self and performance.