This album came as a total surprise to me. I first got to hear about this three-piece band from Los Angeles, from a subscriber to a Rush mailing list, who recommended this Group to me. When I finally got a hold of this CD, it really blew me out. I haven't had this thrilling feeling in this genre since I first heard Dream Theatre.

The music is intricate, power-full, intense, raw and angry. They blend many genres of music together: Progressive Rock, Jazz-Fusion, Heavy Metal, Punk, Grunge and Thrash Metal. Some of their biggest influences are Rush, King Crimson, The Beatles, Miles Davis, Kiss, Yes and Iron Maiden and I think you can hear traces of them all in Death & Taxes music. Perhaps you could add Anthrax, Dream Theatre and Red Hot Chilli Peppers to the list to, IMHO.

The length of the songs ranges from 2:38 to 7:28, witch is rather short, but instead you got 14 thrilling, mind-blowing songs to take you away to Prog Rock Heaven. Despite the amount of tracks on this CD, I can hardly pick any favourites, as they all are equally good. I began to write down the names on my favourites on this album, and got nine tracks on the paper when I was finished. But that doesn't mean I disliked the other tracks, not at all. If I had to mention any favourites it could perhaps be "The Woodpecker Song" and "Swirling Serling's Bargain Matinee".

If I haven't convinced you yet to but this album, I can only pity you. Because I think that this is one of the best albums from 1996.