This was the first studio album I bought with the exception of "The Boxed Set". That box really made me realize that Kansas was something special, so I sold it and started buying all the albums instead. This rocker from 1980, was not a good one according to Kerry Livgren, even though two of his best songs were on it. He's referring to "Hold On" and "No One Together". I do agree with him, but I want to go even further and say that this album is good in every single bit. As Kerry said, track 3 and 8 are great, but there is more. "Relentless", "Curtain of Iron" and "Back Door" will always be counted as great songs in my heart, and these are just some of them. I really like the whole thing. Kerry also said that "Curtain of Iron" had the potential to be something great, but they didn't accomplish the arrangements in the right way.

This album was the last with Steve Walsh and Kerry in the band together. I know there was some kind of conflict between these two, about the lyrics. I don't know if it's 100% true, but I've heard that Steve didn't feel like singing all these songs about God and faith. It was the faith of Kerry, and that may have felt kind of strange for him. Kerry left two albums later, since he felt that the band had really nothing more to achieve. Of course, nowadays Steve is back, and the band is doing fine with just Rich Williams on guitar.

If you've never heard Kansas, and usually enjoys listening to great singers, this might be a good purchase. I look at Steve Walsh as on of my favourite singers. No one puts more emotion in the words that him.