Now here's something you don't hear too much in the world of prog rock: a Christian prog rock album. But EELA CRAIG did such an album in 1978. "Missa Universalis", their fourth album takes a Roman Catholic Mass to a prog rock context. Luckily they didn't have to water down their prog rock sound to have a religious theme. At this point, they were playing a rather lush style of prog rock heavy on the string synths, not unlike what ELOY was doing at the same time, only more polished, and surprisingly (given EELA CRAIG were Austrians), no ridiculously accented vocals like you do Frank Bornemann. For this concept, the members of the band decided to sing in four languages, Latin, French, German, and English, quite a lot for the band to do, put they pulled it off. Without a doubt, the opening cut, "Kyrie" is by far the highlight. The droning string synths and a voice that repeats "Kyrie Eleison" over and over really trips me out. "Credo (Part 1)" is a pretty nice ballad while "Credo (Part 2)" tends to be a bit more on the funky side. "Sanctus" borrowed from Anton Bruckner, and at the end goes for a funky jam reminescent of "One Niter". The closing song, "Amen" reminds me a little of VANGELIS circa "Heaven & Hell". 1 Kyrie 11:57 2 Gloria 5:56 3 Credo 8:00 4 Sanctus 8:45 5 Agnus Dei 5:18 6 Amen 2:01
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