Honestly, I don't. Neal is a very religious man and I can appreciate him in that regard, though we tend to disagree quite a bit (him being born-again, me Catholic - which makes us further apart than him and an atheist, I suppose
- just kidding, of course
) and despite hearing quite a lot of stuff by him, Transatlantic or Spock's Beard I have
absolutely no idea whatsoever regarding his political leanings.
He's a born-again Christian, therefore a Protestant, which means he'll be closer to creationism from the get-go (cause us darn Catholics even
preach that darn evolution ... well, the Pope is the Antichrist anyway, right? Luther for the win!), but I'm not really sure. Also, there is actually a lot of quite pragmatic and intelligent people who are not all that crazy about the evolution theory as proposed and still are
not young Earth creationists - they merely believe there might be another way the science has not uncovered so far (since any given time we are merely at the best point of our science's possibilities), so just about that. But I don't know and don't want to guess with Neal.
I'll say this much - even if I were an atheist, I wouldn't be bothered all that much by his lyrics. From what I see and hear and understand, he is very sincere about his beliefs, which are mostly on the personal side of things - "I believe that we all are loved by God", "I've learnt to walk by Him", "God is Love", "He gave me the strength" etc. In that regard, I believe it's much "safer" to buy Neal's records than - for example - Megadeth's. If anything NM suffers because he's explicit - John Petrucci's Catholic-ness has been very ingrained in DT stuff, yet it's subtle enough so you don't pick it up. U2 are a borderline example, but I cannot unhear it and they are as "dangerous" as Morse is, Christian-wise, IMHO. True, Neal
is very serious about God, but so am I and that does not make me a bigoted, alt-right redneckish Sandy-Hook-trutherish conspiracy nut.
If it helps you in any way,
Similitude is supposed to be based on
The Pilgim's Progress (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pilgrim's_Progress )
, which is supposed to be this seminal work of English literature, but I haven't read it so far, so I'm not really ready to say anything.
Of course, everything above might be uprooted by some interview I haven't read, but I feel this way right now.
The most important argument being of course the fact you would be missing out on some pretty awesome music - seriously, you
have to hear
?. Portnoy, Roine Stolt, Alan Morse, Steve Hackett and Jordan Rudess in his most tasteful, non-wankerish, non-twitching-ants-and-fax-machines-fucking mood? Dude,
now!
EDIT: Well, according to Wikipedia:
Because of its explicit English Protestant theology The Pilgrim's Progress shares the then popular English antipathy toward the Roman Catholic Church. It was published over the years of the Popish Plot (1678–1681) and ten years before the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and it shows the influence of John Foxe's Acts and Monuments. Bunyan presents a decrepit and harmless giant to confront Christian at the end of the Valley of the Shadow of Death that is explicitly named "Pope"
I still recommend the album, so there
Also, to quote a very nice review that actually named this album the album of the year (with apologies to Opeth and Nick Cave):
"Lyrically, ‘Similitude…’ is also some of Neal’s best work. Although it tells a story based on a book, the lyrics still feel very personal, perhaps mirroring Neal’s own spiritual journey. That he covered extensively with the two ‘Testimony’ albums, but this album feels equally personal and real. The lyrics are very honest, all the struggles, doubts, and pains that are part of a journey of faith (or life) are dealt with seriously and in a real way. Neal’s message of perseverance through struggles, there being no shortcuts in life (highlighted by “Shortcut to Salvation” a stinging critique of certain sects of modern Christianity) comes through clearly, and one doesn’t have to share his faith or his beliefs to take it to heart or acknowledge its relevance in a modern world. And through the whole album the lyrics and the music mesh perfectly and keep a constant movement. The journey is felt with the music as well as the story itself, and although the running length is staggering, the album never drags, even when it slows down and gets quiet. This is certainly more than can be said for a certain other double disk concept prog album that was released this year by Portnoy’s former band. As comparisons between the two are inevitable I’ll simply say that I have no doubt that Mike takes some satisfaction in the fact that the album he was such a big part of crushes the other on pretty much every level."
(Seen here -
http://www.metalwani.com/2016/10/review-the-neal-morse-band-the-similitude-of-a-dream.html - their rating: 10/10, user rating: 9.1/10)
But that's enough off topic - NP: Slade -
Slayed?
Another prog rock great.