The Musicians:

Kimmo Viitaharju: vocals, guitars, bass, piano (“Mercy”)

Mart Rand: keyboards (all but “Mercy”)

Timo Laatikainen: drums

The CD album contains an 8-page leaflet with all the lyrics to the songs. Total weight with bubble bag 102 grams.

Craig Guerrieri of Cygnus Studios wrote the following review of the album (here in a short version, you can read the whole review on https://cygnusstudios.blog/2019/11/14/new-album-from-kc-and-sly-sound-studios-run-works-of-man/

“Following is my review of this exceptional album.

As far as Rock music in general goes, Finland has quite the reputation when it comes to the Heavy Metal genre. As of 2018, there were reportedly more than 53 Metal bands for every 100,000 inhabitants. That’s more than any other nation in the world!

However, the Progressive Rock group RUN should be a refreshing break from that trend for Finns.”

“The 8-page jewel case insert includes the lyrics to every song, something I’m always pleased to see. They’re accompanied by some interesting line drawings (…) which are a wonderful touch in visually setting the general theme of each song”.

“In fact, this band’s songs each seem to tell a complete story, and given this, the words themselves are especially important.

Founding member Kimmo Viitaharju wrote both the music and lyrics for every track. His vocals are pleasantly reminiscent to those of James LaBrie (for those unfamiliar, lead vocalist for Dream Theater). In addition, he lays down some fine performances on guitar, bass, and also plays solo piano on the track, “Mercy”.

The entire album is excellent, each song fresh with many interesting themes and time signature changes, as is typical in Prog. Thumbs up all the way, those are just some of the things that make it such a great genre.

For the purposes of this review, I’ll just be covering a few of my favorite songs from this album, in order to prevent it from becoming the Magna Carta and boring you to death with too much of my writing!

Of course, these are my subjective interpretations of the tracks, the overall feelings I came away with after hearing them. I was also inclined to make a few comparisons to other Prog bands where appropriate, all of which are intended to be nothing short of complimentary to RUN”.

“It’s All Over

The introduction of this tune is what immediately grabbed me, with some very catchy acoustic guitar work.

It’s a story about a man escaping the drudgeries of everyday life. In finally doing so, he arrives at the realization of the loneliness that can sometimes bring, which ironically becomes inescapable all in itself”.

“Five Minutes to Nine

A great combination of power trio sound, complimented by some nice, mellow bridges. The theme of the song itself seems to be along the lines of “Time” by Pink Floyd. It serves to remind me of something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, that being there are many more years behind me, than lie ahead.

One particularly poignant passage:
“Well the time just flew, I couldn’t catch it, I was always too late”

Never Surrender

Soaring melodies, which bring to mind my favorite band for over 40 years, Rush, as is the case with many of the other songs on this album. That’s a pretty bold statement, especially coming from me. This is especially true of the guitars… It sounds to me like Kimmo has surely been influenced by the arpeggios and general style of Alex Lifeson.

As I’m sure you’ve already gleaned from the title, it’s an inspiring anthem for anyone going through a rough time in their lives. I’ve certainly been through”

Finally, it goes without saying that the mixing and mastering of this album (…) approach perfection”.