Tom Slatter is akin to premium dark Belgium chocolate; deliciously dark and bittersweet. This latest release from the Urban Folk Steampunk songwriter is just that. Via some cracking tunes with slightly unhinged lyrics, Tom continues to develop, becoming more musically…
View More Tom Slatter – Spirit Box EPMonth: November 2018
King Crimson
Symphony Hall, Birmingham Tuesday, 6th November 2018 This will only be a short piece, as my esteemed colleague Jez Rowden has already said all there is to say on the emotional and musical impact of this revered combo in his…
View More King CrimsonThe Tangent – Proxy
The Tangent tick all the boxes for me. Eclectic, melodic progressive rock with a generous injection of jazz? Check. Lyrics that really mean something, sometimes personal, sometimes political, but with the edges smoothed off by irony and self-effacing humour? Check.…
View More The Tangent – ProxyEynomia – Break Free
I found Eynomia after completing a review of keyboardist Jimmy Pitts’ other project, The Fractured Dimension. Cleansing opens with beautiful, Dream Theater-like keyboards, reminscent of Images and Words, and even some of Pendragon’s albums like Masquerade Overture. Then, heavy electric…
View More Eynomia – Break FreeMorgan and the Mountain – Pieces of Cadence
Singer/songwriter Morgan Thomas treats our imagination to a peregrination through jungles, deserts, and mountains in this rather lovely instrumental album entitled Pieces of Cadence. Using well played acoustic, a Howe-esque clean electric, and some subtle drumming with percussion, the music…
View More Morgan and the Mountain – Pieces of CadenceSaul Blease – The Great War
Saul Blease announced this project a while ago now, as documented in m’colleague Jez Rowden’s review of his 2015 album, Daybreak. Since Daybreak, Saul seems to have morphed into a completely new musician! His obviously piano based songs have now…
View More Saul Blease – The Great WarTwelfth Night – Sequences
As we approach the Centenary of the end of the appalling carnage of the First World War it seems entirely fitting that Twelfth Night are marking the event with the release of a special studio album recording of their epic…
View More Twelfth Night – SequencesBill Wurtz
Do you want to know about the history of Japan? How about the history of the entire world? In two highly informative yet idiosyncratic videos totalling less than half an hour, video creator and multi-instrumentalist Bill Wurtz has managed to…
View More Bill WurtzThumpermonkey – Make Me Young, etc.
“Make Me Young, etc. is released on Rockosmos on Friday 26th October 2018 – which coincides with the end of the world. Don’t make no plans.” So says the PR blurb. Whoa! Given that I had tickets for a King…
View More Thumpermonkey – Make Me Young, etc.LEAH – The Quest
Leah McHenry is a Gothic Celtic singer from British Columbia, Canada. I have reviewed her albums in the past so when I found out she had a new album coming out, The Quest, I knew I had to hear it.…
View More LEAH – The Quest