Let’s cut to the chase: Track 3, City Lights and Desert Dark – at the 7:16 mark comes one of *those* soul-rending, emotion churning guitar solos of such sublime existential intensity where exquisite ecstasy mingles simultaneously with an agony bordering…
View More Raven Sad – The Leaf and the WingAuthor: Rob Fisher
Kepler Ten – A New Kind Of Sideways
Yes. Yes. I know. The second album from Kepler Ten, A New Kind of Sideways, was indeed released in November 2020, on the always excellent White Star Records label. And yes, you are quite right: I did select it my…
View More Kepler Ten – A New Kind Of SidewaysESP Project – Phenomena
In 2019 I had the unexpected pleasure of reviewing The Rising by Tony Lowe’s ESP Project: unexpected because at the time, I knew nothing of the band or its history, but a delightful pleasure because I quickly fell in love…
View More ESP Project – PhenomenaThree Colours Dark – The Science of Goodbye
“Beauty always comes with dark thoughts”, warns Tuomas Holopainen (Nightwish). When the liner notes of an album have a final page dedicated to an impressive bibliography of further reading, containing titles with phrases which include ‘Narcissistic Abuse’, ‘Chronic Shame’, ‘Covert…
View More Three Colours Dark – The Science of GoodbyeLong Earth – Once Around the Sun
When trying to talk about a piece of music it can be frustrating knowing how, or even where, to start. Occasionally, having spent time with a particular release, you realise it’s perhaps not as good as the initial cursory listen…
View More Long Earth – Once Around the SunSubsignal – A Song for the Homeless
Few live recordings successfully rise to the challenge of capturing the spellbinding spirit and excitement of the musical magic created and experienced at a concert. There is absolutely nothing quite like the infectious thrill, the vibrancy, the energy and exhilaration…
View More Subsignal – A Song for the HomelessKatatonia – City Burials
There is a significant difference between a concept album and the concept of an album. It is not a distinction which had previously caught my attention until I read a recent interview with Katatonia’s vocalist Jonas Renske. Comparing ‘our’ generation…
View More Katatonia – City BurialsArt – Asylum
Music and drama are perfect partners when it comes to telling stories. The ability to weave the carefully crafted threads of a plot along with shifting changes of mood, tempo and events by using the layers and textures of a…
View More Art – AsylumCamel – Breathless
As we all know, there are albums that divide opinion. Sometimes these opinions are so extreme as to make the uninitiated think that different albums are being discussed. In this first of a possibly semi-regular feature, depending on, you know,…
View More Camel – BreathlessRay Alder – What the Water Wants
Subtlety, finesse, nuance tend not to be the words you instinctively associate with progressive metal. Yet Ray Alder’s first solo album, What the Water Wants with InsideOut Music, is an admirable, at times even eloquent demonstration of a vocal prowess…
View More Ray Alder – What the Water Wants