Rob Fisher

Camel – 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,…

Ray 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…

The Decade in Review – Rob Fisher

Picking 10 releases from across a decade is no easy task. Injustices will be done! The different criteria you can use and the wide range of emphases on which you pin importance lead to all manner of selections and lists,…

Chasing the Monsoon – No Ordinary World

I have often felt the Welsh poet William Davies, writing in 1911, perfectly foreshadows the sentiment which underpins one of the key crises of modern life. “What is this life if, full of care / We have no time to…

ESP Project – The Rising

“Above the towers of prayer and hope Polishing their Poundshop halos by the score They’ve never seen the ground below Whispering their fallacies behind closed doors.” (A Million Heartbeats) Some lyrics instinctively catch your attention; they have a unique and…

Freedom to Glide – Seed

I have spent the majority of my working life in higher education. For the best part of 35 years I have grappled – and have been a guiding companion in helping others to grapple – with the ways in which…

A Different Aspect #30

In this update we feature: > Scott Lawlor – Atom Heart Mother > Cykada – Cykada > Thorsten Quaeschning – Cargo Original Soundtrack > Albion – You’ll Be Mine > Fernando Perdomo – Out To Sea 2 > Neutral Sons…

A Different Aspect #29

In this update we feature: > A Sweet Niche – WIRES > Vola – Applause Of A Distant Crowd > Trojan Horse – Wicker [EP] > Jumble Hole Clough – A king finding a croissant amusing > Rainburn – Insignify…

Port Noir – The New Routine

Sometimes you can find yourself liking an album without having the faintest idea why. This is exactly where I started with the third studio album, The New Routine, from Swedish trio Port Noir, newly signed to InsideOut Music. By rights,…

Seven Steps to the Green Door – The?Lie

There is an episode in The?Lie which contains one of the most emotionally punishing songs I think I have ever experienced. Certainly, on hearing it for the first time, the sheer force of its brutality stopped me dead in my…

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Author: Rob Fisher