Rob Fisher

Katatonia – 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…

Art – 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…

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…

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Author: Rob Fisher