Trollheart

Who the hell is Hudson? This is pretty damn good!


Artiste: Hudson
Nationality: American
Album: Crimson
Year: 2012
Label: Self-released
Genre: Folk
Tracks:
The belfry
Foreboding times
Meeting place
Secure the ropes
From afar
Five hundred strong
The falconer
Ones we've lost
Crimson fleet
The slaying of the king
Our children's future
Chronological position: Second album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: Apparently this, along with their debut, was written and recorded by Hudson in one week!
Initial impression: More electronic rock, maybe indie than what I'd call folk. But I like it.
Best track(s): The belfry, Secure the ropes, Five hundred strong, Ones we've lost, The slaying of the king
Worst track(s): None
Comments: When I recently reviewed the Eagles' “Desperado” a while back, I noted that it was, in my experience, the only country concept album I had ever come across. Of course I'm sure that's not true, but as I said at the time, country is not my genre of choice and I know only a little about it. Folk, similarly, is an area I seldom dabble in, so I couldn't tell you how many, if any, folk concept albums there are (though given that folk music is generally more based on storytelling and handing lore down through the generations through the medium of music, I'd say probably more than a few) but this is one.

I'm finding information on Hudson hard to come by. The only entry I can find on its apparent founder, John Boswell, mentions something about sampling voices from the likes of “Cosmos” and uploading them on YouTube, and something called the Symphony of Science? Seems this is a side project from that. It's something I haven't listened to, or been aware of though, so I can't comment on that. What I can tell you is that Hudson appear to be a folk group or project, based in Washington and helmed by the aforementioned Boswell, together with Will Crowley. Katherine, either his sister or wife as she shares the same surname, guests on some vocals. The album is, as I say, a concept, and the concept is that of a revolution led by a castaway against a tyrant ruler.

Indeed, it opens on the sound of crashing waves, which presumably introduces us to the castaway hero, with a nice acoustic guitar coming in as The belfry gets going, and if it's Boswell singing then he has a nice, indie-flavoured voice which is very easy to listen to. The music gets quite electronic, and I would even at this early stage place it more in the indie category than folk, but that's just me. The castaway would appear to have suffered amnesia, as he asks ”How did I get here/ Where was I before?” and things get more uptempo with the addition of some nice banjo for Foreboding times, with a big lazy slide guitar on Secure the ropes putting me in mind of Chris Isaak's big hit.

I have to give Hudson kudos, because this is the first concept album I've heard, or reviewed, where, without the liner notes to hand, I can easily follow the storyline. The vocals are sung clearly and distinctly, and with passion, and the lyrics carry you along the quest for freedom and liberation on which the castaway has embarked since arriving in this strange land. There's some nice electronic feedback used on the album too, with appropriate sound effects like wind, surf and thunder, and part of it is laidback folk and then another side is intense electric rock, which runs together really well, held in place by the often almost imperceptible gossamer threads of progressive rock.

Five hundred strong introduces both a hint of country and reggae into the mix, with what may be samples in the background (sounds like turntable scratching, though it may not be), and the overall effect is to give you the impression of Simon and Garfunkel on a tropical island, riding on horses with six-shooters by their side. Weird, but endearing. It's in this song that we first hear the dulcet vocal of Katherine Crowley, whose voice is very suited to country music: it has that twang you associate with Emmylou, Dolly et al. She stays behind the mike for The falconer, with some more nice slide, then Boswell takes over again for Ones we've lost, with some lovely piano, a true ballad.

The album wraps up with an almost metal puncher in The slaying of the king, showing the breath of styles and genres Hudson cross, and just to underline the point the closer is a Spanish/Mexican/Mariachi tune whose first half is instrumental, even though it only clocks in at just over two minutes in total. A celebratory ending, toasting the end of the king and the success of the revolution. And indeed, the success of this concept.
Overall impression: An overlooked little gem. Lots of different styles, from rock to folk and country to metal. Hmm. Must seek out their other album.
Intention: Like I said, I'll be interested to have a listen to the debut, “Eastward”. Which is also a concept album...

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Grappling with what the hell this is!


Artiste: North Atlantic Oscillation
Nationality: British (Scottish)
Album: Grappling hooks
Year: 2010
Label: KScope
Genre: Progressive/Electronica
Tracks:
Marrow
Hollywood has ended
Cell count
Some blue hive
Audioplastic
Ceiling poem
Alexanderplatz
77 hours
Star chamber
Drawing maps from memory
Ritual
Chronological position: Debut album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: A strange name to pick for a band, the North Atlantic Oscillation is in fact a feature of climate, reflecting fluctuations in atmospheric pressure.
Initial impression: Er, atmospheric and ambient...
Best track(s): Marrow, Cell count, Audioplastic, Ritual
Worst track(s): I couldn't honestly say any were bad. Weird, yes. Hard to get my head around, yes. But bad? No.
Comments: I have literally no idea what to expect from these guys. Some quarters describe them as progressive rock, others ambient, others electronica. So when the album starts up on the short almost instrumental Marrow I'm impressed/relieved (delete as appropriate), but suddenly heavy drums crash in and an indistinct vocal sings, sounding like it's being drowned out by the music. The track ends on some bare drumbeats and leads into a Porcupine Tree-like ballad with a much clearer vocal which puts me in mind of Waters and, due to the odd backing vocals, the Beach Boys. Some strange fiddling around on the synth, Eno-style, does little to clarify matters, and as the album goes on it becomes increasingly hard to pin down to any style or genre.

There are big, booming drumbeats, loops, samples, slick guitar solos, fiddly keyswork and a rather pleasing gentle vocal that grows on you after the first track has made, let's be honest, a bad impression, but you forget that as the voice of Sam Healey washes over you like a refreshing summer wave, and it's kind of Pink Floyd on steroids, if you can imagine such a thing. Steven Wilson would certainly be at home here. There's a lot of hard guitar in Audioplastic, while Alexanderplatz is driven my a mix of pianos, synth and crunchy drumbeats against a hollow-sounding, echoey vocal.

There are moments when NAO really rock out, as on 77 hours, with a really powerful, infectious ending, featuring what I can only describe as mad piano that comes across like Waits playing with Diablo String Orchestra, and the frankly pure insanity and expressionism of Star chamber, with some very simple but effective piano lines thrown in just to confuse you further. In fact, as the album goes on it gets heavier and more uptempo, until by the time you hit Drawing maps from memory it's hard to remember there were quieter songs at the beginning, and it's become something of a sonic assault, though still very melodic and enjoyable.

Then, as if to bring things full circle and back to earth a little, Ritual is led in by a gorgeously simple piano line joined by some exquisite keys that sound like xylophone or vibraphone, some haunting vocal interchange, almost chanting to a point, then they settle into a proper rhythm and some keening guitar joins the mix. Hard to believe they maintain this essentially simplistic melody throughout seven minutes, but with a sudden explosion of guitar to add colour and strength to the track it's the longest on the album, and certainly a standout for me. A tiny, forty-second bit of piano and synth to close and we're done. And I'm, well, impressed but a little confused as to what I've just listened to.
Overall impression: What ... the ... fudge ... was that?
Intention: Lie down in a dark room and think about this for a while.

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A killer, right out of the gate


Artiste: The Gate
Nationality: German
Album: Earth cathedral
Year: 2011
Label: Rock it up
Genre: Heavy Metal
Tracks:
Into the gate
Shout for metal
Face your fear (The money song)
Guy anvil
1000 miles away
Mountains
Hiding where the wolf lives
Into the pit
Deliver from sin
Earth cathedral
Chronological position: Debut album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Power, melody, bit of proggy keys: like it
Best track(s): Face your fear (The money song), Guy anvil, Mountains, Into the pit, Earth cathedral
Worst track(s): Nothing
Comments: I first featured a track from this on the second “Devil's Ballroom” some time ago, but have not really listened to the album all the way through. With all the black and death metal I've been getting hit with in “The Meat Grinder” (see my main journal) lately, it'll be nice to experience more of what I would term “proper” metal, which is not in any way to denigrate black or speed or thrash or any other sort of metal, just that this is the sort I prefer. There's a doomy, atmospheric, almost progressive instrumental to open the album, then it's heads down and no-holds-barred as we get into it, with churning, angry guitars and thundering drums, vocalist Guido Kramer giving me a scare for a second when I fear he's a proponent of “death vocals”, but it's just a bump and though his voice is raw and ragged and growly, you can clearly hear what he's singing, and I'd put him more in the style of Danny Joe Brown from Molly Hatchet really; a deep, bassy roar that is still completely intelligible.

The music rocks along nicely with a great sense of power but also of fun, again almost southern rock mixed with the best elements of metal, though when the second song is called Shout for metal I did cringe, expecting something of comic poseurism, but nothing could be further from the truth, and then Face your fear (The money song) throws a curveball by starting off like one of those “cowboy ballads” made popular by Poison and Bon Jovi, then kicking into a headbanger that rockets along like, er, a rocket, pounding you into submission with some real thrash influences yet retaining a real sense of melody. Not too sure what Guy anvil is about, but it has a lovely little laidback guitar section about halfway through, with things slowing down with a real grinder in 1000 miles away, where the guys obviously pay tribute to Metallica. And Sabbath.

This album seldom lets up, taking you on a rollercoaster ride and spitting you out at the end, exhausted but satisfied. Hiding where the wolf lives and Deliver from sin are both breakneck rockers, while the title track has a lot of progressive elements in it and wraps the album up nicely. Think we'll all be hearing a lot more from these guys in the future!
Overall impression: Fine album, fine debut. Great metal record.
Intention: Can't do much really as this is their debut, released last year, but I'll be looking out for their next album.

(Note: this video would not work for me in Firefox; could just be me, but if it fails for you too, try Internet Explorer. It seems to work with that.)

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One of the few gaps in my Nick Cave collection. Remedying that ... now!


Artiste: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Nationality: Australian
Album: Your funeral ... my trial
Year: 1986
Label: Mute
Genre: Rock
Tracks:
Sad waters
The carny
Your funeral, my trial
Stranger than kindness
Jack's shadow
Hard on for love
She fell away
Long time man
Scum
Chronological position: Fourth album
Familiarity: “The good son”, “Henry's dream”, “The boatman's call”, “Murder ballads”, “No more shall we part”, “Abbatoir blues/The lyre of Orpheus”, “Let love in”, “Nocturama”.
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Very sparse, almost acoustic
Best track(s): Your funeral, my trial, Stranger than kindness, Jack's shadow
Worst track(s): Nothing really
Comments: As big a fan as I am of Cave, his earlier material is something of a grey area for me. I only listened to “Kicking against the pricks” briefly once (and that was an album of covers), and skimmed through “The firstborn is dead”, so I don't feel I've really given him a chance. I got into him from “The good son” onwards, and it's fair to say that by then his music had become a little more commercial and accessible than it would appear it started out, so I'm hopping in the time capsule back to 1986, to check this one out. There's certainly an air of depression and doom pervading it, probably due to his at the time deepening addiction to Sweet Lady H.

There's a bleak, sparse feel to the opener, with muddy vocals and a booming echoey drumbeat, while The carny owes a lot to the style of Tom Waits, the vocal more spoken than sung really, while the Hammond sets up a mad, often deliberately off-key carnival theme and the drums again pound out like the bells of doom. It really does sound like something evil is coming to get you! There are hints too of the somewhat mellower direction Cave would lumber in after “The good son” and “Henry's dream”, on albums like “The boatman's call” and “No more shall we part”, with tracks like the title and She fell away, but there's a definite feel of dark despair to Stranger than kindness, with its mad churning guitar sound. What I really find missing from this album though is the later sensual and often melancholy but powerful violin of Warren Ellis, who would not join them for another ten years, but who would become a mainstay of the band and a force for change in their sound.

Like what I've heard of Cave's early work, this album has a somewhat rough, raw, unfocussed feel to it, almost like he was drunk (or high) when recording it. It's still a good album, but you could see in later years how refined his sound got, how deeper his lyrics became, and how much more attention he paid to structure and form in a song. Here, though the songs are good, they seem a little like jams that maybe could have been re-recorded or edited. Almost a case of in-your-face-here-we-are-deal-with-it. Not that I have a problem with that, but the Nick Cave I got to know was a little more, ah, restrained. A little more mature?
Overall impression: Raw, powerful, dark, ever so slightly evil. I like it!
Intention: Well I'm a big Cave fan but I need to listen more to his earlier material.

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Sadly-missed singer/songwriter gives us one more show


Artiste: Dan Fogelberg
Nationality: American
Album: Love in time
Year: 2009
Label: Full Moon
Genre: Rock/Folk
Tracks:
Love in time
Soft voice
So many changes
Come to the harbour
A growing time
The colours of Eve
Diamonds to dust
The nature of the game
Sometimes a song
Days to come
Birds
Chronological position: Final (posthumous) album
Familiarity: Everything! I've been a Fogelberg fan since I heard “Longer” when I were a kid. “Phoenix”, “Home free”, “Exiles”, “Souvenirs”, “The innocent age”, “Windows and walls”, “Nether lands”, “High country snows”, “The wild places”, "Full circle", "Twin sons", "River of souls"...
Interesting factoid: This album is a posthumous release of new material from a sadly-departed and sorely missed music icon, at least for me.
Initial impression: Oh Jesus! It's like the guy's alive again! But he's not...
Best track(s): Soft voice, Come to the harbour, The colour of Eve, Nature of the game, Sometimes a song, Birds
Worst track(s): You're kidding, right?
Comments: Anyone who reads my main journal, or who knows me, knows of my reverence for the late Dan Fogelberg. I have all his albums, and his death in 2007 hit me hard: I had not even realised he was suffering from cancer, and his loss is a huge blow. This album was in fact compiled by his widow two years after his death, so rather than seem a cheap attempt to cash-in on his untimely death --- though there are probably not that many who would know or care anyway, sadly --- this becomes a celebration of the man and his music, and instead of being a collection of his best-known songs, these are all originals.

Dan plays all instruments on the previously-recorded but never released tracks, and although it's bittersweet to hear him sing, as it were, from beyond, it's comforting and a great pleasure to have, against all odds, new material from a man who has now been five years dead. The opener might surprise many non-fans, being rather uptempo and rocky, but Dan could rock out with the best of them when he was alive, a fact lost on many people, and the title track here is no exception, with some great guitar and piano. Like most of his songs, it looks forward and speaks of hope and redemption in the face of despair, all the more poignant due to the circumstances.

I've chose this for “Bitesize” review because it is in fact the only one of his records I have but have never listened to, and I expect nothing more than what I always got with a Dan Fogelberg album: wonderful ballads, uptempo rock songs, songs about people and places, stories set to music, music that comes direct from the writer's heart. And so it proves. There's a beautiful and expressive piano and keyboard section in Soft voice that just epitomises a man who was a wonderful singer as well as a multi-instrumentalist, and I hear echoes of his debut, “Home free” in this song, with a certain sense of country and folk influences, and a great little waltz ballad in Come to the harbour, with a slower version of the melody from Nexus off the “Innocent age” album. Admit it: you haven't a clue what I'm talking about, do you?

It's actually getting a little upsetting. Don't laugh. Just let me sit here and listen for a while...

One thing Dan excelled at of course was beautiful, heartfelt, touching ballads, and “The colours of Eve” is another, with beautiful piano and heartbreaking vocal, while “Diamonds to dust” is a big heavy country tapper, running on the back of a heavy organ and jangly guitar. But if you want expertise on the guitar, look no further than Nature of the game --- I think that could be one of those dobro things. Definitely sounds steel anyway. The longest track, it's virtually Delta blues. Take that, ye who say Dan was only good for ballads!

The song that started it all, written by Dan as a Valentine's Day present to his wife two years before his death is next, and Sometimes a song is especially bittersweet with its backstory, the simplest of lovesongs but one of the very last Dan would ever write. Stop! I'm tearing up again. Gonna have to bring this to a close now.

I'd urge you to check out Dan's music for yourself. You may know the classics --- Run for the roses, Longer, Leader of the band, Same old lang syne --- but there's so much more there to be discovered from one of the most underrated singer/songwriters of our age. Ah, you say you will check him out, but you know you won't. Well, your loss.
Overall impression: God damn it Dan, I miss you!
Intention: At some point I'm going to listen to everything of his, in chronological order, and he's definitely down for a special feature on “The Playlist of Life” soon. Real soon.

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An Irish institution, and rightly so


Artiste: Mary Black
Nationality: Irish
Album: By the time it gets dark
Year: 1987
Label: Dara
Genre: Folk/Trad
Tracks:
By the time it gets dark
Schooldays over
Once in a very blue moon
Farewell farewell
Sparks might fly
Katie
Leaving the land
There's a time
Jamie
Leaboys lassie
Trying to get the balance right
Chronological position: Fifth album
Familiarity: “No frontiers”
Interesting factoid: Mary was born into a musical family: everyone played in the band.
Initial impression: This woman has the voice of an angel.
Best track(s): By the time it gets dark, Once in a very blue moon, Katie, Leaving the land
Worst track(s): Sparks might fly
Comments: Mary Black is a celebrated and respected musician in Ireland, and throughout the folk and traditional scene, having started her career with The Black Family (her own family) at the age of eight, and with another sister of hers, Frances, having achieved a successful solo career in her own right. Mary has a lovely, gentle and warm voice, and certainly concentrates more on the softer side of the trad scene, this album consisting of songs written by some luminaries in the field --- Jimmy McCarthy, Declan Sinnot etc --- and some traditional arrangements of folk tunes dear to her heart. There's some lovely piano from Pat Crowley, whereas Schooldays over is a gentle duet with Sinnot on simple acoustic guitar and possibly mandolin.

She tackles a version of a song that appears on, and titles, a Nanci Griffith album next, and though Once in a very blue moon isn't Nanci's own composition, I always associate it with her, and it's nice to have that link. A gentle little ballad on guitar and accordion, it's somewhat typical of the tone of this album, which is mostly quite laidback and reflective. Sinnot's prowess on the guitar is always understated, but the album would lack much without his vital presence, and indeed he gets to shine the once on the album when he takes centre stage for the instrumental Jamie, his own composition.

Piano also forms the mainstay of many of the tracks, but it's Mary's powerful yet gentle and soulful voice that really makes the album, as she sings about people and situations that you somehow feel are drawn from personal experience. Even though she doesn't write any of the material, there's a lot of her heart and soul in there, and it's almost like a shared history. We've all been there, she reminds us. Of course the standout is her classic Katie, one of her best-known songs, a beautiful little wistful love song, with gorgeous interplay between piano and guitar and powerful backing vocals, a smooth little sax break just adding to the atmosphere of this lovely little song.

With a traditional standard and even a version of the late Andy Williams' Moon river throw in, this album really does highlight Mary at her best, though for me it doesn't edge out “No frontiers”. A great effort though, and well worth a listen.
Overall impression: It's gentle trad/folk that you can't take offence to, and can't help but like, perhaps be moved by on occasion.
Intention: May check out a few more of her albums.

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The anthem goes on


Artiste: The Gaslight Anthem
Nationality: American
Album: Handwritten
Year: 2012
Label: Mercury
Genre: Rock
Tracks:
”45”
Handwritten
Here comes my man
Mulholland Drive
Keepsake
Too much blood
Howl
Biloxi Parish
Desire
Mae
National anthem
Chronological position: Fourth album
Familiarity: “American slang”
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Good hard energetic and honest rock
Best track(s): Handwritten, Here comes my man, Keepsake, Desire
Worst track(s): None
Comments: So The Gaslight Anthem have finally hit the big time, eh? Ditching their much smaller independent label, SideOneDummy to go with giant Mercury, it seems the boys from Jersey have arrived. However, vocalist and guitarist Brian Fallon has said that this album would be more like “The '59 sound”, their album previous to “American slang”, and which I have not heard. I hope this is not a bad thing, as I really fell in love with their music through their 2010 effort, loved it. Not too much to worry about though as it starts with plenty of power and energy, and Fallon's never going to escape the comparisons with Springsteen, but then, who wouldn't want to be considered in the same breath as The Boss?

This album certainly builds on the success of “The '59 sound” and “American slang”, and these guys are just going from strength to strength. The title track is a big, rousing, rollicking rocker with that gravelly drawl carrying the vocal, while there's a lot of Tom Petty in Keepsake, where the tempo slows down for an anthemic blues rocker. Things stay slow then for Too much blood, on which Fallon really exercises his pipes and gets a lot of his anger out, while Alex Rosamilia rips off a fine solo. Finishes on a really nice acoustic piece they call National anthem. Really satisfying album.
Overall impression: More of the same, but when it's TGA, more of the same is good.
Intention: Keep listenin'!

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Destination ... um, somewhere other than Paradise...


Artiste: Desert Sin
Nationality: Austrian
Album: Destination Paradise
Year: 2012
Label: Pure Steel
Genre: Power metal
Tracks:
Awakening
Destination Paradise
Kill the king
Would you release me
Follow me
In silence
The seed of destruction
Creation
Hero
Circle of twilight
Chronological position: Second album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Nice keys and guitar instrumental intro...
Best track(s): Awakening, Kill the king
Worst track(s): Uh, I sort of don't really care. The rest are okay but just that. Nothing stands out and after a while it all sort of blurs together.
Comments: Who are these guys? Dunno, just another metal album I picked up on my travels. This is their second album, and I must say it starts off nicely with a very Iron Maiden style instrumental then crashes into proper metal with the title track. Their vocalist, one Sando Holzer, certainly knows his craft, while the guitars are sharp and pure, the drums punching the melody along nicely. There are keyboards --- I know, cos I heard them on the intro --- but here at least they're pushed rather to the background, though I think I can hear them doing some choral stuff back there. Presumably Roman Fischer will get to strut his stuff soon enough.

Kill the king is as expected a big, heavy, rockin' thumper, rattling along with a lot of energy and power, substantially ramping up the tempo. Great guitar work, but I have yet to hear the keys making any appreciable impression on the sound. If a band uses a keyboard, piano or synth, well, y'know, I expect to hear it! Nothing terribly special about these lads so far, but we're only a few tracks in, so we'll see. There's a nice kind of “warriors together” vibe about Follow me, and they do a good Maiden on In silence, but I'm really not seeing anything that special about Desert Sin.

Have to say, I still haven't heard the keys make much of a contribution, though it's a moot point now, as I'm beginning to lose the will to live. Pretty standard, staid stuff with nothing new about it and no reason to make me look further into their music. In three words: destination bargain bin.
Overall impression: M is for Meh.
Intention: Stop here.

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Stone me! (Sorry)


Artiste: Joss Stone
Nationality: British (English)
Album: Mind, body & soul
Year: 2004
Label: Relentless
Genre:Soul
Tracks:
Right to be wrong
Jet lag
You had me
Spoiled
Don't cha wanna ride
Less is more
Security
Young at heart
Snakes and ladders
Understand
Don't know how
Torn and tattered
Killing time
Sleep like a child
Chronological position: Second album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Sounds more like rock than soul to me! Yay!
Best track(s): Right to be wrong, Jet lag, Spoiled, Security, Sleep like a child
Worst track(s): Killing time, Understand
Comments: There was a time when I took “advantage” of some offer of Cds for a dollar, don't ask me where, but I got a whole fistful of them, and because they were so cheap I plumped for a few I would never normally have bought. Of course, they were cheap because a) they were ripoff pirate copies with grainy covers that looked like the ink had run (which it probably had, or more likely, they'd run out of ink and just gone with the picture they could get) and came in floppy plastic sleeves on CDR discs. Very classy. At any rate, for some reason I can't recall now --- maybe to make up some “buy ten get one free” offer or something --- I went for this one. I've never heard anything by her so I have no idea if I'll like this at all, but it's been gathering dust for years so maybe it's time to blow that dust off and see what's actually underneath the extremely cheap cover. Hell, it may not even play, in which case this review will never get done, but let's have a go anyway.

Well the opener is a nice surprise, sort of blues half-ballad with some gorgeous guitar, and certainly Stone's voice is strong and almost raw, kind of reminds me of a far more restrained and sane Janis Joplin mixed with perhaps elements of Tina Turner. I like Jet lag too, much more in the soul realm than the first track, then there's pure funk-out in You had me, a real “diva” song (Oh no she di'nt!), then slow blues in Spoiled. Kind of hard to pin this lady's style or genre down, and I imagine many rockers will be just as into her music as will those who follow the charts or even the soul aficionados. Something for everyone, really.

Yeah, I really like this. It has a real feeling of heart and reality about it, like it's not just music written to bust the charts open or get people dancing, and even better, Joss seems to write most of her own material, or co-write it with others. She even throws in a reggae effort in Less is more, and to its credit it doesn't repulse me: I usually hate reggae. Yeah, whatcha gonna do, huh? But this is good! There's even a shot of cool gospel in Security, though in fairness it does get a little tedious after that, closing well with Sleep like a child; pity it couldn't maintain the original interest all through, though.
Overall impression: A big surprise, something like opening a box of chocs and expecting them all to be the same filling but finding they're all different. And delicious.
Intention: Must listen to more of her stuff. Now.

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Giving prog metal a bad name


Artiste: Dali's Dilemma
Nationality: American
Album: Manifesto for futurism
Year: 1999
Label: Magna Carta
Genre: Progressive Metal
Tracks:
Within a stare
Miracles in yesteryear
Despite the waves
Whispers
Ashen days
Andromeda sunrise
This time around
Hills of memory
Can't you see
Living in fear
Chronological position: Debut album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: Well, not so much interesting as sad: this was their only album and soon afterwards they split up.
Initial impression: Synthesiser opening?
Best track(s): Despite the waves, Whispers, Andromeda sunrise, Hills of memory
Worst track(s): Within a stare, Ashen days, Can't you see
Comments: Another album I've had on my disk for what seems, and may be, years; I think it's maybe about time I gave this one a listen. Opening on a synthesiser riff that would be more suited to Vangelis or Jean-Michel Jarre, it quickly breaks into a hard metal-influenced track as the opener gets going, and I'm put in mind of bands like Shadow Gallery and Threshold. There's barely a pause and we're into the second track, showcasing the vocalist, Matthew Bradley's strong range and power. Great guitar work too from Patrick Reyes, while his brother and co-founder Steve complements him perfectly on the bass.

To be honest though, it seems to be straying into Dream Theater “solo-because-you-can-not-because-the-song-needs-it” territory, with some fairly unnecessary exhibitionism, but at least these guys can play. Despite the waves has a heavy keyboard slant, almost a nod back to Genesis's Watcher of the skies right at the end, then everything slows down for a lovely short instrumental in Whispers, proving this band could take it easy when required , and it's a tribute to the keyboard and piano skills of Matt Guillory, which essentially drive this piece.

Mind you, Patrick Reyes gets to have his day in the sun too, with another short little instrumental, though more folky this time. Nice, but I preferred the other one. Standout so far is the quite commercial Hills of memory, with some lovely guitar and some very memorable hooks, almost acoustic at times. Kind of reminds me of Big Big Train in places. Generally though, I can see why these guys didn't last. They're good, but not really very good except in very sporadic bursts. And you need to be better than just good to survive in this business.
Overall impression: Not quite meh, but to be honest, not a million miles away...
Intention: Nothing I can do, as they're split up now. Doubt I would have gone further anyway.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018