Cult Swedish progressive rockers Beardfish began playing their first live shows together this year since breaking up in 2016, and now they are very pleased to announce the release of a brand new studio album titled ‘Songs For Beating Hearts’ on the 1st November 2024 (InsideOutMusic). Coinciding with this announcement is the launch of a brand new single titled ‘In The Autumn’, a piece of music that some may recognise from their recent live dates. This song is a duet between Rikard Sjöblom & guest vocalist Amanda Örtenhag. Watch the video now here:
“I think the reunion became an idea in 2021, a few years ago,” explains Rikard Sjöblom. “We started talking about doing something. People had made amends, and I guess everyone started missing being in a band together, and missing each other! We all kept in touch, and things ended up on the right foot in many aspects, and then we started talking about maybe meeting up and trying to play something. I had a couple of new songs written, and they really sounded like Beardfish, and I had some instrumental doodles that I was working on. So we met up and tried to play. The first thing we played was Without Saying Anything from Mammoth, and we started jamming and it felt like home, even after many years. I felt like, ‘These are my brothers!’
With strong echoes of past glories but a whole new vibe of wistful wonderment, Songs For Beating Hearts is a glowing testament to the magic that happens when these four musicians join forces. From the dreamy melancholy of the opening Ecotone and the intricate opulence of five-part sprawl Out In The Open, to the prog-friendly pastoralism of bittersweet 11-minute epic Beating Hearts, and the sobering prog-noir of the closing Torrential Downpour, Beardfish have not just made their strongest work to date, but also their most emotionally resonant. Loosely held together by thoughts of love, loss, friendship and finality, Songs For Beating Hearts is the sound of four kindred spirits laying their hearts bare.
‘Songs For Beating Hearts’ will be available as a Limited CD Digipak (including one bonus track), Gatefold LP & as Digital Album, all featuring artwork from longtime collaborator Spencer Keala Bowden, and can be pre-ordered now here:
Beardfish originally formed back in 2001, and today are made up of Rikard Sjöblom, David Zackrisson, Magnus Östgren and Robert Hansen. They released eight studios albums up until their disbandment in 2016 The band are confirmed for 2025’s edition of Cruise To The Edge.
London label Transmission have announced a new edition of Porcupine Tree’s Grammy-nominated 2007 album Fear Of A Blank Planet. With a 112-page hardback book, five CDs, and a Blu-ray disc, the new edition includes remasters of Fear Of A Blank Planet and the Nil Recurring mini album, approximately 55 minutes of previously unreleased demos, an early live performance of a still work-in-progress version of the album, as well as BBC and instore session recordings – the most complete collection of the album and related material to date.
The set consists of:
112-Page Hardback Book: The centrepiece of this collection is a 112-page book, with an in-depth examination of the process of creating the album by Stephen Humphries with interviews, alongside rare photographs from photographers Lasse Hoile & Carl Glover.
Disc 1 (CD): 2024 remaster of Fear Of A Blank Planet.
Disc 2 (CD): 2024 remaster of Nil Recurring EP.
Disc 3 (CD): Approx 55 minutes of previously unreleased demos by both band and Steven Wilson, offering a rare insight into the creative process for the album, including 2 tracks not recorded for the final album.
Disc 4 (CD): A live recording of a work-in-progress version of the album made at The Garage, Saarbrucken on 23rd September 2006, while the band were still refining and developing the material. This has been mixed from the multitrack tapes for the first time for this edition.
Disc 5 (CD): A 5 track BBC radio session (Maida Vale Studios, 13th April 2007) plus an 8-song acoustic / unplugged in-store performance from Park Avenue, Orlando (4th October 2007).
Disc 6 (Blu-ray): Includes remastered stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes of Fear Of A Blank Planet and Nil Recurring, as well as a new 2024 documentary – ‘The Making of Fear Of A Blank Planet’. Also features 3 music videos, 3 songs performed live on film at The Palladium, Koln (4th December 2007) and 2 live visual films (‘Sleep Together’ and ‘Anesthetize’).
“an aggressively modern merger of Rush’s arena art rock, U.K. prog classicism —especially Pink Floyd and King Crimson — and the post-grunge vengeance of Tool”
Rolling Stone
Originally released in 2007, Fear Of A Blank Planet is Porcupine Tree’s ninth studio album and both band and fans alike consider it to be a high point in their catalogue. Their biggest selling album at the time, it was the band’s first album to break into the Billboard Top 100 in the USA as well as charting significantly across Europe, earning them a Grammy nomination in the process. The album includes guest appearances from Robert Fripp (King Crimson) & Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson and featured in Rolling Stone Magazine’s Greatest Prog Albums Of All Time as well as being named Classic Rock’s Album of the Year in 2007.
A concept album inspired by the Bret Easton Ellis novel Lunar Park, Fear Of A Blank Planet’s lyrics address how the adolescent protagonist battles his terminal boredom and attention-deficit disorders with a regimen of prescription drugs, TV, computer gaming, mindless violence, empty sex, and self-harm.
Following the release of Fear Of A Blank Planet in 2007, Porcupine Tree solidified their reputation as one of the rock’s most celebrated bands with their 2009 release The Incident garnering critical acclaim and earning the band another Grammy nomination. After a significant hiatus while members moved on to other projects, 2022’s highly anticipated return with Closure/Continuation demonstrated the band’s unwavering commitment to pushing the boundaries of their sound.
FEAR OF A BLANK PLANET DELUXE TRACKLISTING
DISC 1
1. Fear Of A Blank Planet (2024 Remaster) [07:28]
2. My Ashes (2024 Remaster) [05:09]
3. Anesthetize (2024 Remaster) [17:52]
4. Sentimental (2024 Remaster) [05:26]
5. Way Out Of Here (2024 Remaster) [07:37]
6. Sleep Together (2024 Remaster) [07:28]
DISC 2
1. Nil Recurring (2024 Remaster) [06:15]
2. Normal (2024 Remaster) [07:08]
3. Cheating The Polygraph (2024 Remaster) [07:10]
4. What Happens Now? (2024 Remaster) [08:24]
5. Fear Of A Blank Planet (Tour Live intro) [02:02]
DISC 3
1.Fear Of A Blank Planet (Demo) [07:01]
2. My Ashes (Demo) [05:09]
3. Anesthetize (Demo) [16:49]
4. Sentimental (Demo) [05:03]
5. Cheating The Polygraph (Demo) [07:07]
6. Sleep Together (Demo) [07:26]
7. Always Recurring (Demo) [03:49]
8. Hey Sleeper (Demo) [03:36]
DISC 4
1. Fear Of A Blank Planet (Live at Garage, Saarbrucken, 23 September 2006) [09:05]
2. My Ashes (Live at Garage, Saarbrucken, 23 September 2006) [05:44]
3. Anesthetize (Live at Garage, Saarbrucken, 23 September 2006) [17:12]
4. Sentimental (Live at Garage, Saarbrucken, 23 September 2006) [05:07]
5. Cheating The Polygraph (Live at Garage, Saarbrucken, 23 September 2006) [06:58]
6. Sleep Together (Live at Garage, Saarbrucken, 23 September 2006) [08:11]
On their fourth album, The Weever Sands take their listeners to the gentle, soothing, and peaceful side of the ocean. The magnificent title track follows the beautiful Moonfish on a day’s journey from the sunlit surface to the deep waters and back again, starting by daybreak until the soft whale song lays him to sleep. The main track is framed by two tracks that act like siblings, drawing their inspiration from literature and flowing like crystal-clear rivers to the sea. Combining elements of Folk, Prog, Minimal, Ambient, and classical music and dealing with the issue of inner peace and self-love, The Weever Sands provide a listening experience full of elegant tunes, delicate and fragile acoustic fabrics, friendly and sometimes dreamy moods, a grain of humour, and high-class virtuosity.
UK progressive rockers Frost* are pleased to announce the release of their brand new double concept album ‘Life In The Wires’, due out 18th October 2024 via InsideOutMusic. “Every prog band worth their salt really should do a double album, shouldn’t they?” asks Frost* frontman Jem Godfrey. “We’ve always kind of had this idea of wanting to do one. So I sat down last summer and thought, well, I’m just gonna have to get my head down and go for it.”
Today also sees the launch of the first track taken from the album, the first part of the album’s epic title track. Watch the video for ‘Life In The Wires, Part 1’, created by Christian Rios/Ray of Light Films, here:
“It’s actually a continuation from Day and Age” explains Godfrey, “the first track on the new album starts with the end of the last track from that album “Repeat to Fade,” where the static comes up and a voice says “Can you hear me?”. I remember putting that in when we did Day and Age as a possible little hook for the future; a character somewhere out there in Day and Age land trying to be heard. What does he want to say? Can anybody hear him? Day and Age kind of sets up the world that this character lives in and Life In The Wires tells his story”.
The story revolves around the main character Naio, an aimless kid heading for a meaningless future in an A.I. run world. He hears an old DJ talking on the ancient AM radio his mother once gave him and decides to trace the source of the signal and find “Livewire” to see if there’s a better future out there. However, the All Seeing Eye is less than impressed at this bid for independent thought and fights back. Soon Naio finds himself pursued across the country by an outraged mob as he tries to locate the home of Livewire and his freedom. Tune in at www.lifeinthewires.com and see if you can hear Livewire on the radio.
Helping create this parallel world are the “classic” Frost* lineup of guitarist John Mitchell, bassist Nathan King, and returning drummer Craig Blundell.
Fans of the band’s masterful debut album Milliontown (2006) will enjoy the band revisiting the style that made that debut album one of the most successful prog rock albums of the last 20 years, a fact that was not lost on Godfrey as he was writing this new record.
“With Day and Age, we made it a very specific point: we’re not doing any solos, we’ll do clever arrangements. And we enjoyed that discipline, but this time I thought it might be good to row back on that position a bit. Plus, I wanted to have a little bit of a nod to Milliontown with this album, because it’s been nearly 20 years since Milliontown came out and I’m still proud of it. The 15-minute title track has a few of those Milliontown moments in it which were great fun to do again.”
‘Life In The Wires’ will be available as a Limited 2CD, Gatefold 180g 2LP & as Digital Album, with subtle difference across the 3 formats for added interest. The album features artwork design by Carl Glover, who also designed the cover of ‘Day And Age’. The full track listing is as follows:
Man on the Shore is a wonderfully intriguing, eclectic and emotionally vibrant album from Ozul – the solo prog-driven project of the Norwegian/Costa Rican documentary filmmaker, Paulo Chavarria. He provides the vocals and plays all the musical instruments – creating a real smorgasbord of progressive rock, electronic-led soundscapes, psychedelic rock, post rock and metal – with a cinematic and ethereal sweep. The music can switch between yearning delicacy to dynamic power, with Paulo’s accented vocal style creating a vulnerability and deeply personal aspect to the narrative of the album.
The first Ozul album, 2023’s Provenance, was an excellent and well-received album which highlighted Paulo’s musical talents and compositional skills, as well as his ability to switch from heavy, driving riff-laden power to atmospheric, introspective fragility, often within a single song. Man on the Shore is cut from the musical cloth, but is a concept album with a unifying theme, concerning a real-life news story of the body of an unknown man, found dead, lying on a fjord. Nobody knew who he was, and no one had reported him missing.
Paulo decided to write a fictional story of what might have happened to him – drawing upon the documentary be directed in 2022 called ‘The Bothersome Father.’ It dealt with the subject of child/parent separation and the complicated political, judicial and emotional issues raised. It related to his own father’s experiences with the breakdown of his first marriage, and how it affected Paulo as a child – so this is certainly has a deeply personal dimension for him.
The story revolves around a man having to fight to keep contact with his child after a divorce, and his efforts, challenges, and tribulations through the process, and ultimately the desperation that leads him to take his own life. The lyrics, not surprisingly. have a powerful, dark intensity to them, but it is the way that the music ebbs and flows to accompany the story that makes the album a compelling listen.
Paulo’s musical influences are varied, and they are often displayed on his Ozul albums. This makes it difficult to pigeon-hole the ever-changing style. For me it was the echo of Steven Wilson/Porcupine Tree and The Pineapple Thief that struck me first, but there are heavier elements such as those of Opeth, Katatonia and Devin Townsend, as well as Leprous. However, the classical and cinematic influences sometimes feel like a Hans Zimmer meets Pink Floyd soundscape, as well. Basically, this is an album you need to listen to, in order to formulate your own interpretation, but in my view, it will definitely be worth your while.
The album starts with the dramatic, pulsating drive of Promise, as the man find himself in the midst of a divorce and he looks at his little child and promises to fight to be a father. There are some nice changes in musical tempo, a yearning guitar solo amongst the swirling keyboards and some slight touches of electronica, both musically and vocally. How Could I? sees the man remembering that first encounter with his newborn child, and reflects on how now the mother, and the legal system, asks him to ‘let go’. The track deals with how impossible this task seems to him, and how foolish it is to ask a father for forego his own child. It has a more melancholic, minimalist feel at the start, with resonating piano notes (not unlike the start of Pink Floyd’s ‘High Hopes’), before rhymically building up in intensity. However, a softer guitar-led interlude and some string effects create an unsettling undertow, prior to a bombastic prog metal-edged passage before those opening sad piano notes return.
There is a real sense of yearning frustration with Modus Operandi, as he sees the dishonest machinations of the divorce process trying to separate him from his child – especially those of his wife. The deliberately laborious and plaintive tempo then switches to a more powerful bursts of guitar and retro keyboard chords, swirling chaotically through to the end. In Kafta World, starting with the sound of a phone message, the man now feels on autopilot, trapped in an absurd, repeating circle of endless meetings with the court, counsellors and bureaucrats, with no one seemingly able to help him. There is a dreamy, unreal atmosphere here, lifted by some energetic drum patterns, but the tiredness of the man is still felt within the music.
Pariah Caste does provide a refreshing change in tone at this point. Some serene guitar patterns and chords provides a lighter flow and tone, as the father sings to his little son. Paulo says it is about the father’s worries about what is going to happen to his son as he will become a man, in a world where everything masculine seems to be now negative and denigrated in his view. It is about how hurt this father feels on behalf of his child, having to grow up in such a world. The intimacy and love shown is touching, but with the introduction of spoken words imparting future advice, a darker veil is drawn over the music with some unrelenting prog-metal touches not dissimilar to Dream Theater at the end. If there were signs of hope here, it looks like they are starting to fade.
Venus Will Not is a plea to the mother not to make things worse and let the child to keep his father. But here, Venus is no longer the goddess of peace of classic mythology, but now Venus is the goddess of war. The music is dark and hypnotically sinister, with classical elements enhancing the cinematic soundscape (maybe with a touch of Holst’s ‘The Planets’ in the shadows). Meanwhile Coping Mechanism, deals with the strategies the man tirelessly attempts to implement to keep his sanity. A reflection on how much of himself was annihilated under his last relationship, and the rediscovering of his vitality and sexuality, for a time at least. Paulo uses an electronica-themed, robotic, dance-like beat, suggesting a less human character has taken over our protagonist. A nice change of style with almost a rap-like intensity.
Grievance Entrepreneur is a return to heavier rock style and deep guitar riffs, as the man reflects on the roles of the multitude of experts dealing with his case and living off the grievances and ‘truths’ being revealed, and in his mind, siding with the woman against the man (so often seen as the danger). I’m not usually a fan of the metal death growl, but the snippet here expresses the man’s internal state of mind well – prior to the impersonal spoken word passage in court trotted out to justify these ‘experts’ and the course that the divorce settlement takes. Lost, as the title of the song suggests, just shows how damaged and isolated the man has become. The guitar-led music sways, with acoustic guitar and snatches of lead soloing produce a feeling of melancholic wistfulness. The feeling of helplessness is further highlighted by Admission. Here, it seems his child has become so brainwashed by the process he feels he doesn’t want to meet his father – a blow that seems absolute and final – and the man recognises that the battle is now lost. Lyrically it is a heartbreaking moment, and the rich musical template complements the vocals well. A touch of Rush-like guitar earlier on, but I’m struck by the nods to the likes of his fellow Norwegian compatriots Airbag and Gazpacho here, and throughout much of the album.
After the desolation at the end of the last song, Man On The Shore (Nomen Nescio) has a more up-tempo electronic feel, but the vocals betray what is to come. The man approaches the cliff and reflects on what has happened and the promise he made at the beginning of the story. A promise that he tried to keep, but in the end, failed. He never able to let go of his child inside of him, but he has gone. So the only thing left to let go of now, is himself, as he plunges towards the waves. Some dramatic guitar soloing and sweeping synthesised strings provide a mournful grandeur, but there is a poignancy within this song, and the album as a whole – which ends with a spoken section of news item – reporting the discovery of the body, and also, like many in the past, the unknown deceased would be buried with the Latin phrase ‘Nomen Nescio’ (N.N.) or ‘I do not know the name’ at the funeral.
Paulo, under the project name, Ozul, has produced a dark, moving and narrative for our times. Whatever, the real reasons why this man fell to his death, the story is a powerful one – with a deep, resonant and cathartic musical soundscape. The instrumental playing is of the highest order and the vocals are suitably haunting and integrated. It’s certainly not an easy listen from an emotional viewpoint, with little ray of light coming through any gaps in the dark veil, but it is certainly a rewarding one. I am certainly hoping the promise shown already by the albums Provenance and Man On the Shore is continued in the years to come. Yet again it shows the musical talent and quality, modern progressive rock emanating from Norway in the last decade or so. Check Ozul out on Bandcamp, if you are intrigued by this review.
Released June 21st, 2024 (Digital)
Paulo Chavarria: All instruments, vocals, mix and master
Occasionally, as in very rarely, you come across a real gem of an album such as this one. ‘Favourite Places’ is the latest in a steady stream of albums from Lincolnshire based musician, composer and studio engineer Brendan Perkins, who has over twenty-two releases on bandcamp, most being digital only releases. Although I believe Brendan is open to the possibility of a physical CD release for this latest album that seems to be garnering very positive reviews by folks who appreciate the quality and crafting that these songs utilise so convincingly.
I’d not heard of Brendan before but I have to say is a really splendid and uplifting album of very strong and interesting tracks, each being of a place that Brendan has visited and been touched by his time or experience there. They range from Polzeath in Cornwall, Caistor in Norfolk, Chinley Churn (a hill near High Peak in the Peak District) to Saltburn On Sea near Whitby. There are also two non place related songs, Skylarks and the emotionally laden A Song For Friends which, whilst a bit downbeat is neither mournful or dour, rather it is a celebration of friends who are no longer with us but whose memory remains alive in our hearts and mind. This song celebrates such warm fond memories as these. In fact, the whole album is a very positive listen, the songs are good, the instrumentation is excellent, the production is clear and all taken together form a very solid and convincing piece of work.
I actually feel this very pastoral and very English album would find a highly receptive audience with fans of Big Big Train as they share a similar musical viewpoint, history, culture and stories. I also think folks who like ex Genesis man Anthony Phillips and his excellent ‘Private Parts & Pieces’ series would find much common ground and, indeed, much to enjoy here. All the music is composed and performed by Brendan himself, although he is aided by Helen Lunder on backing vocals on Skylarks and Lucy’s Lane.
Opener Skylarks sets the scene well with its fluid guitar and punchy bass lines helping to propel the song along. The track laments the decrease in the number of skylarks that are around, thirty years ago we had more hedgerows for these birds to nest but times have changed and the numbers have decreased substantially over the years as hedgerows have been removed. The song has a very fluid and ascending guitar motif which is wonderfully supported by a very solid bass line which grabs the attention. The motif is repeated at various points, it really lifts the song with grace and style elevating things significantly. It’s a really strong opener and when the guitar solo comes in this really impresses as does the interplay with the bass which really shines and shows off the talent that is on offer here, a great opening track. The aforementioned A Song For Friends is a testament to the value of friendships and how, even though they may no longer be with us, their memory and warmth of their friendship lives on in our lives. It is not a morbid song, rather it is highly celebratory in tone. Petrichor Dance is about a trip to Polzeath in Cornwall and, especially, the rich earthy smell of rain on dry soil. The song is very evocative in tone and has a very fluid guitar line that runs throughout the track, another excellent piece of music.
Lucy’s Lane is about Caistor in Norfolk, picturing the feel of the market place and how when it winds down the townsfolk gather to celebrate the day. The next track is Chinley Churn, which is about a hill near Chinley, near High Peak in the Peak District. This piece is an instrumental with some great simple piano fills and some very Floydian guitar tones. I really like this one a lot, there is a lot of great guitar in this track, the bass is strong and muscular and versatile too, dancing around the chugging guitar rhythms. It’s probably my favourite song of the entire album and is very lyrical without words, a truly impressive track. The album closes with the more reflective The Funicular, which is about the cliff railway at Saltburn-On-Sea that takes visitors from the clifftop to the pier. It really captures the area and the beauty of this water balanced cliff railway from the Victorian era and is a beautifully warm song.
What’s remarkable here is just how much I have come to appreciate this album. I like everything about it and I especially love Brendan’s beautiful guitar playing and bass playing. The songs are emotively strong and Brendan’s voice suits them. ‘Favourite Places’ will be near the top of my best albums of the year list, it really is an outstanding work and one that, as you become more familiar with, will definitely enrich your life. Buy it, listen often and appreciate this wonderful release for yourself then you can thank me later!
A DEEP-DIVE INTO THE AVANT-GARDE FROM TWO OF PROGRESSIVE ROCK’S MOST INNOVATIVE MINDS
As two of the leading figures in contemporary progressive music, Steven Wilson and Mikael Åkerfeldt have treated their fans to all sorts of thrillingly unconventional and atmospheric sounds over the years. But even by their own talismanic standards, the duo’s 2012 collaboration as Storm Corrosion exists in its own psychedelic lane of peculiarity, throwing listeners into a world of haunting and unsettling ambience like no other.
WATCH THE STORM CORROSION TRAILER:
Some 12 years on from its original release, the album will be reissued on 27th September via Kscope on LP, CD and Blu Ray forms with a new Dolby Atmos remix by Steven Wilson. It will include a bonus cut of Drag Ropes – the only song they’ve performed live to date – recorded when Mikael guested with Steven and his band at London’s Royal Albert Hall in September 2015, plus extra documentary insights and footage. Given how the album clearly holds a special place in the hearts of both of its creators, and naturally their collective army of fans around the world, the new release will be a timely celebration of the ethereal magick encased within its six ground-breaking tracks.
“In many ways it’s become the cult classic we always intended it to be”
Steven Wilson
A love letter to the esoteric and abstruse sounds of the past, crossing the mystifying noises of late 60s/early 70s German groups like Tangerine Dream and Popol Vuh with the sound of British folk heroes like Nick Drake and Bert Jansch, while also embracing the eclectic oddities of cult figures like Scott Walker, it’s the kind of album that takes you on a transcendental journey that you never really come back from. For the two friends, this kind of fierce originality is precisely what they set out to achieve…
“Storm Corrosion was the 2012 album made by myself and Mikael Åkerfeldt of the band Opeth, and one which both of us considered a deeply satisfying artistic success,” says Steven. “It remains one of my favourite releases in my whole catalogue. Part of what made it so much fun was that pretty much anything that either of us suggested, the other would agree it should definitely be pursued, no matter how crazy and off the wall it sounded.”
That sense of pride is shared by his accomplice Mikael Åkerfeldt, who feels it’s easily one of the most experimental, if not bizarre, things either of them have ever recorded, and all the better for it. For him, and countless others, these enigmatic recordings seem to exist in a genre of their own – at times sounding more acoustic and minimalistic, and others infinitely more cerebral and foreboding, but in any case, always intoxicating.
“Everything about this record is strange in the best way possible”
Mikael Åkerfeldt
“Throughout all of my years as a musician, it’s very rare for me to return to a record I have participated in myself for the sheer listening pleasure alone,” notes Mikael. “Storm Corrosion is the exception. It’s such a lovely record to me. I can distance myself from my own work on it and just experience it as a fan of its music. Everything about this record is strange in the best way possible.”
“We’d talked many times over the years about doing a project with just the two of us,” continues Steven. “In 2011 we quietly got together for a week at my studio, and started to make music, not knowing where it would take us, but knowing that the last thing we wanted to do was the obvious. Instead, we found ourselves making an album of weird psychedelic chamber folk music, almost child-like in places, with lots of dissonance, orchestral arrangements and weird bits.”
STORM CORROSION WILL BE AVAILABLE ON THE FOLLOWING FORMATS:
(includes bonus track live recording of Drag Ropes from Royal Albert Hall in 2015)
Black vinyl 2LP, gatefold packaging, 8-page booklet
(includes bonus track live recording of Drag Ropes from Royal Albert Hall in 2015)
Blu-ray edition
(includes high-resolution stereo, 2024 Dolby Atmos and 5.1 DTS-HD surround audio mixes & instrumental mixes of each track. Also includes a mini album documentary, the promo video for the track ‘Drag Ropes’, alongside two demo versions and an 8-page printed booklet. Additionally, a 2015 live recording of ‘Drag Ropes’ from The Royal Albert Hall when Mikael guested at one of Steven’s solo concerts has been newly mixed for this edition)
CD edition
(digipak CD edition includes 8-page printed booklet, plus a bonus track the live recording of ‘Drag Ropes’ from The Royal Albert Hall in 2015)
Its impact was keenly felt the world over – so much so, that there have been on-going calls for a follow-up. It’s something both musicians are open to but given how busy they are in their main projects, Steven as a solo artist and Mikael in charge of all things Opeth, whether it happens anytime soon remains to be seen. And if the members of Storm Corrosion do end up working on new material, chances are it will be done behind closed doors, in a similar spirit to their brilliantly leftfield debut.
“I get the notion that some listeners are completely and utterly in love with it,” continues Mikael. “I really understand that, since that’s how I feel myself. It’s strange and crazy in many ways. This record has got something. It’s quite unique. I’m so happy to see it available again.”
For Steven, who first started working with Opeth as the producer for seminal albums like Blackwater Park, Deliverance and Damnation, the sheer delight he takes from working with someone as utterly devoted to the surreal and obscure is something he has been continually vocal about. They are kindred spirits, and in more ways than one – this particular masterpiece demonstrating that in the most poignant of ways.
“That security in our collaboration could only have come from a place of mutual respect and admiration, even a sense of awe at what the other was capable of,” continues Steven. “We loved the finished result. It had seemed so effortless to make it.”
Once it was unveiled to the world, Storm Corrosion created just as much excitement as it did confusion. And as anyone familiar with either of these musicians will know, that’s precisely what they were aiming for.
“I don’t know what the people expecting a full-on heavy rock album made of it,” laughs Steven. “In many ways it has become the cult classic we always intended it to be…”
September sees the release of ‘A Strange Inheritance’, Nick Magnus’ highly unusual, nautically themed, concept album, concerning itself with the tale behind an unusual inheritance. This being a chest full of artefacts received anonymously from an unknown relative, the artefacts taken together telling a story of bureaucratic incompetence, harsh decisions taken without much, if any, compassion or sense of fairness and certainly not in the best interests of the victims.
The opening track, An Almost Silent Witness, sets the scene for what follows and is enlivened by the fine harmonica playing of one Steve Hackett, who began his musical life voyage playing this very instrument having been greatly impressed and inspired by the playing of Lou Adler and Paul Butterfield, along with Britain’s very own John Mayall, all players who brought the humble mouth organ to a whole new slew of musicians on their early recordings. This opening track has a lot of interesting things going on during its ten plus minute running time. What makes it unusual is that the teller of the story appears to be the brightly coloured bird who appears to have seen the entire story as it unfolded. He is a most reliable narrator as he tells his sad tale. The great orchestrations and the splendid harmonica solo adding to this nautically themed song admirably and with a certain panache. It really does an excellent job of scene setting as the tale unfolds with observations on the nature of man and his insatiable greed.
Blood Money features the wonderful vocal skills of Tony Patterson of Re-Genesis. It is a tale of greed and how the local people in the Caribbean are ripped off by the marauding interlopers, who take their silver and gold and leave them wooden crosses, not a very fair exchange at all! The song is greatly enlivened by the dextrous acoustic guitar of the talented John Greenwood of Unitopia. In Philadelphia we learn of how young couples are forcibly torn apart and ostracised with devastating consequences. It’s a very moving song with excellent orchestrations and sounds that convey the deep sadness contained in the lyrics.
This album is one that will touch your heart and cause you to wonder and rail against the injustice of our world and how our history is littered with tales of man’s inhumanity to his fellow man, something that lies adjacent to greed and the lust for gold. The next track, At Sea At Night, concerns itself with our heroine’s travels to the colonies and how she feels lost lonely and adrift. It’s a rather mournful track with suitably downbeat music and performances but still manages to convey its emotions exceedingly well. Four Winds is a lengthy instrumental that portrays the four winds and their character and how they interact with the world today. It is in four parts each signifying a wind and its behaviour. This superb track is heavily orchestral in tone with massed choirs and orchestrations featured heavily. It is an excellent listen as you can sense the malevolence that is characterised in the various winds and it also acts as a good break before we take our tale further into cannibalism and piracy before we reach a kind of conclusion.
Welcome To The Island introduces us to the very different way of life the island offers, not all of which is healthy or even sane! Black And Scarlet concerns itself with piracy and how our two heroes find themselves on the wrong side of the law, becoming pirates and outcasts as a result. To Whom It May Concern brings this brilliantly involving tale to its conclusion, drawing together the disparate threads of our story. We see our heroine reveals that the life she has lived has not bought happiness but rather has caused hurt and pain for those around her and she ends it with a plea that we live by reason and not by fear. A cautionary tale if ever there was one!
‘A Strange Inheritance’ is a highly enjoyable and compelling album from Nick Magnus and one that is a bit different from the norm. Like a lot of the best albums, it repays repeated listens as herein lies a real treasure trove of delights for the brave hearted to discover as they take a journey through uncharted waters. I highly recommended it and thoroughly enjoyed it, the artwork is also really strong and the production is clear and well defined.
In August and September 2023, Norwegian rock quintet Dim Gray undertook their first extensive tour of the UK and Europe, playing 15 dates across nine countries with Big Big Train. The band recorded each show and have picked out a selection of songs and performances that will form a live digital EP to be released in the autumn.
The EP will contain live versions of songs from both Dim Gray albums to date, as well as their recent single, ‘Murals’. Each performance was recorded by front of house engineer Rob Aubrey at shows in England, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Norway and mixed by him to create a document that captures the band’s live sound in authentic fashion.
The second track to be issued from it is ‘Ashes’, the original version of which can be found on the band’s second album, ‘Firmament’ (2022). Drummer Tom Ian Klungland states that “with ‘Ashes’, I feel we really showed that we could evolve and expand our sound yet still sound like Dim Gray.”
This live version of the song was recorded at a hometown show in Oslo on 29th August 2023. Vocalist/keyboardist Oskar Holldorff explains: “‘Ashes’ is a dramatic piece that relies more on electronic sounds than many of our other songs, so we had to approach playing it live a little differently.” Guitarist Milad Amouzegar adds: “I think we managed to do the song justice live. We played it a few more times on this tour, but the energy on stage in Oslo was amazing. I don’t think it sounded any better than on that night.”
Dim Gray was formed in Oslo by the original core trio of Oskar Holldorff (keyboards, vocals), Håkon Høiberg (guitar, vocals) and Tom Ian Klungland (drums), issuing debut album ‘Flown’ in 2020 to rave reviews. Subsequently signing to English Electric Recordings, they released ‘Firmament’ in 2022 to similar acclaim. The group have promoted both records in both the UK and mainland Europe via guest slots with Marillion as well as Big Big Train. Milad Amouzegar (guitar, keyboards) and Kristian Kvaksrud (bass) joined as permanent group members in 2023.
‘Ashes’ follows the late June release of ‘The Wave We Thought We’d Ride Forever’
“Music is an outburst of the soul…” – Frederick Delius
So much truth in such a simple statement; whether sad or joyous, music comes from within the soul of its composer. It can be a long and laboured task that is ultimately triumphal and that is the case with ‘The Lightbringers’, the second full album from Orion, the musical project of the prodigiously talented Ben Jones.
In the album liner notes Ben states that this was an album he fully expected not to make, he goes on to say, “My first album, ‘The End of Suffering’, was intended to be the realisation of an ambition that was born over 20 years ago. The hope was that it would put such notions to bed, once and for all! Within a few months of releasing that first album, it had sold all around Europe, as well as going as far as Japan, North America, and even New Zealand. Needless to say, this unexpected success sparked a few ideas…”
Ben had barely played a note in the 5-6 years leading up to that first album and had largely stopped listening to anything other than background noice, he knew he could do better, meaning that he knew he should do better. He wrote the first three tracks that appeared as the ‘Passing Through’ EP in December of last year and that ultimately became the genesis for this new, full-length release.
“So who/what are The Lightbringers? The basic idea is that maybe they’re a force that’s bringing everything to the ultimate good. Whatever horrors we might be experiencing in life, perhaps they serve the purpose of this ultimate good. Maybe The Lightbringers have no concept of bad, because everything they do is in the name of the best there can ultimately be. Is all of this unlikely? Probably, but you’ve got to have something to hold on to.“
I’m just looking for the light,a beacon on the shore.
A resting place to find what’s right,and a home forever more.
The opening track The Tumult of My Heart was inspired by a book of the same name by Jason Spencer from The Prog Mind. The book is about trying to deal with religious trauma from the author’s past. An imposing wall of sound is created by the layered widescreen guitar sound and the powerful rhythm section but the vocals add some real heart and soul so it’s not just a metal track. There’s a searching passion and questioning mind at the heart of this powerfully emotive piece of music and a feeling of fragility and a soul laid bare. It’s very compelling and influential and a great start to the album. The Ghosts Among Us is a profound piece of music written about the gut wrenching experience of caring for someone with a profound disability. Whilst it’s not something Ben has had to do, it is something he’s witnessed first hand. And I myself have a real affinity with this track as I have some experience of this myself and which came all flooding back as I listened to this brilliantly written song.
This Sickness is a diatribe about the negativity of social media and, man, is this track angry! Crunching guitars in the style of ‘Train Of Thought’ era Dream Theater and drums that are hewn out of granite open this thunderously compelling track. The vocals are distinct and authoritarian and the whole song just bleeds a potent intent. This is ‘proper’ prog-metal that puts a smile on my face, and not just because of the subject matter. The musicianship is sublime and Ben just seems to be having a whale of a time, venting his frustration in the best way he knows how. It’s a riot from beginning to end and I seriously enjoyed it. As Best We Can was intended to be a stripped back acoustic track that tackles the sadness of a failed relationship. Just to be clear, this is a failed relationship, not a concluded relationship. The people in this relationship have drifted apart, but they’re still together. The song opens with a gorgeous acoustic guitar and sweeping string-like synths before Ben’s hushed vocal creates a haunting atmosphere over and above the music. This elegant musical tapestry continues, imbuing the listener with a wonderful feeling of tranquility. This is the calm before the musical storm of the powerful ending to the track where everything begins to build up to a quite inspirational conclusion.
To everything, there’s a season.
A time, and a place, and a race, under the stars.
Spark opens The Cycle of Light suite, the epic that concludes the album, Ben had hoped to write an album that was in the 45-minute region as he believes that albums today are just too damned long was already around the 25-minute mark, so an epic seemed like the perfect fit! This track is a very impressive instrumental that takes you on a quite marvellous symphonic journey through the world of The Lightbringers and one where Ben really started getting into his orchestral sample libraries, hence the ramped up presence of strings, French horns, trumpets, and god knows what else during the second half of the album. Crunching guitars, thunderous, primeval drums, sweeping strings and a serious amount of grandeur add up to a truly wondrous way to begin an epic. As previously stated, The Lightbringers was a force, or a collection of entities, that have no concept of bad. They just do what they do to bring about a final state of good. The idea of The Scattering Stars is that these forces are seemingly chaotically moving. In reality, they’re just getting into position so they might exert their influence. I love this piece of music, it opens so peacefully with a delicate piano motif and the hushed vocals along with the heavenly horns and wistful strings before breaking out into an uplifting crescendo of symphonic prog metal with as much dynamism and drama as you can handle and the repeated lyric of, “They just bring gravity…” and that’s what this song fundamentally does, it pulls you into its willing embrace. We’ve all heard of people talking about the sky falling down around them. It’s catastrophic, it’s apocalyptic…. But maybe it’s necessary. Maybe these things are here to burn down our temples so that we might build better ones. The Falling Heavens is prog metal done just right, a truly incendiary cacophony of sound where every note, every drum beat and every word has a precise edge and dynamism. It’s primeval in feel and delivery, music that is hewn out of granite with djent style guitars and a passionate vocal. It all makes for a track that you aren’t going to forget in a hurry!
But is fate what they break,for those that survive the fall?
Left to rebuild the world,in the image of us all.
Although it’s tragic, maybe a person will pass away before they get to even see what light they brought to the world. I can’t imagine that in Anne Frank’s final moments, she had any concept of what her diary would bring to the world. Perhaps The Lightbringers had bigger plans.
And so we come to the conclusion of this epic album with the final track and the final part of The Cycle of Life. The Lightbringers is the best track that Ben has ever written, ten minutes of pure majesty and theatre laid out before you and what this sublime album has all been leading up to. Partly written from the perspective of the enigmatic Lightbringers, it is an utterly immersive and involving piece of music with so many brilliant hooks, riffs and motifs to keep you happy for a lifetime. The catchy chorus and addictive music are on another planet and I find myself singing the classic lines, “Let The Lightbringers burn us alive, let The Lightbringers bring us to life.” in all sorts of odd places but it has just stuck with me and isn’t that the sign of excellent music and songwriting? Just go with the flow and let the music take you along on this fantastical musical journey that is ultimately uplifting and life affirming.
The best music can take you on a wondrous, fantastical journey where, for a short while, you can forget about the trials and tribulations of this planet that we inhabit and with his latest superb Orion album, ‘The Lightbringers’, Ben Jones does just that. It is a highlight of another fantastic musical year and one that I feel will be on many people’s end of year lists and it deserves to be.
