Oceans of Slumber's 'Where Gods Fear to Speak' - Album Review

One of the many bands I have been enjoying getting into over the past couple of years is the Texas-based progressive metal act Oceans of Slumber. In true prog fashion, they are a band unlike any other - and I have spent quite a bit of time recently getting to grips with their diverse and melancholic discography. I am yet to hear their debut album, Aetherial from 2013, which was released before talismanic frontwoman Cammie Gilbert came on board, but I have spent quite a bit of time with each of the band's other five albums - each of which is pretty different from the one that came before. I first came across the band properly in 2018 when I saw them open for Epica - but they suffered from a very muddy sound mix and the vibes just felt somewhat off. Given that most of the then-current line-up left the band not too long after perhaps suggests that all had not been well - but it was hearing 2020's self-titled album in early 2021 that converted me. I had read quite a few positive reviews of the band's fourth album, and was still curious despite the aforementioned rather underwhelming support slot, and, despite Oceans of Slumber's technicality, I was essentially hooked from the off. The progressive behemoth is likely still my favourite Oceans of Slumber release - as it really leans into the band's prog metal core in a big way. The band have often been compared to Opeth, and I think that comparison is really apt when considering the self-titled album. I am not sure it is so fitting when considering their other albums, but I really like Oceans of Slumber's adventurous and monolithically heavy sound. Fast forward to 2022, though, and the band took, at least on the surface, a drastically different direction on Starlight and Ash (which I reviewed here) - an album described as their take on a southern gothic sound with a good mix of some harder rock and folk. Much of Starlight and Ash would not really be considered as metal, but I still maintain that the shift in sound was not as drastic as some made out. I liked the soulful and more melancholic album from the off - and it was one I listened to a lot throughout 2022. The band had hinted at such a sound before, and had included slower tracks on all of their previous albums, so really Starlight and Ash was a logical next step when viewed from a certain angle. They had hinted that they might continue that sound going forward - but when they announced that they had started to record album number six it was clear that they were operating in heavier circles again. Released last month, then, Where Gods Fear to Speak is the band's latest opus - and it mixes the sound of the previous album with the heavier, yet still extremely sombre, sounds of 2018's The Banished Heart. There is less of the knotty riffing and structures of the self-titled album, despite some longer songs and progressive moments, with the album instead feeling more song-based like the previous album with the heaviness injected back in. Gilbert, band founder and drummer Dobber Beverly, and bassist since 2019 Semir Özerkan all return from the previous album, but Where the Gods Fear to Speak features the debut of new guitar duo Alex Davis (Chironex; Burdener) and Chris Kritikos (Nephilim Terror) in place of Alexander Fernandez and Jessie Santos - who both left the band in recent years. Former keyboard player Mathew Aleman, who also left the band, has not been replaced - with Beverly handling the album's keyboards.

The ten-song album clocks in at just under an hour and, as expected, it is one that takes a few listens to fully appreciate. The band's sound is as dense as ever here, but there remain plenty of hooks thanks to Gilbert's stunning vocals. She even handles most of the harsh vocals this time, something which had previously been done by former band members, and there are more instances of such when compared to the previous albums. This album gets underway with its powerful title track, then, which opens with some mournful clean guitar melodies - over which Beverly's doomy drums soon add some punch. The opening very much feels like the meeting of the two sounds described earlier, with clean guitars continuing to add some melancholy underneath the heavier guitars once Gilbert starts to sing - whilst the later chorus sees clean and harsh vocals mixing together whilst Beverly's fast double bass drumming contrasts with the slower moving riffs. Gilbert's harsh vocals may not be the best in class, but her surprisingly deep growls are evocative and add to the album's doomy vibe nicely - whilst her more traditional soulful clean delivery sounds as good as ever, with the chorus a real hooky and bluesy moment which then explodes into a pretty muscular and old-school guitar riff. As is typical of the band's sound, though, the song progresses and expands as it moves along. Clean guitar melodies similar to the intro appear during some slower sections, and one such moment gives way to a slow-burning and heartfelt guitar solo, whilst keyboards are used elsewhere to double some of the bigger riffs - as well as to provide a denser sound as the song progresses. It might not be the most adventurous song arrangement-wise but all of the song's parts are memorable and it is a perfect way to reintroduce heaviness to the band's sound again following the calm of Starlight and Ash. Run from the Light feels a bit more urgent by comparison and the relatively shorter piece opens with a juddering riff which sits against a slightly off-kilter drum groove - over which Gilbert soon starts to sing. Despite the shorter length, though, the song remains extremely dynamic. This opening section soon gives way to a fast-paced chugging section - which introduces the voice of Fernando Ribeiro (Moonspell) who sings alongside Gilbert throughout. This chugging section features his trademark barked vocal style, whilst a later slower section sees the two harmonising together in a much more gothic manner. Gilbert also sings against some of the heavy sections, unleashing a few higher notes which is different from her normal approach, but generally she adds her usual bluesy edge to the band's heaviness - with the riffing from Davis and Kritikos pretty varied throughout. Throw in a shredded guitar solo and the track is a proper doomy prog metal anthem - and one of the best cuts here.

The album's longest track, Don't Come Back from Hell Empty-Handed, follows and it slows things down quite considerably - at least early on. The opening section of the song, with its warm clean guitars and shimmering keyboards could have easily sat on the last album - and Gilbert sounds really at home against this organic backing. I actually would not have minded another album in the vein of Starlight and Ash in truth, but it is fitting that the band have returned to heavier territories as they are not ones to stand still - and they have clearly brought the lessons from Starlight and Ash into this latest era. This is evident when the song gets heavier, as the organic sounds remain - with the metallic guitars and the warm keyboards contrasting perfectly to create a wholesome sound unlike anything else. Perhaps the moment here which really showcases the band's mix of sounds is a section which features blast beats and shredded guitar leads - over which Gilbert sings in the most soulful manner possible. A minute or so later she is singing against Beverly's delicate piano runs, too, but everything hangs together nicely - showcasing the real creativity of the band. Later on, too, they opt for strident and in-your-face guitar riffs against an anthemic rhythm section - but these movements all feel like natural bedfellows at this point given the band's history. Following the behemoth of the previous song, then, is the shorter and beautiful Wish - a much more overtly-melodic piece that reins in all of the band's usual progressive tendencies to deliver a hooky and somewhat poppy rocker which mixes a strong, heavier chorus with verses that see Gilbert sounding more ethereal than usual against a backdrop of chiming clean guitars. The chorus still rocks, but it is less riffy than anything else here up to this point - and it reminds me of some of the more restrained symphonic metal bands arrangement-wise, albeit with the band's usual organic approach retained. Again, there are shades of the previous album given the simpler arrangement - but it rocks harder than anything on Starlight and Ash. As such, the song is a bit of melodic respite hidden amongst the lengthier and more melancholic ones. Poem of Ecstasy opens with some distant piano melodies, which form the basis of the early part of the track - even as a prominent drum groove takes hold, which Gilbert perfectly weaves her vocals around. Chiming yet darker-sounding clean guitars also join in after a short while - and the mix of an old-school drum groove, the piano, and the effects-heavy guitars really hark back to the previous album. It feels like a leftover track for quite a while - but it does get heavier and doomier as it moves along thanks to an extended passage of harsh vocals and some later blast beats. The change between the cleaner and the heavier section is a bit stark but it still works and the song is another great example of the meeting of the minds this album seems to be. Fast drumming and chaotic soloing dominate the latter parts of the track then, with Gilbert regularly opting to growl, too.

The Given Dream is another shorter song but, unlike Wish, it is much more of a relative slow-burner. Pulsing synths open the track up, over which Gilbert starts to sing - and she is soon joined by a strange percussion loop, piano, and some strange sound effects. There are subtle industrial touches here, which clash with the band's usual organic approach, but the warmth the of the synths and the piano generally shine through - with Gilbert's soulful vocals rooting the song in the band's canon. Despite these industrial touches, though, the song remains on the slower side. The drum loop adds an urgency briefly, but this is countered by the general melancholy of the piece - which is built on towards the end when real drums and heavy guitars kick in to turn the last moments into a gothic, doomy chug. I Will Break the Pride of Your Will opens in a surprisingly similar way, with piano melodies and some programmed drum beats, but this only ever feels like a scene-setter for something greater - and soon a pretty hooky guitar riff kicks in and the track morphs into a mid-paced rocker with chugging guitars and a much more groove-based drum approach. Gilbert shifts back and forth between emotional clean vocals, which see her pushing herself a little more than she sometimes does to create a slightly anguished feel, and deep growls - whilst the band shift focus from this groovy approach, to a more metallic double bass-led pattern, and even return to the opening piano melodies to create a memorable bridge section later on. There is a bit more focus on riffing here, too, at least early on. The guitar playing throughout the album is varied, but Oceans of Slumber have not generally been a band to really focus on big riffs. Their songs are more soundscapes with each instrument a part of that tapestry, but there are a few more guitar-based moments here - and Beverly's drum fills are some of the most potent, as they stand out more due to the relatively more simple drum beats he utilises throughout the song. Prayer returns to something much crunchier and metallic overall - and the overall tone is somewhat similar to Run from the Light thanks to a greater sense of urgency throughout. There is another guest vocalist here, too, with Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquillity; Grand Cadaver; The Halo Effect; Cemetery Skyline) adding both harsh and clean vocals to the track. He has become a real favourite vocalist of mine of late - so hearing him here alongside Gilbert is a real treat. His growls are potent, but it is perhaps his clean vocals that really make the song - and with him and Gilbert trading off during a memorable chorus section. Whilst Oceans of Slumber's core sound is more atmospheric and doomy, I do like it when they let rip a bit more and go for something faster and heavier. This is one such song, despite some slower and more gothic sections, and it injects some energy into the back end of the album.

The last original track here is The Impermanence of Fate, which really returns to the album's core sound in a big way. The urgency from the previous song is totally stripped away and, again, there are strong links back to the previous album - especially early on. As a few songs here have done, the track opens with piano melodies - over which Gilbert delivers her vocals in her typically emotional manner. It is a very stripped back opening, even compared to the other slower openings here, but this only helps to contrast nicely with what is to follow - which are some of the album's most metallic moments. Oceans of Slumber flirt with extreme metal pretty regularly, but there is a section during this song which is flat out death metal - and easily the heaviest the band have sounded. The lightning fast double bass drumming, the brash guitars, and Gilbert's deep growls inject pure death metal into this album - and this follows an organic doomy riff-led section which is typical of the band's core sound. As such, then, the song gets heavier in three steps - and there is even a spoken word section following the heaviest moment, which is something different for the band. The song is one that continues to evolve, then, and it really showcases the band's progressive side. There is even a moment later on which feels pretty heroic, with soaring synths and a more strident hard rock base - but the song slowly fades back down to something slower as it comes to a close. Swirling keyboards begin to dominate and Gilbert sings in a more emotional manner during the closing sections - and the track comes to a low key close thanks to these keyboard textures. The final song here, though, is a cover of Chris Isaak's Wicked Game - although those of a certain age are more likely to be more familiar with HIM's take on the song from their 1997 debut album Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666. Ocean of Slumber's version of the track is much more stripped down, though, with Gilbert singing the song in her trademark style against a simple backing of piano and acoustic guitar. It never grows from this simple basis, despite the occasional guitar lead added in, and the song works really well in this manner - with the key melodies retained and Gilbert really drawing all of the emotion out of the lyrics. Oceans of Slumber have included a slightly left-field cover on all of the albums of theirs which I have heard and each one has worked well - with the band putting their stamp on a recognised song and making it their own. Covers like that are always the best rather than ones which simply re-record the song as it was originally - and the stripped down acoustic song works well as an end to the album. The album is a varied one overall, but there is an organic sound which runs throughout - and this is culminated in the closing acoustic number. Most importantly, though, the album continues on the band's excellent run - and the quality throughout is extremely high. There is no other band truly like Oceans of Slumber, despite their many line-up changes over the years, and Where Gods Fear to Speak is another dense and varied slab of progressive music which shifts from soft to heavy in the blink of an eye.

The album was released on 13th September 2024 via Season of Mist. Below is the band's promotional video for Poem of Ecstasy.

Visions of Atlantis - Bristol Review

I have said something similar on this blog before, but Austria's Visions of Atlantis have become one of my favourite symphonic metal bands over the past few years. During my real love for the genre during the late 2000s and early 2010s I did not really listen to them, but since seeing them open for Kamelot back in 2019 I have been hooked - and I have reviewed all of the albums which they have released since then and have seen them twice as headliners. I still struggle with the band's early work - but everything they have released since 2018's The Deep & the Dark has been excellent, and earlier this year they released their latest opus which has been getting quite a lot of love in my house. It was perhaps seeing the band last year which really cemented my love for them in a big way, though. They were great with Kamelot, but since then the band's current line-up has really solidified and have bettered themselves in the studio. As they played at last year's iteration of Bloodstock Open Air, the band arranged a few headline shows in the UK to coincide with the festival - so I travelled up to Bristol to catch them at The Fleece. Despite the show being mid-week, I remember The Fleece being pretty busy - with the band attracting a large and vocal crowd. The atmosphere was excellent as a result and the setlist was also strong - showcasing many of the current line-up's best songs with the occasional look to the past. As a fan, too, it is great that the band have been so active in recent times. They seem to constantly be on tour, either as a headliner or making new friends as a support act - and Visions of Atlantis seem to be bigger and more popular than ever. This is great to see, but even so I was not expecting to see them again so soon after last August's show. A few months later, though, the band announced a large European tour in support of their latest album which included three UK shows. Perhaps buoyed by the success of the previous show, another Bristol date was included in this latest tour - albeit at the Exchange rather than The Fleece. In my opinion, The Fleece is a much superior venue - so it was a shame that they did not return there. I can only assume that it was not available on the date, so the Exchange was chosen instead - and given the small size of the venue it was not a surprise when it soon sold out. I am not the Exchange's biggest fan due to its grotty toilets, tight corridors which make it hard to move around, and slightly strange main room layout which means a lot of people end up standing by the door - further making it hard to move around. It is not somewhere that I get to that often, as it tends to focus on punk, but it is not all bad - and I have had a few decent nights there in the past despite The Fleece easily being my favourite smaller venue in the city. Given the venue sold out, too, I imagine that a larger room than the Exchange could have been played - but the packed room made for a strong atmosphere throughout despite my overall dislike of the venue in comparison.

Annoyingly it was an hour after the doors opened before the music started, as it is always boring waiting for gigs to start, but thankfully it did not feel as if too much time had passed before Seraina Telli started her short set. She also supported the band last year - but given that there was an extra band on the bill this time she only had around 25 or so minutes to play with. Her poppy hard rock impressed last year, but I was not feeling it quite as much this time for some reason. Perhaps it was just the choice of songs played this time, but I did not find as many of them to be quite as memorable - plus she has since changed her live band configuration, losing a bassist and adding a guitarist. As such, all of the bass was on a backing track, which was a shame - plus I am just not sure that her music needed the addition of more metallic guitar playing. I was impressed with Telli as a guitarist last year, but she focused more on singing this time - which meant that her brash riffing and soloing was not as present as it was previously. I would have rather her sound retained the rawer feel that it did previously as it worked nicely as it did - so, for me, the changes made did not work all that well. Some of the songs which she played last time were played again, and they impressed again, but the others did not seem as hooky. She did not seem as up for it as she had last year, either. In fairness, the Exchange's stage is so small that she barely had any room to move - so for a number of reasons I did not find myself enjoying her set as much I had enjoyed last year's effort. She still came across well and did get the crowd going, particularly towards the end of her set, but last year she seemed a real force - so it was a shame that that did not come across so much on Monday.

Thankfully once the night got underway the changeovers between each band were relatively swift, so it was not too long before the night's main support act Illumishade took to the stage. I have been following the Swiss band since their first album dropped back in 2020 so it was great to finally get the chance to see them live - and their second album from earlier this year has certainly seen the band kick on to the next level. Despite the band's five members all being cramped on the small stage, they delivered a powerful set with ease - with six songs coming from this year's Another Side of You (which I reviewed here) and three from the debut. All of the newer songs came early on, with the melodic feast of Elegy kicking things off. Frontwoman Fabienne Erni has a voice which differs from many of her peers in the symphonic metal genre, if Illumishade can even really be called such, and her folky yet powerful delivery cut through the mix nicely - with Mirjam Skal (keyboards/vocals) often harmonising with her to create a powerful vocal sound. Despite barely having any space to play with, the band seemed really happy to be in Bristol. They had an infectious energy from the off and it was clear that it did not take them long to get everyone in the room on-side. There were certainly a few fans of the band already in the crowd, though, as certain song announcements received decent cheers, but I am sure that they also made a few new friends with their powerful performance - with the hooky chorus of Here We Are an easy one to easily sing along with early on before the heavier Riptide showcased the riffing and soloing of Jonas Wolf (guitar/vocals). Illumishade's sound is pretty varied, mixing tech metal riffing at times with the occasional gothic orchestration and symphonic flourish - all with Erni's poppy vocal hooks leading the charge. They introduced In the Darkness as 'a bit of power metal', though, and the up-tempo track certainly brought a strong reaction from the crowd - whilst the more cinematic and anthemic Rise from the first album showcased their core sound nicely. Erni even delivered some harsh vocals during Tales of Time pretty convincingly - and by the time they were closing up with World's End I am not sure that many in the crowd were ready for things to end. Judging by the queue at the merch desk following the band's set they had impressed a lot of people - and I hope that they return to the UK again soon as I would love to see them deliver a longer set. The setlist was:

Enter the Void

Elegy

Enemy

Here We Are

Riptide

In the Darkness

Cloudreader

Rise

Tales of Time

World's End

Overture: Edge of Dusk

By the time all of the support bands' gear had been removed from the stage there was actually a surprising amount of room - and Visions of Atlantis did not look as cramped on the stage as I had feared they would. They are a band with great stage presence, and limited space would restrict that, but they did the best they could with the space available to them - and the next 90 or so minutes were packed with 16 songs, 15 of which came from their most recent two albums. It was a very forward-looking setlist, then, but given the strength of the band's recent material the choice was wise - and frontwoman Clémentine Delauney initially took to the stage alone to sing the delicate and atmospheric To Those Who Choose to Fight - with the rest of the band joining her as it transitioned into companion piece The Land of the Free. Performance-wise, the show was on the level of last year's excellent one. Delauney and frontman Michele Guaitoli have a great chemistry and they stole the limelight all night. They spoke to the crowd all night and got everyone going - with the one who was not singing at the time generally getting the crowd going before returning to the microphone. Christian Douscha (guitar/vocals) did occasionally step out and deliver a shredded solo, but generally the band's sound focuses on symphonic hooks and the vocal melodies of the two singers. As such, the rest of the band can sometimes blend into the background - but I think that is somewhat intentional. Nevertheless, they always look as if they are having a great time - and with strong receptions to new cuts like Monsters and Tonight I'm Alive it is easy to see why. Most of the recent album Pirates II - Armada (which I reviewed here) was played, but early on there were a few relatively older cuts thrown in - with the bouncy Clocks and the more symphonic Heroes of the Dawn showing the band's variety. The new album is really strong, though, so it was great to hear all but two of its songs live. Even a song like the strange floaty Collide, which was not one of my favourite cuts originally, came across really well live - whilst anthems like Hellfire are likely to be in the set for years to come. The latter was one of the biggest crowd participation moments thanks to its shout-along chorus and it was an overall highlight for me. Another such track was the lengthier The Dead of the Sea which featured a much murkier sound and a slightly progressive edge - complete with some more prominent guitar moments from Douscha. It is good to see the band shaking things up somewhat, whilst the old-school power metal of Magic of the Night was a bouncy antidote to a couple of slower moments which had come before it. By this point, though, time was sadly running out. The more epic Pirates Will Return was another late highlight, with the band encouraging the crowd to sit on the floor and 'row' during part of it, whilst Melancholy Angel rounded out the main set with another big sing-a-long. There was time for a two-song encore, though, with personal favourite Master the Hurricane getting the crowd going again following the short break - but it was the night-closing Armada which saw perhaps the most singing of the night, with the band encouraging everyone to shout along as a powerful night of music came to a close. The setlist was:

To Those Who Choose to Fight

The Land of the Free

Monsters

Heroes of the Dawn

Clocks

Legion of the Seas

Tonight I'm Alive

Collide

Hellfire

The Dead of the Sea

Underwater

Magic of the Night

Pirates Will Return

Melancholy Angel

-

Master the Hurricane

Armada

Visions of Atlantis continue to go from strength to strength, as this current lengthy European headline tour shows. The band have never been in such a good place it seems and the recent material reflects this. Their live shows are perhaps where they shine the most, though. Symphonic metal bands can often come across as very serious live, but Visions of Atlantis manage to really bring the fun whenever they take to the stage - and they are one of the best in the business currently when it comes to delivering high energy and melodic metal shows.

Arch Enemy/In Flames - London Review

There was a time when three-band bills were pretty common in the classic rock touring world. Generally the two larger bands acted as co-headliners, with a smaller, yet still sizeable, band opening things up - and they helped to pull the punters in and keep these bands in the bigger venues. Sadly these tours do not seem to be as common as they once were, which is a shame as they always represented value for money and drew big crowds, but the idea does resurface every so often - with three big names in the Swedish melodic death metal scene currently undertaking such a tour across Europe. The three bands currently trekking around Europe are different from the arena-filling classic rockers who have often made use of such a format - but for those who love the Gothenburg sound, the tour was not one to miss. Arch Enemy, In Flames, and Soilwork have all been relatively regular visitors to the UK over the years - and the Swedish death metal sound has generally been pretty popular here. I had seen all three of the bands on the bill at least twice each prior to Sunday night in London - but seeing all three together on a monster bill was too good an opportunity to turn down. The Europe-wide tour kicked off here in the UK last week, and the sold out show in London on Sunday was the last one of the UK leg before the bands headed over into mainland Europe. I think that all four of the UK shows ended up selling out, or at least were very close to doing so, which is impressive considering that the tour hit some pretty sizeable rooms - with the London show taking place at the legendary Apollo in Hammersmith. In terms of UK rock and metal venues, there are few more famous rooms than the Hammersmith Odeon - as it was. So many classic bands have played at the venue over the years - with many live albums also having been recorded there. I have been there quite a few times over the years, but it had been a couple of years since my last visit - when I caught Opeth there back in 2022. I imagine that it was a lot of fun for the bands to play at the venue, too. Whilst all have played in London multiple times over the years, I cannot imagine that they had played the Apollo that regularly before - and selling it out is certainly an achievement in this day and age given all of the difficulties which touring bands tend to face. The strength of the bill certainly helped as there is a lot of crossover between all three bands' fanbases. Sometimes co-headline shows can feel a bit mismatched, but I doubt that too many people left Sunday's show early due to not having any interest in the final act of the night. I have certainly done that in the past, but there was no fear of that this time - and I was looking forward to an excellent night of melodic death metal. Both Arch Enemy and In Flames were rotating headliners - with both playing around 80 minutes each and Arch Enemy closed the London show. Soilwork are certainly the band with the smallest profile of the three, but they are still well-liked so plenty made sure to turn up early to catch them. It was a long night, then, with the doors opening at 5:30pm and Soilwork kicking things off at 6:15pm.

Navigating the venue's snaking queue did not take as long as it looked like it could have, so I was soon in the venue and waiting for Soilwork. I had previously seen the band live twice before, with both shows coming in 2019, so I was keen to catch them again after five years. Despite only having time for nine songs, and battling through a somewhat muddy sound mix, the six-piece showcased why they are likely one of the genre's most interesting bands - with a setlist that generally focused on newer releases, despite the inclusion of a few old favourites. Sadly, the sound mix for all three bands was not that great. All three lead vocalists were buried at times - and there was generally a muddiness to the evening, although it did improve slightly with each band. Perhaps in fear of being later overshadowed by the headliners, Soilwork opted to open with one of their biggest anthems in Stabbing the Drama. Usually reserved for the end of their shows, opening with the sing-a-long crowd favourite worked well - and it had the large crowd singing along from the off. Despite being low in the mix, frontman Björn Strid sounded as good as ever. There are few better singers in the genre in my opinion - with his harsh vocals sounding powerful and his clean vocals soared. The latter was showcased during the opening song's chorus - with two more older favourites in Exile and Distortion Sleep coming early on in the set, too, to give the crowd more choruses to sing along with. A highlight for me, though, was hearing the band's new single Spirit of No Return live. It is the first song the band has released since the death of guitarist David Andersson - who had also become the band's main songwriter over the previous decade. His replacement Simon Johansson (guitar) took the lead guitar-wise during the new track, though, and showed that Soilwork remains in safe hands. It contained another big chorus, too, and in many ways the melodic, yet heavy, track is very much classic Soilwork. I can only imagine that a new album will be following in the not-too-distant future - and based on Spirit of No Return it is sure to be another excellent one. The latter half of the set was made up of songs from the Andersson era, though, with Övergivenheten from the last album and the groove-based Death Diviner from a recent EP keeping the crowd going. Johansson and Sylvain Coudret (guitar) traded riffs and solos throughout the whole set - whilst the warm synth textures and leads from Sven Karlsson helped the classic Soilwork sound to ring true despite the less-than-kind mix. The anthemic and melodic Stålfågel was left to close out the band's 40 or so minutes on the stage nicely, with Strid hitting a very high note at the end of it, and the reception showed that Soilwork had done their job of warming up the crowd for what was to come nicely. The setlist was:

Stabbing the Drama

Arrival

Exile

Distortion Sleep

Spirit of No Return

Övergivenheten

Death Diviner

The Ride Majestic

Stålfågel

Morgongåva/Stormfågel

Of the three bands on the bill,  In Flames are my least favourite. I still like them quite a bit, and consider myself a fan, but I am far less familiar with their catalogue than I am with the others'. Like Soilwork, I had seen In Flames live twice previously -  a rather poor showing opening for Avenged Sevenfold in 2017 and a decent headline appearance in 2019. Despite the muddy mix, though, this latest show was easily the best of the three - both in terms of setlist and performance. With a good mix of older and newer material, covering 11 of their albums, In Flames approached the next hour-plus with all of their years of experience - clearly feeling rejuvenated following the strong receptions their last couple of albums have received. The 16-song setlist was very much packed full of favourites, old and new, with the groovy, mid-paced Cloud Connected kicking things off as the band took to the stage. Augmented this time by a keyboard player, who also handled a lot of backing vocals, the band seemed less reliant on backing tracks compared to when I last saw them in 2019 - and frontman Anders Fridén was full of confidence. He may not be the greatest singer in the world, but his clean and harsh vocals sounded strong - whilst the guitar duo of Björn Gelotte and Chris Broderick peeled off a number of memorable riffs and leads throughout. As Soilwork had done before, sing-a-longs came thick and fast early on. The anthemic Take This Life was wheeled out early - with other crowd favourites Deliver Us and the newer Voices also coming during the set's first third. The middle third of the set was a real winner for long-time fans of the band, though, as a number of tracks from the 1990s and early 2000s where wheeled out. The In Flames fanbase has often been divided, with many struggling to accept the band's direction over the past couple of decades, but I think that it is fair to say that the last couple of albums have harked back to the early days more than anything prior to them for a while. The classic melodic death metal anthems played all received strong receptions, though, with Food for the Gods kicking off this suite - with Coerced Coexistence containing some classic harmony guitar leads and Only for the Weak proving to be a real sing-a-long moment. The poppier Trigger was also included here, but it is another old favourite - and it is fair to say that everyone was on-side by this point. The two songs which followed from the latest album also received strong receptions, with Meet Your Maker perhaps being one of the overall highlights of the set for me. It has a huge chorus, which came across really well live, and Broderick showcased his contributions to the band with some memorable lead and solo work. The home straight was certainly in view at this point, but there was still time for plenty more music - with The Mirror's Truth being another late-set highlight. At this point I should also shout out the skills of new bassist Liam Wilson. He is a scene veteran due to his many years in The Dillinger Escape Plan and In Flames may not have been an obvious choice for him, but his busy playing added a lot to the sound - with his bass generally high in the mix. It was left to a couple of big anthems to round out the set, with the newer I Am Above and the older My Sweet Shadow bringing a powerful showing to a melodic close. The setlist was:

Cloud Connected

Take This Life

Deliver Us

Paralyzed

In the Dark
Voices

Food for the Gods

Coerced Coexistence

Trigger

Only for the Weak

Meet Your Maker

State of Slow Decay

Alias

The Mirror's Truth

I Am Above

My Sweet Shadow

Of the three bands on the bill, Arch Enemy are easily the band I have listened to the most. This was my fifth time seeing them and, whilst I likely listen to Soilwork more these days, they were an important band in my transition towards heavier music. They always deliver live, too, and this past Sunday was no different - despite also battling with muddy sound. Frontwoman Alissa White-Gluz fared the best of all of the singers, though, and she generally cut through the mix - which was fitting given that only two of the songs played, plus the closing instrumental coda, were from her era of the band. Kicking off with Deceiver, Deceiver, the band roared through a 14-song set with ease - with new guitarist Joey Concepcion providing to be a capable foil for band founder Michael Amott (guitar/vocals). The two traded leads and solos all night - and I hope that Concepcion fares better creatively in the band than his predecessor did, as Arch Enemy could do with shaking things up songwriting-wise in my opinion. That being said, though, the set was a powerful one. Anthems such as The Word Is Yours and House of Mirrors got the crowd on-side early on, before a rare trip back to the past in the form of My Apocalypse slowed the pace down and allowed White-Gluz to really prowl the stage. In truth, the song has never been a favourite of mine - and it is a song which could do with a rest in my opinion. Since White-Gluz has joined the band, Arch Enemy have slowly reduced the number of older cuts played, which is understandable, but the ones they do play tend to be the same each time. Nemesis is to be expected, but I am not sure that anything else is mandatory - and I would like to see the band mix up its older cuts live more. The setlist was very forward-looking, though, generally - which was great. Two songs from next year's Blood Dynasty were played, too, with the already-released Dream Stealer coming across well despite its strange tempo and groove changes - whilst Liars & Thieves was hard to judge given the muddy sound, although it sounded like it has a strong chorus. These two new cuts straddled the evergreen War Eternal, with other newer favourites such as The Eagle Flies Alone and As the Pages Burn also coming as the set progressed. A bit of a treat was a rare outing of First Day in Hell, which I had not seen the band do live before, and I always think that Sunset Over the Empire comes across better live than it does on the band's last album. There has been a lot to like about the last couple of albums but they have also felt stale in spots and I am hoping that Blood Dynasty pushes the formula somewhat. The initial signs are promising but I will reserve judgement until it drops. I hope there is some experimentation on the level of Handshake with Hell, though, which has already become a live favourite. The sparing use of clean vocals helps to shake things up and it is an anthem in the vein of the past - just a little different. It went down well on Sunday, but it was left to the band's signature track Nemesis to round things off, with plenty of singing from the crowd, before a customary abridged version of oldie Fields of Desolation brought the curtain down on a long and heavy night of Swedish metal. The setlist was:

Deceiver, Deceiver

The World Is Yours

House of Mirrors

My Apocalypse

Dream Stealer

War Eternal

Liars & Thieves

The Eagle Flies Alone

First Day in Hell

Saturnine

As the Pages Burn

Sunset Over the Empire

Handshake with Hell

Nemesis

Fields of Desolation

Enter the Machine

Despite my feet and knees feeling the full force of the long evening as I was leaving the Apollo, I had a great time on Sunday with three of the big names of Swedish melodic death metal. It is a shame that all three bands battled with muddy sound, but I still had a great time with each band in turn. It was great catching up with both Soilwork and In Flames after five years, and even though I only last saw in Arch Enemy in 2022 it was still great to see them again. With a new album from Arch Enemy dropping in the next few months, and one from Soilwork likely on the horizon given the new single, there is clearly a lot more to come from these veteran bands - and I am sure I will see them all live again at some point in the future.

Cats in Space - Paignton Review

It is great that seeing Cats in Space has essentially become an annual thing since the pandemic. Whilst I first saw the band back in 2017 when they opened for Deep Purple, it was not until 2019 when I finally got into them - and I saw them for the first time on my own terms just before Christmas that year. Clearly 2020 kept the band at home, but since 2021 I have seen them at least once every year - with 2022 being a bumper one as I saw them three times. One of the many great things about the band is the fact that they seem to want to play everywhere - and a trip down to Devon has become something of an annual occurrence, too, which is partly why I have been able to see them so many times. They played The Wharf in Tavistock in 2019 and 2022 - but since then their Devon venue of choice has been the Palace Theatre in Paignton. The somewhat rundown seaside town is not exactly a hotbed of live music so, on the surface, the choice to play there seems a strange one. I think the band initially chose the venue last year as they wanted to play a tour of smaller theatres, which The Wharf could not be described as, many of which ended up being in somewhat unusual places - so I can only imagine that the band enjoyed their first trip to Paignton last year and decided to return this year. This year's tour, supporting the release of sixth album Time Machine which drops later in the month, saw the band move back some more familiar rock venues - with some of the theatres played last year visited again. Given The Wharf was not booked last night and the fact that it is a more established and visited venue it may have made more sense to return to Tavistock - but I can only assume that there is something about Paignton which made the band return, and I think that there was a larger crowd in the house last night than there had been last year. In truth, none of the band's Devon shows have ever been bursting at the seams crowd-wise. It is a shame, but it is not uncommon in this part of the world for newer bands - but I do think that each time the band has returned to each respective Devon venue the turnout has increased. Bands like Cats in Space just have to keep plugging away at it - and they seem to have both the talent and the stubbornness to keep going until each venue is full to bursting. I will keep returning as long as they keep coming back - so it was a post-work drive over to Paignton which took place yesterday evening, followed by some dinner in the nearby Wetherspoons. Paignton is really not a particularly exciting place, and half the town was likely in the Wetherspoons. It was rammed, as was the case last time, too, and it is a shame that a few more in there did not decide to spend a night in the Palace Theatre afterwards. The theatre itself is quite decent. It is small, but it has a good-sized stage and the sound last night was very good despite the small sound system - as was also the case last year. In fact, the two shows were almost exactly a year apart, with last year's trip to Devon taking place at the end of September.

Unlike last year, though, this show was a more tradition one with a support act. Last year's tour saw the band perform 'Evening with...' type shows - with no support act and a much longer setlist. This produced the excellent live album Fire in the Night, but I imagine such shows are quite draining - so a return to a more typical-length show was, sadly, always likely. Opening the show, then, was Willie Dowling - whom I had seen earlier in the year both opening for and playing with The Quireboys. He seems to be a member of that band now, and he has a varied history with a number of bands such as The Grip, The Wildhearts, and Honeycrack - among others. His latest venture, though, is piano-led pop songs - and the set he performed last night with bassist Andy Lewis was very similar to the one he played in Swansea back in May with The Quireboys. He will be opening for (and playing with) The Quireboys again when I see them in Bridgwater in November, so I imagine that I will see this set for a third time, but I have to say that Dowling's style is growing on me. I remember enjoying some of his songs previously, but finding his between-song banter a bit much. I am not someone who thinks that politics should be kept out of music, and people can say what they want in my opinion, but some of his banter last time was student-level cliché in the everyone-who-disagrees-with-me-is-an-actual-fascist manner which has sadly become to prevalent in today's political discourse. He toned that down somewhat this time, and was actually a little cleverer in introducing his songs, so I found myself enjoying his set more as I spent less time rolling my eyes - despite not always disagreeing with the messages in his songs. Sometimes the way a message is delivered can undermine it - and life is always much more nuanced than idealists would have you believe. Moving on, then, I generally enjoyed Dowling's set last night. It is a shame that he could not bring a full band with him, meaning that he had pre-recorded drums and likely some other bits, too, but his piano playing was great and he has a knack for crafting a strong vocal hook. His songs are memorable in that whimsical power pop manner and his lyric writing is generally pretty clever, too, and much less ham-fisted than some of his banter would have you believe. He has such a huge history in music by this point that it is hard to know where to start with his work - but there is clearly a lot to like there, and I imagine at some point I will investigate further.

With a 10pm curfew seemingly in force, there was very little hanging around during the evening. It was not long at all following Dowling's set that Cats in Space hit the stage at 8:30pm - and the next 90 minutes were packed with the band trademark melodic hard rock. With the setlist over the last couple of years being dominated by material from 2022's Kickstart the Sun (which I reviewed here), and the 2023 tour setlist being a real career retrospective - I was pleased to see the setlist was pretty different this time around. Five songs from the upcoming album were included, and they slotted in nicely alongside some established live favourites and a couple of deeper cuts. A few songs were given a well-deserved rest, too, and the setlist flowed nicely - kicking off with one of the band's true anthems Too Many Gods. The band's current line-up, which has been in place since 2021 now, is a real hard rock unit. Frontman Damien Edwards goes from strength to strength as both a singer and a frontman - with the rest of the band as tight and lush as ever. The stage set was perhaps a little stripped back compared to last year's big effort - but it still looked great, and it shows what can be done when everyone pulls together. The crowd were very vocal, too, and the atmosphere was excellent throughout - with the new tracks being received as well as the classics. The title track of the new album followed Too Many Gods, with the mid-paced anthemic piece immediately sounding at home in the set. Some of the new material played felt a little more laid back than is typical, but Time Machine rocked hard - and it has a chorus which is sure to win over everyone. A somewhat deeper cut in Clown in Your Nightmare was then thrown in - and it was one I had not seen the band do live before. It is an upbeat and poppy track, but the strong keyboard playing of Andy Stewart and some wah-drenched guitars from Greg Hart certainly helped it to stand out.

It was the new material that interested me the most, though. Crashing Down and This Velvet Rush came fairly early on - and both were grand-sounding semi-ballads which built to big crescendos. The former was somewhat typical, but the latter took some different paths I think - with some excellent yacht rock-esque keyboard textures woven around the band's usual harder rock edge. The instrumental piece Broken Hearted, which featured on the live album, was sandwiched between the two - and had to be restarted due to Dean Howard's (guitar/vocals) pedalboard playing up. Perhaps my favourite of the new tracks played, though, was Immortal - a melodic hard rocker which sparkled with Boston-esque energy. Of all the new choruses I heard last night it was the hookiest - and the song feels like it is destined to be a real crowd favourite going forward. The final new track played was Occam's Razor (Not the End of the World), another up-tempo rocker, but it perhaps suffered from following the masterful Bootleg Bandoleros from the previous album - the band's most ambitious piece to date. It was great to hear the lengthy epic live again and it is a song which shows that Cats in Space are not just about three minute singles. By this point, though, the evening very much returned to familiar territory - with a three song suite of classics to round out the main set. The funky Thunder in the Night saw bassist Jeff Brown taking the lead with a prominent bassline - whilst the piano-driven pomp of The Mad Hatter's Tea Party and the epic Greatest Story Never Told, sung perfectly by Edwards and Brown as always, brought things to a close with many up and dancing in the isles. A two-song encore followed, though, and two more favourites were thrown at the expectant and hungry crowd - with the harder rock of Hologram Man and the dynamic I Fell Out of Love with Rock 'n' Roll bringing an excellent evening of melodic hard rock to a close. The setlist was:

Too Many Gods

Time Machine

Clown in Your Nightmare

Kickstart the Sun

Crashing Down

Broken Hearted

This Velvet Rush

Immortal

Bootleg Bandoleros

Occam's Razor (Not the End of the World)

Thunder in the Night

The Mad Hatter's Tea Party

Greatest Story Never Told

-

Hologram Man

I Fell Out of Love with Rock 'n' Roll

Seeing Cats in Space live is always a real event and it has been great seeing them so often in recent years. The band go from strength to strength and I am really looking forward to hearing Time Machine when it drops later this month. Signed to a label now, so with better distribution, I hope that this will be where the band can really kick on. They are the sort of band that many people would like if they actually heard their songs - and I am sure that this upcoming sixth album will be as good as the other five, with the new material played last night certainly only increasing my overall excitement.

Moggs Motel's 'Moggs Motel' - Album Review

Along with bands like Thin Lizzy and Uriah Heep, the sadly-defunct UFO are one of the best hard rock bands from the UK outside of the genuine big-hitters. In fact, the careers of Thin Lizzy and UFO are somewhat similar - with both peaking in the late 1970s with a career-defining live album and both being fronted by storytelling and unconventional frontmen. Phil Lynott sadly died many years ago, but Phil Mogg, UFO's frontman and the only consistent member throughout the band's varied history, is still going strong - and recently launched a solo career aged 76, two years after the rest of UFO's farewell tour was cancelled following his heart attack. UFO was officially laid to rest by Mogg earlier this year, with the cancelled dates never reappearing, and it seems that he has been putting all of his energy into a new project - the grammatically-incorrect Moggs Motel. I am going to start calling out bands who cannot use apostrophes properly, as it happens quite often and it is always annoying to type out technically incorrect song/album titles, but missing the apostrophe out of the band's name is not a good start! That aside, this latest venture from Mogg feels like a bit more of a band effort - but it is the closest thing to a solo album that he has released in his career, which started back in the late 1960s. There were the two Mogg/Way albums he put out in the 1990s with the late Pete Way, but these were essentially UFO albums under another name during a time of turmoil in the UFO camp. As such, then, Mogg's career has essentially been dedicated to UFO from the off - with even a new band he formed in 1984 eventually being branded as UFO to release the hair metal-adjacent Misdemeanour in 1985. With UFO dead and buried, though, it seems the right time for Mogg to try something different - and put out an album there will be significantly less impetuous to tour behind, something which he would likely struggle with now. Made up of one former UFO member and three alumni of the seemingly-defunct British hard rock band Voodoo Six, though, Moggs Motel is a formidable force of experience and younger talent. Mogg's two main collaborators here are former UFO multi-instrumentalist Neil Carter (Wild Horses; UFO; Gary Moore) and bassist Tony Newton (Deeds; Voodoo Six; KK's Priest). Both Carter and Newton wrote with Mogg here, with the latter dominating on that front, and with Carter handling guitars, keyboards, and even some flute, and Newton handling guitars and bass, the two veterans dominate the album - alongside Mogg of course. Providing some youthful energy, though, is lead guitarist Tommy Gentry (Zico Chain; Gun; Voodoo Six; The Raven Age) and drummer Joe Lazarus (Voodoo Six; INHEAVEN; Vennart; Twin Atlantic) - both of whom have amassed plenty of experience over the years with a number of different bands despite being younger than the others players here. Sound-wise, Moggs Motel's self-titled debut album, which was released last month, is not all that dissimilar to the last handful of UFO albums - and it follows nine years on from UFO's final album of original material: A Conspiracy of Stars (which I reviewed here).

Generally the quality is pretty high throughout this album. Mogg still sounds in fine voice, despite age deepening his trademark delivery - and the bluesy hard rock which the rest of the band conjure up around him suits his vocal style nicely. His knack for a snappy chorus hook remains, too, and that is evident from the off - with the excellent lead single Apple Pie kicking things off. The track opens with some effects-heavy guitar melodies, with a strong bassline underpinning them, which are very typical of Newton's writing style. The song slowly builds around them, though, with Lazarus soon adding a drum build-up - and when the band crash in proper the song morphs into a muscular hard rocker with a melodic guitar hook and a strident groove. Mogg might have never had the biggest vocal range, but he is one of the most underrated vocalists in rock in my opinion - and he shines here despite his advanced years. He croons his way smoothly through the song's verses, which feature a percussive drum groove and a mix of the intro effects-heavy guitars and something more potent, whilst the chorus is much rockier - with subtle harmony vocals and a snaking guitar lead. Mogg sounds as commanding as ever and his style remains distinct. The album has strong UFO shades as a result, despite the lack of any of that band's famous guitar slingers, and I think if the album had been released under the UFO name there would not have been too many complaints. I like that all of the focus is on Mogg here, though, despite the band still showing off at times - as with a great two-part guitar solo here which mixes a bluesy start with a more shredded finish. Upping the tempo, Sunny Side of Heaven is a crunchy hard rocker from the off - with more of an urgency than the previous number. The soulful backing vocals of Zoe Devlin Love (Alabama 3) are utilised a lot here - and she makes numerous appearances throughout the album. Her gospel-inspired vocals often compliment Mogg's more working class delivery - and the chorus here is filled with her wordless hooks, whilst the verses see her singing alongside Mogg at times to fill out the sound. Given that the song is a guitar-driven hard rocker, these additional melodies are welcome - but generally the band lock into a faster groove here, propelled by a snappy drum beat and the occasional guitar lead. A bridge section later adds some organ into the mix, but this is not a particularly keyboard-heavy album - and a busy guitar solo soon takes over. Like the first song, though, Sunny Side of Heaven is a real earworm - and it completes a powerful opening one-two punch. Face of an Angel goes for a moodier vibe - with the sound of rain early on joined by some acoustic guitar melodies and the odd chiming note. This early part of the song is very atmospheric, with the two guitar parts growing in stature as the rain pours - but once Mogg starts to sing the song becomes something more rocking, despite a more deliberate pace. The energy of the opening two numbers is replaced by a crawling pace and a pulsing drum and bass groove - with the band often stepping back to allow Mogg to sing alongside just the drums. The song feels a bit stop-start as a result, but this helps its strange vibe and lumbering groove to permeate - and there is still plenty of guitar firepower thanks to some sludgy riffing and a few bluesy leads.

 I Thought I Knew You also opens quite slowly, and there actually a surprising Iron Maiden influence very early on - with a melodic clean guitar melody and synth sounding similar to how Iron Maiden often open their longer pieces these days. The comparison stops when the song starts proper, though, as it is actually somewhat similar to the previous track - as it is another somewhat moody piece with a dour vocal delivery and some low-slung guitar action. Carter's keyboards are utilised a bit more here, with the verses backed by some simmering synths - before a more string-adjacent texture is used to bulk out the chorus. Despite the murkier vibe, the chorus is still memorable - and the riffing is still pretty sharp at times. This is especially noticeable behind the guitar solo, which is a real melodic feast, but at times the tone can be a little bluesier - especially when combined with the keyboard textures utilised. Following two tracks which trod a murkier path, The Princess Bride feels like more of a majestic hard rocker - and the energy of the opening couple of tunes returns. As is quite common here, though, the song opens slowly - with some emotional guitar leads setting an early mournful tone, before the band crash in and the song becomes a hard-driving mid-paced hard rocker with another strident, classic rock feel thanks to snappy guitar riffing and the subtle use of dancing synths. Love's voice is put to good use again here, with the chorus really benefitting from her soulful delivery. She really adds a lot to the album and it helps to separate the songs here from UFO's classic sound somewhat. Her voice helps to add some vocal diversity, too, given Mogg's limited range - but his rich tone still drives everything here, with the chorus being another hooky moment. The guitar solo section is more cinematic and considered, too, with the melodies feeling much more constructed and planned out - especially given that it follows a keyboard-heavy bridge section which adds to the song's overall grandeur. The song's symphonic outro transitions nicely into Other People's Lives (correct apostrophe use) - which also opens with strings and dense textures. It is a track which slows the pace down again, but the song is no ballad - and instead feels much heavier overall with a Black Sabbath-esque main riff and a lumbering groove from the rhythm section. Simple keyboard textures similar to the song's opening are slowly added to the mix, and they reach their zenith when the chorus kicks in. The chorus feels grander than the rest of the song, with Love's vocals again adding depth, and the verses generally feel quite primal thanks to the smouldering riffing and the aforementioned slower pace. Mogg sounds great over this sluggish beat, though, and I like how the song creates a real heaviness despite never really crossing over into metal. There is an old-school blues toughness to the piece which really shines - and this is also later present during the guitar solo which is another relative slow-burner, despite some real screaming leads towards the end.

A personal highlight here, though, is the snappy and punchy Tinker Tailor. It might not be the fastest or the heaviest piece here, but it has a strong groove from the off - with a pulsing, staccato guitar riff which is nicely augmented by some Hammond organ. Organ always helps a rock song to scratch a certain itch and, whilst the guitars still dominate, the song reminds me of the times that UFO occasionally let the late Paul Raymond lay into his Hammond. The arrangement is a little busier overall as a result, and this is capitalised on by plenty of guitar leads. The riffing is consistent throughout, but the verses are packed with lots of bluesy outbursts - which nicely compliment Mogg's vocal delivery. The chorus is a snappy one, which ups the pace somewhat, and it might be the one which features Love's voice the most - with her hooky refrains being real earworms. It is a simple chorus but it is one of the album's most memorable moments in my opinion - and the rumble of the Hammond underneath the guitar solo helps to give the song a real 1970s edge. The melodic bass opening of Weather is another classic Newton riff, and it could have easily sat on a Voodoo Six album, but the rest of the track is more akin to the core sound the band have conjured up here - at least the more slow-burning and rumbling side which has been present in about half of the songs up to this point. The track is a little more dynamic, though, with a good mix of riffier moments and sections which see the drums drop out to allow murky clean guitars and keyboards to add an atmospheric edge. The song has a big sound as a result and I like the mix of cleaner moments alongside the rock. Despite many of the songs here starting slowly, there have not been a lot of genuinely low key moments on the album up to this point - a big guitar riff is never too far away. It is great to see that Mogg still loves to rock after all these years, but in some ways I am surprised there are not more breaks in the action. The short instrumental piece Harry's Place somewhat is, though, as it is a slightly jazzy flute-led track which sounds like something from an old spy film set somewhere exotic from the 1950s. It has those cliché flute trills for effect, but it works well as a brief interlude, and it acts nicely as the intro to The Wrong House. Despite the extended intro, though, The Wrong House is another pretty muscular hard rocker - and it ups the pace again thanks to a driving drum beat and lots of snappy vocals from Mogg. Like the opening couple of songs on the album, this is a track that impresses thanks to its energy and hard rock attitude. There is a strong groove thanks to Newton's pulsing bassline, but the overall highlight for me is a smoother chorus - which is introduced by a hooky clean guitar melody to bridge the two parts of the song. Soulful backing vocals are once again used during the chorus so there is plenty more depth to enjoy here - whilst another soaring guitar solo helps to pin everything together.

The final two songs here feel a little more expansive than anything else on the album up to this point. They are not exactly prog epics, but they are a little on the longer side and they feel more involved instrumentally - with Carter in particular opting for his keyboards a little more. The penultimate track Shane opens with a jazzy piano flourish, before it morphs into a Kashmir-esque hard rocker with Eastern-tinged keyboards pulsing around the verses. The keyboards feel a lot more prominent here as a result and there is also space given over to lead guitar moments - with a short solo cutting through the mix following the first chorus. The arrangement is less snappy as a result, but Mogg is no stranger to the occasional more involved and expanded piece - and the album ending on a bigger scale feels fitting. It gives the album more of a feeling of a journey, even if it is not a concept album, and the driving synths build on some of the more rudimental uses of them early on. The guitar solo here is another excellent one and it is likely the most epic one on the album up to this point. It really screams through the mix with a bluesy wonder - and it suits the overall hard rock majesty of the piece nicely. Album closer Storyville follows, and the track is essentially a ballad. It is the slowest number here and it is based around some simple electric piano melodies - with a shuffling drum groove and shimmering keyboards adding further depth. Bluesy guitar leads are once again used to great effect, and there is another short solo after the first chorus - mimicking the arrangement of the previous track. Despite all of these additions, though, it is Mogg's emotional vocal delivery which really shines. He has sounded great throughout the whole album, but this slow-burning ballad really allows him to lean into his storytelling and Bruce Springsteen-esque side - with his aged voice perfectly conjuring up the emotions of the lyrics as Carter adds the ringing piano chords around him. Considering that the album has been pretty hard hitting up to this point, ending on a ballad works well. Mogg has sung a few key ballads over the years, but this piano-led, downbeat number is a great antidote to all of the bluesy hard rock which has come before - and it makes up for the aforementioned general lack of cleaner moments besides a few song intros. It is an emotionally weighty piece, with some more great guitar moments, and it ends the album on a high. Despite this, though, there are no real weak moments here. Even the songs which did not grab me at first have generally grown on me - and I like how vital much of the album sounds. It would have been easy for Mogg to retire, or put out something very downbeat, but much of this album still rocks pretty hard - and it is great to see him still doing what he does best. The band he assembled really brought out the best of him, too, and it is great to see him working with Carter again creatively - and his writing partnership with Newton has already flourished. Whether this album will remain a one-off or is the start of a new long-term project is hard to know - but I would certainly like to hear more from this group should Mogg have more to say.

The album was released on 6th September 2024 via Steamhammer/SPV GmbH. Below is the band's promotional video for Apple Pie.

David Gilmour's 'Luck and Strange' - Album Review

With the exception of a brief review of 2015's Rattle That Lock (which can be read here), his fourth solo album, I have not covered the legendary David Gilmour on this blog. I have called various bits of guitar playing Gilmour-esque over the years but, sadly, I have never seen him live - and the only album, until earlier this month, which he had released since I started to review albums on this blog was the aforementioned 2015 release. I am not sure why I did not review Rattle That Lock properly - but I can only imagine that it came out during a busy time for new releases, and also the fact that it is an album which has never really stuck with me. I listened to it a few times around the time it came out, and was somewhat positive about it in my end of year round-up, but I have not revisited it very often since - and, in truth, I find it to actually be quite a tame release these days. Gilmour's solo work has never exactly been particularly cutting, especially compared to his work with Pink Floyd (both with and without Roger Waters' input), but my limited revisiting of Rattle That Lock over the years has rather cemented my current view that it is something of a snooze-fest. It is a shame, really, as Gilmour has released so little music since Pink Floyd called it a day in 1994. It took him 12 years to release anything new following Pink Floyd's excellent The Division Bell in 1994, but 2006's On an Island is an album which I still like a lot. It might be another fairly gentle release, but it came out at the right time. I was really starting to get into music in a big way in 2006 - and Pink Floyd were one of my real favourites at the time. As such, On an Island and its associated live albums which followed received a lot of attention due to my huge consumption of anything Pink Floyd related during those years. I was not in the same headspace when Rattle That Lock came around nine years later - but I also think that it is fair to say that the 2015 release is weaker than On an Island. There is a trademark darkness to much of On an Island, something which has often permeated Gilmour's work, whereas Rattle That Lock just felt limp by comparison. Throw in 2014's The Endless River, Pink Floyd's de facto final album, a mostly instrumental affair made up of unfinished material featuring the late Richard Wright, and Gilmour was perhaps looking a little out of ideas. Fast forward another nine years, though, and I have been pleasantly surprised by his fifth solo album Luck and Strange - which dropped at the beginning of the month. This latest album is pretty similar to his other solo work, but it is a pretty concise release at just over 43 minutes - and the songwriting overall feels much stronger and a little more varied. Working with producer Charlie Andrew, who has worked with acts as diverse as Madness and Alt-J in the past, seems to have paid off - and the musicians on the album are a mix of regulars and new faces. Pink Floyd alumni Guy Pratt plays bass on most of the album and Gilmour's regular touring drummer Steve DiStanislao also appears here, but the legendary session king Steve Gadd actually handles most of the album's drumming - with the keyboards handled by Rob Gentry and Roger Eno, as well as Gilmour himself.

There is certainly some material here which is similarly laid back to the material found on Rattle That Lock, but there are also a few pieces which feel a little more fiery - and there are also some moments which feature lengthier and more involved instrumental sections. Gilmour's guitar playing is as good as ever, and his voice still sounds pretty strong, but there is more going on this time both songwriting and performance-wise. The short instrumental opening Black Cat is pretty chilled, though, with subtle piano and some trademark Gilmour guitar licks opening the album in a familiar fashion. The guitar tone immediately introduces Gilmour's latest opus without any confusion as to who is behind it - despite the presence of some new faces. Black Cat acts as a calm intro to the album's title track, though, which is one of the album's overall highlights. Built from an old jam featuring Wright, Luck and Strange is a more progressive-feeling song - with Wright's piano and Hammond organ lifted from the recording of the jam to allow for some excellent interplay between the two Pink Floyd men. Wright's jazzy piano motifs kick the track off, whilst the shuffling groove conjured up by Pratt and DiStanislao grounds the piece - and once Gilmour starts to sing the track actually sounds like a late period Pink Floyd piece. Wright's keyboard playing is all over the track, which is likely why, whilst harmony vocals provided by Gilmour's daughter Romany and a large choir create that classic Pink Floyd-esque choral sound. A hooky chorus, which is underpinned by some excellent guitar leads and soaring vocal harmonies, helps the track to stick - whilst the song overall feels much larger than anything on the previous album. Gentry's soundscapes add depth, but the main keyboards are always from Wright - who's piano often takes the lead during some instrumental segments to showcase the fallen musician. There is still plenty of guitar, though, with screaming leads during both the verses and the chorus - and there are also numerous moments where the guitars and keyboards play off each other nicely. Towards the end of the song this is very much evident, as the song morphs into a lengthy instrumental outro which features a lot of guitar soloing as well as some effects-heavy Hammond from Wright - with the two musicians taking turns to dominate. The song is an excellent one and it really harks back to Gilmour's songwriting of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Piper's Call is a more similar to the previous album, but despite a more laid back feel it seems to pack more of a punch. Ukulele chords and simple percussion open up the song, over which Gilmour soon starts to sing and lay down the occasional acoustic guitar lead. The song does grow, though, with Gentry's keyboards taking on a larger role as the track progresses - and Gadd slowly joins in with a simple drum groove. Slide guitars and more impactful keyboard textures then herald the arrival of the chorus - which again features some big harmony vocals to hark back to those last few Pink Floyd albums. The song is not as majestic, though, but it does start to feel more weighty later - thanks to some punchy, percussive drumming and a more prominent bassline. Soundscapes and a blues heft sit side-by-side, then, but the chorus is another strong one - whilst a closing guitar solo is surprisingly cutting.

A Single Spark is perhaps less interesting than the previous two songs - but its dream-like atmosphere does create an interesting vibe throughout. A unique rhythm section of bassist Tom Herbert (The Invisible) and drummer Adam Betts (Three Trapped Tigers) conjure up a pretty percussive rhythm - over which the song's main soundscape sits. This is very much a keyboard-heavy piece and it showcases what Gentry brings to the album. Despite much of the song being made up of his big chords, they create more of a darkness and an edge than was present on the last album - with Gilmour's occasional cutting guitar leads hitting the spot when they are utilised. There are other songs here which feature Gilmour's guitar playing more prominently, but this feels like more of a vocal and soundscape-led piece overall - until Gilmour launches into a guitar solo somewhat out of the blue, changing the overall vibe. It is one of the album's spaciest solos and it is really stretched out, too, which allows Gilmour to really sink his teeth into lots of melodic phrases. It is very much in the style which we have come to expect from him over the years and hearing him really deliver the goods over an atmospheric backing which feels more classically-inspired the more it moves along is a treat, even if the early part of the song is less memorable than some of the other moments here. Another brief instrumental, Vita Brevis, follows, which features Gilmour's slide guitar and some harp from Romany - before Romany takes the lead vocally on a cover of The Montgolfier Brothers' Between Two Points. Romany has a strong voice, and she adds harp to the piece, too, with her performance creating a mournful tone over some delicate acoustic guitars and washes of Mellotron-esque keyboards. Gilmour has released a few videos over the years of him and Romany playing together, so having her guest on his album feels fitting. Despite her having a strong voice, there is certainly a little bit of naivety in her delivery - which might have been absent had a more professional singer being employed instead. I think it actually works in the song's favour, though, as it feels very human - with the imperfect, but easy-on-the-ear, vocal performance floating nicely over the chiming keyboard textures and the slow plod of the rhythm section. My only real criticism of the song is that Gilmour rarely gets to stand out - with the exception of a guitar solo towards the end. His guitar playing is generally relegated to acoustic chords, with the keyboards handling most of the melody, but once he starts to solo the classic tone adds to the piece immensely. I wish there was more room in the rest of the song for his trademark playing, with a few fills to compliment the vocals, but perhaps he felt that it was best to step back somewhat - and his closing guitar solo is as impressive as ever in any case.

Moving into some somewhat heavier territory, Dark and Velvet Nights is a much darker piece than anything else here. Rumbling Hammond, both from Gentry and Gilmour himself, dominates the song - with the pulsing rocker driven forward by some organ stabs right out of the 1970s. Choppy guitar chords and the strident rhythm section of Pratt and Gadd keep the song moving, too, and it is another piece which harks back to Pink Floyd somewhat. Saying that the song is heavier is, of course, relative - but it certainly feels pretty lively overall, with a good mix of organic and more soundscape-esque instruments. I always enjoy hearing a Hammond, so the amount of organ throughout the song is welcome, but there is plenty of cutting lead guitar throughout the track too - with some dark, bluesy playing complimenting the tougher overall sound nicely. Soaring choral vocals add to the wider soundscapes, too, whilst another pretty hooky chorus allows the track to stick in the brain from the off. Slide guitar is used for effect at times, too, and this is a track which rarely lets up on the guitar front - despite the stabbing organ. The Hammond might provide the main motif, alongside some strings later on, but the guitar leads and soloing are on point - and the track is a favourite as a result. Sings feels less interesting overall, with the mellow song feeling like a bit of a leftover from the previous album. Much of what I like about the other songs here is generally absent - with the song being a slow-burner without the interest which is present elsewhere. The vocal melodies are quite poppy, which do have a positive effect as the song moves along, but there is little going on here from an instrumental perspective - despite some delicate piano playing from Gentry. Thankfully, though, most of the album is more involved than this laid back piece - so having this track here as a gentle break does somewhat work. The closing piece Scattered is much better, though, and it is the longest song here at around seven and a half minutes. It starts slowly, with effects-heavy piano melodies which hark back to Echoes, but the piece is a real grower - with plenty of keyboard layers joining in as Gilmour sings, and the rhythm section of Pratt and Gadd soon add an ominous pulse. It is pretty varied overall, with darker sections and more whimsical moments mixing together nicely to create an interesting vibe. Early on, Gilmour tends to stick to his acoustic guitar, in both the dark and the light, and he later launches into a lengthy and technical acoustic guitar solo - which builds on some of the melodies of the rest of the song, over the top of a shimmering keyboard pattern and a swaying groove. Once the electric guitar comes out, though, the song really launches for the stars. All of the build up to get this point pays off and Gilmour essentially carries out the album with easily the best guitar solo here. There have been some other great ones, but this is one to rival some of the great song-closing solos of his career. There is a short reprise of one of the song's vocal section against a much more stripped back arrangement to truly close the album, but it is the solo that everyone will remember - as it is full of trademark Gilmour moments. The album ends on a real high, then, and, in truth, much of the material here is strong. It is a big improvement compared to the last album in my opinion, with the songwriting being strong and memorable. It is always good to hear from artists like Gilmour who are not all that prolific any more - and this album was a pleasant surprise given that I went into it with low expectations.

The album was released on 6th September 2024 via Sony Music Entertainment. Below is Gilmour's promotional video for The Piper's Call.

Wintersun's 'Time II' - Album Review

Guns N' Roses' polarising 2008 release Chinese Democracy is often considered to be the most delayed and, as a result, overhyped album of all time. I am a big fan of Chinese Democracy, so I disagree with the second part of that statement - but given that it had been talked about since the band started recording it in 1998 up until its eventual release ten years later it is hardly surprising that it failed to live up to its own hype. Now that the Finnish band Wintersun have finally released Time II, though, I think it is fair to say that their fourth album easily overshadows Chinese Democracy in terms of delay and, at least in relation to the size of Wintersun's fanbase, hype. The story of Time II can be traced back to 2006, when Wintersun recorded the basic guitar, bass, and drum tracks for an album they planned to release in either 2006 or 2007 called Time - which would follow up their acclaimed self-titled debut release from 2004. The saga of Time has since become one of metal's longest running jokes over the past 18 years, with all but the most rapturous Wintersun fans finding the whole situation ludicrous - during which time the band's founder and frontman Jari Mäenpää has engaged in quite a lot of questionable behaviour, including a number of dubious crowdfunding campaigns (despite Wintersun being signed to Nuclear Blast Records) and stroking his own ego with stories of how no recording studio could possibly cope with his grand visions. Following plenty of initial delays, Time was split into two - with Time I eventually dropping in 2012. At this point I have to put my cards on the table and say that I am nothing more than a casual Wintersun fan. I bought Time I at the time and somewhat enjoyed it, but found the five songs it contained to be quite bloated and overproduced. It is not an album I have returned to that often since, but I did give the band more time in 2017 and 2018 - firstly due to the somewhat surprise release of the band's third album The Forest Seasons (which I reviewed here) in 2017 and secondly as I saw them open for Arch Enemy the following year. Given that I had not ever really gelled with Time I, I was pleasantly surprised by The Forest Seasons - and I gave it quite a few spins around the time it came out. It felt far less chaotic and suffocated than Time I, and it showed that Mäenpää was capable of producing compelling and progressive music without going over the top - especially as the album was essentially a solo album without much input from the rest of the band. I had hoped that Mäenpää would take positive lessons from throwing together (by his standards) The Forest Seasons - but it seems that he did not, as it still took a further seven years for Time II to drop. I imagine that it had become a bit of a sunk costs project over the years, and Mäenpää likely felt the need to justify all of his strange behaviour by producing the most epic metal album of all time. Perhaps unsurprisingly, though, Time II is no such thing. It is a solidly enjoyable album, as was Time I, and features the band's melting pot sound of melodic death, progressive, power, and folk metal sounding as adventurous as ever - but it is so overproduced it buckles under the weight of its own ambition.

Given that guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari, bassist Jukka Koskinen, and drummer Kai Hahto have had basically nothing to do with this album since they recorded their parts back in 2006, which I should reiterate was 18 years ago, it does make me wonder just what Mäenpää really thought he was doing tinkering with these songs for so long. There is only so much that can be gained by forever piling on more layers of synth - and all it has really served to do is damage the band's reputation following a well-received debut. Had leaner and meaner versions of Time I and Time II's songs come out as Time in 2006/2007 then Wintersun could well be seen as one of the best bands of their ilk - but following years of delay and the fact that everyone else in the band besides Mäenpää are now members of much more successful bands I do wonder what the future holds. That aside, though, Time II is still an enjoyable listen, as has been every Wintersun release, and it opens slowly with the instrumental piece Fields of Snow. As with Time I, there are a lot of Japanese themes throughout the album - both musically and lyrically. There are a lot of Japanese flavours during Fields of Snow, then, with the slow-building instrumental essentially an overture for the album - with gentle piano melodies setting the tone early on, whilst aching strings and what sound like Japanese wind instruments add floating themes as the song progresses. There is nothing heavy at all about the song and it is a showcase for Mäenpää's soundscape work. It is probably one of the best-produced moments on the album, though. There is a lot going on, but the strings and synths are not having to compete with a metal band - and the melodic, slow-burning, but still relatively up-beat music would work well in the context of a video game about ancient Japan. Transitioning into The Way of the Fire, though, and Wintersun's core sound is revealed. The opening of the 10 minute-plus piece introduces some folky acoustic guitar melodies - before Hahto's drums crash in, laying into a black metal-esque drum pattern, over which machine gun rhythm guitars create further heaviness. The main issue I have with this album, though, is the overall mix. As soon as Mäenpää starts to sing, his voice is buried in everything else around him. There are moments where he is heard quite clearly, but often he is just part of the various tapestry of sounds around him - with dramatic string synths and the drums often dominating the mix, with the guitars, bass, and vocals reduced to bit-part players. Mäenpää still sounds strong vocally, though, with both his clean and harsh vocals hitting the spot - and when the vocal melodies are allowed to cut through it is clear why Wintersun are held in such high regard. The first proper guitar solo moment on the album is another such moment, as Hahto's drums lay off the blasting for a moment and allow for something more intricate and melodic - but this is short lived because soon a huge choral arrangement comes in to once again suffocate the mix. There is nothing wrong with Hahto's playing here, but the drums have such a clacking and up-front sound that they often overpower the songs - with the melodic features often crushed between the drums and the overabundance of synth layers. The song has a strong chorus, which would have hit harder had the mix been more vocal-focused, and occasional guitar leads do shine - but The Way of the Fire is sadly, like much of the album, a victim of poor production and mix choices.

One with the Shadows is the shortest 'proper' song here at just over six minutes. Of the album's six songs, two are 'shorter' instrumentals and three are 10 minute-plus epics - leaving One with the Shadows as something more bite-sized, relatively speaking. It might be my favourite individual piece on the album and, whilst it suffers from the problems already mentioned, it just feels a bit less overblown. It opens slowly, with a great, aching guitar solo - which is filled with emotion and melody. Generally the song is less chaotic and frantic than the previous piece - with the track being more mid-paced overall, with a slight gothic edge thanks to this chugging approach. Hahto's drums are still overpowering at times, and there are some faster portions early on which return to that black metal-adjacent sound, but a strong chorus featuring some soaring clean vocals which actually cut through the mix quite nicely and a strong focus on progressive-sounding guitar solo sections give the piece a lot more focus. The guitar soloing here is really well constructed - often building on some of the vocal melodies and main motifs to create real musical journeys - and the reduced number of ideas allows the hooks to really sink in. Songs like this show what Mäenpää can produce when he is not trying to make everything 11/10 on the epic scale - and the track nicely transitions into the short instrumental Ominous Clouds, which is somewhat similar to how the album opened, but with much more of a guitar focus. Darker synths and weather sounds set a darker tone, whilst clean and spacey guitar melodies transition back and forth between slow-burning segments and faster-paced runs. It is over as quickly as it starts, though, transitioning again into the 12 minute-plus Storm - which continues on the vibes of Ominous Clouds early on, albeit with a more structured guitar motif. Alongside The Way of the Fire, Storm is the heaviest and most intense piece here. After the opening minute or so of clean guitar set-up, the fast-paced drums which characterised the aforementioned lengthy piece kick back in and the early moments of the song are extreme metal influenced. The gothic trappings of One with the Shadows are retained, though, and there are choirs utilised early - utilised in a call-and-response manner with Mäenpää. The mix is a little more balanced here, though, despite the drums still dominating - and the choirs and gothic strings feel a little more impactful than they have elsewhere as there feels to be a bit less going on overall. Mäenpää's vocals can still get buried in the mix, though, especially when he sings clean, but the balance is a little better this time - and it is real shame overall that the album's mix is so varied. There is still a lot going on here, though, and I imagine that the track would sound much better had it been stripped down and not been so full of synth layers. Bands with far less resources have produced better sounding and similarly epic albums and it does make me wonder whether Mäenpää really knows what he is doing. He is like metal's Tom Scholz in the sense that he got lucky with a debut which was essentially all self-produced and self-played - which went to his head to make him think it made him some sort of prodigy.

As with some of Boston's later albums, then, I cannot be convinced that Time II is the work of such genius. Mäenpää is clearly a good songwriter and an excellent guitar player, but working with a talented producer would have certainly led to a better outcome - and potentially a more band-focused one as I would imagine that the input from the other band members here has been whittled away as these songs evolved into the bloated messes they generally are. The final piece here, then, is the album's longest at over 13 minutes - with Silver Leaves trying to be both a prog epic and an outro all at the same time. It builds on some of the melodies which were introduced in Fields of Snow as the album opened - with the first section of the song sounding like a reprise of the album's intro. As such, the track takes a while to get going and it does sound a little jarring to repeat the same themes - but they are built upon as the drums kick in a more epic-sounding version of the album's intro is then delivered with a heavier guitar backing. I do like the way that song progresses, though, and those intro melodies are soon being woven around Mäenpää's strong clean vocals - as he sings against a floaty and Japanese-inspired soundscape. This is one of the album's most impactful moments as it is not totally drenched in unnecessary additions. The drums are less overpowering, too, and the vocals actually shine - which is a treat given that they generally fall foul to a chaotic mix elsewhere. There is actually a strong atmosphere here as a result and the song seems to build naturally - rather than feel like a number of segments stitched together as some of the other longer pieces here do. It feels like one fully realised idea rather than a number of disparate ones - and I do actually like how the song grows from a reprise of the album's intro on reflection despite it sounding a bit odd at first. It allows the song to have this epic folk-adjacent sound - with a chorus that easily sticks in the brain and the occasional opportunity for harsher vocals and injections of subtle heaviness. The song might be a bit on the long side given that it does not significantly shift from its core idea, but I think the atmosphere and the general focus on melodies helps to somewhat justify this length - and I also do quite like the lengthy fade out which features some Japanese-esque guitar melodies without any real backing and the slow burn of some weather and windchime sounds which bring the album to its actual close. Silver Leaves works really well for me and I wish that more of the album was as focused - and I think it is telling that my two favourite pieces here are those which are a bit more restrained in terms of ideas: One with the Shadows and Silver Leaves. Both The Way of the Fire and Storm have their moments, particularly the former, but they also suffer from the album's trademark overblown production and a messy mix. It is a real shame, as the Time project could have been one of metal's most interesting melting pot albums from a band that is not considered one of big names. Sadly, though, it has been compromised from the off by ego and a bandleader clearly not used to being told 'no' - and neither Time I nor Time II deliver on the promise of what could have been.

The album was released on 30th August 2024 via Nuclear Blast Records. Below is the band's promotional lyric video for The Way of the Fire.