THE CLOCKWORK FABLE

Since I have really enjoyed "A Forest of Fey" back in 2014, I was curious about the new Gandalf's Fist album, especially after checking out the website they set up for "The Clockwork Fable" in order to introduce the entire concept and to provide detailed background information on the story they came up with. A civilisation under the surface of the Earth, the servants of darkness against those to try to find their way back into the light... It was clear right from the start that this was going to be something special.

I got my Digi-Pak a couple of days ago, it's beautifully designed and came with a signed card and a guitar plectrum with a symbol on it that can also be found on the website mentioned above. Very nice! Three CDs, three acts, more than three hours of playing time... very obvious that this is anything else but an ordinary prog album. "A Forest of Fey" was great, but this one's better - well, maybe "better" is not the right word, to say "it's different" would be more appropriate. "The Clockwork Fable" is more like a radio play; between the songs, the entire story is told by professional actors they hired for the job. I have to admit I was a little sceptical when I read about the spoken parts at first, but after a few minutes of listening it became obvious that the concept works very well, adding some nice goosebumps moments to your listening experience. It's like listening to a movie that you can see in your mind.

But even if you're not in the mood for a radio play, you can easily skip the spoken parts and just enjoy the music. And there's definitely a lot to enjoy! The opener, "Shadowborn", has a catchy melody and whets the appetite for more. And as you go on, you won't be disappointed. Each and every song on the album is beautifully composed with recurring themes standing for the different characters of the story. You'll find epic prog songs such as the Lamplighter trilogy, beautiful ballads ("Eve's Song" is definitely one of the highlights), but also some harder stuff like "At the Sign of the Aperture", which is one of my personal favourites. But in fact, it's hard to name any favourites at all since each song has a fascination of its own, all of them very complex so that every time you listen, you'll discover something new.

Guest musicians such as Dave Oberlé, Blaze Bayley, Arjen Lucassen and Melissa Hollick make sure that each of the story's main characters have their own singing voice which makes the entire story even more authentic. And in the end, after a long, epic journey, while listening to the final song, "Through the Lens", you'll feel as if you, in fact, see the sun rising for the very first time in your life. Gandalf's Fist at their best. Brilliant.