AFTER THE WINTER

The synopsis of this album is "A man who transfers his thoughts and memories to a synthetic body in order to survive an apocalypse seeks to return to his human form". Yes, yet again we are in the world of Mark Healy, which is bleak and post-nuclear war, some time in the future. Rowan Salt has again joined Mark by providing bass, and it is interesting to note that Faleena Hopkins, who portrayed Sabel in 'Replacements' is back again, this time as Arsha ? the first time that one of the actors has returned. There are only two characters in this story, down from four last time and three in the debut, but in many ways, this is possibly the most compelling to date.

When listening to Mark's cinematic visions I have sometimes wondered which author he most reminds me of, but there was no debate on this one, as to me this is Stephen King and the wastelands encountered on the journey to The Tower. But, as always with Mark, there is quite a twist. If we consider this to be the third in a loosely connected trilogy taken from the same world view, albeit at different times, this is the one furthest in the future, and the one that seems to have the most music within it. There are few words in the script outside of the conversations that take place between the Arsha and the lead character, Brant, and his post rock Pink Floyd inspired soundscapes perfectly capture the mood.

This is the perfect combination of two quite different art forms, that of music and of a script spoken by professional actors, so that one enhances the other to make something so compelling that once it has started, nothing else exists. At the end of this album I felt it was more complete than 'Replacements', one where this particular chapter had come to a logical conclusion. There were questions I wanted answered, and I did want to know what happened in the future, but I also felt that the story was concise and ended in a better fashion than the last one. Compelling, enthralling, imaginative and exciting, Hibernal.