THE SLOW RUST OF FORGOTTEN MACHINERY

Yes, "Good, but non-essential". No, three stars rating doesn't mean the record is bad. This is a solid, professional record with excellent production and sound (bravo, Tangent!) and flawless musicianship from the crop of modern prog. As always, I especially love their jazzy moments and how those guys interplay with each other. But alas, half of the album isn't good. The first two tracks are very good, typical Tangent. 4.5 out of 5. "Slow Rust"... Disjointed "epic" with political lyrics.... It has its moments, but lets face it: how many good 20+ minutes epics did you hear? 3 our of 5 "The Sad Story Of Lead and Astatine" is what I love about this band: jazzy, breezy, airy and simply beautiful! 6 out of 5! "A Few Steps Down The Wrong Road" - oh, here it comes again: another one "political epic", now with spoken words and lyrics about migrants and Brexit. Again, it has its moments, but spoken words and loud "satirical" chorus about giving them money and power make the song a bit painful to listen. For me, at least. And in my opinion, the lyrics are simply banal. 2 out of 5 The Tangent would make an Excellent instrumental record! I hope some day they will do that! Alas, Andy's "angry" vocal and songwriting ambitions of writing "actual" songs pull this record down, just like most of their latest records. So, out of 73 minutes, you have 30 minutes of hardly listenable political "epics" and 33 minutes of very well-composed, superbly played and recorded prog with strong jazzy flavor.