THE CLOCKWORK PROLOGUE

I first came across this band when they released Forest of Fey which featured a surprising number of well known guest musicians like John Mitchell and Clive Nolan. Since then they've release a couple of new albums and also rerecorded and reissued some old ones. The made their biggest splash so far with The Clockwork Fable, a mammoth three disc part concept album.

The Clockwork Prologue continues where that left off, or rather it finishes where that starts, because in yet another hint that this band are in fact time travellers, this album is a prequel to Fable.

The band seems to grow with every release and they're now a six piece with new vocalist Keri Farish taking over the reigns from previous guest voice Melissa Hollick and Ben Bell (from Patchwork Cacophony and Broken Parachute) providing keyboards.

Prologue is disappointingly only a double album (come on guys we were hoping for a quad album release this time) and continues the same narrative/music mix from Fable. The acting continues to be far better than it has any right to be with some hilarious turns from returning (and new) voices.

Musically the album starts on a high then seems to get better with every song of te first before changing up another gear for the thunderous Blackening. CD 2 shows no signs of slowing down and with the majestic Clockmaker being a high point and bowing out with another addition to The Lamplighter collection, "The Lamplighter Overture".

I can't wait to see what this band comes up with next. Will it be a prequel to the prequel? Will they add more musicians? Will the actors release their own solo albums? Anything seems possible.

4.5 clockwork stars, wound up to 5.