STARFISH

This sixth album from "The Church" is all about melancholic rock. The band seems to have taken some distance with their new wave oriented sound and released a straight forward good rock album. Still, "Spark" or "Reptile" do sound as most of their previous works.

Lots of guitars, even acoustic moments like during "Under The Milky Way" do provide a fine musical moment. I far much prefer this album than their last three efforts. This one offers a more mature work (maybe that the long three years break was necessary to reach this).

I also agree with the comparison, with the great "Echo & The Bunnymen". Same melancholic and detached approach. I quite like this actually. The Bunnymen were definitely one of the best band of the eighties.

I also have to mention that the prog relation is rather thin on this album; but we are still in front of a good rock album. And when music is good, it is all that matters I guess.

One of my fave is the dynamic and solid "North, South, East And West". The filiation with The Bunnymen has never been so close. Soaring guitars, peaceful and deep vocals. Quite enjoyable for sure.

The only negative point about this album could be that it should have been more varied. After the first half, one gets too much of the same (cf. "Antenna"). In all, this is quite a decent album which I rate with three stars.