FALL OF THE WATCHER

Apparently, the third album released by a British band who only recently came to my attention thanks to the glowing review of Thomas Szirmay. Comparisons to both Steven Wilson and Peter Nicholls/IQ are warranted, but I'll go further to specify 1990s PORCUPINE TREE as most familiar to the music here while the vocals, in particular, seem equally influenced/reminiscent of those of SYLVAN frontman Marco Glühmann and Michael Stipe as much as a young Peter Nicholls. The fact that the album was mastered by The Pineapple Thief's Steve Kitsch also makes sense.

1. "Fall of the Watcher (9:11) long, slow-to-develop spacey intro leads into Pink Floyd/NO-MAN-like organ fill followed by guitar and then establishment of bass and drum lines. Nice! Enter the vocals of Robin Peachey. He has a very nice, slightly vulnerable sounding voice with a delivery style similar to those of both Peter Nicholls and Steven Wilson. The chorus starts off oddly similar to that of Steven Wilson's "Time Flies", though the rest of the chorus is nothing like it. Great key change at the 4-minute mark. Interesting guitar solo at the end of the fifth minute--more like the style of DAVID GILMOUR though neither the sound or register Dave would use. In the sixth minute, however, the accompaniment shifts into third gear as the guitar moves more into a wonderful extended Gilmour/Bjørn Riis-like dynamic, multi-faceted solo. Prog heaven, folks! Great bass and drums beneath. At 8:25 we are let loose--left free-falling to the surface. Not what I was expecting! But Brilliant! Great song. What an epic! Definitely a top three favorite for me. (19/20)

2. "White Room" (6:34) this song just has a great, soothing feel to it--on many levels. Hypnotic and melodic. Brilliant! And beautiful. My favorite song on the album. (10/10)

3. "Drowning" (5:36) there's a Porcupine Tree-David Sylvian feel to this song from the Richard Barbieri-Steve Jansen feel of the rich keyboards and syncopated rhythm track, Nice Peter Nicholls vocal performance. (8.75/10)

4. "Sacrificed in Vain" (10:28) opens with very static reliance on keyboard strings for backing Robin's vocal. In the second half of the second minute, drums and strumming acoustic guitar enter to move things forward--at least into second gear. The chorus that soon ensues is multi-part, the second part much better than the first. At 3:37, then, a heavier rock guitar sound, chunky bass, and power drums take over making this a very PT experience. At 5:17 the heavy motif stops and spacey synths and heavily treated "drum" track take over while electric piano chords, Robin Peachey's multi-pitched vocals sing with nice psychedelic guitar play and Steven Wilson-like solo play within and around. I love the "in all" vocal repeat in the coda that leads into the bluesy guitar solo of the ninth minute. Not a perfect or completely developed song, the choices of palette shifts and instrumental sounds are well met. (17.5/20)

5. "Lack of Information" (6:33) REM meets PORCUPINE TREE meets IQ. Another great song--the keyboard "strings" are masterful. (9/10)

6. "April Sky" (7:21) both NO-MAN and IQ come to mind in the first minutes of this pretty song, the former for its musical palette and pace, the latter for the vocal stylings. It never ceases to amaze me how much can be created from keyboards. The Peachey brothers make quite a team. Kudos! The guitar solo in the fifth minute is pure Steven Wilson: nothing overstated or flashy, just perfectly fitting. My second favorite song. (14/15)

Total Time 45:43

Whereas Thomas was completely wowed by the melodies, I find them a bit simplistic and underdeveloped. At the same time, I find Steve Peachey's rich yet understated keyboard work--especially the "strings" arrangements to be quite sublime--reminding me of the virtuosic work of Jørgen Grüner-Hagen on AIRBAG's debut album, Identity.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of richly hued progressive rock music--and now one of my favorite releases of 2022. Thanks, Thomas! But more, thanks Returned to the Earth!