BLAZING REVELATIONS

Dominic Sanderson's 2023 debut LP, Impermanence, was one of my favorite albums of 2023. It was dark and moody, with sharp contrasts between delicate and bombastic passages. He drew a lot both from classic acts like King Crimson and more modern bands like Porcupine Tree. The song titles are a bit on the melodramatic side, but the music is strong.

Two years later, he's back with his sophomore release, Blazing Revelations. Sanderson, covering guitar and vocals, is backed by four additional musicians, including a dedicated wind instrumentalist. The music maintains its dark edge, but he is much more clearly drawing directly from Van der Graaf Generator than on his previous release.

Bouncing, chunky clavinet lines kick off "From the Weeping Cradle", the first half of which is an enthralling instrumental. Wonky guitar and sax lines call to mind more avant-leaning prog acts, but it soon descends into a melodic passage full of swooping Mellotron, fluttering flute, and acidic guitar passages. This opening passage morphs several more times. It slows down and features some intricate percussion; it picks things up with a funky groove; and some passages teeter on dissolving into pure chaos. There are a lot of ideas crammed into the first six minutes of this song, and I don't want to call it disjointed. I love it, it's really fun, and that diversity is a major strength. But at the same time, it can feel like it's pulling in almost too many directions. Thankfully, a handful of motifs are revisited throughout its runtime, lending it a bit more coherence than it might otherwise have.

Sanderson's vocals are less delicate than on Impermanence. This song sees him doing his best Peter Hammill impersonation, and he pulls it off pretty well. As the song moves into its second half, some psychedelic blues emerge, and the wiry guitar solo is an especially tasty jam. Avant-prog influences show up again in the song's final two minutes, with violin and saxophone squealing and itchy as uncomfortable guitar chords push things along.

"Faithless Folly" opens on wide-open, spaced-out guitar chords. They're unusual, but there is an odd sense of warmth to them. The first verse is frantically whispered as the rest of the band gradually grows. Sax, bass, guitar, and wordless vocals start off quiet but swell bit by bit. There's yet another sudden shift to a new, odd-meter passage. The feeling is disorienting but addicting, with sax and guitar belting out an oddball pattern in between blasts of Mellotron and strange jazz riffage.

Moving into the middle of the song, things go in a much more Floydian direction. It's melodic, underpinned with glimmering organ, and there are long, languorous guitar notes. This is, of course, interspersed with more intense and madder musical themes. Van der Graaf influences come back in force near the song's conclusion. Much like the opening track, I'm left with a feeling that this borders on being jumbled. There are enough recurring themes to hold it together, and I like it a lot overall, but there are simply a lot of ideas here, even for a 10-minute song.

The shortest song on Blazing Revelations is the six-minute "A Rite of Wrongs". It also is the song that feels the most like one fully realized idea. It's a slow acoustic piece, and it's the most similar to what was on Impermanence. Violin and simple hand percussion call to mind acts like Comus or Harmonium.

The album ends on its longest song, the 16-minute "Lullaby for a Broken Dream". Its opening is slow, with rich Mellotron and some folky acoustic guitar. These voices are contrasted with some harsh electric guitar and sax lines, cultivating a menacing mood. The verses in this opening movement are hard-rocking, with crunchy riffs, propulsive drumming, and squalling sax arrangements. Sanderson's vocals are also strong and inventively arranged. 

Moving into a quieter passage, the bassist gets their turn in the spotlight. Acoustic guitar plays support to some warm noodling, and this passage is an effective foil to this song's opening.

Around this song's midpoint, the preceding gentleness morphs into a stormy, hard-charging passage. Fat, percussive clavinet contrasts against the cutting lead guitar line, and the eventual inclusion of Mellotron adds a sense of richness and majesty. As much as I enjoy the instrumental excursions of the second half of this song, it does suffer from the same minor ills as the first two cuts on this record. This is by far the most cohesive of the three long pieces, but it does still walk a tightrope between "adventurous exploration" and "just tossing musical ideas in for the hell of it." The closing passage is quite nice, and it acts as a lovely capstone.

Blazing Revelations is a more ambitious record than Impermanence, and I really like it overall. However, in deciding to put forward fewer but longer songs, Dominic Sanderson also took a structural risk, musically. The music on this record is all great, but the first two songs especially can feel somewhat scattershot at moments. Despite that, this is an early contender for the top of my nascent best-of-2025 list.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2025/02/24/album-review-dominic-sanderson-blazing-revelations/

Social review comments

Review related links

• Send comments to TheEliteExtremophile
• Report this review (#3156485)
• Buy DOMINIC SANDERSON music online with PA partners
• Show all DOMINIC SANDERSON MP3/Stream
• Go to DOMINIC SANDERSON page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Blazing Revelations page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for DOMINIC SANDERSON related discussions