BLAZING REVELATIONS

The sophomore release from the young newcomer who burst onto the prog scene with his amazing Impermanence back in 2023 (my #21 Favorite album from that year).

1. "From the Weeping Cradle" (12:00) opening with a clavinet motif! If that doesn't impress, I don't know what does! Tristan Apperley bass lines, Embiye Adali's infrequent mellotron "rests" coupled with Dominic's complex guitar and Jacob Hackett's syncopated drumming then take us through the second motif--about 90 seconds--to the two-minute mark where the band smooths into a forward-moving WOBBLER/YES-like motif. The third minute sees the takeover of Dominic's soloing guitar before yielding to Hammond organ, flute, and over the next minute before everybody kind of comes together in a truly YES-WOBBLER fashion: gushing out a full-band weave of complex instrumental lines. Flute, Mellotron strings, and chunky bass take the fore as the band speeds along until 5:45 when the musicians break for a dramatic vocal delivery from Dominic that sounds very much like a Peter Hammill/Matthew Parmenter/(John Wetton)- like Shakespearean actor singing his lines--and he pulls it off respectably! Hammond organ, bass and drums take us out of the seventh minute with a little help from some acoustic guitar. Dominic's doubled-up Hammill/Parmenter voice returns in the eighth minute with some RPI-like harmony b vox but really this is a two-and-a-half minute Peter Hammill School of Dramatic Singing master's degree defense by the remarkable Mr. Sanderson! Full marks! With Honors! (And I'm not even much of a fan of either PH or VDGG!) As good a s (maybe better than?!) the founder himself! The VDGG music that fills the rest of the tenth minute and then continues into the fully instrumental eleventh (to the song's end) is remarkable for both its mature prog sophistication as well as its spot-on replication of all the skill and compositional intricacies of the music of the great prog gods at the peak of their powers: YES, VDGG, Crimson-- they're all here! Well met, Mr. Sanderson! (24.5/25)

2. "Faithless Folly" (10:27) reverb/chorused electric guitar notes and slow strums, allowed to decay slowly, open this song, occupying the first 90-seconds of the song. Then manic-whispering voice enters with minimal syncopated muted guitar notes and, later, a growing host of supporting instruments (including saxophones) and voices working their way into the weave, until a pause at 2:38 opens the door for a DAAL-like Crimsonian-VDGG motif in the fourth minute. With this style of saxophone worked into the weave, this could almost be SEVEN IMPALE. Then--big surprise--we get a motif at 4:00 that is uniquely jazz-rock-infused prog that sounds unlike much I've ever heard--maybe Ambrosia, Orion 2.0, Kevin Ayers, or Blood, Sweat & Tears with hints of Patrick Moraz, Motorpsycho, and Be-Bop Deluxe? Brilliantly original! Coming out of the "Gyre of Delirium" we finish the song while sitting in the middle of a circle of a rather amorphous "gathering" of disjointed and disconnected instrumental sounds--sounding as if each musician is sitting on a rock around a campfire, facing away from the central fire, each tuning or working through some fresh ditty or mathematical problem on their own instruments, in their own minds (and universes), totally oblivious to one another much less their surroundings. Interesting! Though not my favorite song on the album it is worthy of high praise for its inventive creativity. (18.5/20)

3. "A Rite of Wrongs" (6:19) opening with crackling fire sounds and dated "original" Mellotron single note sounds (seven seconds or less, of course), Dominic seems to be offering a tutorial/étude in 'tron mastery. But then two gently picked acoustic guitars (R & L) enter to bookend Dom's full-frontal vocal. The style and content of his vocal is so anachronistic: it makes me feel as if I'm watching a theatric stage performance at some summer Renaissance Faire, listening to a bard singing his heroic story around a campfire. The whole soundscape is fully anachronistic prog--as if without electrification! There are even theatric "monster/troll" noises in the fifth minute. The folk vamp with flute, guitars, violins, mandolin, and hand percussives taking us out is extraordinary! Again, amazing work, Mr. S! (10/10)

4. "Lullaby for a Broken Dream" (16:17) opens with some acoustic folk guitars and like-styled singing before Mellotron strings chords take over for the voice alongside the strumming acoustic guitar. At the one minute mark drummed toms and electric bass join in, supplanting the 'tron for a bit before guitar chord play and 'tron strings chords join. By the time the second minute is underway there has been a huge shift both sonically and stylistically as full-on VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR with Peter Hammill-stylized vocal burst forth. The complex, ever-shifting musical landscapes feel like one is flying over rugged mountain warscapes. At the four-minute mark the copter lands above a piano-peaceful lake for a bit before a VDGG bridge transfers us into a bucolic patch for a pensive walk around the Ant Phillips lake. Dominic's voice here is now more like that of At 6:35 there is a guitar strum that calls forth the Mellotron strings over which Dominic sings in a spoken-almost whisper about his broken dreams. This empties out into another bucolic early-GENESIS Swiss mountain pasture where the protagonist perambulates rather sudden-and-unexpectedly into a scene fraught with fearful noise and images. From there we're back into the tension-filled VDGG world as the tenth minute opens and unfolds. I hear RPI as well as a little JTull in the ensuing motifs--none of which last much longer than 30 to 45 seconds before we've switched channels to view a different aspect of what feels like a battle--though the main "battle scene" in the 12th and 13th minutes sustains itself for quite a VDGG little. Vocal and strings bridge at the end of the 13th minute leads into a bluesy-rock piano-supported electric guitar solo (left ear only). Quite a nice patch--the battle seems to have resolved and left the camera crew with a powerfully sad scene of death, gore, and peace. This is how Dominic chooses to let us out of his dream: with a long fadeout of this ambivalently triumphant and mournful and despondent motif. Nice work, Mr. Sanderson! Prog at its finest! (29.5/30)

Total Time 45:03

Since Dominic's last (and first) album he has obviously been to the Peter Hammill-Van Der Graaf Generator School of Progressive Rock Music as so much of this album--both musically and vocally--has come out replicating the styles, palettes, and tones of the 1970s' masters of dark prog. (And he's almost totally skipped over the VDGG 2.0 sounds and stylings of the other great master imitator of PH/VDGG, Matthew Parmenter/Discipline!) Though I do not include myself in that club of Peter Hammill, Van Der Graaf Generator, or Discipline devotées, I really love and applaud the music on this album. It's like a perfectly -engineered and -produced amalgamation of all that was best of the early 1970s done with an enthusiasm and mastery that the Early Masters didn't have the equipment and/or technology for. If I or anyone else was harboring any doubts about the seriousness of young Dominic's commitment to adding to the lexicon of Prog's Valhalla, cast them aside! The man is a fully-devoted, passionately-committed disciple! With Blazing Revelations it appears that he's even ready to teach us a few things!

A/five stars; a totally-impressive masterpiece of progressive rock music of a level that rivals anything that the Masters of the "Classic Era" ever achieved! (This is one of the top ten highest rated albums I've had the privilege of hearing from this, the 21st Century!) Between this release and those of Chilean band Chercán and the latest of Riccardo Prencipe's Corde Oblique, 2025 is off to a really nice start!

Not every day I come across an album that really blew me away upon first listen and it was from an artist I never heard of before. That guy is Dominic Sanderson. Blazing Revelation is his second full release (he also released a couple of EPs as well) and can very well be the finest release of 2025. This is rather energetic prog that tends to the Peter Hammill-end of melodrama, especially his vocal delivery. He also has four musicians helping him, including Jacob Hackett who has no relation to Steve. He even has female keyboardist Embiye Adalı and handles things like Mellotron and clavinet (although Dominic also handles Mellotron as well). To me, this sounds more like a full band rather than artist with backing musicians. I can't get over the incredible playing, musicianship, and production. I've heard too much modern-day prog with stiff production, or it's too close to neo-prog or alternative rock for my liking. My favorite prog in the last 15 or so years have been from Norway, many on Karisma (Wobbler, Tusmørke, Lars Fredrik Frøislie's solo works, Jordsjø, etc.), Blazing Revelations could rival the best of those Norwegian artists I mentioned, probably the best thing to come out of the UK in recent years. The music goes from King Crimson to Peter Hammill/Van der Graaf Generator territory, with a bit of Genesis, with the most mellow parts a bit in the Anthony Phillips vein (or pastoral Steve Hackett). When they go in this vein, they might quickly jump out of that into a much more aggressive electric guitar/Mellotron part. I also think of Änglagård or the spinoff All Traps on Earth, not that what Dominic does sound like them, but the musical approach of constantly changing never knowing where he and his band will go. If he keeps up with this quality, Dominic Sanderson will be a force to reckon with in the prog community. This album might end up being one of my all-time favorites not from the 1970s, every time I hear it, I can't get enough of it, it's really amazing stuff with the production quality I've been wishing more of in current recordings. This isn't Echolyn, Spock's Beard, or the Flower Kings, that's for sure. Probably the biggest obstacle for some listeners is his vocals, clearly in the Hammill vein, but there are plenty of great instrumental passages. Personally, I have no problems with his voice, in fact I'm blown away a 25-year-old from the present day pulled that off. The more conventional symphonic prog crowd may have troubles with this album but for me this is simply some of the finest new prog I've heard in a long time, and it needs to be heard.