THE NIGHT SIREN

As a big fan and follower of Steve Hackett, I of course had to check out his latest studio offering. Coming just two years after his previous album Wolflight, The Night Siren follows basically the same formula that Steve has been following for his last half-dozen or so Rock albums. Re-reading my review of Wolflight while listening to The Night Siren, I realise that virtually everything I said there applies equally to this album. Any of these songs could have fitted equally well on any of Steve's last handful of Rock albums. The same sound and the same dark feel is present and the same range of influences from Folk to Classical to Jazz to Blues, and Prog.

That the style is predictable doesn't mean that the songs are bad or uninspired. Indeed, I think The Night Siren is a good album and actually Steve's best since 2009's Out Of The Tunnel's Mouth. Among the better songs we find opener Behind The Smoke, Inca Terra, and In Another Life. The low point of the album is the whimsical Martian Sea.

Nonetheless, Steve seems to be stuck in his formula and in order to break out of I have a recommendation (that I also made in my review of Wolflight): Steve, why don't you more fully utilise your excellent touring band in the studio and record an album of new material in the style of "Genesis Revisited"? (I say "more fully" because the same people are contributing to this album, but they are basically guest performers on what is essentially a solo album rather than parts of a proper band like on stage, and Steve sings all lead vocals himself instead of using the excellent Nad Sylvan. Steve sings very well, I just think the time is ripe for trying out something new.) I believe that following my recommendation would be a great idea. After all, the Genesis Revisited concept has been massively successful live, and an original studio album in the same style would surely generate lots of interest among Genesis fans and fans of progressive Rock in general.

In conclusion: If you, like me, enjoy the Rock albums that Steve has been putting out during the last two decades, then you will surely like The Night Siren as well. It is another good Hackett solo album, nothing more nor less.

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