NUMBER SEVEN

After the mind-blowing Doomsday Afternoon, a rather big amount of people were waiting eagerly for Phideaux Xavier next release, which would be the conclusion of the trilogy. Fortunately (or unfortunately, for some) Mr. Xavier decided to postpone the release of said conclusion to release another concept album with a quite unusual concept: Number 7 is about a Dormouse and a Crayfish! Unusual characters, to say the least. Still about the concept, most certainly Phideaux is very fond of trilogies, since this album is divided in three parts as well.

It is also interesting to point that Number 7 has some important shoes to fill, because it was the first album released after Phideaux's magnum opus and, as well all know, that position is always problematic and, not being at least as good as its predecessor, the album may be even unfairly labeled a bad album, despite being very good. The most famous case of this in progressive rock is the album In the Wake of Poseidon, by King Crimson. It is very difficult to keep up the quality and please everybody in these conditions, but by what it seems this album will not have that kind of trouble.

Music-wise, Number 7 is quite similar / is in the same style as Doomsday's: vast acoustic parts and emotional rock music, highly influenced by british folk rock and 70's progressive rock and, pretty much like in Doomsday Afternoon, the result is great. There is also visible influence from italian rock here, what can be seen even more clearly in the song Storia Senti, which is sung in italian. Unfortunately, however, this album can't impress as much as the one from 2007 did, despite the applaudable effort from Mr. Xavier. Maybe the reason for that is that the album follows its prior way too well, falling short of enough original ideas.

The music in the whole album has a dark feeling, something quite like the idea of silent suffering, but not desperation. Possibly the idea of decadence with elegance reflects better the idea of the album: the the beauty of decay and sadness.

Grade and Final Thoughts

So, if you liked Doomsday, listening Number 7 will definitely be a pleasant experience, though it would be nice if the albums were not so similar, musically. 4 stars.

PS: 100th rating baby!

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