FALL OF THE WATCHER

I might as well tell you right away, I listened to this album a dozen times over the last four months before starting the review, rarely has a record given me so much difficulty in talking about it without bias, knowing that I am absolutely not a fan of THE PINEAPPLE THIEF and that the mastering of this "Fall of the Preacher" was done by Steve KITCH keyboardist of the pineapple thief. Here the scene is set, time to write...

This is RETURNED TO THE EARTH's fourth album since 2016, four opuses in six years, pretty average. Overall RETURNED TO THE EARTH is accessible progressive rock, not far from progressive pop without the pop side which takes precedence over the prog side, are you following? I read somewhere that Robin PEACHEY's voice had a coloring close to Neil TENNANT of PET SHOP BOYS and that's exactly it, PET SHOP BOYS who by the way composed some very progressive titles in their time.

The opening of hostilities takes place with the long eponymous piece "Fall of the Watcher", it is bucolic symphonic progressive (yes PSB like PET SHOP BOYS I swear I didn't do it on purpose) punctuated by a heartbreaking solo of six strings in its second part (9/10). The White Room which follows convinced me much less, a beautiful simplistic melody without more, nothing to get up from at night (7/10). "Drowning" sails in the same waters, pleasant without taking away the stars, a little repetitive in its middle part, much more symphonic and that's all the better in its final part thanks to the multiplicity of Steve PEACHEY's keyboards (8/10) .

The epic "Sacrificed in Vain" which exceeds ten minutes, is "The" pearl of the album not only for its duration, but also for its melody placed like a diamond in a translucent case on the shelf of your living room, Robin PEACHEY's vocals are of a beauty to cry, to listen and listen again until I'm thirsty (10/10), one of the songs of the decade, nothing less, reminded me of my distant youth and a track from THE FIXX "Stand or Fall" for the bass guitar loops and abundant percussion of Paul JOHNSTON. After this marvel we go back down a notch with "Lack of Information" which highlights Robin's guitar particularly, a little too similar to the third track for my taste (8/10) despite once again the quality of the main melody .

The party ends with "April Sky", the diaphanous beauty of a fine layer of dust in the sky, we are not far from ecstasy, calm and voluptuousness at the rendezvous, a radiant end for a work which will require numerous listenings to get the quintessence, well that's my modest opinion as a progressive consumer (9/10).

RETURNED TO THE EARTH, a good client for my top 10 of the year.