A FEAST OF CONSEQUENCES

Review Nº 790

Derek William Dick, better known as Fish, is a Scottish singer, songwriter and actor. He achieved prominence as the lead singer and lyricist of the neo-progressive rock band Marillion from 1981 until 1988. With Marillion he recorded four studio albums. In his solo career he explored contemporary pop and traditional folk and rock, having recorded eleven studio albums. Music critics have acknowledged Fish for his voice, which has been described as both "distinct" and a "conflation of Roger Daltrey and Peter Gabriel". About his lyrics they have been generally praised as "poetic prose".

"A Feast Of Consequences" is the tenth studio album of Fish. The line up on "A Feast Of Consequences" is Fish (lead vocals), Elisabeth Troy Antwi (backing vocals), Robin Boult (guitars), Foss Paterson (keyboards), Steve Vantsis (bass guitar), Gavin Griffiths (drums) and many other artists, as guests, in several musical roles.

It has been six years since the last Fish's studio album, "13th Star" and this one, "A Feast Of Consequences". This new album has taken time to put together with Fish wanting to make sure that it was top notch both lyrically and musically but also in the illustrations and design. Fish spent a weekend at The Somme in the First World War battlefields in France. It inspired him to write the "High Wood" suite and helped to develop the illustrations and artwork of the album.

"A Feast Of Consequences" has eleven tracks. The first track "Perfume River" opens the album and really sets the tone of it. The song has two distinct sections. The first part is an atmospheric progressive rock piece with some excellent rhythmic drumming from Griffiths and swriing keyboards from Paterson. The second part is a more up-beat rock section led by an acoustic guitar. Vocally, this is the best Fish has sounded in quite a while. The second track "All Loved Up" is a much more straightforward song. It's a cynical look at the current culture of being a "celebrity" and contains Fish's trademark black humour. It's a pop rock number based around a simple riff from Boult. It's just a really melodic song that makes a statement about today's society. The third track "Blind To The Beautiful" is a real nice acoustic number. This is the first song on the album to prominently featured Elizabeth on the backing vocals. She harmonises well with Fish. Towards the end, there is a really good violin solo from Aidan O'Rourke that personifies the melancholy of the song. The fourth track is the title track, "A Feast Of Consequences". This is another straight ahead rocker based around a neat riff from Boult. All three main components of this song are excellent. The main verses have a nice groove. The pre-chorus backed by the piano is delicate and that leads nicely into the catchiest chorus on the album. The "High Wood" suite is the centrepiece of this album, indeed. It's composed by tracks, "High Wood", "Crucifix Corner", "The Gathering", "Thistle Alley" and "The Leaving". The first part, "High Wood", which, after a gentle intro, is pretty dramatic with some spiky guitar work and almost orchestral keyboard parts, leads beautifully into the second part "Crucifix Corner". Atmospheric is a good word to describe the opening of it. Fish's voice and the piano intertwine well as the song slowly builds up and it's not long before Boult's big guitars come in. During this section, Fish's vocal melodies are possibly some of the best that he has ever come up with. My favourite part of the "High Wood" suite is perhaps the third part, "The Gathering". From there, the album moves onto "Thistle Alley" which is very different from "The Gathering". It's a very dark piece that sees Fish almost approaching metal territory, in places. The fifth and final part "The Leaving" sums up the suite. It's a very poignant and intelligent piece, certainly very emotional for him. I have to congratulate Fish, as the "High Wood" suite is easily the best series of songs on the subject of war I've ever listened till now. The tenth track "The Other Side Of Me" is a typical Fish's ballad. Elisabeth's vocal contributions on this song are again excellent and feature the first proper guitar solo from Boult on the album. The eleventh track "The Great Unravelling" brings the album to a close very well. I really like the call and response vocals from Fish and Elisabeth and the really atmospheric keyboards. It also has the best instrumental break of any song on the album as Boult finally cuts loose for a really monster solo, which is the last thing you really hear before "A Feast Of Consequences" ends, indeed.

Conclusion: I must confess that I'm not completely comfortable to talk about Fish's solo musical career. In reality, I'm only familiar with the first two studio albums of him, "Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors" and "Internal Exile" and his live album and the DVD "Return To Chilwood", besides this one. So, I really don't know if "A Feast Of Consequences" is his best solo work, as I've read before as the opinion of some critics. But, what I really know is that, overall, this is just a brilliantly written and constructed album. It's quite long, but it's so well paced that it just flies by without every feeling boring or contrived. I must say this is an album that still is growing on me and that's another thing that makes this an excellent album. Will we have to wait another six years for another album? Who knows and only time will tell us, really.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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