High Tide
Sea Shanties

The first time I listened to "Sea Shanties", drawn by the stunning gothic cover, I was surprised by the incredible modernity of the sound. I remember confiding to a musician friend, "...but these guys are ahead of King Crimson!" Indeed, the tracks on this album, combined with "21 Century Schizoid Man", could be said to have founded a new genre, PROG-METAL. The baton was then passed to RUSH in America and HAWKWIND in the U.K., until 1988 when Queensry with the seminal "Operation Mindcrime" officially launched contemporary prog-metal.

After this brief historical-musical parenthesis, let's return to the album. In High Tide, the roles are well-defined: on one hand, a thundering and pulsating rhythm section, and on the other, the magic of the two soloists, Tony Hill on guitar and Simon House on electric violin. These are true legends (especially the last two) in their respective instruments. The result is fascinating. The track that best highlights the style and sound of this atypical band is "Death Warmed Up", an instrumental over 9 minutes long with a hellish rhythm against which the electric evolutions of violin and guitar stand out, facing off against each other. The power of the Sound is deafening, yet never cacophonous. In the next track, "Pushed But Not Forgotten", the beginning is airy and fairytale-like but soon the atmosphere turns incandescent. Special mention for at least three other tracks, the initial and paradigmatic "Futilist's Lament" with Tony Hill’s vocals, very similar to Jim Morrison’s, soaring above the resounding mantle of sonorous mesh in a crescendo filled with pathos and drama. The opening scale of "Walking Down Their Outlook" is anthology-worthy, but the epic reaches its peak in the concluding "Nowhere", where Crimsonian choruses seem to celebrate a devastating and cathartic sabbath at the same time.

A MUST not just for PROG-METAL enthusiasts but for all lovers of great music.