North Sea Echoes
Really Good Terrible Things

No, one simply could not imagine Ray Alder and Jim Matheos completely separated; the idea that after Fates Warning there wouldn't be any project with those two together was just inconceivable; or at least, I didn't accept it. And here comes the prompt and firm response: there they are together in a new duo, North Sea Echoes.

However, on the other hand, it wasn't exactly a brilliant idea to create a banal nostalgic clone of the band they lived off for over 35 years, thus this project is something entirely different. The project presents itself, at least for now, with slow, relaxed, hypnotic music, a sort of delicate yet dark ambient music. The ingredients are few but effective: Matheos's guitar provides extremely soft, dark touches, sometimes with well-placed reverberations, distant relatives of the sharp riffs we were accustomed to; the registers are always quite low, it doesn't seem they want to allow space for blinding flashes of light, only timid glimpses; the rhythm section is stripped to the bone, almost absent, the listener just needs to relax and that's it; and then a well-studied and varied use of electronics and effects, sounds that are never heavy and never intrusive but always dark and slightly distressing, sounds that never appear the same, wanting to renew themselves every time and inviting the listener to grasp them attentively. In any case, no trace of metal, not even in the few occasions where the guitar slightly raises the stakes, and honestly, it's not missed, because it would probably have delivered the usual stale project.

It's really difficult to classify this work, as it seems not to fit into a precise genre, and this can be more than ever a boast, meaning that they managed to create an as original a product as possible. We can generally consider it a soft rock or a kind of dark ambient depending on the point of view. The imaginary landscape painted in our ears could vaguely be that of a not very illuminated pool, ideally late-autumn afternoon, where the listener is immersed to relax and reflect but does not hide their anxieties, yet these are not dangerous or swirling waters that drag them down.

No need to add more, except that it is a pleasant surprise of this 2024.