Progradar – Review Of The Year 2023

2023 has been a fantastic year for music with an absolute plethora of superb albums that I have reviewed. It’s always very difficult indeed to pick out my favourite twenty releases from such a stellar year but here are the ones that have really left a mark for me.

They are in no particular order for the first nineteen but I have debated long and hard about my number one album so read on and find out what has taken the honour for 2023…

This Winter Machine ‘The Clockwork Man’

‘The Clockwork Man’ is modern, neo-tinged, progressive rock at its finest and most involving, perfectly created and performed by a band who have found their feet after three accomplished releases and have delivered their finest work yet. This Winter Machine now stand at the forefront of modern neo-progressive rock and can be rightly proud of a concept album that can stand the test of time with some of the best that have gone before.

Released 6th October, 2023.

Order from White Knight Records here:

This Winter Machine – The Clockwork Man CD (pre-order) | whiteknightrecords (bandcamp.com)

One Sided Horse‘My Favourite City At Night In The Rain’

So, there you have it, ‘My Favourite City At Night In The Rain’ is quite possibly one of the most important albums you will listen to this year. If you want an example of why music is so wonderful and moves people in so many ways then you cannot pick a better example than this utterly triumphant work of art, Mark Whiteside and One Sided Horse please take a bow, I thank you from the bottom of my heart…

Released 8th September, 2023.

Order here:

My Favourite City At Night In The Rain | One Sided Horse (bandcamp.com)

Hekz ‘Terra Nova’

Well, what can I say, I knew that a new Hekz album would be something pretty good but I had no idea it would be this special. With ‘Terra Nova’Hekz have given us the ultimate involving musical thrill ride and I just don’t want to get off. To tell the truth, it’s the best progressive-metal album I’ve heard in many a year and, if this is the future of the genre, I’m completely sold!

Released 3rd November, 2023.

Order from the band here:

Terra Nova | HeKz 2/3 (hekztheband.com)

Comedy of Errors‘Threnody For A Dead Queen’

‘Threnody For A Dead Queen’ is Comedy Of Errors at their very, very best, the music builds, almost as if alive, it has moods and emotions and captivates from the very first note. This band just get better and better with each wonderful album they create and, without exception, this release is up there with the very best of the year so far. Hell, in my opinion, it is Comedy Of Errors’ best yet, their Magnum Opus if you like and you should just go out and buy it!

Released 2nd June, 2023.

Order the CD direct from the band here:

Comedy of Errors : Shop

Order the mp3 from bandcamp here:

Threnody For A Dead Queen | Comedy Of Errors (bandcamp.com)

Zeelley Moon ‘The Author And The Dreamer’

‘The Author and the Dreamer’ connects with you in your sub-conscious, the songwriting and performances are second to none and Zeelley Moon’s innate Englishness and idiosyncracies are what make this music so appealing and enjoyable and one of my albums of 2023. Do yourselves a favour and get your hands on it as soon as you can!

Released 20th November, 2023.

Download and streaming on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube Music and the usual others.

Physical Album sales available on Discogs.com or direct at zeelleymoon@yahoo.co.uk.

The Round Window – ‘Everywhere & Nowhere’

Everywhere & Nowhere’ takes everything that was great about the band’s debut and just lifts it several levels. It is lush, classy, insightful and so melodically impressive and is an album that The Round Window should be mightily proud of. Difficult second album? not for these highly accomplished musicians!

Released 8th December, 2023.

Order digital from bandcamp here:

Everywhere & Nowhere | The Round Window (bandcamp.com)

Order CD’s direct from the band’s website here:

Everywhere & Nowhere – The Round Window

Moon Safari‘Himlabacken Vol. 2’

Music has the power to move you and impact on your life in a positive manner and, with ‘Himlabacken Vol. 2’Moon Safari have delivered the most wonderfully uplifting collection of songs I have heard this year. A joyous, mood enhancing release that just makes this world we live in a better place to be, if only for a short time. Trust me, you need this album in your life!

Released 8th December, 2023.

Order digital at bandcamp here:

Himlabacken Vol. 2 (24-bit audio) | Moon Safari (bandcamp.com)

Order physical product from Burning Shed here:

Himlabacken Vol. 2 (burningshed.com)

The Twenty Committee‘The Cycle Undone’

With ‘The Cycle Undone’ The Twenty Committee have not only returned triumphant, they have also delivered one of THE musical experiences of 2023. Highly emotive songwriting allied with musicianship of the utmost quality, the band’s sophomore release builds on the enormous promise of their debut all those years ago. It may be ten years after but, boy, what a way to make a comeback!

Released 12th December, 2023.

Order the digital from bandcamp here:

The Cycle Undone | The Twenty Committee (bandcamp.com)

The Oculist‘Cautionary Tales’

‘Cautionary Tales’ is one of the freshest sounding albums you will hear this year, it is prog-metal for the thinking music fan and has real heart and soul at its core. I for one am intrigued to see what this talented duo come up with next.

Released 8th December, 2023.

Order from bandcamp here:

Cautionary Tales | The Oculist (bandcamp.com)

Southern Empire‘Another World’

Southern Empire record is always just more than an album release, it’s a hugely significant occasion and one that I await with bated breath. Their music has been a soundtrack of my more recent years and is very, very important to me on a musical and emotional level. ‘Another World’is an absolute masterpiece of musical theatre and, possibly, the band’s Magnum Opus, one of the best albums you will hear this or any other year, and the perfect accompaniment to my life.

Released 4th September, 2023.

Order CD from GEP here:

Another World – Pre Order – GEP

And the vinyl from GEP here:

Another World Orange Marbled Vinyl – Pre Order – GEP

John Greenwood‘DARK BLUE’

It’s not often we hear a truly progressive release nowadays but, almost from out of nowhere, John Greenwood has entered the fray with one of the finest releases of 2023. The musicianship and songwriting are top notch and, like all the best albums, I find this on almost permanent rotation, it is, to put it simply, utterly superb!

Released 1st July, 2023.

Order from bandcamp here:

DARK BLUE | John Greenwood (bandcamp.com)

Blue Rose Code‘Curios 2009-2020’

There is nothing better than music that connects with you at a basic level, music that moves you and music that almost becomes part of you and Ross Wilson and Blue Rose Code create music that is all that and more. This collection of B-sides, varieties and singles is something that should be cherished and I, for one, cannot wait for 2024 and a new album from this incredible musician. Ross Wilson, my friend, I wish you peace in your heart…

Released 3rd November, 2023.

Order from band camp here:

Curios 2009 – 2020 | Blue Rose Code (bandcamp.com)

Glass Hammer‘Arise’

There’s no weak link on this album, it just ebbs and flows beautifully, although the last three tracks go together so well. They’re possibly the best triumvirate of songs that the band have ever done back to back. With the Skallagrim series Glass Hammer proved themselves masters of the dynamic and grandiose and ‘Arise’ gives the impression that the creative skills of Steve Babb have gone into overdrive, is there a better storyteller in modern progressive music?

Released 27th October, 2023.

Order direct from the band here:

Glass Hammer official website

Galahad‘The Long Goodbye’

I chose ‘The Last Great Adventurer’ as my album of the year for 2022 and, in a fast paced world that never stands still, Galahad haven’t rested on their laurels. They have returned with ‘The Long Goodbye’, another wondrous musical journey that mesmerises and bewitches from beginning to end, and even surprises in places. Could this be another contender at the end of the year, I definitely don’t see why not!

Released 23rd October, 2023.

Pre-order direct from the band here:

Galahad – GALAHAD Merchandise (galahadonline.com)

Beatrix Players‘Living & Alive’

Beatrix Players return triumphant with the mesmerising ‘Living & Alive’, a collection of songs that are bewitching and compelling and leave you in no doubt of their stature in the music industry of today. The sublime voice of Amy Birks and outstanding musicianship on show have created one of the most outstanding releases of 2023 and one that should be on your list of must buy albums, it really is that good!

Released 22nd September, 2023.

Order digital here:

Living & Alive | Beatrix Players (bandcamp.com)

Order CD at Burning Shed:

Living & Alive (burningshed.com)

The Anchoret ‘It All Began With Loneliness’

One of the things I love about music is when it surprises you and this debut release from The Anchoret has been a revelation. ‘It All Began With Loneliness’ is an astonishingly good album, in fact jaw-droppingly so, and is already up there as one of my favourites of the year. As prog-metal albums go, it doesn’t get much better than this!

Released 23rd June, 2023.

Order from bandcamp here:

It All Began With Loneliness | The Anchoret (bandcamp.com)

EBB‘Mad & Killing Time’

When you listen to as much new music as I do, it takes something truly special to stand out and ‘Mad & Killing Time’ is just that, Ebb delivering a musical highlight of the year and one that is totally unique to this incredibly talented bunch of artists. Go seek it out, you will not de disappointed in any way at all.

Released 1st November, 2022.

Order from bandcamp here:

Mad & Killing Time | Ebb (bandcamp.com)

Riverside ‘ID.Entity’

Riverside are a band who have always gone their own way and been proud to defy convention and after the dark melancholy and sadness of recent releases, the band have returned with a brightly shining beacon of light. ‘ID.Entity’ is a generally uplifting album that puts a huge smile on my face every time I hear it and one that, I’m sure, will still be lighting up people’s lives for years to come.

Released 20th January, 2023.

Order ‘ID.Entity’ here:

Riverside – ID.Entity (lnk.to)

The Tangent‘Pyramids, Stars & Other Stories: The Tangent Live Recordings 2004-2017’

Ah, to reminisce is a joy we should always hold dear and this wonderful live release from one of the UK’s most venerated prog bands is a sentimental journey down memory lane and one that will remind you why The Tangent are held in such warm regard and also why live music is something worth cherishing and preserving. We, the fans, hold it in our hands to make sure music stays live so albums as brilliant as this can still get made!

Released 27th January, 2023.

Order the album here:

Pyramids, Stars & Other Stories: The Tangent Live Recordings 2004-2017 (burningshed.com)

And so it all comes down to this, the one album that just about reared its head above all others to be my favourite of 2023. It’s not a default decision, this release has really moved the game on for one of the UK’s most influential underground bands…

The Fierce And The Dead‘News From The Invisible World’

News From The Invisible World’– true fans will love it, there’s real maturity and creativity in this album, The Fierce And The Dead shift effortlessly between different styles to show they are no one trick ponies. You could say that this is a case of a band reinventing itself but staying close to their roots but it’s more than that, this is band raising their game to the highest level and that is really where they belong…

Released 28th July, 2023.

Order from bandcamp here:

News From The Invisible World | The Fierce And The Dead (bandcamp.com)

Thank you if you have made it this far and thank you for supporting Progradar through 2023, I don’t have a crystal ball but I’m pretty sure that 2024 is going to be another fantastic year of music so hang around for the ride, it’s going to be exciting!

Interview with Matt Stevens And Kev Feazey from The Fierce And The Dead

Progradar: So here we are with Matt and Kev from The Fierce And The Dead ahead of the release of (new album) ‘News From The Invisible World’ in July, so guys, first question, why vocals?

Kev (Feazey): Funnily enough, we get asked this quite a lot recently! I think that anybody who has followed us knew that the thing about not having vocals was never an idealogical stance, we never sat in a room and said that. We just got together and we played a lot of the stuff that was around when we were kids, a lot of rock music, from the kind of underground ‘Don Caballero’ kind of world, it wasn’t a huge leap to NOT have vocals, it just suited.

Then it was never like, literally, “We need to do something different with this album…”, we got these ideas and we mucked around for quite a few years after (previous album) ‘The Euphoric’ with vocal samples but it just never felt quite right. With this one it was literally like, “Shall we stick some vocals on that…”, and that was it, we thought, “Yeah, we’ll give it a go…” and we did and it worked!

Matt (Stevens): I think that, with the ‘The Euphoric’ album, we had done the best instrumental album that we could, we took that as far as we wanted to take it and then it was just a question of trying new things. It’s just not repeating yourself, doing things that are exciting to you and, hopefully, other people will be interested and, if they’re not, at least you’re doing what YOU want to do and you’re enjoying doing it, that’s the main thing.

Progradar: The only lyrics we’ve had on a TFATD release before were “Palm Trees!”

Matt: I remember our good friend Spike (Worsley), who is sadly no longer with us, coming up with those lyrics at a gig, Spike was a diamond. It was just a question of developing it really and this was the way to do it.

Kev: We were very keen because it was an experimentation to see how they would fit and we had a lot of discussion about how they’d present. We trusted each other implicitly, that’s one good reason why this band works, we can work on stuff and bring it back. There are no egos in this band, people play different instruments on recordings, it doesn’t matter.

The one thing that we all agreed on was that the vocals needed to sit in somehow, they needed to be part of the whole thing. The way we write music is still relatively similar, it was just really important that they (the vocals) sat inside of that and didn’t disrupt it.

Progradar: You guys know my opinion, it’s seems natural to me, the way the band should go forward. I think it’s a fantastic album, the vocal side of it is brilliant. It’s not majorly out there yet but you’ve had some feedback from the three singles you’ve released, what’s the feedback from your, shall we say, regular fanbase, has it been, on the whole, positive?

Kev: Yeah, I’d say, overall, it’s been really positive. Matt made a point the other day, you can see at what point people ‘got on the bus’ with us. If you’ve followed us all the way through, whilst it always sounds like us, ‘Morecambe’ and ‘The Euphoric’, if you listened to them both out of context then they wouldn’t sound like they came from the same band. It’s a case of this is where we are right now, this is what we’re writing and this is what we are going to do.

I think some people got on at certain points and might have a perception of us as a certain thing and have tied their flag to that mast, so to speak, they might not get it. Overall, though, we are over the moon really, we put it out there and most people have loved it. Matt said the other day that we seem to attract a lot of very broad-minded people.

Matt: It’s self-selecting, it’s a sort of filter. If you look into our Facebook group, the people who are there are open-minded about stuff. There are always going to be people for who the vocal sound doesn’t work and that’s totally cool. Certain vocalists just don’t connect with people and that’s not them being close-minded, it’s just that it doesn’t do it for them. The most commercial thing we could have done would have been to have made Truck ten times because that was our most popular song.

We could have gone around and played stoner rock festivals for the rest of eternity and had a lovely time doing that but, in the end, the reason we didn’t do that was because we wanted to do new things with it. What the music industry tends to be, and what the algorithms on Spotify want you to do, is make one song and then make that same song over and over again so you build a massive audience. At the end of the day, some people just aren’t into that and that’s fine. So far, in terms of our audience, they seem to be enjoying the tracks and the reviews that have come out so far have been positive. Ask me in two months time, it might be a different story. So far so good is probably the best answer I can give, to be honest.

Progradar: Do you think the new album will attract new fans to the band?

Matt: What tends to happen with The Fierce And The Dead records is that people get on and get off. There are people who loved ‘Spooky Action’ and didn’t like ‘The Euphoric’, there’s people who liked ‘The Euphoric’ and won’t like the new one. There’s people who liked the first E.P, the really long song we did, that haven’t liked anything we’ve done since because it’s not proper ‘post-rock’!

We’ve always lost and gained people, there’s people who came in when we played ArctTangent and from us supporting Hawkwind. There’s people who came in from Cardiacs and my solo stuff. They come and go all the time and I think that’s healthy. If you look at all the bands that changed radically sound-wise, it’s happened to all of them, hasn’t it? I still think there’s an attitude and a spirit that’s come from where we were to where we are now and we’re having a lovely time doing it.

It’s about building a community over making money and things, we are rubbish at making money for the band but we’re good at building a community around the band! The priority for me is to build the audience and to try and treat people really well, make it a nice thing to be part of and show how much we appreciate that audience. Hopefully we can continue to grow it, that’s always been my concern, it’s never been about making money. Just trying to make it better, nicer, make the shows bigger, just to keep it going really.

Kev: I’ll just add to that that, when we get together in a room to rehearse or play, that feels just like it did ten years ago. That, realistically, has been our aim through all of this, we really enjoy each other’s company, we like being around each other. It really sparks us creatively and that’s the thing that we want to keep going. We don’t TRY to be authentic because we just are, we do what we want to do.

We’ve never had any decisions to make when starting an album, Matt just walks into the room and goes, “I’ve got a riff!” and off we go! I think the audience picks up on that. If we were constantly chasing some rabbit down a hole because, as Matt said, it was really successful or making another Truck, then we’d be doomed.

Progradar: Because you guys are professional musicians but it is not your main source of income, does that give you the freedom to do what you want?

Matt: The Fierce And The Dead couldn’t work if we were trying to make it our main income stream because we wouldn’t be free to do what we want. That’s why you see a lot of artists doing the same thing, release the same album every eighteen months and go round the same gigs doing the same things. We are free to do EXACTLY what we want. If we wanted to release an ambient album or an acoustic album, we could do that, the main reason is because we have a small audience that support us.

We couldn’t afford to do this without making the money back, we are in a very lucky position that we have a core audience that buys enough of our music to keep it going. It’s the best of both worlds really, we’re musically free, our gigs sell out, we can put out the records that we want to put out and all the costs are covered. As long as that core fanbase continues to support us then we’re great.

Kev: Whenever we’ve had outside influence within the band, we have been very lucky that it’s always been positive. For example, working with David (Elliott) and yourself at Bad Elephant Music was a great experience. You can imagine, we have a lot of friends from the very bottom to the very top of the industry, you hear all these stories about expectations and all this kind of stuff and it’s weird. I have often spoken to Matt and we’ve mentioned about wanting play at certain places and to so many people but, when you look at what we’ve actually got, we’re fantastically lucky. We have enough self-awareness to understand that.

Progradar: How do you think the music industry has changed since you released the ‘Part 1’ E.P. back in 2010? Streaming and digital music were both in their infancy then, is that the major difference, do you think?

Kev: Me and Matt have very long, philosophical conversations about this, not just in context of the band but because it’s really interesting, like a cultural phenomenon. We seem to now be entering the era of ‘everything, everywhere, all at once’, to copy a phrase. Where things used to move in kind of like in waves, you’d have Nirvana wiping out hair metal and then you’d have britpop wiping out grunge, you’d have like a lens, people were having to look at what was available to them.

That was through what was curated by record labels or magazines, what was on TV, all that sort of stuff. Where as now, people can curate for themselves, I can introduce someone who’s never heard Neil Young and, by the next day, they can have heard everything that he has ever done. They can find a fairly brief but in-depth Wikipedia entry, they can know just about anything about this person. I don’t know whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing, it’s massively beneficial to us while also being a massive pain in the arse!

Matt: We’ve managed to go along doing what we want without anyone trying to interfere or cause us any problems. Look at the Cardiacs in the 80’s and 90’s, they had that core audience but they struggled to go any further than that. If you look at people like Faith No More, they got in there, with the metal scene and built an audience like that but, after they got to a certain point, it was almost like they weren’t the flavour of the month any more. Now, it’s just a case of building that audience one person at a time and hoping that, eventually, it will continue and become sustainable.

To answer your question about downloads and streaming, when I first started releasing my solo records, you sold a lot of CD’s and a lot of digital downloads. Streaming killed the digital download market, in terms of posting physical products out from the UK, that’s a bit of an issue now, with Brexit changes and postage costs going up massively. That makes it quite difficult to sell CD’s and vinyl mail order. It has radically changed and physical product has become quite difficult but, live wise, people are very keen to go to gigs, we’re not struggling to sell tickets. Certainly, people are still interested, if you look at the story of music over the last 40 or 50 years, it’s just a story of constant change.

The 90’s where bands on indie labels could sell ten thousand CDs, that world has gone and isn’t coming back, there’s more competition now, people have to accept the cards they’re dealt with and just get on with it. Count your blessings and realise that to have an audience is a massive privilege as most musicians haven’t got an audience, they’re making records in their bedroom to no one. We’re very lucky and I’ve got nothing to complain about, I can only see positives really.

Kev: Because we’re not looking at things through the lens of commerce, when we get a message from a fan in Brazil, that blows my mind, this is something that we laboured over in various studios and houses and it’s got that breadth without major distribution and all that kind of stuff. In that way, that’s amazing and, for a musician, that’s the payoff.

Progradar: Talking of the new album, what goes into writing an album for TFATD? How does it begin? Is it a collection of ideas from all four of you or does one of you come with more ideas than the others?

Kev: Because of Covid, the way we work radically changed. The way we normally work was that somebody would come in, 95% of the time that would be Matt, with a riff or something they’d put together and that would be then filtered through all the members of the band. It would be very rare that Matt would come in and say he had a bass line or I’ve got a drum beat to go with it.

Matt: Yeah, I probably do bring in the majority of the riffs but, by the time we finished it, very little would sound similar, most people wouldn’t recognise it as the same part. Whilst that’s kind of the spark, I wouldn’t say in any way that it’s me dominating the writing process.

Kev: That’s right, Matt would have brought something in and eventually it just sounded like us because everybody developed it. We all grew up together, we have this language that we can talk together in . That’s how we kind of put all the songs together in the past. On ‘The Euphoric’ we started demoing stuff, which we’d never really done before. Me and Stuart (Marshall) went into a studio and we demoed stuff but, on this one, because we obviously weren’t actually able to go into a room together, we had to think about it differently.

We all got ourselves little set-ups, Stuart had like a MIDI drum kit, Matt, Steve (Cleaton) and I all had little recording things then Matt would send me riffs, Steve would send me riffs, I’d send them ideas and there was a lot of file sharing. The beauty of being able to have MIDI parts, on a track like Photogenic Love, Matt sent me a piano piece, because it was MIDI, I could change the sound. He doesn’t give it to me with context, I might hear something different and I can then filter it and send it back, it’s a constant back and forth, almost like evolving the song.

Doing it this way actually allowed us to spend time individually, especially Stuart. I could send him tracks with rough drum machines on and he could then spend time at home on them. As any drummer knows, in a rehearsal room, trying to work your parts out is not that easy. He was able to sit back and come up with ideas, like flipping the beat on the choruses of Golden Thread, which is something I would never have thought of.

It’s really exciting when you get something that you’ve been working on, you send it off and it comes back different, it’s almost like you’re not in the band anymore and you’re hearing it again. It was all built up like that and then we went back over it with the real instruments, some of the parts on the album are literally demos. Again, on Photogenic Love, the guitar melody over the chorus is the original part that Matt sent me with all the effects on it and everything.

Matt: We couldn’t quite get the same sound again, could we?

Kev: Exactly, we’re not purists in that sense at all, if it sounds good then it’s good! What I’m trying to say is that filtering system has just become a bit bigger, where as before it used to be us in the room. It was a bit quicker but with less time to stand back from it and reflect on it, now it’s a lot slower but we have a lot longer to reflect on stuff.

Progradar: The album is going to be released later in July and you’re already working on album five, is it strange to be promoting ‘News From The Invisible World’ while you’re also writing new music?

Matt: When we were doing the fourth album, because Covid happened, we had a lot of time to write and we ended up with lots of stuff. For the first time ever, we had more music than we actually needed so we just carried on. Obviously we’re doing all the production of the physical stuff at the moment and all the PR, which has slowed it down a little bit but we’re still just carrying on writing. Each track we do is a progression of the last one, rather than each album, if you listen to ‘Invisible World’, although it sounds like us, there’s no dominant thing going on.

It’s lots of different ideas, you’ve got stuff that sounds like Radiohead and Pink Floyd, you’ve got stuff that sounds like Queens of the Stone Age, The Flaming Lips, there’s loads of different influences in there. I think as we develop the material we’re currently working on, that’s kind of an extension of what we were doing. I think that, now we know the vocals are going on, it’s a different thing because we didn’t really know where we were going with them.

We’re also using more strings and stuff, I really liked that, and the pianos. I think the ‘Invisible World’ has made us feel quite confident and we’re trying different things and just trying to be braver really. The last song on the album, Nostalgia Now, has got lots of strings and piano and on it and it just makes me think that I want to keep trying new things.

I think people can hear when you’re excited about things yourself and I think that comes across on the record, that enthusiasm and joy comes across to the audience. We don’t really know where we’re going with it yet but it will be a continuation of what we’ve done, we’ve probably got all the bits ready for album five, haven’t we?

Kev: Across the years we’ve never stopped writing, we’ve always got instruments around us and we’ve got WhatsApp groups and voice memos of Steve at two o’clock in the morning quietly trying to play us his ideas. It could be literally two years and then one of us will go, “I’ve just found this…”, an email I sent you and it’s really good and just been sitting there waiting to be discovered!

Matt: I think the writing process for the last record was so broad, Non-Player was Steve’s idea initially, I think it’s given Steve a chance to be more of a song writer which is really good for me. The Start was mainly Kev’s, there’s all of us putting parts in and, like I said, it’s Stuart having a chance to work at home on stuff. It’s been really interesting, we’ve put a lot more thought into this one.

Kev: Being able to demo properly, it’s like you can actually go and listen to it and realise it’s fine where as, in the rehearsal room, it sounds great because it’s loud. You’re going to play it seventy-five times and think it sounds great but, when you take away the volume and put it in a different context, is it still fun?

Progradar: I think I know the answer to this but, how much are you looking forward to getting out there and playing these songs live?

Matt: Yeah, can’t wait, really looking forward to it. We’ve got a friend of ours who’s come down to help us with backing vocals and a bit of percussion and keyboards. We could play to click or play to a backing track but I’d rather not, if we can help it. I’m not averse to it but, if we can play it live, I’d rather play it live, it’s more exciting. We just can’t wait to play live again, the gigs we do are not necessarily about us, they’re more about the community of people that come to the gigs.

All those people in the Facebook group and all those people we’ve met over the years coming together, that’s why I love it. There’s no egos, it’s more important than trying to be a show off, it’s more about developing that sense of community. Treating people with decency and respect and being grateful for the support we get so, yes, can’t wait to play it live. We love playing and I love a Premier Inn breakfast, it will be fantastic!

Kev: For us, it’s just given us a new twist, new challenges and things we’ve got to work out how to do, how we present it and that makes it interesting for us. We always want everything to be joyous and a celebration, the last few rehearsals we’ve had have been really good fun, it’s really exciting.

Progradar: It’s time for the last question, to both of you, please recommend one band that you’ve been listening to a lot recently…

Matt: A metal band called Svalbard, they go really heavy and then really melodic and then really screamy. They’re great and have som excellent tunes, for the last few years I’ve gone back into a metal phase again. It was the music I grew up with when I was a kid and, for the last few years, a lot more experimental metal bands have come through and Svalbard would be the one I recommend.

Kev: Literally, what I’ve been listening to this week, there’s band called BadBadNotGood. I’m not sure how you’d describe them, jazz/funk? I’m not sure what you’d call it? They’ve got an album called ‘IV’ that I’d highly recommend to everybody. There’s a lot of sound design in it, it’s all very simple instrumentation but it’s how the instruments are presented, it’s very similar to a lot of what we do. We think about how we make the instruments sound, there’s a lot of bands that have influenced us that people may think are a long way from us, like The Flaming Lips.

Progradar: Thank you guys, it’s been a pleasure as ever to chat to you and I wish you the best of luck with the new album and will hopefully catch you live somewhere soon!

Matt & Kev: Cheers and thanks for everything!

‘News From The Invisible World’ will be released on 28th July, 2023 and you can pre-order the album from bandcamp here:

https://thefierceandthedead.bandcamp.com/album/news-from-the-invisible-world

Review – The Fierce And The Dead – News From The Invisible World

‘The measure of intelligence is the ability to change’ Albert Einstein

Some people don’t like change, some people are scared of change but things must evolve, things must progress. Let’s face it, if there was no evolution then I wouldn’t even be writing these words, there would just be primordial sludge (now there’s a name for an extreme metal band!).

The Fierce And The Dead have embraced change in a huge way and in a way that their fans, and the wider world, would never have thought remotely possible just a couple of years ago! These self-proclaimed pioneers of ‘funny music’, one of the most influential instrumental bands of recent years have added vocals to their music, yes, I said it, vocals!! Now, if that isn’t progressive when it comes to music and a huge evolutionary step for the four guys from Rushden, then I don’t know what is but, before we delve deeper into their new long player, ‘News From The Invisible World’, let’s look back at their history…

The Fierce & The Dead are a British rock band formed in 2010. The band consists of Kevin Feazey (lead vocals/bass), Matt Stevens (guitar/keys), Steve Cleaton (guitar), and Stuart Marshall (drums). While they started as an instrumental band, Feazey has taken on the role of lead vocalist in recent years, adding a new dimension to the band’s sound. Their music is a fusion of psychedelic rock, old metal records, post-rock, prog, broken analogue synths, and shoegaze.

The 8-song, 42-minute ‘News From The Invisible World’, their fourth studio release, marks the band’s first release featuring vocals from bassist Kevin Feazey. Guests include Matt Jones (Jamie T/ Beady Eye) on keys, Tom Hunt on backing vocals (Orange Clocks), and brass from Terry Edwards (PJ Harvey/Gallon Drunk). The album has been 5 years in the making.

For vocalist/bassist Kevin Feazey: “The album really digs deep into where we come from musically and sets up the path ahead, we’ve always found ways to do things differently, and now those doors are wide open. It came together over lockdown, which meant that we had a chance to take stock, see the music from a different perspective, and allow ourselves time to experiment with different textures and sounds. Adding vocals didn’t seem like a dramatic step, but something that these pieces would benefit from, it felt obvious to us.”

“We wanted to make an ambitious record like Mercury Rev and the Flaming Lips made in the late 90s, but you can hear lots of influences in there, even the Carcass and Napalm Death records we loved when we were teenagers, Slowdive and all sorts,” says guitarist Matt Stevens. “We didn’t get to tour the last record as much as we’d like due to my cancer diagnosis and then COVID, and it went bonkers, so hopefully, this one will be somewhat easier.”

I have a long history with the band, first reviewing the band’s 2013 release ‘Spooky Action’, and have followed them ever since and my role at Bad Elephant Music has meant I have been involved in a lot of their subsequent releases. However, this review comes without bias, this album is brilliant because of the music and I’m not the only one who thinks so! I must also point out the incredible artwork from the legendary Mark Buckingham.

I love the fact that The Fierce And The Dead do things properly ‘old school’ by releasing singles before the full album and the first release was the excellent Wonderful, a cacophony of joyous, chaotic music with Kev’s energetic, almost manic, vocal giving it a wide-eyed clarity and an almost Cardiacs-like vibe, especially with the excellent use of the brass section. This was a pointer of the wondrous things to come. The second single, Golden Thread, opens with a riff that’s a punch to the gut, harder than granite and Stuart Marshall‘s heavy, primeval drums adds serious weight. There’s an ebb and flow to the song that reminds me of prime Faith No More but with a more laid back vocal approach. This song wants to shake you by the hand and then punch you in the face and, you know what, you’d probably just let it! Photogenic Love was the 3rd single and the one that most notably veered away from the band’s original sound, TFATD but with another dimension ( or, should I say, FROM another dimension!) but you aren’t progressive if you aren’t progressing, so to speak. I think this is a fantastic new direction and sounds like 90’s pop mixed with fuzzy psychedelica, almost like A-ha met with the Gorillaz and asked Billy Corgan to join in the fun. It sees the band taking the next step in their journey and is, to my ears anyway, bloody fantastic and their best song yet.

And that’s just the three singles, we are lucky folk indeed as there are another five tracks to gorge yourself on. Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, opening song The Start is, indeed, the start of something new for the band and majors on Kev’s vocals. There’s a wonderfully uplifting feel to the track as it begins to build and swell into a wall of jubilant and exuberant music. You cannot help but smile as the multi-voice chorus takes you higher and higher. Shake The Jar opens with a fantastically fuzzy, psychedelic riff from Matt and gives this high energy track a hard edge almost reminiscent of The Jam in their early years. Another song that has a bit of ebb and flow but this is music of the highest quality and a band who have embraced their new direction and are having an awful lot of fun with it. Shoe-gaze, Lo-fi, call it what you want but the brooding, edgy and ever-so-cool Non-Player is a mighty fine piece of music. Kev’s vocal has a haunting, mesmeric quality to it and the music has a world-weary, knowing grace at its core. The guitar playing could be straight from a spaghetti western at points and the sax playing from Terry Edwards is just genius.

Time for a bit of full on bombast methinks. The opening to What A Time To Be Alive is the closest we’ve come yet to a traditional TFATD track on the album so far and actually makes you realise how much the band have progressed in the last five years. It is monstrous, heavy and yet very melodic and also a very good piece of music but, to my ears, the rest of the songs have much more maturity to them. It’s a wonderful nod to the past and a pointer to where the future lies for this talented group of musicians (and vocalist!) as the track closes with a synthesised vocal interjected between Matt’s huge riff and Stuart’s thunderous drumming. There’s a Foo Fighters meets Nick Cave feel and vibe to the album closer, Nostalgia Now. A portentous title perhaps as the old TFATD is just nostalgia and the band are embracing the future. Kev’s heartfelt, delicate vocal and the elegant piano note are all that’s needed to give a hushed and almost melancholy feel to a track loaded with different textures and sounds. If there’s one song on this album that points to the band’s future then it surely is this masterpiece.

‘News From The Invisible World’– true fans will love it, there’s real maturity and creativity in this album, The Fierce And The Dead shift effortlessly between different styles to show they are no one trick ponies. You could say that this is a case of a band reinventing itself but staying close to their roots but it’s more than that, this is band raising their game to the highest level and that is really where they belong…

Released 28th July, 2023.

Order from bandcamp here:

News From The Invisible World | The Fierce And The Dead (bandcamp.com)

‘Photogenic Love’ – New Single From The Fierce And The Dead Released Today!

Released today and described as heavy psychedelic pop, Photogenic Love is the 3rd single from the upcoming 4th Fierce And The Dead album (out early 2023). This track brings to mind Faith No More, Tame Impala, Smashing Pumpkins, LCD Soundsystem, Flaming Lips, Gorillaz and MGMT and once again features vocals from TFATD bassist Kevin Feazey.

TFATD guitarist Steve Cleaton says of the release “I think this track is a good example of the creative process we used on many of the newer songs. The circumstances of the last couple of years, of course, meant that we couldn’t practice together that much. Rather than let this get in the way of writing new material, we decided to employ wholly different methods, and often different instruments, than we have done in the past. I really enjoy playing this one, the melodies stand out, and I think kev did an excellent job on the singing!! I hope listeners like it too!!”.

Stuart Marshall, drummer added “The song covers a fair amount of ground in terms of sonic dynamics. Evolved during a new online writing process, that collaboratively evoked different influences from genres including, 70’s rock, 80’s pop and post rock. It’s a vocal ear-worm and a song we hope to hear people singing along to at shows”.

Listen to the track here:

You can buy the new single here:

▶︎ Photogenic Love | The Fierce And The Dead (bandcamp.com)

A big departure from the band’s previous sound, I think this is a fantastic new direction and sounds like 90’s pop mixed with fuzzy psychedelica, almost like A-ha met with the Gorillaz and asked Billy Corgan to join in the fun. It sees The Fierce And The Dead taking the next step in their journey and is, to my ears anyway, bloody fantastic and their best song yet!

“You ain’t progressive if you ain’t progressing, innit…?”

The Fierce & The Dead – Photogenic Love released on 21st October via Spencer Park Music

Described as heavy psychedelic pop, Photogenic Love is the 3rd single from the upcoming 4th Fierce And The Dead album (out early 2023). This track brings to mind Faith No More, Tame Impala, Smashing Pumpkins, LCD Soundsystem, Flaming Lips, Gorillaz and MGMT and once again features vocals from TFATD bassist Kevin Feazey.

TFATD guitarist Steve Cleaton says of the release “I think this track is a good example of the creative process we used on many of the newer songs. The circumstances of the last couple of years, of course, meant that we couldn’t practice together that much. Rather than let this get in the way of writing new material, we decided to employ wholly different methods, and often different instruments, than we have done in the past. I really enjoy playing this one, the melodies stand out, and I think kev did an excellent job on the singing!! I hope listeners like it too!!”.

Stuart Marshall, drummer added “The song covers a fair amount of ground in terms of sonic dynamics. Evolved during a new online writing process, that collaboratively evoked different influences from genres including, 70’s rock, 80’s pop and post rock. It’s a vocal ear-worm and a song we hope to hear people singing along to at shows”.

Biography:

The Fierce And The Dead formed in London in 2010, with all 4 members originally from Rushden, Northants. They mix in elements from psychedelic rock, old metal records, post-rock, prog, broken analogue synths and shoegaze. Their music has been championed by Kevin Cole of KEXP, Stuart Maconie on BBC 6 Music and Steve Davis on his Interesting Alternative Show.

They released their breakthrough 3rd album The Euphoric in 2018 via BEM records which was Classic Rock Magazine’s Prog Album Of The Year and 8th in Prog Magazine’s critics choice. Prog magazine included them in their 100 Prog Icons and they have appeared ranked highly in the magazine’s Readers Poll for multiple years and categories, although the band never considered themselves to be deliberately prog. Pre-COVID headline shows in Manchester and London sold out months in advance.

They have toured with Hawkwind, Big Business, Dave Lombardo, Crippled Black Phoenix, Evil Blizzard and Monkey 3 and at festivals in the USA, Europe, and the UK including Freak Valley, Prognosis, Arctangent, HRH, Kozfest, Ramblin Man and Rosfest. 2022 dates have included festivals in the UK, Holland and Italy. They have released 3 studio albums alongside 4 EPs and 3 live albums.

The Fierce & The Dead – Golden Thread released on 22nd July via Spencer Park Music

The Fierce And The Dead release Golden Thread, the 2nd single from their upcoming 4th album ‘News From The Invisible World’, once again featuring vocals from bassist Kevin Feazey, described as psychedelic metal with a shoegaze feel.

Recent Press:

“A fresh psych-fuzz freakout from one of the UK’s trickiest-to-pin-down instrumental rockers – except their first new music in four years isn’t actually instrumental, featuring vocal contributions from Kevin Feazey for the first time. (A) peak grunge- channeling chorus riff, which takes equal billing with the verse’s shoegaze-worthy washed-out chords.”

Guitar World (Essential tracks of the week)
“The work of a truly original band pushing forth and genuinely progressing”

Real Gone

“Be prepared to have that phrase – annoy and irritate your friends with it floating around your brain for days. Surely the sort of hook that makes a good single?”
At The Barrier

“Modulates between being a dark, fuzzed-out ripper and an exploratory post- rock/jazz fusion. It’s an exciting track that shows off TFATD’s mastery of post-rock songwriting and excellent mix/master engineering. Highly recommended.” Independent Clauses

Biography:

The Fierce And The Dead are releasing singles ahead of their first album in 4 years with (for the first time) vocals from bassist Kevin Feazey. Their music has been championed by Kevin Cole of KEXP, Stuart Maconie on BBC 6 Music and Steve Davis on his Interesting Alternative Show.

The Fierce And The Dead formed in London in 2010, with all 4 members originally from Rushden, Northants, they mix in elements from psychedelic rock, old metal records, post-rock, prog, broken analogue synths and shoegaze.

They released their breakthrough 3rd album ‘The Euphoric’ in 2018, via BEM records, which was Classic Rock Magazine’s Prog Album Of The Year and 8th in Prog Magazine’s critics choice. Prog magazine included them in their 100 Prog Icons and they have appeared ranked highly in the magazine’s Readers Poll for multiple years and categories, although the band never considered themselves to be deliberately prog. Pre-COVID headline shows in Manchester and London sold out months in advance. 


They have toured with Hawkwind, Big Business, Dave Lombardo, Crippled Black Phoenix, Evil Blizzard and Monkey 3 and at festivals in the USA, Europe, and the UK including Freak Valley, Prognosis, Arctangent, HRH, Kozfest, Ramblin Man and Rosfest and will support Kings X in Italy in September 2022. They have released 3 studio albums alongside 4 EPs and 3 live albums.

The Fierce And The Dead are:

Kevin Feazey Vocals/Bass/Keys

Matt Stevens Guitar/Keys

Steve Cleaton Guitar/Vocals

Stuart Marshall Drums

Order the single from bandcamp:

Music | The Fierce And The Dead (bandcamp.com)

The Fierce And The Dead – Wonderful released on 6th May via Spencer Park Music

The Fierce And The Dead release their first single in 4 years on May 6th, with (for the first time) vocals from bassist Kevin Feazey. It features sax from Terry Edwards (PJ Harvey/Spiritualized/Faust) and comes from upcoming fourth album News From The Invisible World, to be released later in 2022. The Single artwork is by Mark Buckingham (Neil Gaiman/DC Comics/Fables).

The Fierce And The Dead formed in London in 2010, with all 4 members originally from Rushden, Northants, previously an instrumental band they mix in elements from psychedelic rock, old metal records, garage rock, post-rock, prog and shoegaze.

They released their breakthrough 3rd album The Euphoric in 2018 via BEM records which was Classic Rock Magazine’s Prog Album Of The Year and 8th in Prog Magazine’s critics choice. Prog magazine included them in their 100 Prog Icons and they have appeared ranked highly in the magazine’s Readers Poll for multiple years and categories, although the band have never considered themselves to be deliberately prog. Pre-COVID headline shows in Manchester and London sold out months in advance. 


They have been championed by Stuart Maconie on BBC 6 Music and Steve Davis on his Interesting Alternative Show and played with Hawkwind, Big Business, Dave Lombardo, Crippled Black Phoenix, Evil Blizzard and Monkey 3 and at festivals in the USA, Europe, and the UK including Freak Valley, Arctangent, HRH, Kozfest, Ramblin Man and Rosfest. They have released 3 studio albums alongside 4 EPs and 3 live albums.

Pre-save the single here:

Wonderful by The Fierce & the Dead – DistroKid

Self-styled ‘Funny Music Pioneers’ The Fierce And The Dead Launch Their Own Podcast

British prog instrumentalists The Fierce & The Dead have launched their own podcast, Lets Start A Cult. While initially covering the history of the band, future episodes will feature interviews with fellow musicians and friends of the band, music gear discussion and commentary on things the band find interesting.

Guitarist Matt Stevens, “We’ve been interested in creating a podcast for ages and having stopped rehearsing and gigging due to ongoing events we thought now was the time to crack on with it. We’ll talk about the history of the band to bring people up to speed initially then we’re going to focus on talking to our friends about their music, music gear and tutorials, that sort of thing. It’s been fun to do and hopefully we’ll be able to keep it going, I really enjoyed it, but i was surprised how little I remembered about the making of the first album and EP. It was a long time ago! . “

Episode 1 is available on YouTube now with an episode to follow every week and it’ll be up on all major podcast platforms shortly. You can listen to the first episode below.

Review – The Fierce And The Dead – The Euphoric – by Jez Denton

Just recently I have picked up on the Channel Four series of Philip K.Dick stories, Electric Dreams, in which dystopian nightmares are played out in mainly normal humdrum situations with a fear of foreboding dread building to a crescendo. Likewise, the third studio album from instrumental band The Fierce and The Dead, titled ‘The Euphoric’, is one that builds and builds, working around a juxtaposition of beautifully crafted melodies driven by crashing, hard driven and downtuned guitar riffs. A major compliment I can pay the album is that should channel four make another series of Electric Dreams this is the band and album that should soundtrack it.

Over the last eight years since their debut release, the ‘Part 1 EP’, The Fierce and The Dead have developed their craft, adding layering and texture to their already formidable playing and production skills. Using their influences whilst retaining their individuality is an enviable skill; one which is often not pulled off but, in the case of this album, most certainly is. You can hear throughout the album the influences of the musicians the band have worked with or obviously admire; from the hardcore metal of bands such as Slayer to the melodic tune creation of a Steven Wilson, The Fierce and The Dead have made an album of deep complexity whilst retaining a simplicity within the riff structure that drives the album on and doesn’t allow it to become samey or repetitive.

The two lead singles from the album are both standouts with the already successful, with accompanying video by acclaimed director Mark Duffy, Truck being followed by, on the 30th March, 1991. Both tracks show off the sound which you can expect from the album with their heavy psychedelia and cross over between guitars and synths being indicative of the direction the band have taken. The band are happy to confound, confuse and surprise in composition and performance which makes this album a fulfilling and satisfying listen.

The album, which is released on the 18th May by Bad Elephant Records, featuring amazing cover art work by Mark Buckingham, will be available in both CD and Vinyl formats. There will also be available limited edition bundles featuring a print of the cover artwork and an exclusive bonus CD of live and demo tracks.

Released 18th May 2018

Order ‘The Euphoric’ in all formats from Bad Elephant Music at bandcamp here

The Fierce And The Dead’s Matt Stevens Talks RoSFest

The legend that is Matt Stevens took time this Sunday morning to talk to me about The Fierce And The Dead’s appearance at the recent RoSFest, North America’s premier progressive rock festival.

Among other things, we talk about the tedious process of getting an artist visa, what it’s like playing in a different country, American prog fans and beer, strong beer!

(Featured image of Matt by Jose Ramon Caamano)