Artist : Gandalf's Fist

Album : Widdershins

Release Date : 25-11-2022

Added : 08-12-2022

After their admirable last studio recording 'The Clockwork Prologue' of 2019, the English of 'Gandalf's Fist' are releasing a new album at the end of 2022, 'Widdershins' which is still a rich and dense work since it borders on 75 minutes. This time they offer us a concept album about, as the name of the album suggests (literally anti-clockwise), all those who go against the grain of what was a mark of bad luck in ancient superstitions. Musically, we find this happy melting pot of styles straight from the 70s and this album is perhaps even broader in the different influences than the previous ones because in each composition, here and there, I had the impression of find myself a few decades back in the days of the first hard rock, progressive rock and even folk bands that have become legendary over time.

These are eight titles that enamel this new opus, and despite relatively long durations, the whole is very digestible thanks to a great diversity between each composition and a variety within each of them. 'Sacrement' welcomes us in a refined atmosphere with a few notes of acoustic guitar and piano but quickly gains momentum with vintage keyboards that 'John Lord' would not have denied and pours an energetic title mixing influences from ' Deep Purple' and Uriah Heep' but adds in the second part a progressive section with magnificent vocal arrangements. Follows the long development of the title song which is a progressive saga in several drawers that we pull one after the other and which highlights remarkable instrumental sections, sometimes energetic and sometimes calmer, the whole keeping melodic lines catchy throughout the title. Darker, 'The Haruspex' delivers a heavy rhythm supported by dark choirs and the very expressive vocals of 'Keri Farish', interspersed with an instrumental joust in a contemporary atmosphere, adds to this feeling of gravity. With 'Dreamcatcher' (see video above), the tone is more calm and 'Keri Farish' bewitches us with her delicious singing that she modulates perfectly according to the intensity of the moment, the melody being simply divine, then, 'Wisp' brings a folk side with a flute à la 'Troy Donockley' and presents a serene first part which accelerates the tempo at the end of the title to take us into a dance on a Celtic melody that the French of 'Tri Yann' would not have denied. With 'Man of Signs', the atmosphere is more mysterious and enigmatic and unfolds a first part at slow tempo in a symphonic atmosphere that can recall certain melodic lines of 'Renaissance', then, in the manner of 'Jethro Tull', the title continues in a more removed atmosphere to fall on the end as it had started. The shortest title of the album follows, 'Witchmonger' which, in a rural atmosphere, delivers an endearing new melody and precedes 'Cave', an epic of almost 20 minutes which takes you into an intense sonic labyrinth with multiple evocations of the beginning of the progressive, 'Keri Farish' showing all her talent by adapting her voice to each change of mood and the multiple arrangements merging the instruments of the orchestra and the electric instruments being quite remarkable by bringing a considerable richness to the whole.

In summary, the English of 'Gandalf's Fist' certainly release one of the albums which will mark the most the year 2022 in progressive and which admirably perpetuates a progressive inherited from the 70s/80s, which means that 'Widdershins' should join any discotheque ideal for any amateur and any progressive rock lover...

Line Up / Musicians

Dean Marsh (Guitar, Bass, Keybords, Vocal, Choirs, Mandolin, Bouzouki, Flute), Keri Farish (Vocal, Choirs), Luke Severn (Voice), Stefan Hepe (Drums, Percussions), Ben Bell (Keybords, Piano, Voice, Bass, Guitar) + Guests : Tim "Ripper" Owens (Voice), Dave Oberlé (Voice, Bodhrán), Pavle Popov (Bass), Faliq Auri (Bagpipe, Flute), Tom McCluskey (Cello), Jess Townsend (Violin, Viola), Brandon Wilkins (Flute, Hautbois, Clarinette, Basson), Daniel Pearce (Vocal), Alicia, Rafferty (Vocal), Eira Marsh (Vocal)