After two albums that I presented to you on myprogmusic, 'Our Time on Earth' in 2020 and 'Theory of Tides' in 2022 and, still in parallel with his AOR project 'NEWMAN', 'Steve Newman' continues to regularly release albums from this new project 'COMPASS' since 'A Silent Symphony' follows the previous installment by a year. After taking us in the footsteps of the famous 'Galileo', he became interested in the dramatic history of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine in 1986. Having had the opportunity to visit the site, it gave him the idea of 'a new concept album. He therefore takes us into a chronology of this dramatic accident and, given the theme, the compositions present dark atmospheres with the addition of sound effects and spoken parts which allow us to immerse ourselves even more in this story by highlighting the people who were the main actors and spectators of this tragedy.
The short 'We Have The Power' starts the album in a rhythmic and energetic way, taking us back to the Soviet era and its thumping of boots asserting the supremacy of the Eastern bloc under the control of the Union Soviet, then 'Xenon Gods', always at a well-marked tempo, takes over by describing the cause of the accident, the result of human errors. Musically, 'Steve Newman' offers us metal with beautiful progressive sections, the atmosphere of urgency being well rendered by the supercharged rhythm section and the catchy melody bringing immediate accessibility. Follows the eponymous title of the album which tells the version of the engineer 'Anatoly Dyatlov' who was at the time the deputy head of the plant in charge of the emergency shutdown test and which is a gripping composition with a new melody which gets into your head immediately and whose second part offers a remarkable instrumental section including a 'Floydien' guitar solo, the strings adding a little more bite to this disturbing atmosphere. Place at 'Bridge of Death' which is also one of the tragic events relating that the inhabitants around the power plant were irradiated while going to see the fire on a bridge subsequently nicknamed "bridge of death" due to the level of radioactivity present at the time at this place: much calmer, the atmosphere of this title introduced by the crackle of a Geiger counter unfolds a beautiful ballad with a moving vocal performance of 'Ben Green' and another magnificent guitar solo in the second part of the title. Follows 'Into The Unknown' which relates to the first responders of the firefighters of the Chernobyl power plant who, at the cost of their lives, tried to fight the fire with the consequences that we know and which is a more direct and close to the AOR atmospheres developed in the 'Newman' project. Return to progressive with 'The Suffering' which speaks of the suffering of the population near the power station, forced to leave their homes knowing that they would certainly not return there again and which shows a much more refined face with piano/piano sections. voice of beautiful emotional strength, then, 'Liquidators' is a long development on the volunteers (called 'Liquidators') who intervened around the power plant after the disaster: after a long instrumental introduction setting the scene with a catchy melody and catchy, the sung part, more calm, addresses this painful subject by then returning to the melodic theme of the beginning in the chorus and the end of the title offers us an atmospheric atmosphere with another very beautiful guitar solo to return to the starting theme in the final. And to finish, 'A Dystopian Wasteland' describes the post-Chernobyl period in a quieter atmosphere in the form of a mid-tempo and 'Age of Progression' unfolds a final progressive saga between rock and metal, leaving plenty of room for inventive instrumental parts, 'Ben Green' making a last remarkable vocal performance and the finale with the sound of boots bringing us back to the introduction of the album and which is a beautiful image used by 'Steve Newman' to make us reflect and ask ourselves the following question: given current global events in this part of the world, have we really learned lessons from these dramatic experiences?
In summary, with this latest album 'A Silent Symphony', strong in emotion, 'Steve Newman' treats a painful subject with all the talent as a composer that we knew from the first two albums, once again managing to combining a progressive style conducive to a concept album telling a story while keeping a very accessible side thanks to melodic lines that are always very catchy... | |
