For those of you who read myprogmusic's reviews, English of 'Mostly Autumn' are one of my favourite bands and, after 'Sight Of Day' in 2017 and 'White Rainbow' in 2019, it's the turn of 'Graveyard Star' to be released and it's another fantastic album that takes us on a journey filled with sensitivity and poetry with all the ingredients you'd expect from this band : A couple on stage and in life who offer us vocal performances of considerable emotional strength, 'Olivia Sparnenn-Josh' continuing to dazzle us with her airy and bewitching vocals and 'Bryan Josh' gracing us with guitar accompaniments always filled with magnificent sensitivity, all of which are magnified by catchy melody lines in mostly soothing and relaxing atmospheres. Like many bands during this period, they chose to tell us about their experience with the health crisis, and I quote 'Bryan Josh': " the album is a real-time documentation of living through 2020/21 and a strong reflection of how we were feeling as this time passed. Although very personal to us, I can only imagine many of you can strongly relate to this journey. "
And to get things off to a great start, the 12-minute title track offers us an admirable first composition and from the very first minute, we are already under the spell with 'Floydian' keyboards and a first part sung in alternation between Bryan and Olivia that soon join in a magnificent crescendo leading to the chorus in which Olivia already gives us goosebumps. After the short and pared down 'The Plague Bell', we embark on a western vibe with 'Skin of Mankind' which is very catchy and is in the style of what 'Ritchie Blackmore' can do with 'Candice Night' with 'Blackmore's Night', then, 'Shadows' is a more straightforward composition which is sung entirely by Bryan in a more rocking atmosphere with memorable melody lines. With 'The Harder That You Hurt', 'Olivia Sparnenn-Josh' takes us back to the little cloud we were on during the first track and continues to charm us in a beautiful ballad with a build-up that is in a way the trademark of 'Mostly Autumn' that we never tire of, Olivia having this ability to send a powerful vocal of extraordinary emotional strength without any feeling of pushing her voice. And to continue this beautiful journey, the next two compositions 'Razor Blade' and 'This Endless War' are in the same spirit and still trigger that little shiver characteristic of this intense listening pleasure, the second one reminding me of the late 70's with the release of a certain 'Eye Of The Universe' from 'Barclay James Harvest' and I catch myself dreaming what 'Play To The World' would sound like sung by Olivia. Without transition, to recover from our emotions of the previous three tracks, 'Spirit of Mankind' is a more energetic and catchy track with a new heady chorus and in which 'Bryan Josh' graces us with a short but beautiful guitar solo with another high-flying vocal performance from Olivia, Then, back to a 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' introduction with 'Back in These Arms' which takes off after 1 minute 30 minutes and develops a very nice melodic theme accompanied by the Olivia/Bryan duo in a spirit reminding me of the melodic lines and rhythms of 'Nightwish'. Without transition, 'Free to Fly' is a magnificent piano/vocal ballad in which 'Olivia Sparnenn-Josh' shows all her sensitivity in this pure atmosphere adding atmospheric keyboards in the second part of the track, then, 'The Diamond', sung by 'Angela Gordon', diversifies the whole by an endearing and light song with an acoustic guitar accompaniment by 'Chris Jonhson' accentuating this feeling of angelic sweetness. Here we are at the end of our magnificent musical journey and 'Turn Around Slowly' concludes the album with nearly 13 minutes that unfold different atmospheres and show once again the talent of composer 'Bryan Josh' who offers us a progressive fresco in which we completely abandon ourselves and which has a grandiose conclusion with the contribution once again of 'Olivia Sparnenn' who sublimates this very beautiful finale. To this, we must add that the English have also released a bonus album of 9 compositions which was limited to 2000 copies, and which unfortunately is already sold out but which, according to some music reviewers are of the same level as the main disc.
In summary, it is still a magnificent album that offers us the English of 'Mostly Autumn' and I will not risk the little game of 'best album' because, for my part, they all have their place in my ideal collection of records for quite some time and 'Graveyard Star' will naturally be added next to its little brothers and certainly be part of my podium of albums 2021 in progressive music... | |
