In a different style to my last review devoted to the latest studio recording 'Senjutsu' by England's Iron Maiden', the next album on my long list of recent releases to listen to is 'Surrender of Silence' by 'Steve Hackett' and there's a good chance that both of these albums will feature in my top 5 of the year 2021. After an acoustic guitar interlude with the very good 'Under A Mediterranean Sky', the former 'Genesis' member is releasing a new solo album, well, if you can call it that, as you'll find the majority of the talented artists Steve invited on 'At The Edge Of Light', which had been the album of the year 2019 for me. I spoke at the time of 'World Music' and this feeling is still just as present in 'Surrender of Silence' which takes us on a wonderful world tour provoking many moments of intense emotions and which transports us to musical worlds of immense variety, each track having its own personality.
The short instrumental introduction is an invitation to enter this cathedral of sound with its mix of deep bass from a classical organ and a river of electric guitar notes that gives way to impressive drums accompanied by Steve's guitar that already gives us chills, Then, 'Natalia' opens the ball in the atmosphere of 'Romeo and Juliet' by 'Serge Prokofiev' and this symphonic fresco borrows from various classical masters with arrangements that provide wonderful moments like these majestic choirs that punctuate the whole track without adding too much: We are already in seventh heaven and the instrumental 'Relaxation Music for Sharks' puts a layer of it in a kind of chiaroscuro that makes us go from the calm of the deep sea to the ferocity of this environment to fall back at the end, the strings and the drums accompanied by Steve's guitar marking this track with a seizing sound intensity. Wingbeats' takes us to Africa and there is a beautiful contrast between the more conventional, beautiful vocal arrangements and the syncopated African rhythm section. Change of scene with 'The Devil's Cathedral' which welcomes us into a contemporary mix of grandiose organs close to 'Charles Wigor' and sounds close to 'Igor Stravinsky' and, after a minute and a half, brings in a much more sedate vocal section with a catchy melody and continues with an imaginative instrumental part giving a sense of urgency, the finale returning to that church-like atmosphere with majestic organs as it began. Much more conventional but still modern, 'Held in the Shadows' has a more rocking melody with a heavy tempo and with a very nice incursion by Steve with orientalist sounds in the middle of the track, then, 'Shanghai To Samarkand' could be a summary of Steve Hacket's talent as a composer, who has the ability to take us on varied and exotic musical journeys by mixing traditional sounds with more accessible progressive and contemporary orchestral or classical music influences, which may disturb some people, but the result is an extraordinary emotional force for those who, like me, like this patchwork of influences that are a source of creation and innovation. Steve also knows how to vary the moods as 'Fox's Tango' which follows is more direct and accessible but just as remarkable especially as Steve graces us with masterful guitar accompaniments, then, 'Day of the Dead' is more researched with this time progressive influences taking us back to the late 60s (some sounds reminding me of 'Abbey Road' from the 'Beatles' which I've always considered to be a progressive album) and with again some beautiful vocal harmonies, the second part of the track alternating rhythmics for a very nice instrumental section. And to finish this sumptuous musical world tour, what could be better than a beautiful ballad with 'Scorched Earth' in the form of a lament of our earth that we are damaging day after day even more, the short outro 'Esperanza' ending 'Surrender of Silence' on some soothing notes of classical guitar bringing us back to 'Under A Mediterranean Sky': the loop is closed.
In summary, as you will have understood, 'Surrender of Silence' is still an album of progressive music in the broadest sense which will mark the year 2021 and which shows this always renewed talent of creativity of 'Steve Hacket' continuing, album after album, to enchant us by making us escape the time of a moment and which, for my part, succeeds in this insane bet to make this interior periplus as intense as if one really travelled to discover other horizons... | |
