Between all his projects and his participation as a guest on various albums of progressive rock formations (search 'John Mitchell' in myprogmusic), 'John Mitchell' is busy and 2019 sees the release of the last part of the trilogy of the adventures of the space man, 'Under Stars' whose first 2 episodes were from 2015 ('Please Come Home' - see here ) and 2017 ('The Big Dream' - see the review here). We find again the style of the previous opus, starting with the instrumental 'Terminal Earth' which sets the scene quietly in an atmospheric way, then, 'Ancient Ascendant' is typical of a refined progressive that alternates serenity and power a little in style Arena '. With 'Icarus', we are close to the Germans of 'RPWL' with a memorable chorus (see their latest album here ), and then, the eponymous song of the album makes me think to the atmospheres of 'Phil Collins' in his solo albums of the 80s and John gratifies us in this title of a great guitar solo. Follows 'Authorship Of Our Lives' which continues in this delicate style with reverberations in the vocals that accentuate the atmospheric side as 'The Signal' with keyboards that make the cosmic aspect very well. As for 'The Only Time I Do not Belong Is Now', we return to a quiet atmosphere close to 'RPWL' with keyboards very present and the following titles continue in this direction with the melodic 'How Bright Is the Sun? 'which is very close to' Reach for the Sun 'from the album' The Rpwl Experience 'of the Germans (see here), the album ending with the short instrumental 'Inside the Machine' with again a very 'Floydian' solo then 'An Ending' which closes the trilogy with a purified and melancholic title. In summary, with this latest album from 'Lonely Robot', 'John Mitchell' continues to offer us an accessible, refined and melodic progressive, and like the first two parts of this trilogy, 'Under Stars' should fill all fans of progressive and beyond, is likely to reach a wider audience... | |
