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Old 01-14-2014, 11:21 AM   #14 (permalink)
Trollheart
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The tall ships --- It Bites --- Recommended by Anteater

It may seem like everything I'm posting here is recommended by two people, and to some extent it is, but nobody has really recommended anything else to me at least that I can remember. If anything comes to mind I will post it. Actually, now I think of it as I'm typing this there were a few from The Batlord, so I'll try to include one of those next.

For now, this was It Bites' first album in almost two decades, such a long gap that you could be forgiven for thinking they had split up. In some ways they had. Original singer and guitarist Francis Dunnery had left, and he was the heart and soul of the band. He was eventually replaced (after being asked back and hmming and hawing over it) by John Mitchell, late of Arena, Kino and Frost* among others, and the band has never sounded better.

I've already extensively reviewed this in my journal, and it featured in the Prog Rock Album Club --- which was where the rec from Ant came from --- so I won't go into it in too much detail here, except to say that if you approach this album with an open mind you may be surprised. Like already-featured "Epicloud" above, this album just gets better with every track. Unlike Devin's effort though, it is very slightly let down by the odd below-par track, but only one or maybe two.

It Bites have always described themselves as "Progressive Pop", and that's what you get here in abundance: hooky melodies that could easily grace any airwave, while still retaining the prog rock goodness we all love. Closer "This is England" clocks in at nearly fourteen minutes, while "The wind that shakes the barley" is over eight, so there's no shortage of epics. But it's in shorter, snappier songs like "Ghosts", the opener "Oh my God", "Lights" and "The memory of water" that this album really shines.

My favourite though is the title track; just can't praise it enough. A celtic-infused melody with a hook to die for and some sterling axework from Mitchell, it's the jewel in this gem-laden crown. And that's to say nothing of the ballads which flow as easily as water over stones in a gentle brook, all ushered on by Mitchell's underappreciated vocal talents. Just special.

If you thought "It Bites" were all about "Calling all the heroes", or you have never heard of them or never tried their music, this is the album that could very well convert you. The comeback of all comebacks, as far as I'm concerned. As I featured in my journal, "Gobsmacked."

Rec rating: 9.5/10 (only fails to get full marks because of a few tiny little niggles that aren't an issue with "Epicloud")
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