Music Banter - View Single Post - Bitesize: Trollheart's Daily Album Mini-Reviews

Trollheart · 04-09-2017, 01:02 PM

Artiste: Pendragon
Nationality: British
Album: Men Who Climb Mountains
Year: 2014
Label: Toff
Genre: Progressive Rock
Tracks:
Belle Ame
Beautiful soul
Come home Jack
In bardo
Faces of light
Faces of darkness
For when the zombies come
Explorers of the infinite
Netherworld
Chronological position: Tenth album
Rank: Apprentice
Comments: Although I've only heard one full Pendragon album all the way through, I've managed to hear most of the rest of their stuff via playlists, and almost invariably, what I've heard I've liked, so I'm expecting big things from this, their latest offering. Three times now I've listened and three times I've missed the break which separates “Belle Ame” from “Beautiful soul”, though both appear to be excellent tracks. There's some beautiful reflective guitar in “Come home Jack”, the tale it would seem of a traveller and what he has seen, with a typical mix of styles and sections in the ten-minute opus. It's a pretty superb track, favourite so far, and given the quality of the other two tracks that's saying something. I really like the way that, although there's no title track, the idea of exploration and conquering obstacles runs pretty solidly throughout the album. Lovely piano work from Clive Nolan on “Faces of light”, and the song really builds up well, seguing nicely into its opposite, “Faces of darkness”, with some appropriately dark, breathy synth and ominous guitar, and just as ominous and creepy is “For when the zombies come”. This is absolutely excellent. Love everything on it, no exceptions. Truly tremendous.

Intention: I'm currently reviewing the entire Pendragon discography in depth in my Prog Journal, so there'll be a full review there at some point.

04-09-2017, 01:02 PM	#310 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,971	Artiste: Pendragon Nationality: British Album: Men Who Climb Mountains Year: 2014 Label: Toff Genre: Progressive Rock Tracks: Belle Ame Beautiful soul Come home Jack In bardo Faces of light Faces of darkness For when the zombies come Explorers of the infinite Netherworld Chronological position: Tenth album Rank: Apprentice Comments: Although I've only heard one full Pendragon album all the way through, I've managed to hear most of the rest of their stuff via playlists, and almost invariably, what I've heard I've liked, so I'm expecting big things from this, their latest offering. Three times now I've listened and three times I've missed the break which separates “Belle Ame” from “Beautiful soul”, though both appear to be excellent tracks. There's some beautiful reflective guitar in “Come home Jack”, the tale it would seem of a traveller and what he has seen, with a typical mix of styles and sections in the ten-minute opus. It's a pretty superb track, favourite so far, and given the quality of the other two tracks that's saying something. I really like the way that, although there's no title track, the idea of exploration and conquering obstacles runs pretty solidly throughout the album. Lovely piano work from Clive Nolan on “Faces of light”, and the song really builds up well, seguing nicely into its opposite, “Faces of darkness”, with some appropriately dark, breathy synth and ominous guitar, and just as ominous and creepy is “For when the zombies come”. This is absolutely excellent. Love everything on it, no exceptions. Truly tremendous. Intention: I'm currently reviewing the entire Pendragon discography in depth in my Prog Journal, so there'll be a full review there at some point. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018