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Old 12-31-2020, 03:01 PM   #58 (permalink)
Trollheart
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Let's get this finished before the year ends, as we take our final look at our



Album title: Passion
Artist: Pendragon
Nationality: English
Year: 2011
Chronology: 9


Track Listing: Passion/Empathy/Feeding Frenzy/This Green and Pleasant Land/It’s Just a Matter of Not Getting Caught/Skara Brae/Your Black Heart

Comments: One of my favourite albums, Pendragon’s ninth sees them embracing samples, electronic music and even (to a very small and even laughable degree) rapping as they take on the twenty-first century, striving to remain relevant and up their game. And up it they do. Only seven tracks, but not a bad one among them. Almost. The opening two I choose to take as almost the same track as they kind of feed into each other, and you know things are going to be different when Nick growls “I… drop my BALLS!” It’s a continuation of the heavier approach used on Pure, with a lot more guitar - though there’s plenty of room for Maestro Nolan as well of course, and the title track sets the tone with an electronic drumbeat then snarling guitar before it all takes off on the aforementioned line. There are little introspective passages of guitar that almost fool you into thinking it’s the Pendragon of old, before the new sound kicks these aside and goes for your throat.

Passion there certainly is in this opener, and it staggers on almost broken legs with a wounded, groaning vocal into “Empathy”, which immediately ups the ante with a snarling vocal from Nick as he paints a picture of the unfairness and cruelty of the world, the music loud and aggressive. The chorus is the title of the previous - “Passion! Gimme some empathy!” - which is another reason I tend to link the two. Again we get those soft little sections before it all explodes again. Here, too, we have the, um, attempt at a rap. To be fair, it works more than it doesn’t, but I’m sure any hip-hop fan would be grinning embarrassedly to themselves to think this is taken to be a rap, when it’s nothing of the sort. Let’s be honest: prog rockers don’t rap well. But you have to give them points for trying to appeal to a base outside of their own. The orchestral synth ending is to die for, step forward and take a bow, Clive Nolan.

After all that it’s back to basic rock for the gritty “Feeding Frenzy”, demonstrating clearly the anger felt by Nick at the way the world is; this will become a running theme, not only through this album but the next one too, and is a follow-on from both the last album and the one previous to that. A lot of hard guitar in this one. And I mean a lot. I love the line “This is your revenge, to the power of ****!” But if you want to hear a real rant against the UK and indeed the world, try “This Green and Pleasant Land”, all thirteen minutes of it. Listen to lyrics like “It’s not legal to say what I think anymore cos I don’t believe in Sharia law.” Yeah. A real get-the-fuck-up-and-stop-whining-about-your-life song, against a backdrop of some truly beautiful music, soft mournful guitar giving way to faster, angrier riffs as Nick wails “Take only what you need and be on your way,” advice we’d all be so much better off if we took, though nobody does, including me. We all want more, more, MORE!

I will say I hate the ending. After going through so many changes, powerful instrumental passages, passion (sorry)-drenched lyrics, it basically fades and breaks up to the sound of sheep and er, yodelling? Very weird, and a big disappointment in a song which should have had a much more coherent and dramatic ending. Doesn’t ruin it, but it is a pity. There’s a lot of menace in “It’s Just a Matter of Not Getting Caught”, as well as a fairy-style strings opening (maybe a harp? Hard to say) and a whistling synth that reminds me of that part from “The Shadow” on The Masquerade Overture. Very heavy guitar and some odd effects, then “Skara Brae” kicks everything in the teeth again, rocking out like mad, Nick’s vocals almost metal at times, with a great hook in the chorus.

The album ends then with the expected ballad, and “Your Black Heart” does not disappoint as a closer, nor as a ballad. Beautiful vocal harmonies, crying guitar, sumptuous rolling piano, this has it all, a truly lush and awe-inspiring song that hides a dark, bitter revenge motif in the lyric. The final guitar solo outro reminds me very much of the closer from Believe, “The Edge of the World”, and I’d venture to suggest this may be one of the best ballads Pendragon have written to date.



Track(s) I liked: Everything

Track(s) I didn't like: Nothing

One standout: It’s between “This Green and Pleasant Land”, “Your Black Heart” and “Empathy”

One rotten apple: Nein

Overall impression: An album that shows Pendragon, if you will, growing up. One of the most politically-charged of their albums in terms of lyrics, and the experiments they engage in to remain relevant to the music scene and try to perhaps stand out from the slew of prog rock bands still trying to keep their fanbase together mostly work.

Rating: 9.8/10
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Last edited by Trollheart; 01-01-2021 at 10:04 AM.
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