25 YARD SCREAMER

The Welsh trio are back with their seventh studio album, and I was quite intrigued when I was sent this as I wasn't exactly kind about their last album and the recording quality. I note there are a few guests on this one, including none other than keyboard player Rob Reed (Cyan, Ezra, Magenta etc) on opening cut ' The Storyteller', and he certainly makes his presence felt with a strong contribution which no doubt adds to what is the best song on the album in a dreamy manner, which is quite at contrast to the far more rocky 'Devastate' which follows. This is solid neo prog, with strong vocals, and plenty of crunch which I am sure transfers well to the live environment but there is also plenty of contrast with acoustic guitar, fuzzed and distorted bass and a drummer who is throwing some interesting patterns.

The first two songs are probably the best on the album but the rest shouldn't be discounted out of hand, as there is a lot of emotion going on, and I ended up feeling here was a band who in many ways are inspired by Hogarth-era Marillion and Wilson, and it is the fans of these guys who are going to get the most out of it. Although I have seen Marillion many times with Hogarth I much prefer the earlier work, and the same has to be said for Wilson, and for me the reason I don't absolutely love this album is much more to do with my own personal taste than what is being presented to us to consume. I have only heard the two albums from 25 Yard Screamer, and this is the far superior of the two. I will follow their future releases with interest, as I am intrigued to see where they go next, but for now this is something to be investigated by those who enjoy this style of prog.

25 YARD SCREAMER is a Neo-prog band from Wales that was founded in 2002 when Nick JAMES (vocals, keyboards and guitars) found two musicians to play a gig with. Their names were Matt CLARKE (bass) and Donal OWEN (drums). They hit it off so well, they started making albums in 2003. In August of 2019, they released their 7th full length studio album called "Natural Satellite". The original trio is involved in this album but also recruited Rob Reed to help with keyboards and a few others to help with vocals. The album has 7 tracks that together last over 65 minutes.

"The Storyteller" (7:59) starts it all off with a bass line creating a mysterious sound that quickly sees the full band kicking into gear with guitars and synths playing melodic lines and then pulling back when the vocals come in only to increase in intensity for the choruses and this is the basic pattern this song follows. The melody sounds very Neo-proggish following that modern prog sound. The vocalist can handle some impressive interval jumps, but his style does take a little getting used to. The instrumental passages are well done with the right amount of progressiveness leaning just a bit on the heavy side, but still level enough to keep them in the Neo-prog realm. Post-Fish-era MARILLION definitely comes to mind as that is the sound they are trying for.

"Devastate" (5:40) starts with acoustic guitar and vocals for a more ballad-like beginning during the verses and then getting more intense for the choruses. The guitars are more dark and give a foreboding atmosphere, but the keys keep it on the lighter side and the instrumental break is a nice, smooth section driven heavily by bass and piano. When the vocals return, the background is heavy and the vocals have a muffled effect.

"The Silent Rising" (15:30) is divided up into 6 parts. As expected, the first part (called "The Silent Rising" continues with the soft verse, heavy chorus pattern of the preceding songs, but the instrument mix is well balanced. Pt. 2 is called "Patterns and Thoughts" and introduces another theme that seems more like a bridge. The vocals are put through a muffled effect and the music takes a dark turn, but still remains moderately light yet hinting to heavier things to come. The bad thing here is that this muffling only weakens the vocals, which really doesn't do anything for the sound of the track. Pt. 3 is called "Lingering" and is an instrumental section. A thumping, slow bass and drum play underneath a keyboard melody later changing to acoustic guitar, but the music doesn't really develop much like you might expect. This leads right into Pt. 4 "A Worthless Book?" which still doesn't really develop into anything that exciting, in fact it is quite light weight, which is too bad since this is supposed to be a centerpiece of the album. Pt. 5 "Onwards" manages to finally push the track forward as heavier guitars start to generate a little more power for this instrumental section, but it doesn't really leave anything memorable behind. Pt. 6 is named "Charitable Expectation" and is also all instrumental, but it only expands the themes of previous parts, which things do start to get interesting at this point, but unfortunately, it's too little, too late.

"A Space Where Someone Should Be" (9:19) utilizes 2 guest vocalists, male and female, who provide a spoken word passage spoken in tandem with echoing, dreamlike effects, but it's not really effective in bringing about the feeling I think they are trying for here. A simple piano and moderate beat plays behind the spoken word which continues on. Singing vocals come in after the 3 minute mark, but the melody is quite uninteresting and short. The instruments then attempt to build some tension, but this is quickly lost with emotion-less singing. The lyrics want to generate hope in human potential and power, but the melody and singing style only make you want to yawn. Just before 7 minutes, the singing stops and echoing guitar and keys work together with looped spoken word passages to try for something atmospheric, but only accomplishes a meandering section that fails to develop much.

"While We Are" sees Nick using his falsetto voice as he tries to invoke vulnerability, but ends up sounding whiny. By now, not even the instrumental background seems to have lost the desire to save the music, it all just sounds kind of tired and uninspired. The lyrics again want to work for creating a revolution against the mundane and evil governments, et al. Instead it doesn't invoke these feelings in me at all but I might be inspired to lie down and act like a speed bump for the invading tanks and what not. "Never in the Detail" also seems quite uninteresting until you get to a surprisingly rousing guitar solo in the middle of the track, which finally does reach for the heavier sounds of Porcupine Tree and this is probably the best part of the album, unfortunately, it is hidden as the instrumental break in the middle of another mediocre track. "Coda Jerimiah" (14:20) wants to be epic. But remember that the previous epic on the album brought in a continual downward spiral for the album. This time you might not be expecting as much after being disappointed by most of the tracks here. Again, they reach for the muffled vocal effect and any power in the track is suddenly lost, just like before. And, as before, the real power of the track comes at the end, once again, too little, too late.

The album started out promising on the first two tracks, and even though the vocals might take some getting used to, it was headed for 4 star territory. The album suffers a big loss in the first long epic, however, and things continue to go down hill with only a few sparks that seem to come out of nowhere and then get lost in the tracks that get continually weaker. The power of humanity to enact change for the positive seems to be trivialized in the music that lacks emotion and tension and once the album takes that downward turn, it can't seem to redeem itself. The whole thing ends up managing to get 2 stars.

I was more than a little surprised to discover that this is the sixth studio album from 25YS, a Welsh progressive rock outfit who formed in 2002 after Donal Owen (drums) and Matt Clarke (bass) augmented Nick James (guitar, vocals) at a showcase gig in Bracknell, for his then solo project. This 2016 album features four brand new pieces of music and four reworking's of very early material, again featuring the collaboration of Tom Bennett (keyboards, orchestrations) who had assisted with the recording of 2013's 'Something That Serves To Warn Or Remind' (the band is still a trio when playing live).

Apparently the band have been quite heavy in the past, but here they are showing of a more restrained side to the music, having very much a classic neo-prog sound to what they are doing. The guitars are doing some interesting things, but there is no doubt that there is troubles with the mix. The drums are too far to the front, and don't sound nearly powerful enough (which is a real shame, as Donal is putting his heart and soul into this), while Nick doesn't really have the Steve Hogarth vocal quality that he is going for, so possibly they should also have been pulled back a little. As it stands there is the impression that the band do have some things doing for them, and I am sure that in the live environment they would be well worth watching. But, six albums down the road the recording quality should be better than this.

Welsh band 25 YARD SCREAMER was formed back in 2002, and have one EP and four full length albums to their name so far. Recorded at the 2112 studio in South Wales, "Something That Serves to Warn or Remind" is the most recent of these. The CD was released through the UK label White Knight Records in November 2013.

Careful, emotionally laden progressive rock of the kind that gave Marillion a career way back when are combined with a harder edged, guitar riff driven style more similar to late 70s and early 80s Rush on 25 Yard Screamer's 2013 production "Something That Serves to Warn or Remind". A combination that works rather well, and a key audience for this CD should be those who enjoy listening to both of these bands, with a special mention to fans of the Fish-era Marillion and those who prefer to enjoy Rush prior to 1987.

25 Yard Screamer isa british heavy prog band little known outside their country.. Cassandra from 2007 is their third album I guess. The neo prog category , how is puted here on page is missleading, this album has nothing to do with neo prog, really, this is heavy prog with some prog metal elements thrown in, I can't trace any Marillion influences here or of any other neo prog band. Only 4 pieces, wich 2 are very long and the best from the album. Opening track Blacklight is something between heavy prog a la Rush with prog metal a la Fates Warning, is a nice well developed piece with tempo changes and good vocals from Nick James. The middle of the album, those two shorter pieces are forgetable and nothing to talk about. The last tune the longest , the title track Cassandra is the best from here, 30 min of good passages, odd time signature, nice vocals and good musicianship, remind me a lot of Fates Warning, more recent period around Disconnected. All in all, this is not a fantastic album, is decent and nothing more. 3 stars.

Power trio from South Wales,formed in 2002 through the meeting of singer/guitarist Nick James, bassist Matt Clarke and drummer Donal Owen.They produced two little-known albums, ''The pictures within'' (2003) and ''Approaching From an Oblique Angle'' (2005), along with the two-track EP ''Blacklight'' from 2006.Actually the eponymous 19-min. track from the EP made it to the band's third and mostly known release ''Cassandra'' from 2007.

The album consists of four compositions,two long epics and two shorter tracks.The band seems to be heavily influenced by the energy of RUSH and the atmospheres of RIVERSIDE and a mix of these two styles give a good description of the band's sound.The longer cuts aren't exactly tightly connected,seem more like separate pieces of music stuck together with overstretched powerful heavy grooves and rather boring psychedelic passages with effects.Still the band produces some high energy and decent esoteric atmospheres,when vocals added, showing good potential.The shorter tracks are straightforward Heavy Rock pieces,again the level of energy is high,but they sound too commercial with simple structures and no surprises at all.

25 Yard Screamer have worked well on creating deep vocal-based atmospheres,but need huge improvement on the most important part of (prog) music:Composition.If this part is developed,then we can expect some really dynamic and interesting music by these guys.

This new'ish British band has returned again. Their debut album Cassandra got a very good reception. I am sure this album, the follow up, will also get them new fans.

Until All Are One is style wise somewhere between neo-prog, the new British guitar rock scene and post rock. The sound is very much post millenium. There is no traces whatsoever of the neo prog sound from the 1980s/1990s here. The songs are very long, but there is no symphonic prog traces in their music whatsoever. The songs are long and symphonic, but in the post rock meaning of symphonic. I would almost call it post symphonic.

The songs are guitar based. Keyboards ? Hardly any. The format is power trio with bass, drums, guitars and vocals. This may give some references to the most famous power trio of them all; Rush. Which is actually a good reference. But the Rush sound was/is far more organic than 25 Yards Screamer. But yes, Rush fans will find a lot of good things on this album. So will post rock fans too.

The songs are long and complicated with a lot of twists and turns. A lot of break beats too. I have been told by a woman half my age that this is a very good thing among her generation.

The music here is good throughout. The problem is a lack of any great songs. That is my gripe with this album. But it is a pleasing listen and it will win them a lot of new fans. In particular on the live and festival circuit where this album will be a winner.

This is an album which does not really reach the dizzy heights of greatness. But check it out yourself.

3 stars

A new British band regarded as one of the new bands from the British scene.

Their music is a mix of mellow stadium rock, indie rock and Rush type harmonies and riffs. Despite of some pretty long songs (twenty and thirty minutes), the music is pretty accessible and commercial. But it still has a great deal of substance. The band is also handling their instruments pretty good too. Even the sound is excellent. The vocals is good for this type of band too. Which means no Pavarotti, but still pretty effective vocals.

For me, this album is a bit too much the same throughout. It becomes a bit boring. But get this band on a stage and I am pretty sure the raving reviews their live shows have garnered so far is true. I am not particular fond of some of the shoe-gaze and emo stuff on this album too. But this album is still an excellent album for those into the new indie based stadium rock with some Rush influences put in as the dot on the top of the i. I do expect a lot from the follow up album though. Watch this space.

3.5 stars

Cassandra is the third release by Welsh-based trip 25 Yard Screamer, and a very promising release too.

Two long epic tracks dominate this album, opener Blacklight clocking in at 19 minutes+ and last track Cassandra lasting almost to the half-hour mark. Both tracks variate between almost ambient atmosphere filled segments, mellow melodic segments not too unlike Marillion's more melodic moments and harsher riff-based segments close to Rush in style and sound. Some more metal-tinged elements are added at time to. Good melodic vocals, stable rhythm section and skilled guitar playing alongside well crafted songs makes this an enjoyable release overall - although both epics are a bit too long.

Fans of Rush should enjoy this one, especially if they appreciate mellow melodic rock too.