FROM THE SILENCE

Ilúvatar seemed to be essentially done after A Story Two Days Wide, at least as far as their studio output went, and the band slyly acknowledge that they've been away for a while in the title of their comeback album - From the Silence. The album begins with the sound of the band's music emerging from radio static, and ends with their music returning to that static - as though we happen to be tuning into what they're doing for a brief period of time, picking up a transmission to act as a welcome reminder that the gang are still broadly together and still enjoy playing even if it's a little more intermittent these days.

The "radio broadcast" concept also feels like it's seeped through to the songs themselves - rather than the intricate prog explorations of Children or the sunny, laid-back, relaxing mood of A Story Two Days Wide, here the band turn out a set of songs that tend towards being a bit more energetic, up-tempo, and, yes, somewhat more straightforward than we are used to hearing from them. Ilúvatar are one of those prog bands who realise that they don't need to be all-prog all the time, but slip into their music whatever seems to suit the mood best, even if that's a comparatively simple acoustic guitar passage or what have you.

What this adds up to is an album which will entertain the most enthusiastic Ilúvatar fans but which doesn't tie itself in knots to pander to prog fans. Whether or not you personally enjoy the material here, it really feels like Ilúvatar are making a policy of playing material that really speaks to them, rather than performing to appease the expectations of the fanbase, and we wouldn't have received this little message From the Silence if the band didn't believe in the material here. It's not really to my taste, but I'm glad they're still ticking along despite it.