TO WATCH THE STORMS

Steve Hackett achieves a perfect balance with this album. Melancholy without being sentimental. Transcendent, diaphanous, contemplative and dream-like but never "new- agey". Classical but not clicheed. Progressive yet not anachronistic. Dark in places, but not depressing, with occasional touches of the grotesque. Eclectic but paradoxically homogeneous at the same time. Innovative yet familiarly Hackett-ish. Hackett shows incredible restrain on this album, using his trademark killer riffs sparingly, instead letting the musical ideas come before raw chops. This is probably his most consistent and mature work to date, as well as a work of exquisite taste and imagination. A perfect recording in every sense, from the satiny, translucent production to the finely crafted songs and opaque orchestrations.