THE BISHOP'S SACRIFICE

The Bishop's Sacrifice is the second album by this band, and with one notable exception, it's not really very prog rock at all.

While the first album is folky, the third one psychedelic and the fourth the most consistently progressive, this one is generally a hard rock album with songs that are largely about politics, philosophy or religion.

The core band for this record is Martin Vengadesan on vocals/acoustic guitar/bass/keyboards, Joshua Rayan on electric guitar and Andrew Sagayam on drums.

So I gotta say, everything really rests on the 22 minute long song called The Battle Of Emerald Skye. It begins with a solo acoustic guitar performance, and has several notable subsections as an anti-war tale unfolds.

You will be able to spot the influence of Pink Floyd in its more melancholic moments, as well as bits of Led Zeppelin and maybe even Iron Maiden. It's got loads of Hammond organ, some Moog synths and a fantastic sitar guest appearance from Kumar Karthigesu. It all ends in an epic chaotic garage punk like jam!!!

It's got its flaws too. Parts of it feels draggy and not all of it sounds well recorded or mixed. So full marks for ambition, but not all there for execution.

Elsewhere you have a funk rocker called Hazard A Guess with some nice electric piano and an excellent double tracked guitar outro. Thirty Pieces Of Silver and Stained Glass are catchy rockers that deal with religious/agnostic themes.

Then there are a string of in your face socialist songs like Call To Arms which has some heavy organ that owes a debt to Jon Lord's sound. The Peasants' Revolt is set in 1381 when the farmers and workers of England rebelled against the authority of teenage king Richard II and his oppressive nobility. It begins with a bass solo but does send up sounding increasingly frenzied and slightly ackward.

The Revolution Will Devour Its Children is another historical tale, specifically about how the French Revolution fell apart with different factions like the Girondists and Jacobins taking turns to fall to the guillotine. Musically the song has classical motifs and a duelling electric piano/electric organ solo, as well as more prominent drums.

And then there is a subtle ballad called The Final Hours Of Salvador Allende which was written in memory of the late democratically elected Marxist president of Chile. It's quite moving although it's yet another song that makes you think the band could do with a stronger vocalist.

Overall it continues the pattern of gradual improvement, although I would always ask newcomers to start with The Rook's Siege album before wandering this way.

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