TERMINALLY BRAVE

Another album by multi-instrumentalist Ian Gordon, an artist who's music I've come to enjoy a great deal. I cannot understand how this musician remains almost invisible to the music and to the "prog" world as of the four albums that I have of his none have disappointed me - in fact quite the opposite applies. At first when I started my "Ian Gordon" adventure it was with apprehension as I usually am not overly fond of single man multi - instrumentalist works. What drew me to Ian's music was the "neo-prog" tag here on PA and I was curious. Personally I'm glad that I was curious enough to take a peek because what I found is a wealth of musical ideas, a more than competent musician, a voice that has more than a striking resemblance to that of David Bowie (imagine Bowie doing neo-prog) and music full of melody and adventure.

I can't put a tag on the music - all I can say in regard to it is again, imagine David Bowie in progressive territory. It is very keyboard orientated and it is highly melodic. The drumming and guitar work is more than accomplished. The tracks are mainly multi nuanced and go through varieties of moods and melodies. This is a concept work encompassing in Ian Gordon's own words - "The world is at war. People live in fear, afraid of shadowy government organisations and their insidious agendas. As the cost of living soars, rebel factions arise, eager to regain control of the broken society. Little do they know, an agenda of epic proportions is about to be unveiled..."

This is an album that you have to listen to in its entirety for it to hit home. You can't sample bits and pieces in order to make a judgement call. Four stars from me.

Less than 6 months after the release of ''The box'', Ian Gordon returns with a second album, ''Terminally brave'', released in October on his bandcamp page.This appears to be another concept work by the English fellow, dealing with the sneaky goverment organisations and its attacking consequences to the life of people.As expected, Gordon has recorded all vocal and instrumental parts himself and the only outside contribution comes from a few sound effects he used from the site www.freesound.org.

Gordon's style appears to take a heavier dimension in this album, evoking some DREAM THEATER stylings, without ever forgetting the main inspiration of his compositions, which is Classic Progressive Rock.At this point it seems that the more material he writes, the best the result is.''Terminally brave'' sounds just an inch better, more consistent and more memorable than his debut, delivering modern Progressive Rock of high quality, having done an excellent job on the recording quality and mix of the album.But music comes first and ''Terminally brave'' is a pretty interesting album with many cool ideas and a refreshing aura.Gordon's music ranges from COSMOGRAF-like Neo Prog to Classical-influenced, cinematic soundscapes and from SPOCK'S BEARD-like Symphonic Prog to powerful Heavy Prog, displaying complexity and melody in equal doses.The atmosphere is pompous, dramatic and often haunting, reflecting propably on the needs of the concept.The guys seems to be talented on combining different elements in the same track, as a result a convincing mix of laid-back and dynamic textures is constantly present on his pieces.I am reminded of a more heavy version of Sky Architect's CHRIS listening to this album.Lots of flashy synthesizers, punchy riffs, energetic rhythms and impressive tempo changes shift endlessly to reward the listener with music, that can be romantic and sinister at the same time.

First work was really nice, this is even better.Great songwriting, diverse atmospheres and a strong, proggy content, supported by decent vocals.Strongly recommended to say the least...3.5 stars.