THE DUST OF STARS

It has been six years since the last band of Rain album, but Chris Gill is finally back with another release. As has been the case with his other albums, he continues to mix it up, and this time he has provided guitar, programming etc. and has been joined by Micha Steinbacher (bass, flute, sax, multi-instruments, programming, vocals). Most of the album is instrumental, but on two of the songs he has again engaged the vocal talents of Ria Parfitt, which takes the music into quite a different direction from the rest. This is hypnotic, almost trance-like music, treading a line where progressive rock and psychedelic music meet, reminiscent of Hawkwind, Pink Floyd and very early Porcupine Tree.

It is complex and complicated, and for all the times where it feels that it is driving and forceful there are others where the music just washes over the listener and allows them to relax into it. My favourite is "Indian Summer", where the combination of flute and synthesisers provides an introduction that makes one think that it is going to be in the style of Native Americans, before it goes into traditional Indian, and then something quite different altogether. This really shows the experimental aspect of the music, as the band bring together music from different cultures to create something that is both different and enjoyable. I know that Chris is often busy working on albums by others, but I do hope that we don't have to wait quite so long for the next one..

If it weren't for that my friend Gordo Bennett played some guitar shredding on one track ("Ancient Electric"), I probably would have been unfortunate enough to never have heard of this album. Thankfully, Gordo did shred, and Band of Rain's Chris Gill became known to me. He sent me a file of the album which took me a couple of months to get around to unzipping, but when I did, I knew I had to have the CD!

Look, I was into NWoBHM at the time and I was becoming disappointed as several remastered albums I bought on CD had inferior remastering. The music did not sound good. And I remembered how I bought so many new releases in 2016 and how good they all sounded. Then I heard Band of Rain's "Dust of Stars" and was taken on a remarkable journey of sound, mood, and emotion.

Part of the surprise was that I have not listened to an album like this for a long time, the closest thin being a Jet Black Sea album. We are talking about music that drips heavy emotion and exudes deep moods. It's a bit atmospheric industrial at times, has world music sounds incorporated at times, and delivers moments of beauty and peace. This is not an album for listening to while talking a power walk in the park, nor is it one for a drive along the coast on a sunny Sunday. This is sit back, close your eyes, open your mind and soul, and take a musical journey type music.

Each track has its charm, its ear-catching piece. It might growl menacingly at you, send you back to ancient peoples and religions, have you imagining a room of churning machinery at the end of a dark and narrow corridor, or have you soaring through high clouds under a starry sky. Most tracks are instrumental, but "Toys" features Ria Parfitt on vocals and reminds me of a song that might have come from the Robin Williams movie with the same name. It has that playful but slightly off-your-nut atmosphere.

"Dust of Stars" is created by Chris Gill and Micha Steinbacher. It's music that gradually unfolds and shifts, like watching early morning mist unveil a morning scene through slowly moving windows. It's never fast or busy. There are just waves and pulses of chords and notes undulating, swelling, releasing, sometimes thundering, sometimes washing to an end. This is a beautiful, albeit sometimes brooding, album of music. I'm looking forward to hearing more from Band of Rain.