Stealing the Fire release new album

Norfolk based progressive rock band Stealing the Fire is proud to announce the release of their second album “King of Shadows”. The full length album, the follow up to “Hot Ice and Wondrous Strange Snow” has been twenty years in the making and band leader Chris Bond says “We never intended it to take so long but life, as they say, got in the way. Through good times and bad, we have been piecing it together, on and off all those years. It’s survived transfers through three different recording systems, two studio moves and a global pandemic, not to mention various personal triumphs and setbacks along the way.” Vocalist Saff Paffron goes on to add “We’re very pleased with the final result; we’ve all learned so much in the time that has passed and those experiences and that knowledge has all fed into the creation of King of Shadows”.

Running for 55 minutes ‘King of Shadows’ comprises three vocal tracks and two instrumentals. The core of StF remains the same but this time they're joined by some special guests who contribute their own magic to the five tracks on the album, notably Gary Wortley on drums and Ruth Murray on flute. “The elements of our previous album that met with so much approval from fans and reviewers alike are still there.” says Guitarist Tim Lane. “The interweaving guitar and keyboard lines, the layering of musical textures, the lyrical imagery and of course Saff’s extraordinary vocals are front and centre as you’d expect, but there are other new influences to be heard as well. There are hints of traditional British and Irish folk, some instrumental passages inspired by the likes of King Crimson and Gentle Giant, and our shared interest in experimental electronic music can be heard.”

StF cite their influences as Porcupine Tree, Queen, The Flower Kings, Ozric Tentacles and classic seventies symphonic prog bands like Camel, Pink Floyd and Genesis. They have also drawn on their love of folk music, synthpop and psychedelia to make each track on “King of Shadows” a kaleidoscopic musical journey full of twists and surprises. The opening title track, (featuring guest vocalist Leighton Melville from Lane’s folk outfit The Punch House Band) is a high-octane which combines the heavier end of prog rock with Irish influenced folk melodies and dark experimental noise. It deals with the underlying ancient spirit of chaos which permeates modern society. The second track, Fools Parade, is an instrumental which uses the classical programme music form. “I had a dream where I was in Stevenage shopping centre and this peculiar circus parade of Clive Barker-ish Weaveworld type characters march through the precinct in a kind wonderful, strange promenade performance,” Says Tim “and this track is an attempt to capture this experience.” Track three “Medusa” is a love-hate song which contrasts a darkly ironic lyric against a bitter-sweet melody. “It’s probably the closest we get to a “straight” rock song on the album but it has it’s unexpected moments” says Chris. The second instrumental, “Out of Nothing” is another linear, almost musical stream of consciousness piece which “literally came out of nothing.” according to Tim. “I just sat down and started composing and finished up with this song; it’s quite a journey!” The closing track on the album is “The Tower”, at eighteen plus minutes in length a bona fide prog epic. It tells a story of love, loss, mermaids and isolation. The various sections of the song go from wistful acoustic ballad to space rock to joyful pop to heavy rock and finishes up with a gospel-tinged ballad again fading into the sound of waves breaking on the beach.

As previously mentioned, the album has been a long time in the making but a Chis says “we’re very proud of it; if a thing is worth doing it’s worth taking the time to get it right. Chance and circumstance put all kinds of obstacles in our way but we stuck at it and we hope people enjoy listening to ‘King of Shadows’ as much as we enjoyed making it!"

Stealing The Fire is a studio band that can trace its roots back to the Norwich music scene of the 1980’s. After working with Norfolk bands Silas and Earthstone (who had a 1994 release on the Kinesis label) Chris Bond revived Stealing The Fire as a collective based around his project studio and called in Tim Lane and Saff Paffron to form the nucleus of the band. In 1999 they released their first album ‘Hot Ice and Wondrous Strange Snow’, which won high praise from reviewers for Saff’s vocal performance and its complex guitar and keyboard interactions. Several of the tracks on the album are based around the twin themes of flight and strange weather and feature interweaving synthesiser and guitar work from Chris and multi instrumentalist Tim.  Recommended to fans of Neo Prog and Melodic Prog bands from the 90’s this album is still available of CD or Download from Bandcamp: https://stealingthefire.bandcamp.com/album/hot-ice-and-wondrous-strange-snow