GRACE FOR DROWNING

Certainly the most depressing and melancholic of Wilson's albums. The beginning sounds hopeless already. The dark, ominous Sectarian combines the extensive King Crimson and subtle Opeth's post 2008 traces. Opeth's influence comes up at various points on this album and that is no surprise since Steven and Mikael are good friends that influence each other musically. Deform to form a star introduces Wilson's shift to elegant piano and keyboard driven songs with great melodies. This track must also appeal to fans of high quality pop as it is accessible and catchy. No Part of me reminds initially of Radiohead due to the electronic background, however the heaviness and a great saxophone solo creaps in the second half. Postcard is another mellow and melancholic track with multiple vocals. Remainder the Black Dog is instrumentally perhaps the most interesting track because of its complex structure - as all other tracks, it doesn't add up anything to an optimistic mood. Belle de Jour has a haunting sad melody not unsimilar to Opeth acoustic tracks - listen to the Marrow of the Earth on Opeth's Heritage if you see anything in common ;-) Bleak atmosphere continues with Index. Track One features a mellow and catchy first part and ends similarly, with acoustic guitar. I consider the middle heavy part unnecessary and it does not enrich the song. The over 20-minute mark reaching Raider II takes some patience and concentration to be digested but I don't consider it bad. The last track is the only straight melancholic track and we have yet another Wilson's influence here - Pink Floyd. Overall, at least 4 starts are well deserved. In my first listens during the winter evenints , I found it pretty depressing but later in summer, I was quite immune against its atmosphere ;-)