THE CLOCKWORK PROLOGUE

Review # 107. A couple of years ago, Gandalf's Fist surprised everybody with the release of the excellent, but kind of ambitious, The Clockwork Fable. It was a really interesting triple concept album that introduced us to the underground city of Cogtopolis and its bizarre inhabitants. That album increased their fame and the band begun to play at various festivals, such as HRH Prog in North Wales for example, where they were the headliners on the 2nd stage.

This year they returned with The Clockwork Prologue, which works as a prequel, if I got it right. The band now includes two more members in comparison with The Clockwork Fable; Keri Farish on vocals and Ben Bell on keyboards, bass, guitar and vocals.

Although The Clockwork Prologue is similar with The Clockwork Fable, it is slightly better in my opinion. Not only because it includes all the elements that we enjoyed in the previous album, like for example the theatrical narration parts that work as a 'bridge' between the songs, but also because it is shorter, therefore less 'chaotic', and it can be appreciated better and faster. There are lots of wonderful melodies throughout the album, strong guitar riffs, beautiful changes, and let's not forget the really interesting story, on which, both albums have been built.

At the very beginning of this post, I wrote that with the release of The Clockwork Fable, Gandalf's Fist surprised everybody. I'm afraid that the element of surprise is not going to work this time, mostly because now people know what to expect. But that doesn't make the album less enjoyable!

So, to sum up, The Clockwork Prologue is a great album and without a doubt a very serious piece of work! Definitely one of the best releases of 2019 so far. And as far as I've heard, this time it will be available in vinyl edition as well. Good things are happening to good bands!

Congratulations to Gandalf's Fist once more, not only for releasing really good albums, but for their hard work and for keeping their quality at very high standards. Favourite tracks (so far): Solar Huntress, Wanderer, Supplies for the Festivities, The Clokkemaker, Blackening.

My Rating: 4.5 stars (But I will rate it with 5.0)