THE LAST HORIZON

This is a very special musical project that started on the Internet where singer Will Mackie (from a pastoral village in Wales) and multi- instrumentalist Antony Kalugin (from a busy city in the Ukraine) got in touch with each other. They shared a love for progressive rock and this has resulted in the release of this debut album by Hoggwash. The name is derived from a spirit that helps people to come from the dark into the light if they are desperate or feel broken, this symbolizes that there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

The sound of Hoggwash is more symphonic prog but less adventurous than Antony his other project Karfagen. Nonetheless, Hoggwash has succeeded to make varied and interesting music with flowing shifting moods and good breaks, often topped with strong solos on keyboards and guitar. The first composition is the long and captivating Out Of The Darkness: lots of variety (from compelling and dreamy to mid-tempo and bombastic) and a lush instrumentation featuring fluent synthesizer runs, heavy guitar riffs, wah-wah guitar, powerful vocals, mellow hobo, warm classical guitar and some accordeon. The colouring with the keyboards is wonderful with the sound of brass, Hammond and Mellotron. The other seven tracks also manage to keep my attention for the full running time like in Road Of Many Challenges (from dreamy with soaring keyboards, flute and Mellotron to compelling with howling guitar and mid-tempo with sensitive guitar and flashy synthesizer flights), Like A Miracle (strong interplay between varied keyboards and guitar along good solos), Another Friday Night (beautiful mellow atmosphere with acoustic guitar, a slow rhythm with howling guitar and bombastic with Hammond, synthesizer runs and wah-wah guitar) and the dreamy final song The Last Horizon delivering a slow keyboard solo, flute and acoustic guitar. This CD is a strong calling card by Hoggwash!

The special bonus CD contains five tracks: Seashell is a bit spacey, Rainbow Part 1 delivers both swinging Fender Rhodes piano as xylophone, Rainbow Part 2 has a tight mid-tempo with exciting keyboard work and the final two songs (from Antony his New Age solo albums) sound ... quite mellow. It also contains video footage from a Karfagen rehearsal including the previously not released song Waiting For A but this 'Caveman reviewer' cannot play it on his computer... My rating: 3,5 stars.