FENCE THE CLEAR

After having listened to four albums by Tiles I think I can safely say this one Fence the Clear is their strongest effort so far. And obviously, looking at the rating averages I'm not the only one who believes this. This was my first album by this band and after a few listenings some 10 years ago I was blown away by this jewel. I thought it sounded very original, all the songs are taking surprising twists and turns. It impressed me then and it still does. After having heard their other three releases I´m surprised they did an album like this in between because the other three seem pretty straightforward to me, no surprises there within the songs. The other three have also more similarity to Rush but I cannot really say this in the case of Fence the Clear.

First 2 songs on the album are fairly `normal` not really that special or surprising (3,5 st.) but with Cactus Valley we are entering the mysterious side of Tiles especially in the beginning of the song. The rest of the song is also quite out of the ordinary. Great rhythm and build up of the composition, these are the elements that strike me here. Great song, 4 stars. Next is Another´s Hand is another with special build up, great instrumental part in the middle with all kinds of musical specialties. Terrific track, 4,25 stars. The Wading Pool is more quiet, almost a ballad but also here you wonder where these guys got their inspiration from when they wrote it. Unbelievable stuff, 4 stars. Gameshow is more like the first two songs, good song but not exceptional, 3,5 stars. Fallen Pieces is a nice, short keyboard instrumental. 3,25 stars. Changing the Guard is another highlight, after the closing epic the best to me. Strength of this track is the composition. Wonderful song with interesting guitar variation. It´s a pretty slow song but in a nice way. Truly awesome. 4,25 stars. After another short one the mentioned epic closes the album. After this treat so far the icing on the cake ! A fantastic epic with a terrific instrumental passage in the middle. 4,5 stars.

I even want to go a bit further with my first statement and believe this is their magnum opus that will not be surpassed in the future. But who knows Tiles will prove me wrong. The current average for this album (4,2 stars) is a good reflection for what it´s worth.

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