SNOWTORCH

I really don´t know Phideaux that much. I guess I just heard two or three of his CDs and I must say that although they were good in parts, I was not impressed. I always felt they lacked a kind of cohesive whole. It was obvious that the guy had a lot of talented and the right influences to please my tastes. Still, something was missing. And that´s why it took a little time to finally get his latest work Snowtorch. And in my humble opinion this is by far the best of his records I´ve heard so far.

Contrary to other of his releases like Doomsday Afternoon and Seven, this one does not sound like made of bits of (good) songs thrown together without much care. It may sound a bit light on the first listenings, but that´s deceiving. The more you hear the more you discover how good and elaborated it really is. Snowtorch finishes as it started: strong and coherent, complex but still accessible, melodic and varied. In its short 44 minutes of playing, he definitly released a very convincing piece of prog rock that defies categorizations. His music is pretty much his music. And yet it sounds quite familiar and pleasant. A very hard - a rare - feat.

There are only four tracks and in some moments - like Helix and parts of Snowtorch part 2 - he reaches some of those sublime moments when you push the repeat button again and again because of the extraordinaire beauty and power encapsuled in those tunes. There are no fillers and the production is very good. The strong compositions, the tasteful arrangements, the terrific perfomances and the powerful delivering of all involved made this CD a very enjoyable experience for any prog lover to hear.

I´m glad Phideaux finally reached the potential that was only partially shown on his previous CDs. Everything works here and the sheer force of his art is quite palpable. I´m looking forward to hear his next works. And I´m also willing to give his previous ones another shot.

Final rating: 4,5 stars. Highly recommended.