THE ART OF BLEEDING

Twenty years ago I received The Watch first album Ghost as a CD-R to review, this week I received The Watch latest effort The Art Of Bleeding as a WeTransfer to review, the only original member is Simone Rossetti, a lot changed within 20 years, but The Watch still make wonderful 70-77 Genesis inspired music.

About The Art Of Bleeding the band wrote: "After a huge and three years long composing process, for the first time The Watch has ventured into the world of the concept album with five stories that revolve around the idea of cathartic violence. A musical theme developed in various ways to create different atmospheres. A disc to immerse yourself in and let yourself go."

On this new album The Watch presents 8 melodic, harmonic and varied tracks, featuring a wonderful colouring with guitar and keyboards and, last but not least, Simone his passionate vocals with that distinctive Peter Gabriel timbre. The Watch succeeds to blend the unsurpassed 70-77 Genesis sound with some fine own musical ideas, and to keep my attention during the entire album.

Like in the captivating song Red: the freaky synthesizer sound, slightly distorted vocals, powerful Hammond runs and a scary scream halfway create an ominous climate, the final part contains bombastic keyboards and a dynamic rhythm-section. In the dark Hatred Of Wisdom the blend of a raw and propulsive guitar riff and soaring Mellotron violins delivers a compelling musical contrast. And the final track Red Is Deep starts mellow with dreamy keyboards and vocals, then a catchy beat with rock guitar (Peter Gabriel solo evokes), halfway a break with helicopter sound, followed by an eruption with a mid-tempo and pleasant vocals, gradually joined by bombastic keyboards.

More obvious 70-77 Genesis inspired compositions are the dynamic Abendlicht (lush keyboards and a fiery guitar solo), The Fisherman (12-string acoustic guitars and intense Hackett-like volume pedal guitar play), Howl The Stars Down (swelling Hammond sound, beautiful classical guitar, melancholical vocals, and in the end a churchy Hammond) and Black Is Deep (moving guitar work, majestic Mellotron violins, and the distinctive ARP Pro Solist synthesizer sound, this is by far the most Genesis sounding track).

My rating: 3,5 star.

P.s.: The 'Deluxe Edition' contains a Special Edition CD with 7 songs from the The Watch discography, in different versions, chosen by The Watch themselves (A.T.L.A.S, Goddes, Something Wrong, The Border, Sound Of Sirens / Another Life, Scene Of The Crime and Tourist Trap).

The Watch from Italy is one of the more famous Genesis tribute bands. Besides touring with early material from that classic prog band the Watch also releases albums of original material in the Genesis style. 'The Art of Bleeding' is their first concept album, with a loose concept based on crimes of passion. The band mixes its influences (perhaps closest to 'The Lamb Dies Down' here) with a sound pallet of eighties wave synths. That works really well for me on especially the first two tracks of the album. Vocalist Simone Rossetti has that Peter Gabriel timbre, but besides that he is quite limited in putting the variety of emotions into the music. His heavy Italian accent doesn't help much either. The Watch also has the same muddled sound as the early albums of Genesis and I would have preferred a more 'open' production sound. The compositional style of the band is actually quite complex, with a lots of variations on all musical themes. It does require some extra listens to acquire to all the songs, almost none of the material is an instant 'hit' so to speak. The more concise song 'The Fishterman' being the only exception. The songs do eventually open up a bit and I like the often dark atmospheres. Still I can't help but feeling something is missing here, which I'm guessing has much to do with the mixing. This album still comes warmly recommended to fans of Genesis and IQ. It's also a step up from their previous record 'Seven'.