LIFE IN THE WIRES

This album is nothing less than a modern prog classic. Especially over the course of a double album, you would expect some filler material, but every track on here is a banger whose special qualities are revealed with repeated listenings.

In many ways, it's a return to the glory of the Milliontown days, with Jem's voice to the fore, but I feel that this album surpasses the debut in many ways. The musicianship, the compositions and the production are all stunning, especially the solos. How do they play this stuff?

The production in particular has a modern sheen that distinguishes it from the 70s prog material that would have inspired it, more akin to a modern pop record (Jem, of course, has a lot of experience of producing pop hits with bands like Atomic Kitten) making it stand out from offerings by similar contemporary Neo-Prog bands.

Now it's late in 2024, will there be another release from a band that will top this one? I seriously doubt it, so this is likely my Album of the Year.

Life in the Wires, like any great album, takes time to take up residence in your head and reveal all of its complexity and splendor. For me, this is the most consistently excellent Frost* album to date, and even makes a great case for being considered a classic in its genre. Time will tell. The compositions here all have Jem Godfrey's signature styles and themes to the fore, and this is no bad thing. The playing from start to finish is virtuoso, immaculate and thrilling to the extreme - the extended solos excised from Day and Age having spent the time fornicating and bearing exotic new creations. Most of the tracks purposefully take their time to explore and develop themes, and there is a willingness to leave space for musical exploration that is well served by the double album format. The concept of the album is quite interesting, albeit being the weakest link on an incredibly strong showing. Jem never has been the greatest lyricist, and in true Prog fashion there is nothing personal here, but it still manages to avoid being dull and tug on the old heartstrings from time to time. The pacing and track order of the album is nigh on perfect, driving towards the stunning crescendo of the final four tracks which are truly breathtaking individually and greater than the sum of their parts as a whole. Returning to the Milliontown ethos has seen Frost* deliver a classic that keeps improving and revealing more of itself with every listen. Invest some time in this, it will pay you back richly. Jem mentioned the possibility of this being the final Frost* release in a recent video - say it ain't so, boss! We need more of this exquisite, complex, deep music in this world.

I like this album, but there is fluff mixed with the stronger songs, so maybe a single album would have been more enjoyable for me. The compositions vary from ballads (1/3 of the album) to brutal - parts of "Propergander" are crushing. The solos, that were purposely absent from "Day and Age" are back but limited. I really dig Jem's voice and he is the main singer on this release. Yeah!! No offense to Declan or John, but for me, Jem is the voice of Frost*.

Standout tracks... "This House Of Winter" is my favorite. The strings towards the end of the song mixed with the gentle tinkling of the keyboard and xylophone gives me goosebumps. I like the heavy grooves of "Moral and Consequence" and how the tune blooms. Drastic changes propel the song from crazy to gentle, nice keyboard solo, and some serious off-kilter breaks. "Life in the Wires"... both parts rock but the epic second part takes you on a prog journey with unexpected twists and turns. This is what Frost* does best.

Jem said he wanted to give a nod to Milliontown with this album but I don't hear it. Unfortunately, what I hear is a brickwalled mix that is fatiguing. Otherwise, this is a solid album that is a worthy addition for all Frosties.

Frost* is the band that got me into progressive music, my favorite band, and I can easily say I haven't looked forward to an album this much since I was a teenager. For Frost, 3 years is a blistering pace, but that doesn't mean this album is rushed in the slightest. It's a fully formed idea that drags you along for the ride from beginning to end.

Skywaving/Life in the Wires, Part 1 (8/10) Continuing straight from Day and Age, and introducing the main theme. Feels pretty Falling Satellitesque, but I like Wires Pt 1 a lot more now that I hear its beginning. Speaking of, they definitely chose a familiar sound for the first single. Heavy intro, but the structure is basic Frost. However, a basic Frost song seems to be required to make you feel like you're flying through space and have hooks other prog bands could only dream of. This song is full of energy and the great solos that many people have been waiting for.

This House of Winter (10/10) Another song that compliment Wires Pt 1. The transformation from coda to brand new song is incredible. One of the many ballads on the album, but this one might be the best. The section where the drums kick in and weave into the piano is beautiful, followed by a great guitar solo and then the absolutely incredible ending. This is where the album gets really creative and proves that somehow this bunch of 50 year old men can make something that sounds brand new. The band is really used its full potential here, every instrument perfectly complements the buildup. The ending really is just incredible, it's where the concept comes to life and I was completely hooked.

The Solid State Orchestra (10/10) 2 great songs, but somehow this is where the album kicks into full gear. The "can you hear me" sample from Day and Age is followed by the most hype solo since Milliontown. This song has that pushing and pulling quality that makes the title song from Milliontown so good too. God, this song is just perfect, and it's also the kind of song that justifies the concept album status. So many of the songs here just paint the picture of this world so wonderfully. Each piano key falls like a raindrop, the cymbals flow through the song like currents of air, the steady guitar keeps everything steady and looking forward. This is where I also need to mention that Jem's voice is perfect for this album. The light airy quality of his voice floats in the sky. And all these beautiful qualities are only the first 2 minutes before the song starts building towards that solo! The rest of the song is just as cleanly shaped. Many of the keyboard effects are very clearly keyboard, but Jem's quality production that was missing from Experiments and Satellites is back in full force here and keeps them from feeling out of place.

Evaporator (10/10) Another perfect transition into another perfect song. This is unfortunately where these perfect transitions end, I feel they can actually be a bit rough in the second half of the album. Jem stated in interviews that this album is meant to fill 4 twenty minute sections of vinyl, but Skywaving to Evaporator feels like a 30 minute piece. Evaporator itself is just as good as the previous 2 songs, and its name really is appropriate. I imagine if one were to listen to this on a mind altering drug it would really feel like it was evaporating you. I honestly just wish this song was a bit longer, the chorus is the fun and energetic side of Frost that isn't as present on this album as on Milliontown. I ended up listening to this song over and over because I couldn't get enough of it. It's yet another song that feels completely unique and cohesive to both the music and the concept.

Strange World (4/10) This is a very sudden and honestly, hard to explain drop in quality compared to the rest of the album. I really wanted this song to fit with the rest of the album, but no matter how many times I listened to it I just couldn't pay attention. I hear that Falling Satellite sample at 3 minutes though! This song isn't hard to get through, it just feels like a big gap that divides the 2 halves of the album. I have to wonder if this is the best transition between Evaporator and Idiot Box that Jem could come up with.

Idiot Box (7/10) Another classic Frost song with that touch of heavy. All 3 singles seem to have that in common. I also have to say, wow, the music video for this song is godawful and I couldn't stop from laughing at it a couple of times. The song itself is just a simple and powerful prog rock song, although around 2:30 I think it gains more traction. The distorted power chords behind the keyboard solo is VERY Milliontown, probably a closer replication than any other song on Wires. Other songs take the good qualities and use them for fresh new goals but that section is really just straight from No Me No You. I do like the last verse and chorus.

Absent Friends (7/10) Now this song is perfectly serviceable, but it actually drags the album down a little by making strange world even more pointless. Just a simple piano oriented piece musically, but the emotion is all there and it services the concept well. Also, as I mentioned earlier, I do wish the transition to the next song was a bit smoother. Not much to say other than that.

School/Propergander (10/10) Man this song really hits home the shift in the mood that Idiot Box started. School is really sinister, probably the most evil Frost song out there. It's also a great groove, another song that justifies the concept album and also stands on its own beautifully. It's fitting that this has my favorite solo alongside the one from Solid State Orchestra, considering one introduces livewire and one introduces the all seeing eye. School and Propergander are really one song when it comes down to it, but if I had to separate them I think Propergander would only be a 9. It's got a pretty standard structure, but man I just love the chorus here. It's a really powerful song, with yet another incredible Jem solo. He just does em' like nobody else. I think I could listen to a 5 hour album of an endless Jem solo. This is also the most british song on the album, never thought a silly little whistle could sound so evil.

Sign of Life (5/10) Ah, another fault of the concept album. The need to tell a story just doesn't always quite fit in music, especially in the sections where that story gets a heavier focus. The first half of this song is much like strange world, but fortunately the second half has some interesting detail and a little more energy. This song's real purpose is to set up the ending, which is truly a wonderful experience that makes slow moments like this worth it.

Moral and Consequence (10/10) The deepest cutting groove of the album. Between this and some interviews with Jem, you can really tell Craig Blundell is glad to be a part of Frost and has become a vital part of the band. Wires and Satellites easily have the best drumming out of the discography. Anyway, this song was another great choice for a single. It's also got the most self-fellating from Jem, lots of references to past songs here. He compared the structure to Black Light Machine, having a vocal intro and an instrumental backend, but it's a very fresh take on Frost. That also ties into it being the best of the 3 singles, being something anyone who's been a fan of past albums can get into while also presenting a lot of new ideas. The polyrhythmic guitarwork connecting the 2 halves of the song, man, I'll never get old of that. The heavy keyboard grooves, the floaty chorus, the lighthearted bridge towards the end, and the absolute wealth of solos, this song just has something for everyone.

Life in the Wires, Part 2 (9?/10) I honestly haven't quite processed this song yet. Oddly it feels like a Frost version of Detonation by Steven Wilson, it just has that combination of heavy and eccentric atmospheric prog. Also, Jem's voice at 7:30 sounds like Stephen Bishop and that's really funny to me. This song is also where I have to say I don't think this album quite lives up to Milliontown. There's much more top tier prog, lots of ideas that are executed incredibly, but it's just missing that moment of pure elation. The climaxes of Black Light Machine and Milliontown are the best pieces of music I've ever heard, absolutely face melting and out of this world. I was hoping this song would push Wires into number one but it just doesn't have that moment that tears my brain out of my body.

Starting Fires (7/10) A great sendoff to an album that went beyond my expectations. Ties up the concept and the music, and let you walk away feeling fresh and complete. It's hard to rate ending songs like this, the musical ideas are all fully explored so it doesn't have any ability to stand on its own. That's quite standard, but I personally prefer the high energy raucous type of ending like Milliontown or Raider II from Steven Wilson. Even so, it can be nice to finally let go and walk away after almost an hour and a half. Life in the Wires sent me spinning for a day or 2, it was really a shattering musical experience that I needed time to recover from. Albums like this are true masterpieces, and I'm glad Frost can still deliver 18 years later. I don't know how they'll follow this up, I just hope this isn't their last. Here's to a future unwritten masterpiece by these modern legends.

I love you, Jem Godfrey, I really do.

.. but this is not quite the masterpiece you (and several others here) think. It really recycles a lot of Frost* ideas from years past. What is fresh is just very noisy -- too much compression in the mix.

I think "Life in the Wires, Pt. 1" is perhaps the most impressive. It's a very self-contained, clever piece, and it seems to give me goosebumps every time the noise recedes and the very shimmery lead riffs pop up.

As many pointed, this is probably Craig Blundell's best work with Frost* (since he was not on any recording until 2009ish). If you like drumming, you'll dig this. Thank goodness he was available, as the variation in drumming really kept me from digging Day and Age.

It sounds _a lot_ like Experiments in Mass Appeal, otherwise. Particularly Moral and Consequence. Propergander has a lot of the noisy bits of Falling Satellites era stuff.

A lot to like here, and several wonderful moments, but would've been better as a single disc.

This may be the best recording of the year. It achieves near perfection with hooks and great themes. Frost* is a vehicle to express a keyboard oriented group which always achieves a strong level of harmony. They are able to fuse together lyrics and arrangements with chord progressions that make a lot of sense and are very dense. The first album Milliontown set the bar very high and they couldn't quite reach the same level on subsequent albums. However, with Life in the Wires they have reached an even higher mark, musically. The album flows for over an hour and it doesn't let up at all. There is no filler on this album as everything makes sense and everything fits. This project has achieved what they sought. How they will top this is a mystery. 5 stars with no hesitation.

Frost* returns with this follow-up to their 2021 release Day and Age, a sprawling double concept album (14 tracks, 86 minutes). As masterminded by keyboardist-vocalist Jem Godfrey and ably assisted by John Mitchell (guitars-vocals), Nathan King (bass), and Craig Blundell (drums), Life in the Wires tells an all-new story set in the same imaginary world as Day and Age, following a character through various adventures in an AI-run dystopian world. Musically, this contains many elements from the earlier Frost albums (especially Milliontown) as well as the later ones, in their somewhat edgy progressive pop style. I found this to be somewhat structurally and stylistically reminiscent to some of Neal Morse's concept albums. There are many great and brilliant moments throughout the album, both in the vocals and instrumental sections, and numerous highlights. However, there are also some problems that keep this from being a completely satisfying and consistently entertaining experience. The length of the album is an issue, as there is a sameness to several songs, and the album doesn't flow well, with many abrupt transitions, not only between songs but also within them. The recurring spoken word sections from the DJ character also are intrusive and disrupt the flow and feel of the album, and it just took too long to get to the one of the album highlights, the extended track Life in the Wires part 2. A couple of the songs just don't work or are annoying (Idiot Box). Overall, there are several great songs here, with many highlights, enough to make a great album, but for me at least, there wasn't quite enough to justify the extended length of the album. Best Tracks: Life in the Wires Parts 1 and 2, This House in Winter, The Solid State Orchestra, Moral and Consequence. Rating 3.5ó

It is strange to think that it is nearly 20 years since the debut, 'Milliontown', which had a major impact when it came out, and now Jem Godfrey (keyboards, guitar, vocals), Nathan King (bass, vocals), John Mitchell (guitars, vocals) and Craig Blundell (drums) are back with the fifth, which is a double album concept based somewhat on the band's last album, 2021's 'Day and Age'. In fact, the first track on this album starts with the end of the last track on that one, which is a nice touch. The story revolves around the main character Naio, an aimless kid heading for a meaningless future in an AI run world. He hears an old DJ talking on the ancient AM radio his mother once gave him and decides to trace the source of the signal and find "Livewire" to see if there's a better future out there. However, the All Seeing Eye is less than impressed at this bid for independent thought and fights back. Soon Naio finds himself pursued across the country by an outraged mob as he tries to locate the home of Livewire and his freedom. This story of an individual trying to find his way against a controlling world is nothing new, either in literature or music, case in point "If the thought processes of an individual can be permanently limited, To the point of strict conformity to an outside source of thought, The said individual need no longer be considered as such" ("We Are Sane", Twelfth Night).

But what makes this feel somewhat different for me is I remember having a crystal set radio as a boy in the Sixties and wondering what else was out there in the world as I scrolled through the static to hear foreign languages and music which sounded totally alien. Add to that Godfrey's skill as a composer, Mitchell's ongoing ability to make every project he is involved with indispensable, and a rhythm section to die for along with Godfrey deciding to undertake all the lead vocals himself this time means we get a very enjoyable neo/crossover prog album. The only downside for me is that it feels somewhat over produced and there is little in the way of vitality and excitement, which consequently means it comes across as single-layered as opposed to multi-faceted and while I enjoyed it, it does feel somewhat one-dimensional as opposed to having any great depth. It is just too clean, too perfect, but I am sure there will be many progheads who will disagree with me and feel this is superb. It is certainly worth hearing for anyone into modern mainstream progressive rock.