THE EUPHORIC

And so, the accidental band are back. Originally destined to be Matt Stevens' second solo album, TFATD have morphed into possibly the most important instrumental rock act in the UK today. Comprising Matt (guitar, synth, piano), Kev Feazey (bass, programming, synth, percussion), Steve Cleaton (guitar, piano) and Stuart Marshall (drums, percussion) they have gained an amazing following (The Fierce Army) over the last few years, due in no small part to be a great live act who have found new fans wherever they have played. They can often be found playing with their mates Hawkwind, and gained huge kudos from their gig last year with Monkey3 at The Borderline.

Here they are back with their third studio album, which follows on from 2013's 'Spooky Action' (they released the live 'Field Recordings' last year). It is incredibly hard to categorise their sound as it comprises elements from post rock, math rock, space, rock, prog and hard rock all thrown into a metallic melting pot. There are times when it feels that the band are just bouncing ideas off each other in the studio, jamming live, when at others it feels slightly more structured but whatever they are doing it always contains a mighty groove that makes the listener to move along to the music. Due to the small matter of geography I have never seen the guys play (they formed four years after I moved to the other side of the world), which I know is very much my loss, as while this is a great album I know that in concert it will be turned into something that is quite another level.

TFATD have stayed true to their roots to this album, and that the mainstream is starting to embrace them has far more to do with the rest of the world coming to grips with how good they are as opposed any 'selling out'. This is an incredibly easy album to listen to, although with the distorted riffs sweeping through my brain I could never call them easy listening. This could well be the album that breaks them through to the big time, and it will be richly deserved. If you haven't come across them before this, now is the time.

UK band THE FIERCE & THE DEAD haven't been around for more than 8 years at this point, and yet they have rather quickly managed to become the darlings of reviewers, the music press and a sizeable, dedicated fan base in just a few of those years. "The Euphoric" is the band's third studio album, and was released through UK label Bad Elephant Music in the spring of 2018.

The Fierce & the Dead is a band that appears to be able to do everything just right, at least as far as creating music is concerned. They have become darlings of the music press, or at least parts of it, for many reasons, and all of them are at display on this wild, eccentric yet also compelling production. Quirky, instrumental progressive rock with a relatively broad appeal and a multitude of facets is the name of the game here. If you haven't yet checked out this band, this CD strikes me as a very good place to start doing just that.