THE WAKE

To me, this album and Twelfth Night's "Fact and Fiction" are the ultimate masterpiece in the 80s era of the British neo-prog wave. Both albums comprise the frontal energetic vibe of the time's rock scene and the high standards (musically and dramatically) of vintage symphonic prog, with special regards to the influences of Gabriel-era Genesis, Camel, and as a plus, UK. The latter point of reference can be clearly noticed in Ordford' keyboard input for most of the darkest passages in the album. Although... this album as a whole keeps a consistent dark mood, which is logical considering the integral concept: a man passes away, takes a bitter look at what used to be his earthly life, indulges himself in doubt, regret and fear before taking the definitive step into the world of the dead. So, the drama is not in the moment of death or the arrival at Heaven, but in the sense of confusion that drowns the dead man's soul in the meantime. Well, the instrumentation and the musical ideas fit Nicholls' lyrical adventures and ever growing singing energy quite well. To be more specific - the guitar passages and the rhythm section bear a harder edge than on the IQ's debut album, while the keyboard department finds the mellotron, string ensemble and organ sounds assuming a sort of leading role, in this way, creating horror movie ambiences in lots of places. The intro section of 'Outer Limits' kicks off the album in the vein of UK's anthem 'In the Dead of Night', until things get settled in a Genesis-meets- punk atmosphere, very early IQ, indeed. After the final sequences of bass, drum and agonizing breaths, the powerful namesake track gets in and sets a very ballsy mood: the band flirts with heavy metal on this one. Nicholls' singing almost effortlessly equals the guitar aggression: one of his most amazing performances during the early 80s. 'The Magic Roundabout' returns to the epic essence of the opening song, while bearing a more melancholic spirit: the keyboard orchestrations and the fretless bass guitar are almost surreal. Not as epic but prolonging with the dreamy mood, 'Corners' shifts things to bring a Peter Gabriel kind of thing with its electronic-ethnic structure, based on a mixture of white reggae, slight Arabic textures and languid techno-pop. I love this song for what it is - a nice, refreshing interlude between two epics. The following long track is one of my fave IQ songs ever: from the eerie prologue to the brief guitar flourishes at the end, everything in between makes 'Widow's Peak' a definite epitome of the band's most bombastic side, equalling the emotional engagement of track 3 and surpassing the clever complexity of track 1. 'The Thousand Days', on the other hand, has a more straightforward appeal: perhaps the best song The Cure has never done? The floating synth layers that fill the aforesaid song's aftermath serves as an adequate prelude to the final track 'Headlong'. Although bearing a gloomy mood similar to the other epics, the closing section sets a playful Celtic-based motif, in this way protraying the optimistic redemption of the soul that comes to terms with its ultimate fate. Of all bonuses, 'Dans le Parc du Chateau Noir' is the most impressive one, since it provides some more of the offical repertoire's dark atmosphere, even taking it to a deeper level of uncomfort and mystery. "The Wake" is a defining masterpiece of 80s prog.