Label: Chocolate Frog Record Company
Review by Martien Koolen
It is sad but true to say that Fish has only made one really great album, namely his first one called: A Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors (1989) and all right, let's be fair, one rather nice CD called Field Of Crows, released in 2003. The other albums are all rather mediocre rock albums on which the Scottish singer repeats himself over and over again. Furhermore one has to say that his voice, especially during live gigs, has become less interesting and he cannot reach the high notes any longer as he used to, which you could call wear and tear...
The new album "A Feast Of Consequences" is approached from an acoustic standpoint and that is what bothers/annoys me most as the bulk of the eleven new tracks are packed with acoustic guitar passages and melodies. And if you read my reviews regularly yuo know that I am not a fan - euphemistically speaking - of acoustic guitar based songs, or so-called unplugged stuff. Now, the new album opens with a long track called "Perfume River", and the first 2:40 minutes are filled with dull piano and acoustic guitar passages, till finally around the six minutes mark you get to hear some electric guitar and the song tempo goes up. "All Loved Up" sounds very familiar and is an up tempo symphonic poppy song with a singalong chorus. "Blind To The Beautiful" is an utterly boring semi-acoustic ballad with violin parts as additional nothingness. The title track sounds like a follow up of the previous song and is again a rather mediocre one.
Finally we come to the only good track on this album: "High Wood Suite", which is divided into five parts of which "Crucifix Corner" and "Thistle Alley" are the absolute highlights. "Crucifix Corner" shines with great guitar riffs, musical diversity, good singing and at last a melodic guitar solo. "Thistle Alley" features splendid guitar hooks and catchy melodies and is dark and rather mysterious. The question now comes to mind why Fish did not record more of these songs?? The last two tracks on the album, "The Other Side Of Me" and "The Great Unravelling" are again, boring, filled with lots of redundant piano parts, acoustic guitar passages and the so well known Fish melodies. All in all I must say that this album is again a disappointment, but a lot of reviews I have read are very positive+ some critics even call "A Feast of Consequences" the best album Fish has ever made..... I beg to differ as 26 minutes of good music, "High Wood Suite", do NOT make a great album!
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In my opinion the first 4 tracks of the album are almost the best of it, only topped by Crucifix Corner... so for me it really is as good as Vigil was
ReplyDeleteGreat album, as was the non-acoustic based13th Star. Lazy and poor review
ReplyDelete..... I beg to differ as, sure, everyone's entitled not to like a certain artists' work or style, but
ReplyDeleteIt is sad but true to say that: This is a very opiniated,
rather mediocre rock album review where the reviewer repeats himself over and over again but:
Finally we come to the only good: part of it. The album
shines with great guitar riffs, musical diversity, good singing
Just because you don't clearly like fish or some acoustic based songs,shouldn't let you slag an album off.In my opinion and a lot of other peoples,this is one of his best albums-Superb.
ReplyDeleteActually I think this is nearly as good as Vigil and up there with 13th Star and Sunsets on Empire. And personally, the last two tracks are the highlight for me. I agree, it takes a few songs to get going, but I'm listening to it on rotation. Far far better and more tuneful than Marillion's last meander inside ProTools.
ReplyDeleteA very lazy and poor review, unlike Feast of Consequences, a magnificant piece of work.
ReplyDelete