Its unbelievable how an album can develop and grow after a couple of spins. Critics who claim they can fully analyze a record after 1 or 2 spins, I dont take serious. This in particular is the case with A Forest Of Fey by the British band Gandalfs Fist. It is at itself remarkable that this band did not catch the eyes and ears of Progwereld yet, since its their 5th studio album already. However this is the first album that has reached our office. The idea of the band started in a nightclub in 2005 by keyboardist Dean Marsh and Singer Luke Severn. These two met on the university, where they already made music together. The core members are influenced by bands like Pink Floyd, The Who and even Iron Maiden. The lyrics and all around vibe is inspired by the books of Tolkien, as the name suggests. As of 2011 they start producing albums in a challenging mix of folk, neo, psychedelic and space rock. After my first few listening sessions, Im especially impressed by the variation of the album. Different styles of music, vocals, play style, rhythm and instruments repeatedly bring me into ecstasy. On “A Forest Of Fey” the band gets help from a few established names, like Troy Donockley, John Mitchell and Matt Steven. Especially the instruments of Troy Donockley make the album interesting for the fans of folk-prog. Also the keyboard and guitar arrangements are of a great level and give the album its great variety and music-technical high quality. The diverse solos on the album are never overdone, but short and powerful, which give the album a refreshing vibe. The concept story is about a girl who gets lost in a dense forest. The love the band has for fantasy stories is clearly present in the lyrics. So do I have any critic on the album? First of: I quite like some production additions to an album. As someone who likes Ayreon and Within Temptation (Dutch bands) I should not complain much about pimped up productions. However in my opinion Gandalfs Fist overdoes it. Especially the vocals of the original band members are too much distorted. There is almost no authentic voice left. A forest of fey for example is a beautiful song with a great verse and powerful solos . However the voice of (luke Severn, I think) is contrariness, irregular and distorted. The duo voice of Melissa Hollick on the other hand is brought in its original form. This makes the whole, sound a bit unnatural. Of course these distortions are part of the concept story, as you can hear in The World we created, but the accumulation of these additions, distortions and spoken word, make the production a bit artificial. So the only minus I see is the artificial production. It does give the CD variation, but at the end of the 50 minutes Im exhausted. I would also like to see what the band is like without the addition of the established musicians. Gandalfs Fist promises a lot for the future, music wise, only the singer needs to get more confidence in himself.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 20:58:38 +0000
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