Comments on: 2015 Album of the Year

By: Synthetase

Synthetase — Sat, 02 Jan 2016 01:31:06 +0000

I should clarify: what I really liked about [The Diary] was the…

By: Synthetase

Synthetase — Sat, 02 Jan 2016 01:22:52 +0000

Fair enough, I must have missed that review. I agree on the patchiness of some of his stuff. I absolutely hated Lost in the New Real. Why would you put a bunch of spoken words prefacing each track to explain the meaning of the track? Like that’s not going to get really annoying after two (or even during one) listens! What I really liked about the album was the contrasting instrumentation and musical styles. I thought it was an excellent example of using instrumentation to enhance storytelling and set the scene for what the lyrics were describing.

By: Tim Hall

Tim Hall — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 15:28:37 +0000

I’ve heard “The Gentle Storm”, but wasn’t blown away by it (if you excuse the pun). The idea of back-to-back unplugged and full-band versions of the same songs was an interesting one, but like much of Arjen Lucassen’s work I found it a bit patchy, some great songs but rather too much filler

I did review the live show at The Garage
http://www.kalyr.co.uk/weblog/music/live-reviews/the-gentle-storm-the-garage/

By: Synthetase

Synthetase — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 23:52:46 +0000

An interesting choice. It’s certainly a very solid album, but it didn’t grab me like ADHD did. I was thinking about my album of the year last night and I reckon it’s The Gentle Storm – The Diary. I haven’t seen you post anything about it, Tim, so I’m not sure you’ve heard it. It’s well worth a listen if you haven’t.

By: Tim Hall

Tim Hall — Fri, 18 Dec 2015 19:07:25 +0000

Regret not going to see them live in London earlier this year. Passed on it because it was midweek amidst a flurry of other gigs; people who were there say it was phenomenal.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 18 Dec 2015 18:55:35 +0000

Not being a big follower of the euro prog/metal scene, I’ve only been aware of this band for a few months after reading so many good reports on one of the Facebook music groups. Seeing you insert this as the no 1 album gave me another reminder that I need to listen to it. I listened to the whole thing on You Tube last night and really like it. There’s certainly a big Steven Wilson influence in there. So I’ll be buying the album. That’s also You Tube in action working to get new fans on board to buy albums, maybe go to gigs, rather than it being used as nothing more than a free streaming service.

By: Chris Hall

Chris Hall — Fri, 18 Dec 2015 10:21:07 +0000

Great choice. It’s really good album. As is the additional CD that comes with it

By: Paul Turner

Paul Turner — Thu, 17 Dec 2015 16:24:32 +0000

Good choice. This was 2nd on my list. Very good album