1. Snowtorch, Part One - 19:42 a) Star of Light
b) Retrograde
c) Fox on the Rocks
d) Celestine
2. Helix - 5:543. Snowtorch, Part Two - 16:29
a) Blowtorch Snowjob
b) Fox Rock 2
c) Coronal Mass Ejection
4. - 2:40
On their eighth album, Phideaux have crafted another modern progressive folk Gothic rock treat. Their third album-length opus in a row (following Doomsday Afternoon and Number Seven) finds the band sharpening their musical focus. Instead of a concept album, per se, we have an album-length song in the tradition of Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick. Indeed, that album is a good touchstone, from the mock serious yet grand lyrical imagery, the classically infused folk melodies, and the masterful weaving of separate sections into a cohesive, powerful whole.
Lyrically, Snowtorch is ripe with poetic drama as it examines birth, life, and the inevitable beyond. The band raise a collective Byronic fist to the universe in this duologue between a mind and its doubts, making pit stops along the way for figurehead friends, books of the dead, and beautiful vowels. If I had to choose one favorite lyric, it would be this, from "Fox Rock 2":
When is a man just a mouse?
When he hides in the house and ignores what is happening
Covers his eyes to the lies that he tells
So he won’t have to know
Hiding away from the fray in a hole in the wall
In a world become small.
The singing is high quality throughout. Phideaux's raspy buoyancy balances well with Valerie's sultry stateliness, and the background vocals from the Ruttan sisters (and anyone else who wants to sing) are layered to perfection. But it's the playing that really grabs my attention on this one. The instrumental section "Celestine" is one of the heaviest pieces of music the band has ever done, riding full throttle on a Middle Eastern minor key riff, violin sawing away over a distorted guitar/bass unison, saxophone growling from the sheer force of the playing, and Rich Hutchins wailing on the drum kit. Folk metal, anyone?
The only drawbacks: the other instrumental section, "Blowtorch Snowjob", is a little weak. The chord progression is simplistic and repetitive, and it dissolves halfway through to silence before picking back up on a completely different (albeit better) musical theme. Also, there are a couple self-plagiarisms, probably intentional - the musical cue before "Fox on the Rocks" is lifted straight from the end of Number Seven's "Gift of the Flame", and some of the lyrics have been used before (if perhaps in a slightly modified version) on The Great Leap. On the whole, this is still an excellent album and an astonishing musical achievement. What are they going to do next?
Arbitrary rating: 4.5 out of 5 worlds become small
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