What weird, eclectic, and fierce record is this! News From The Invisible World, the latest from London’s The Fierce And The Dead and the first to feature vocals with bassist Kevin Feazey taking over those duties, is a wonderful blend of classic Prog and modern Hard Rawk that packs quite the wallop. If you’ve been into TFATD since their beginnings then Version 2.0 is sure to still hit in all the right places and if you’ve never heard the band before then you’re in for a treat!
“The Start” is an excellent starting point with Feazey’s voice immediately making its’ presence known on this short intro number that’s a little reminiscent of the opening pangs of Flash Gordon and that general feeling of adventure that’s about to happen. That adventure kicks off in full with a blast on “Shake The Jar”, a swirling Rawk number where Feazey’s voice easily shines as Matt Stevens and Steve Cleaton’s guitars create a united force of fuzzed out sounds.
“Golden Thread” is a chugging, churning track filled with contradiction being heavy and heaving one moment but also serene and sanguine. Feazey’s voice is powerful yet peaceful and brings to mind Peter Gabriel at times with the guitar tones from Cleaton and Stevens echoing the work of Troy Van Leeuwen. Next up, “Photogenic Love” is anthemic with Stuart Marshall laying off the big beats in favor of a steady groove while the keys set a different tone altogether.
Feazey’s bass leads off “Invisible World” which is a shining modern Prog number that still hearkens to early Genesis with “Non-Player” following and quietly stepping to it with Marshall’s Jazz-like beats and a glistening soundscape which surrounds. “What A Time To Be Alive” comes right out of the gates with a huge riff straight from a QOTSA record then goes on a journey beyond space and time for a gnarly jam that’s (mostly) instrumental and then “Nostalgia Now” is truly something else with bigger riffs and bigger feels as a crushing catharsis washes over listeners for a divine ditty that’s Failure-like and bristling with a chaotic piano line akin to the instrumentation heard on David Bowie’s Outside.
News From The Invisible World arrives on July 28th through Spencer Park Music. Pre-orders are available here and for more from The Fierce And The Dead you can follow them across the information superhighway by heading here, here or here.