Feast of Consequences |
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Released: September 4, 2013 Peak: -- US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US and UK) Genre: neo prog rock |
Tracks: Song Title [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts.
Total Running Time: 66:55 The Players:
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Rating:  3.668 out of 5.00 (average of 5 ratings)
Awards: (Click on award to learn more).
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About the Album: Fish’s first studio album in six years is an independent affair, but this is no amateur production. “Most of its contents [are] road-tested…and performed by a bunch of crack, devoted musicians.” LS “The care, thought and compassion of its creation is obvious in every last note.” LS 2006’s 13th Star “had a stark, almost industrial production quality that really suited the bleak and angry material.” SL Feast of Consequences “feels much warmer and organic.” SL Both sport a writing partnership with bassist Steve Vantsis. The two “ have an excellent chemistry and understanding and, between them, have created one of, if not the, best albums in Fish's solo career.” SL Guitarist Robin Boult and keyboardist Foss Paterson, both of whom have worked with Fish in the past, and Gavin Griffiths round out the quartet. “The five musicians work well together and the songs they have created are tight, melodic, and interesting.” SL This “does not really feel like a solo project; it feels like a proper band.” SL Boult is “the perfect guitarist for Fish,” SL making significant writing contributions throughout the album and bolstering the band in the studio and live. SL “Perfume River” “Mixing traditional vocals and spoken-word parts, the 10-minute Perfume River is a perfect aperitif for the album’s myriad delights.” LS “The slow-burning epic” SL “opens with haunting bagpipe melody…followed by Spanish style guitar.” BD Even without words, the three-minute instrumental makes it clear the listener is about to “embark on an emotional and personal journey.” BD Once Fish starts singing, he spins a tale about a journey on a Vietnamese River and the ravages of war. BD “He is one of the best in the business at creating really vivid mental images with his words.” SL “All Loved Up” “Mocking the shallowness of so-called celebrity culture, All Loved Up is among the record’s rare up-tempo moments.” LS The song “is much more straightforward” SL and “catchy as hell.” SL It “screams ‘single.’” SL “Blind to the Beautiful” The “country-tingled” LS Blind to the Beautiful “is a really nice acoustic number in the same vein as ‘A Gentleman’s Excuse Me’ from his 1990 debut solo album Vigil in a Wildnerness of Mirrors.” SL It is “a ballad that has deep meaning with its links with climate change and consequences of feasting at the table of green and consumerism.” BD “There is gritty realism to both the vocals and the musical accompaniment.” BD
“Feast of Consequences” The title track is a “straight ahead rocker.” SL “The main verses have a nice groove, the pre-chorus backed by the piano is delicate and that leads nicely into the catchiest chorus on the album.” SL Fish “does the longer, more progressive songs well, but he also has a knack for much simpler, melody-driven songs and this is one of the best examples of that.” SL
“High Wood Suite” “The much-heralded centrepiece is the five-part High Wood suite,” LS which is comprised of that song and the next four. Fish visited the World War I battlefields in Arras, France, where both of his grandfathers fought. Fish “unloads a variety of emotions – sadness, disgust and above all, anger.” LS “These five songs span the generations from 1914 through to today, a sharing of history, they stir a collective memory of stories from great & grandparents.” BD It “is graphic and heartfelt to the point of being utterly unmissable. It’s certainly among the most remarkably powerful pieces of music to be released under Fish’s name.” LS “This is a concept of prog-rock poetry coming of age with confidence.” BD Fish sets the scene in “High Wood,” which is a small wood where many people died in a major World War I battle. Thanks to Fish’s “hypnotic voice” SL on Crucifix Corner, one “can imagine the scenes…he is describing.” SL The Gathering “details how people from the towns and cities of the UK all signed up to the army together. It perfectly captures the pride and excitement that these men had, but it also describes a much more naïve and carefree world where the horrors of war were largely unknown and unreported by the press.” SL Thistle Alley “could not be more different.” SL “the horrors of war are now fully known to all serving and this heavy, murky song makes this clear.” SL “It is a very dark piece that pulls no punches.” SL The sutie ends with The Leaving, a “very poignant and intelligence piece” SL that is “a reflection on the war as a whole.” SL “Other Side of Me” The album’s final two tracks “refuse to be overshadowed,” LS managing “to stand up to the genius that has just been witnessed.” SL Other Side of Me “is full of wondrous yearning and wonder at what will happen next.” BD It “has a mesmerizing trance-like feeling that draws you into his introspective thoughts.” BD “The Great Ravelling” The Great Ravelling, “about the strands of life,” BD is “a perfect track to close the album.” BD It features “really atmospheric keyboards,” SL “call and response vocals from Fish and [backup singer Elisabeth Troy] Antwi,” SL and Boult “cuts loose for a really monster solo.” SL |
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First posted 10/2/2020; last updated 6/12/2021. |
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