Headspace
All That You Fear is Gone
InsideOut Music
2016
Headspace is indeed quite a special band bringing together a variety of different musicians of some status and renown, like Damian Wilson (Threshold) & Adam Wakeman (Ozzy Osbourne, Snakecharmer), along with guitarist Pete Rinaldi (Hot Leg), bassist Lee Pomeroy (It Bites, Steve Hackett) and new drummer Adam Falkner (Babyshambes, Dido, One Eskimo)
Quite a gathering of talent, all coming from slightly different backgrounds with the one common thing being that all of them are Brits and while the result is easy to file under “prog rock”, the tracks radically change their approach and so a simple bunch of epithets would never suffice to describe the overall style of the album fully.
Imagine a more eclectic and electric version of what Pain Of Salvation is about lately, with bits of Coheed And Cambria too but with way more piano, Wilson is probably sounding like himself but a bit more idiosyncratic and everybody else just chipping in parts and letting the songs really “happen”. Obviously the vocals will make you instantaneously think of Threshold, but the whole result is at the same time a bit more accessible, without fearing to delve into some more complex arrangement on occasion in fears of not being commercial enough, which is quite interesting.
The album picks up where the band’s debut “I Am Anonymous” leaves off. That album sort of was representing of an individual that was conforming to social whims – here without changing the style too much but with more variety thrown in the said individual after rebelling, denies the social structures and sort of borders on either achieving perfection or completely going bonkers. Individualism is great, but still pondering this anti-social, misanthropic state is at the very least daring and an odd subject.
I won’t make any qualms about it; this is a difficult album that offers very little immediate gratification, if any at all. You‘re likely going to hate it, unless you appreciate very much one of the proponents, ie if you totally like Wilson’s vocals. It’s really difficult to decide on this album, as it’s very “cold” and it’s subject matter revolves around some “heavy thoughts” about the human condition that are not a subject that would be sort of dinner conversation. I‘d suggest to give it a spin if you like Wakeman or Wilson, but you‘ll find it quite a challenge to actually like this album for anything else other than its performances.
Quite a gathering of talent, all coming from slightly different backgrounds with the one common thing being that all of them are Brits and while the result is easy to file under “prog rock”, the tracks radically change their approach and so a simple bunch of epithets would never suffice to describe the overall style of the album fully.
Imagine a more eclectic and electric version of what Pain Of Salvation is about lately, with bits of Coheed And Cambria too but with way more piano, Wilson is probably sounding like himself but a bit more idiosyncratic and everybody else just chipping in parts and letting the songs really “happen”. Obviously the vocals will make you instantaneously think of Threshold, but the whole result is at the same time a bit more accessible, without fearing to delve into some more complex arrangement on occasion in fears of not being commercial enough, which is quite interesting.
The album picks up where the band’s debut “I Am Anonymous” leaves off. That album sort of was representing of an individual that was conforming to social whims – here without changing the style too much but with more variety thrown in the said individual after rebelling, denies the social structures and sort of borders on either achieving perfection or completely going bonkers. Individualism is great, but still pondering this anti-social, misanthropic state is at the very least daring and an odd subject.
I won’t make any qualms about it; this is a difficult album that offers very little immediate gratification, if any at all. You‘re likely going to hate it, unless you appreciate very much one of the proponents, ie if you totally like Wilson’s vocals. It’s really difficult to decide on this album, as it’s very “cold” and it’s subject matter revolves around some “heavy thoughts” about the human condition that are not a subject that would be sort of dinner conversation. I‘d suggest to give it a spin if you like Wakeman or Wilson, but you‘ll find it quite a challenge to actually like this album for anything else other than its performances.