Here’s another good ‘un which has reached me via Bad Dog Promotions and the band. I’d not heard of Spriggan Mist prior to the CD arriving – and I’m pleased to say it’s a banger of an album.
The Glare continues the story of Isambard the Mechanical Dragon from the band’s previous album of the same name. I couldn’t help but think of Idris from Ivor the Engine and the Soup Dragon from the Clangers. If you’re of a certain age (i.e. old….) you may think the same.
Anyhoo – the music. It’s glorious. A sweepingly majestic convergence of all those styles of music mentioned about. Such a free flowing, cohesive and engaging listen every time.
Oh: and a special mention for the vocals of Fay Brotherhood. Powerful, edgy, rangy, mystical and slightly spooky throughout.
The brief atmospherically symphonic intro of Gaze of the Dragon gives way to the bombastic, metallic heavy riffing and big chords of Ianatores Teresteres. Add in the strong bass and drumming it bounces along with pace and power.
The mid section throttles back a bit in to a sort of melodic folky mid-section with a bit of flute and meandering guitars before going back in to the heavy stuff to round it out. The vocals are engaging and the chorus and hooks are infectious.
Here’s the video:
Pieces of Glass goes trippy and pagan with the steady, constant drum patterns, acoustics and more haunting vocals from Fay. Some understated riffing in the background builds up gradually. The flute comes in too with jingling guitars over the final section.
Faery Wood is basically traditional folk with an electric undercurrent conjuring up images of being in a pastoral woodland forest. As does to some extent Crystal Cave with more jingle-jangle guitar washes, slightly funky bass. All nicely melodic with a jaunty feel.
The Cult takes things back to the bombastic. Heavies things up nicely. Big, chunky free-flowing chords and very catchy to boot.
When Stars Collide rounds out the album in quite some style. Driven along by a thumping bass along with chunky, chugging riffs and pace it has the heaviness whilst managing to build in some tasty synth bursts to prog it up and even a nice saxophone piece lead out with the floaty guitars joining in.
From start to finish, The Glare is a wonderful album encompassing heavy, progressive, folksy, trippy, melodic, haunting and pagan elements all merged together expertly over the three quarters of an hour running time. Plenty here for everyone.
CD version from the band’s web site or digital from their BandCamp page:
https://www.sprigganmist.com
https://sprigganmist.bandcamp.com
Thanks to AC at Bad Dog Promotions and the band for sending over the album to me.
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