| The
Review |
I remember getting the original vinyl copy of Stencil
Forest's debut album 'Opening Act' way back in the early/mid
eighties and absolutely loved it. A really good Pomp/Progressive
rock album that, at it's best, proudly stood up there with
Roadmaster, Trillion, Hobbit, Kansas and the like. It finally
had a welcome CD re-issue a couple of years ago with a couple
of really good new bonus tracks added, so, with this in mind,
I awaited the announced new album with eager anticipation.
Initially on first hearing things sounded pretty good,
but now having lived and played the thing to death, the disappointment
has set in big time. Gone is the majestic, grandoise Pomp/Prog
sound of the debut, to be replaced by a more earthy, stripped
back sound that never really gets going throughout the entire
72 minutes. The first noticeable thing is the overall thin
sound on the production/mix side of things, which especially
makes the drum sound suffer. For me, this style of music requires
a really good mix to pick out all the instrumentation and
subtle nuances that allow the listener the maximum effect
possible. 'The Abyss' has neither of these, so never really
impacts on the listener the way it should. I realise that
this isn't a big budget release, so taking that into account,
it isn't by any means terrible - far from it - but I have
also heard other independent releases that sounded a lot better
and more professional.
To the songs then. There are some very nice melodies throughout
this album, and the opening duo of the 11 minute 'Lifeline
Suite' and 'Pull Me Under' get things off to a good start.
'Broken' is also especially noteable and is a lovely orchestral/piano
piece, with 'Room With A View' thankfully giving the whole
thing a much needed kick up the backside come the middle section
of the album. But ... and this is a major BUT!! ... for the
all the positives material wise, there is also a large negative
here. The main title track of the album is the MAJOR let down.
With a 24 minute piece like this, it is imperative to keep
the listeners interest to the maximum, as tedium can soon
set in if the right ingredients are not in place (and believe
you me, I was making the hot chocolate and putting on my pyjamas
well before this had ended). After about 4 minutes of this
'Epic' I was nearly asleep, at the 8 minute mark some TRULY
awful and quite disturbing things started happening and my
interest was completely lost forever. The final 2-3 minutes
does admittedly make the pulse quicken slightly, as there
is potentially what could/should have been a storming, majestic
finish, (maybe I was asleep by this stage and it was just
a dream) but again it just whimpers out with not an ounce
of passion behind it (and a slightly dodgy vocal performance
it has to be said). Oh if only this section had been given
to someone like Andy Latimer (Camel) or Nick Barrett (Pendragon)
in the guitar department then maybe we would be talking!!!
Unfortunately not!!!! So, the title track, which is meant
to be the album's defining moment, is a damp squib I'm afraid,
completely flat, lifeless, goes absolutely nowhere - a complete
waste of at least 18 minutes of this disc, and as boring as
a very boring thing (I think I have made my point clearly
by now). Better to have left it off completely in my opinion
or shortened it considerably by about 20 minutes.
So what to think overall of this one??? After the excellent
'Opening Act' album, I'm majorly disappointed, if truth be
told, but that was over 20 years ago, so maybe my expectations
were too high. As I said above, sound wise it is OK for an
independent release, but compare this to the releases of bands
like Pendragon, Arena, etc. who all also release albums on
restricted budgets, then the quality really isn't anywhere
close to those. There are some good tracks but the title track
is a dud of the highest order and is unfortunately a large
chunk of this album. I will certainly play parts of this CD
again, but the whole thing lacks two major ingredients that
could have made it so MUCH better. Power and Passion ... Oh
yes and dropping the title track!!!!
GRADE: C
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