Photograph by Ian D. Hall
Originally published by L.S. Media. June 20th 2011.
When people think of the state of current Progressive Rock bands that can hold their own and in some cases easily beat the established guard with a superb written lyric and subtle use of a well placed time sequence, most watchers of the genre might point to the phenomenal The Reasoning or their fellow High Voltage peers Touchstone.
However in the last few years some of the remnants of fellow Prog kings Karnataka have been quietly bidding their time, starting afresh and have delivered two top rated albums in the form of Panic Room.
Jonathan Edwards, Gavin Griffiths and Paul Davies all have proven pedigrees but with the simple addition of the stunning vocalist Anne Marie Helder, whose own talent has not gone unnoticed over the years, arrived at the Robin 2, Bilston with an undertaking to entertain and give credence to the talk about the band.
Panic Room kicked off an impressive and expressive night with Freedom to Breathe, 5th Amendment, the remarkable Picking up Knives and the sensuous I Am a Cat all of which came of the last studio album Satellite. New member and bass player, Yatim Halimi, seemed to be enjoying himself immensely as he grinned his way through the set and backed up Anne Marie perfectly all night.
With a voice that falls somewhere between exotic siren and hypnotic, Anne Marie Helder is recognised as being one of the top women in her profession and has supported the likes of Fish and John Wetton on various recordings. There can be no doubt that on some of the more intense tracks the band played on the night Anne Marie delivered each song with panache and style.
There was a wonderful offering for the busy crowd as Anne Marie introduced one of her songs from her 2004 solo album, Contact. The band had certainly been busy in the intervening months between releasing Satellite and going on tour, as they thrilled the large and expectant crowd with a re- working of the song Exodus. This fine song being given an unneeded but welcome makeover thrilled the crowd and gave them all food for thought for the future.
As always, when a band of this quality arrives on stage, the time goes far too quick and for Panic Room there was too be no exception to the rule. However with a promise of a tour in the autumn, the large crowd that had assembled to hear one of the finest current exponents of Progressive Rock were not too disappointed at the end of the night.
Ian D. Hall