Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
British Progressive Rock has been in such a rude state of health of late that it hardly seems a surprise when another group of musicians go down the long and ethereal note filled road. The genre has not reached the awful state of affairs that saw it nearly die a bloated thousand deaths in the 1970s, thankfully there is more than enough room in the 21st Century for well-worked, encouraging words of wisdom from the world of Prog.
There is a near bruising serenity attached to the latest in the long line of Progressive offering and in Nth Ascension’s Ascension of Kings, serenity is coupled with a regal nature that alludes to the early days of Yes, the sweeping softness of Marillion’s Steve Rothery and with the hard edged commentary that the listener might associate with of more contemplative and tranquil songs of America’s heavier Progressive side in Queensryche.
By just listening to the music alone that Nth Ascension offer throughout the album is enough to slip into reflective poise but its real magic is in the sprinkling of lyrics that punctuate the air like a steam train driving through the warmth of an Edwardian Summer. Like Jon Anderson’s soaring spirit that gave early Yes its distinctive and sheer brutal beauty, then the sound employed by the band is a splendour in which that the train running through the countryside is heard in all the quietest spaces.
Revolutions can happen with bile and hatred or just with the quietness of spirit and even an insurrection declared in peace can be music to the ears of those in search of a monumental scene shift. That quiet revolution of spirit is taken forward by tracks such as Strange Dreams, Weight of the World, the unbelievably good Vision and the despairing finite reality that hangs over the sweeping opus of Clanaan, Overture, Realm With A Soul and Seventh Rider.
The Progressive genre can never really be assassinated; it can only ever gorge itself to death. With the last ten years being one of absolute feast, the fan could be forgiven for thinking that the fin de siècle was on the horizon, not a bit of it on the evidence of this album, the Progressive keeps evolving.
Ian D. Hall