Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The sound of the cloister bell calling to arms is never truly far away from the ears of devoted, it is also never too far from the calling out of the name of the spiritual guide that directs the way of thinking when the creative mood takes hold, whether that is the form of devotion or the desecration of the soul is up to those inflamed by its desire.

Arguably the greatest exponent of this musical feeling is Progressive Rock, it touches with a kind of shining brilliance those that are open to its call and fills others with a dread that perplexes and baffles the former to the point where battle lines are drawn in shifting sands and the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse lick their lips in unfathomable greed.

Arcade Messiah II reveals the extent of such boundless, creative energy that John Bassett fills his wonderfully preserved boots with and leaves those who are mystified by the appeal floundering in their own wake of pity, for Arcade Messiah is not just any ordinary Progressive Rock sound, it employs a sense of the cool and calculated that others, even in their own genre, miss out upon and the collected soundscapes rear up like a crouching lioness ready to spring on the unsuspecting grazing gazelle in the lush Serengeti outposts.

With tracks such as the opening and expansive song Moon Signal, Black Dice Maze, Fourth Quarter and the excellent Read The Sky sending out quiet reflective joy, it’s hard to understand at times why more don’t get the simplicity and creative force that Progressive Rock brings to the table and yet that lioness who tames the land, also never gets to eat first, no matter how much she has earned it.

Arcade Messiah II is that lush ambient Serengeti, it is the lioness waiting with patience to fill her hungry soul and it is a lioness willing to stake out with richness in her blood, an album of great warmth, you would not expect anything less from John Bassett and Arcade Messiah.

Ian D. Hall