Age Of Distraction is a collaboration between founder and guitarist John Cook (This Winter Machine, This Other Eden) with Charlie Bramald (Ghost Of The Machine, Shadows On Mercury) on vocals, bass guitarist Mark Gatland (Hats Off Gentlemen It's Adequate) and multi- instrumentalist Dom Bennison (This Winter Machine). A Game Of Whispers contains twelve songs about the consequences of toxic relationships and communication failures, five of which are instrumental. Musically it's all very well put together. It sounds good, is well produced and it is absolutely English prog rock with sometimes nice excursions into prog metal. Charlie Bramald is a great singer for this kind of work. Philip Stuckey sings on Take Me Down and that is not bad either. The album starts with a slightly out-of-tune piano (The Uninvited), after which in Break My Bones Bramald is allowed to show what he can do and he does so convincingly. There is an Arena vibe throughout the album that is very pleasant, without reaching the level of Arena to be honest, but that does not detract from the quality. A nice instrumental song is The Point Of No Return. With My Peace, A Game of Whispers ends quietly and beautifully. John Cook, who wrote everything, has delivered with the rest of the musicians a great album! **** Arne van Os van den Abeelen (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
