Band: Tom Slatter
CD Title: Murder and Parliament
Website: https://tomslatter.bandcamp.com/
Label: Bad Elephant Music (2017)
Rating:
Intriguing
Known for his stuff in the world of Steam Punk, Tom Slatter has delivered an instrumental album called Murder
and Parliament that sits outside his usual fare. This is perhaps because most of these tunes, roughly forty-five minutes worth, have
been gestating on his computer hard drive for a good number of years. It was finally time to release them on to an unsuspecting public
and hence this new release. I would describe the music contained here as hard-edged Art Rock with just a hint of the Avant Prog. This
is busy music with a lot of notes flying hither and yon from guitars and keyboards. Being instrumental this makes sense, as without
a vocalist the instruments (and the players) are free to fill in the space where lyrics would be. The instruments become the vocals
in many respects creating the emotional content and here often times it’s at a hectic pace. When the music isn’t charging down a more
rock-inspired path it detours into the more experimental, angular world of the Avant Prog. Intriguing music certainly and fans
of bands such as The Fierce and The Dead will find much to appreciate on this disc.