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›Fish – 13th Star
›Chocolate Frog Record Company
For anyone who has followed Fish’s solo career you will already know that there have been some ups and downs along the way. The downs have been a few sub standard albums and the personal well documented turmoil in the big mans life, while the ups have been the likes of the magnificent solo debut Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors and the fantastic Sunsets of Empire, which saw Fish working alongside Porcupine Tree’s Steve Wilson.
13th Star is an album which competes with Fish’s very best, containing some of his heaviest work to date while still managing to retain the passion and depth of his more sublime moments. A lot of the credit has to go to long time bassist Steve Vantsis who has been let loose on the album, co-writing eight of its ten tracks with Fish. This partnership seems to have brought a new more modern sounding record, with a lot bigger balls than we have heard from Fish in a long time. This heavier sound also seems to have brought the best out in the rest of the band, especially the hugely under-rated Frank Usher who peels off some fantastic solos along the way.
At times the album delves into the territory of Rammstein, especially on the likes of stand out track Manchmal which delivers a crushing riff that builds and march’s until the chorus when the Germanic chant of the title kicks in. But fear not Fisheads, this doesn’t mean that Fish’s Prog roots have been deserted, far from it in fact. 13th Star is a stunning very deep and emotional concept album that while at times bludgeons you into submission, also contains beautiful moments like Mile De Besos, that really tugs at the heart strings and with Lorna Bannon’s backing vocals giving it that little bit of extra emotion.
The making of this album may have been a very difficult time for Fish, but with the help of Steve Vantsis, he really can look back at this period in his life as a real triumph in the face of adversity, as 13th Star really is possibly the best solo album of his career. Fantastic stuff!.
9/10
Nige.
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