Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
The Roaring Waves that we see from the safety of the shore can be ether a warning we take seriously, or we see them as omens of the gods at play, tossing the ideas and hubris of humanity into the surface of turbulent truth and seeing what surfaces, what clings to the life buoy and becomes the exceptional majesty aloft of the swell and movement surrounding the that waves cannot, and will never wash away.
Two masters of their chosen craft combine to prove that modesty and unpretentiousness are the required gifts for bringing brilliance to the surface and then elevating them to a position where the light of the beacon illuminates lives, brightens the darkness of the age the listener may find themselves in and offers them a tantalising view of what salvation actually might be revealed by the storm.
For the former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett and Marillion’s Steve Rothery, The Roaring Waves is not just a chance to show their mutual respect and friendship that has become a union transcending time, it is the polish of two long careers that have typified the Progressive era and its 80s renaissance into an unshakable bond.
With Riccardo Romano on bass and keyboards, Leon Parr and Danielle Pomo sharing duties on drums, and backing vocals supplied by Jo Hackett, Jo Rothery, Jennifer Rothery, and Michael Rothery all supplying the sense of power that inhabits us when we defy the storms and sing to the heavens of glories and human endurance.
Coming together for the first time fully has been a boon to the listener’s unshakable belief in the pair, the sense of direction and provocative stylings combine to make the largely instrumental album such a distinguished listen; and as tracks such as Red Dragon, K-129, Pacific Coast Highway, for which Mr. Rothery takes up an unusual placement on the bass guitar, and the tremendous The Black Sea, what comes across is the unparalleled relationship we as an island nation have with that surrounds us. Forever watchful, forever vigilant of the surge that threatens to engulf us, but which captures the sense of times beauty we wish to be entranced by.
The Roaring Waves is the reality of two of Britian’s finest guitarists melding friendship, respect, and genius together in such a way that it becomes exceptional.
Ian D. Hall