I have been a fan of since TFATD since the very beginning, and have always come away hugely impressed with everything they have done. There simply isn’t another band quite like them, performing high energy instrumental progressive rock in a way which makes them festival favourites, and then they announced they were releasing a single which not only contains vocals but a sax?! Taken from their forthcoming fourth album, ‘News From The Invisible World’, here we find bassist Kevin providing vocals with sax from Terry Edwards (PJ Harvey, Faust etc). I have no idea if this is what the whole album is going to be like, of if this is a one-off, but it certainly fits in well within their canon.

The vocals provide an additional element, and in the milder sections (which also contains sax), it shows a totally different aspect of TFATD, and then when brought into the more complex belters here we find TFATD operating as we have always known them, just with an additional facet. The sax sometimes is used as contrast, while at others it is emphasising the crushing riffs, with the result being that the band appears to be even heavier than normal. I never expected the band to use vocals as their music is so complex and heavy that there is generally no room for it whatsoever, but here they have created some additional space and it works well. It will be interesting to see if this is a path they continue to tread or if it is an experiment. Either way, fans of TFATD will be intrigued to hear it.

Rating: 8/10

Links:
https://fierceandthedead.com/
https://www.facebook.com/spencerparkmusic