Review: Frost* By Matt Bladen

Frost* - Life In The Wires (Inside Out Music)

Double albums and prog bands. It's like Salt N Pepper, Fish N Chips, Sausage N Mash, they just go together (also I was hungry when I wrote this). It's a wonder then why seminal British proggers Frost* have yet to do one. I mean that could be because there's was a long time where they didn't do much. 

After Milliontown, 2006 they split up then after Experiments In Mass Appeal in 2008 they split up again, finally releasing a third album Falling Satellites in 2016. No more splits since then though, tours galore, another record in 2021 Day And Age and now bandleader/vocalist/keyboardist Jem Godfrey has bitten the bullet with their fifth album and gone for a double album.

Of course we have a concept record, continuing somewhat from Day And Age the radio signal that sounded the end of that record opening this one for the next part of the story. The full story is about the future, dystopian and driven of A.I. and the central characters hearing a DJ on an AM radio then searching for something better. 

Similar concepts have been done by Roger Waters (Radio K.A.O.S) and Shooter Jennings (Hierophant - Black Ribbons), but in classic Frost* style, this concept is a bit brighter, more nostalgic, more fun and less doom and gloom (I mean most records are happier than anything by Roger Waters). 

This sense of nostalgia fed into the songwriting too as Godfrey takes most of the lead vocals here as he did on their defining debut Milliontown, more recent records have seen him sharing with guitarist John Mitchell, but here he's back behind the mic mainly by himself. He's joined by Mitchell on guitar, Nathan King on bass and Craig Blundell returns to the drum kit, marking the first time this line up has recorded since 'comeback' album Falling Satellites. 

With Godfrey behind the mic and both Milliontown and Experiments In Mass Appeal getting releases that nostalgia I referred to earlier is also present in the performance, taking their sound back to the neo-prog beginnings, invoking all of their albums so far on the songs. 

That's always the pleasure about double albums, with 90 minutes of music, there's plenty of time to throw in Easter eggs, little nods to the past, things only hardcore fans would pick up on. There's also the return of solos, both guitar and keyboard solos, Godfrey and Mitchell trading off as the progressive backbeat steers the ship through the storyline on the mammoth Life In The Wires (Part 2), the 15 minute penultimate moment of the album, segueing into the Floydian finale Starting Fires. 

Interspersed with transmissions from 'Livewire' who inspired our protagonist towards his new life. Solid State Orchestra pays huge dividends to Keith Emerson as Strange World dreamily shifts towards John Mitchell's recent output while last but one of disc one is the heavy chug of Idiot Box. Disc two is where things get a little darker, Propergander goes into the weirdness of Brain Salad Surgery as Sign Of Life adds strings and bags of emotion in a way that's similar to Peter Gabriel (it's that drumbeat).

There's no doubt about it Life In The Wires is the finest addition to the Frost* catalogue. A double album masterpiece from the UK's finest prog rock band. 10/10