VELVET THUNDER

You like metal? You like prog? You like a great female vocal melody riding the dragon of a full-tilt heavy rock band? Any or all of these, and odds-on you’re going to like this.

So, Never Untold is the fifth album release by Winter In Eden, the prog-metal outfit hailing from the north-east of England, and their first for four years. But there is a difference this time, as core members Steve and Vicky Johnson have completed a complete band overhaul since 2022’s Social Fake, bringing in new musicians to complement Steve’s keyboards and Vicky’s voice. You wouldn’t know it, however, as this new recording fits seamlessly into the band’s catalogue, with barely a ripple in the surface of their musical identity – proof, one might argue, of the strength and singularity of purpose driving the pair’s vision for the band. It’s a fine album as well, presenting all of their usual hallmarks in a way which has arguably never been bettered. Social Fake was itself a very strong album indeed, but this one possibly beats it in terms of the sheer consistency of material on display. There isn’t a duff track to be heard, essentially.

One thing which has been a common thread within the band’s work has been multi-part compositions, and we hit one of those right off the grid here with Sleepwalk Parts 1 To 3. Divided up into In Plain Sight, The Curse and Gone, and totalling around ten minutes, these are three individual pieces which stand alone, but also by the same token complement each other beautifully when taken as a whole. In Plain Sight is a perfect statement of intent, hitting the listener with a pummelling riff which could shake the rivets out of a Panzer tank at 50 paces, yet leavens it at the same time with symphonic sweeps and an glorious, overarching sense of melodicism, delivered perfectly by Vicky Johnson’s still-excellent vocals. If there is something which could define Winter In Eden in microcosm, it is this esoteric alchemy which melds those seemingly disparate elements of ‘base metal’ into aural gold. This is heavy music. It is very heavy music indeed. And yet, you could play it to any rock fan who would normally shy away from the more pummelling end of the metal spectrum, and there’s a pretty good chance they would still like it without even a caveat. It’s music which can simultaneously appeal to any listener from the camps of Pink Floyd through to Metallica, and they would still be able to see it as ‘their kind of music’. That’s an incredibly difficult tightrope to walk, and the skill of doing so should not be taken lightly. This, to me, represents the true soul of what is termed ‘progressive metal’, more so than the legions of would-be Dream Theaters who take the template of bolting together heavy riffs, admirable musicianship and more time changes than Back To The Future, and think they have it nailed. They do not, despite the clear brilliance of the pack leaders Dream Theater themselves. Winter In Eden plough their own furrow of vision, and nail it they do. After In Plain Sight departs from ours, The Curse enters in a similar way, related yet wholly different, before the shorter and more reflective Gone wraps it up. Taken as a whole, Sleepwalk is an opening triumph.

Now, I’ve dwelt for a while there on the merits of that opening three-part piece – and for good reason, as it offers just about the most precise and crystallised embodiment of the qualities possessed by the band that I think you could ask for. But that’s far from saying that it towers over the rest of the material here – indeed, far from it. The quality throughout of the melody lines and lighter instrumental touches embroidered over the gunmetal base of those steel-plated riffs is present throughout, and never fails to impress. There are particular instances, though, where departures of a sort from what might be seen as the ‘template’ are taken, and they all hit the mark. My Imagination is a rock ballad of sorts, though both the heaviness and the balladic sides of the coin are allowed to shine and compete with each other for bragging rights throughout, resulting in a composition which adeptly manages to satisfy both sides without carrying any hint of compromise. Closing the album, Show Me displays a slightly more overt ‘prog’ display of textural contrast which is the perfect way to finish – not quite as far in that direction as the remarkable Exclusive Invitation which closed the previous album, but certainly cut from a similar roll of cloth. Finally, there is Silence, which displays a somewhat more catchy direction, with a chorus which could take up residence in the recesses of your brain and refuse to be ousted by anything short of a water cannon. Listening to this piece, it is easy to imagine it being done (in a rather different arrangement) by someone like Annie Lennox, in which case I can state with some certainty that it would have hit the Top 10 and cropped up on nostalgic radio stations to this very day. It’s quite the achievement to produce something like that framed in the context of the Winter In Eden sound palette, but they have managed it regardless.

The final thing to say is that, like its predecessor (and most of the band’s albums), it sticks to what would be termed a ‘vinyl length’ single album in the old money, and is the better for it. It’s in that range which is long enough yet doesn’t wear out or test the attention span of the listener – unlike some of those 70-minute marathons which we have all experienced, especially in the earlier days of the CD medium, which would leave you looking at how long was to go way before the end. When this album finishes, you don’t breathe a sigh of relief and stop looking at your watch, you just let it go round again so that you can hear Sleepwalk one more time. And that’s the effect you want to aim for. Sure, there were always double albums, but they tended to not necessarily get listened to in one go – you might decide to play just one of the discs in a single sitting (to this day, the wonderful Physical Graffiti still divides itself in my mind to ‘the first disc’ and ‘the second disc’, and there are plenty of other examples).

As a postscript (yes, I know I said that was the final point, but I’ll do a ‘Lieutenant Columbo’ with ‘just one more thing, sir…’), the cover art for the album is superlative, and seeing it available at vinyl size is a thing to be applauded. All of the band’s albums have seen great care and thought taken in terms of the artwork, and there’s no exception here. And for us children of the ’70s, isn’t that all a part of the whole package? I think so, and always have.

You like metal? You like prog? You like a great female vocal melody riding the dragon of a full-tilt heavy rock band? Any or all of these, and odds-on you’re going to like this. Try it and see, no return options are going to be needed. It’s very nice.