Best known for his time with King Crimson during their classic early 70's period, electric violinist David Cross has been intermittently releasing new music with both his own band and other collaborators since the 80's. Whilst Cross' name is used to front the band new album Sign of the Crow is very much a group effort and joining him are Paul Clark (guitars), Mick Paul (bass), Craig Blundell (drums), Alex Hall (keys) and Jinian Wilde on vocals. Additionally Cross has enlisted the services of onetime Crimson lyricist (and founding member of Supertramp) Richard Palmer-James. The overall result is very much a contemporary sounding album at the heavier end of the prog-rock scale that is characterised by some fiery guitar and violin workouts along with warm and melodic vocals.
'Starfall' is a terrific opening song with an insistent and charming melody and makes effective use of both Wilde's vocal and a spoken word section wrapped around some stellar instrumental passages. Creepy instrumental 'Raintwist' is where Cross really lets fly with some dazzling violin and it also has some meaty riffs supplied by Clark and Paul that are extremely powerful. You can definitely hear the influences of the past but the band have really carved out their own identity, nowhere more so than on the title track with its catchy melody, intricate structure and rich layering. The creative juices continue to flow across the nine tracks and there is truly never a dull moment to be heard with 'Water on the Flame' another haunting and evocative instrumental piece and the closing 'Rain Rain' offering a suitably dramatic ending.
The David Cross Band have a handful of live dates planned to support the August release of Sign of the Crow and have also been confirmed to appear at the HRH Prog festival in North Wales in March 2017.
Track List:-
1) Starfall
2) Sign of the Crow
3) Crowd Surfing
4) The Pool
5) Raintwist
6) Spiderboy
7) Mumbo Jumbo
8) Water on the Flame
9) Rain Rain
Added: July 12th 2016 Reviewer:Dean Pedley Score: Related Link:Facebook page Hits: 2909 Language: english
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Best known for his time with King Crimson during their classic early 70's period, electric violinist David Cross has been intermittently releasing new music with both his own band and other collaborators since the 80's. Whilst Cross' name is used to front the band new album Sign of the Crow is very much a group effort and joining him are Paul Clark (guitars), Mick Paul (bass), Craig Blundell (drums), Alex Hall (keys) and Jinian Wilde on vocals. Additionally Cross has enlisted the services of onetime Crimson lyricist (and founding member of Supertramp) Richard Palmer-James. The overall result is very much a contemporary sounding album at the heavier end of the prog-rock scale that is characterised by some fiery guitar and violin workouts along with warm and melodic vocals.
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