Re: My new album available for download/streaming -- THE EYE OF FIRE AND FEAR
Got the first published review of The Eye Of Fire And Fear today -- in the latest issue of Sound On Sound magazine, no less! And shocker of shockers -- they didn't absolutely hate it!! I'm actually quite floored by the response, though those back handed compliments can really sting lol.
Here it is:
"Nothing can strike more fear into the heart of a Playback reviewer than the words "single, 51‑minute-long piece” (although there are some close contenders, namely "experimental”, "free‑form", concept” and "transcendental”). But such is the hand I've been dealt by Ben Asaro, otherwise known as As Follows, who not only wrote all 51 minutes of this Edgar Allen Poe‑inspired prog‑rock epic, but also played every instrument on it. And, despite my trepidation, it's actually pretty decent. Fortunately for the listener, it's also broken up into fairly distinct chunks — so you don't feel like you've been sitting listening to the same song for almost an hour; in fact the experience is more akin to an album in which the inter‑track segways have been paid close attention to.
That's not to say it doesn't have its moments of dragging (from around minute 20 to minute 23 it does get a little, ahem, 'atmospheric' for my taste), but it's otherwise surprisingly engaging, especially for a classic prog‑rock affair. "
