Review STEVE HACKETT ‘Surrender of Silence’

Prog rock veteran Steve Hackett is quite busy these days. Not that he can perform his great songs and musical repertoire on stage. It’s the new releases allowing the iconic guitarist to stay in touch with a very strong fanbase.

Driven by the emotional roller-coaster caused by a pandemic, Hackett release a calm and silent album called ‘Under A Mediterranean Sky’ earlier this year. In a time when travelling wasn’t possible at all it was this album that, when closing the eyes, helped to embark on a musical journey towards the sun.

‘Under A Mediterranean Sky’ is an acoustic album and the new longplayer ‘Surrender of Silence’ turns things around. The new eleven songs comprising release offers full-on electric songs, starting with the bombastic intro ‘The Obliterati’. The intro leads to ‘Natalia’, a song with a cinematic expression. Steve Hackett doesn’t write songs. He creates compositions of which ‘Natalia’ is one off. A long list of friends and contributors, masters of all kinds of instruments, added important pieces to the realization of Hackett’s musical vision for ‘Surrender of Silence’.

A bombastic sound an orchestral expression, great songs and an excellent flow of music is what this release has to offer, and I don’t think that anybody expected less. ‘Surrender of Silence’ isn’t album just for the moment. It is a treat for ears, mind and soul. It needs time to grow since it offers a lot. This album is not about brutal riffs. It is built on well-accentuated notes, tones and sounds – a sound experience rather than a riff feast.