I normally don’t like concept albums, for the simple fact that
\nsomething is always left not done well enough. If the music is
\ngood, the story line is impossible to follow. If the story line is
\nsolid, the music is often left to suffer. Sometimes, both sides are
\nterribly weak, leaving the album to be so much musical mush.<\/p>\n
Then, there are the albums that have everything clicking —
\nthese are rare birds, but ones that should be duly noted when they
\ndo pop their heads out for the consumers. Such is the case with
\nThe Robbery Of Murder<\/i> from Salem Hill — in fact, this is an
\nalbum that chilled me with its story and surprised me with its
\nmusic. A re-done version of an earlier album, this is quite
\npossibly the best concept album I have ever listened to – and it
\nhas several messages that you’d be a fool not to listen to.<\/p>\n
Multi-instrumentalist Carl Groves leads this four-piece (which
\nincludes some guest violin work from David Ragsdale, formerly of
\nKansas) into new, unchartered waters of progressive rock music.
\nWith the help of percussionist\/vocalist Kevin Thomas, bassist
\nPatrick Henry and guitarist\/vocalist Michael Dearing, Salem Hill
\ntake on a serious subject, and surprisingly turn it into something
\nmagical. The subject: The loss of a parent due to a drunk driver,
\nthe anger and plans for revenge felt by the son left behind – and
\nthe feelings of the person guilty of the deed.<\/p>\n
After the instrumental “Overture” and the declaration of the
\nplot on “Swerve,” I defy anyone not to be moved and chilled by the
\nchild in the background calling out for his father on “When.”
\nAlthough I am fortunate enough to still have both of my parents, I
\ncan empathize with the confusion the son in the song feels when his
\nfather fails to come home after the accident (which the son was
\nalso involved in), and his constant question to his mother of when
\nDaddy is coming home. Finally coming to the realization of what
\nhappened, the questions turn to unbridled anger and planned revenge
\nagainst the driver in “Someday”: “You beer-guzzling loser \/ You
\ndeath-monging cruiser \/ You maker of ten o’clock news”. Ka-pow.<\/p>\n
But woven into the fabric of this tale is the tale of the drunk
\ndriver himself, whose first reaction we hear is one of shifting the
\nblame from himself to a tormented childhood he experienced
\n(“Blame”), but soon turns to remorse for the pain he’s caused —
\npain that leads up to the son’s visit to the grave of his father
\n(“To The Hill”). At first, I thought this was the killer visiting
\nthe grave — and while I still harbor some feelings that this is
\nthe case, looking at other interpretations of the song have put
\nsome doubt in my mind.<\/p>\n
All the while, the son holds on to the hope that one day he and
\nhis father will be reunited (“Dream”) while closing in on the
\ndriver who killed his father (“Revenge”). The story comes to its
\nclimax in “Trigger” – but the resolution is not what one would have
\nexpected. Coming face-to-face with the man who brought down so much
\npain causes our hero to look at him in a different light: “You’re
\nnot quite what I expected \/ You’re small, sad, frail and afraid.”
\nThe ending? Sorry, gang, but I need to leave you with a reason to
\nbuy the disc.<\/p>\n
Musically, Salem Hill wisely tries to create their own sound
\nwhile acknowledging the work of progressive rock bands before them.
\n(If you pick this disc up expecting to hear a band that sounds like
\nKansas due to Ragsdale’s contributions, you’ll be disappointed;
\nSalem Hill’s sound is a little darker than what you would expect.)
\nAnd while Groves’s vocals are not as strong as I would have liked
\nthem to be, he does show many moments of brilliance in his singing.
\n(Credit should also be given to Groves’s production work on this
\ndisc, which is flawless.)<\/p>\n
While I have listened to several discs in the prog-rock vein
\nover the course of the past year that have impressed me, no single
\ndisc has caused me to be so moved as
\nThe Robbery Of Murder<\/i> did. This is a powerful listen – and,
\nif you have lost someone close to you through such tragedy, this
\nwill be a difficult listen. But the messages this disc carries are
\nsimple, yet powerful. Obviously, the message of “don’t drink and
\ndrive” is clear, but what about prizing the time you have with your
\nparents or with your children, for you never know how long you have
\nwith them? What about the destructive power of anger and thoughts
\nof revenge, and the healing power of forgiveness? This is a disc
\nthat is going to make you think long and hard.<\/p>\n
\nThe Robbery Of Murder<\/i> is a disc that could well be the best
\nprogressive rock album I’ve ever listened to — and it now ranks as
\nthe best album I’ve listened to all year. Here’s hoping some major
\nlabel picks up on this power, and gives Salem Hill a fair shot on
\nthe market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24863,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6018],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-36068","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-salem-hill","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36068"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36068"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}