(Andy Synn has some very nice words to say about the second album from Kentucky’s Azell)
I do love a good concept album, don’t you?
A lot of that I attribute to my dad’s influence, as he was (and is) a big Prog fan, which meant I grew up being viariously exposed to the likes of The Wall, Tales from Topographic Oceans, and Quadrophenia.
And while some of my turn to Punk and Hardcore (and then Metal) in my teenage years may have been a form of rebellion against the outlandish excess and indulgent extravagance of these sorts of records, over time I’ve come to appreciate them as an art form more and more.
Note, however, that I explicitly said good concept albums, because there’s also been a lot of bad ones – from self-indulgent fantasy fan-fiction to shamelessly generic sci-fi schlock to badly-plotted (and barely coherent) political allegories, and everything in between – and it’s important to draw a distinction between the two.
Thankfully, however, the new album from sludge-slinging husband-and-wife duo Azell falls firmly on the former side of the divide.