STEVE HACKETT: Wolflight (2015)

 Steve Hackett needs no introduction. He is one of the finest guitar players of the last decades. He was present in the first and most important period of Genesis before quitting the band and follow a solo career. As a solo artist, he released not less than 24 studio albums, with 'Wolflight' being his latest one.
 I'm not a music critic, so I will try to approach this album from the side of a music lover and a fan of Rock & Progressive Rock.
 For starters, I would like to say that in my opinion 'Wolflight' is probably his best work since 'Voyage of the Acolyte' (1975) and 'Spectral Mornings' (1979).
   I have listened to the album 3-4 times so far, and every time I discover something new which I hadn't noticed before. The compositions are of high standards, the production is excellent, and the participating musicians are extremely talented ones.
  The album's main "theme" is the relation between a man and a wolf. So we can say that it is a 'concept' album in a way. 
 Let's take a look at the music now: What Steve Hackett is presenting here, is a mixture of many different styles of music styles, including Rock, Ethnic, Flamenco, Jazz, Classical etc, blended altogether in a beautiful way, and underlined with his wonderful guitar playing. What I enjoyed the most is the changes of music styles within the songs. For example, a song can start with an acoustic guitar playing a flamenco-based tune, which is turning into a classical inspired music theme, and suddenly an electric guitar appears playing wonderful melodies, changing the style of the song completely.
 (The first time I listened to the album I wasn't so much impressed I must say, but when I started listening to it over and over again it started revealing its musical beauty to me).
   The musicians who are participating are all very talented ones as I mentioned above, and further than the 6 standard ones, there are 4 more participating as guests, with Chris Squire of 'Yes' being one of them.
  The album consists of 10 songs, and has a total running time of almost an hour. As for my favorite songs, these are: 'Love Song to a Vampire', 'Corycian Flame' and 'Dust and Dreams/Heart Song'.
 Concluding this post I would like to mention that 'Wolflight' is one of these - rare in our days - albums which you can listen from the start 'till the end, without having to skip not even one song. Of course there are 'stronger' and 'weaker' moments, but the overall quality is a very high one!
  The album is available in MP3 and CD version, and as a double vinyl album. (On which an MP3 version is included). Speaking for myself, I have the MP3 version so far, but I'm going to buy the vinyl version very soon. :-)
 I totally recommend 'Wolflight' to all those who are fans of Rock or Progressive Rock music. I'm sure you will not regret buying this album!
           As for my rating, this would be 4.00 out of 5.00 stars.