As far as modern takes on classic rock go, there are ensembles that embrace the idiom without forays into pastiche while retaining all the panache their heroes from the past deployed, and that’s the way Boston’s own MAD PAINTER have been working for the last decade. Upping the standard set on their previous album, "Splashed" from 2024, the American band release its follow-up today: featuring a dozen cuts – eleven originals and a “mandatory” URIAH HEEP cover – of prime hard rock and prog, “Island Poetry” rides a variety of moods, designed by Alex Gitlin and in half of the cases given lyrical substance by yours truly.
There’s no mystery in who inspired “Nektarized” or whose organ passages became a springboard for a few other cuts, but the listener should love the enigmatic balladry of “Two Horsemen” or relate to “Suit Of Worries” that turns anxiety into tuneful heaviness. A classy platter from a classy act.
Island Poetry
1. Debt Collector
2. Empty Bottles
3. Spin Your Ventilator
4. Suit Of Worries
5. You Dreamed I Was In Love
6. Nektarized
7. Shadow Of The Words
8. Two Horsemen
9. Tommy Lost It All
10. I Am The King
11. Stand Your Ground
12. Circle Of Hands
