''The Clockwork Fable'' is the sixth studio album by the English

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band

Gandalf's Fist Gandalf's Fist is an English band originally from Maryport, Cumbria. The band operates and records their own material from their headquarters currently located in South Norfolk. Their music is influenced by 1970s progressive/psychedelic rock. ...

. Released on 1 May 2016, it is a three disc spanning rock-opera interspersed with a professionally acted

radio play Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

between the actual songs. Each disc of the record serves as an individual element of a traditional

three-act structure The three-act structure is a model used in narrative fiction that divides a story into three parts ( acts), often called the Setup, the Confrontation, and the Resolution. Syd Field described it in his 1979 book ''Screenplay: The Foundations of ...

Reception

Classic Rock Magazine ''Classic Rock'' is a British magazine and website dedicated to rock music, owned and published by Future. It was launched in October 1998 and is based in London. The magazine publishes 13 editions a year, mainly covering rock bands from the 196 ...

Geoff Barton Geoff Barton (born July 1955) is a British journalist who founded the heavy metal magazine ''Kerrang!'' and was an editor of '' Sounds'' music magazine. He joined ''Sounds'' at the age of 19 after completing a journalism course at the London Co ...

wrote "a conceptional tour de force, it reduces

Rick Wakeman Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboardist and composer best known as a member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his prolific solo career. AllMusic describes Wakema ...

's The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table to the level of a

Chas & Dave Chas & Dave (often billed as Chas 'n' Dave) were an English pop rock duo, formed in London by Chas Hodges and Dave Peacock (musician), Dave Peacock. They were most notable as creators and performers of a musical style labelled ''rockney'' (a p ...

Cockney knees-up." in his review in issue 224, awarding it 9/10 Points. Prog Magazine's Steve Pilkington writes " ..Imagine

The War Of The Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was ...

if it had been tackled by

Ayreon Ayreon is a musical project by Dutch songwriter, singer, musician and record producer Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Ayreon's music is described as progressive rock, progressive metal and power metal sometimes combined with genres such as folk music, f ...

rather than

Jeff Wayne Jeffry Wayne (born July 1, 1943) is an American composer, musician and lyricist. In 1978, he released '' Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds'', his musical adaptation of H. G. Wells' science-fiction novel ''The War of the Wo ...

and you’re halfway there. Indeed,

Arjen Lucassen Arjen Anthony Lucassen (born 3 April 1960) is a Dutch singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer, best known for his long-running progressive metal/rock opera project Ayreon. Lucassen started his career in 1980 as th ...

’s just one of the guests here, along with Blaze Bayley (

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...

), and prog-savvy actors

Mark Benton Mark Benton (born 16 November 1965) is an English actor and television presenter known for his roles as Eddie in '' Early Doors'', Howard in '' Northern Lights'', Martin Pond in '' Barbara'' and the eponymous Frank Hathaway in '' Shakespeare & H ...

and Zach ‘

Gremlins ''Gremlins'' is a 1984 American black comedy horror film directed by Joe Dante, written by Chris Columbus and starring Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Polly Holliday and Frances Lee McCain, with Howie Mandel providing the voic ...

’ Galligan. ..this is a career-defining, magical epic." Fireworks Magazine writes " ..lengthy progressive epics ..nothing short of stunning. ..If you love 70s prog with an eye for Jethro Tull,

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

and the Pop leanings of

Greg Lake Gregory Stuart Lake (10 November 1947 – 7 December 2016) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He gained prominence as a founding member of the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP). Born and b ...

, the 80s update the likes of IQ,

Galahad Galahad (), sometimes referred to as Galeas () or Galath (), among other versions of his name (originally ''Galaad'', ''Galaaz'', or ''Galaaus''), is a knight of King Arthur's Round Table and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Ar ...

or Twelfth Night provided, or even the more pointed stabs of

Porcupine Tree Porcupine Tree are an English rock band formed by musician Steven Wilson in 1987. During an initial career spanning more than twenty years, they earned critical acclaim from critics and fellow musicians, developed a cult following, and became ...

, you'll find them all here. As you will a slice of Prog Metal technicality and hefty helping of intrinsically British

NWOBHM The new wave of British heavy metal (often abbreviated as NWOBHM) was a nationwide musical movement that began in England in the mid-1970s and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. Editor Alan Lewis coined the term for an arti ...

fret fury – and obviously the storytelling of War Of The Worlds. ..an album that genuinely deserves to be given the accolade of current and future classic. Conceptual, progressive rock, genuinely doesn't get better than this."

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Dean Marsh, except where noted. All Lead vocals by Dean Marsh, except where noted.

The Cast

;The Orchestra *Dean Marsh – 6 and 12 String Electric Guitars, Synths, Mandolin, Octave Mandola, and Bass *Luke Severn – Lead and Backing Vocals *Stefan Hepe – Drums, Percussion *Christopher Ewen – Bass Guitar with *Matt Stevens – Ambient Guitars *

Dave Oberlé Dave Oberlé (born 9 January 1953 in Farnborough, London, Farnborough, Kent, England) is an English musician, best known as percussionist and lead vocalist with the 1970s band Gryphon (band), Gryphon. After the band split up in 1977, Oberlé went o ...

- Bodhran and Tan-Tan *Nathan Madsen - Saxophone ;The Choir *Dean Marsh - sung words of "The Good People of Cogtopolis" *Luke Severn - sung words of "The Nightkeepers" *

- sung words of "Armistead" * Blaze Bayley - sung words of "The Primarch" *

- sung words of "Pastor Simon" *Melissa Hollick - sung words of "Eve" *Dying Seed - background chants ;Voice Actors *

- as "The Lamplighter/Prison Guard/First Secretary" * Zach Galligan - as "The Steam Ranger" *Tim Munro - as "The Tinker" *Alicia Marsh - as "Eve" * Paul Kavanagh - as "Pastor Simon" *Bill Fellows - as "Armistead/Nightkeeper Spy" *Paul Barnhill - as "The Primarch/Nightkeeper Breathren" *Christopher Ewen - as "The Boy" *Luke Severn - as "Second Secretary/another Nightkeeper Brethren" *You, The Listener - as "The Traveler"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clockwork Fable 2016 albums Gandalf's Fist albums