The great thing about rock music is that it has so many different facets, classic rock, metal, thrash, progressive and glam to name but a few. Rock has the ability to be used in very creative ways and one of them is the concept album and the rock musical. Bands such as Pink Floyd, Marillion, Queensryche and Ayreon have shown to great effect that you can combine music and storytelling to great effect. Throwing his musical hat into this ring is Michael Hilder who has written a rock musical entitled “The Storm”. The genesis of this creation goes back to 1991 when Michael started to put together musical ideas and the storyline after being inspired by albums such as Meatloaf’s “Bat Out Of Hell” and Jim Steinman's “Bad For Good”.

One should bear in mind that “The Storm” trilogy is a theatrical production and therefore contains not only songs but also character dialogue and special effects. It’s a fair old accomplishment to say the least as Hilder has, down the year’s, gone back and rewritten parts of the script and refined the characters to achieve a very satisfying end result. All the character dialogue within the musical is convincing and participants should be congratulated on their role-playing.

Musically Michael must come from a classic rock background as my ear picked out styles that are very much rooted in the seventies to eighties. For instance “Modern World” is an up-tempo slice of rock that recalls Steppenwolf in their prime whilst “The Witch” could be prime time Heart thanks to its riffs and rhythms being riddled with the spirit of their wonderful track ”Barracuda”. Other songs have a more mainstream rock vibe such as “Warlock” which gallops along like an Iron Maiden anthem and “Better Without You” which had me thinking instantly of Sass Jordan. There are musically and vocally some brave moments on this release. One such example would be “The Wicked One” with vocals that are reminiscent of Kate Bush but musically more like a Neil Young Americana workout.

Hilder’s willingness to try whatever ingredients he thinks fit to make up his music pays off dividends as the album progresses and as the storyline unfolds the album unleashes one of its finest moments with the song “Left In The Dark”, a great slab of melodic rock that shows Hilder well and truly wearing his love of Jim Steinman’s song writing on his sleeve.

Hilder should be commended for putting this project together. Rock musicals must be one of the hardest things to assemble as, not only does the music have to be sympathetic to the storyline, but you also have to have dialogue and characters that are convincing to carry it all along. With “The Search For the Grail” Hilder has certainly achieved this balance. It sounds very much like a labour of love and, whilst admittedly the production isn’t as slick and glossy as say a Pink Floyd or Ayreon album, the ingredients are there and its sincerity and honest production and playing give the whole thing a wonderful organic feel. I was left with a strange vision as this album ended for the umpteenth time. Many years ago there was an animated movie called “Heavy Metal The Movie” which had a great impression on me as it married rock and fantasy visuals to perfection. I think Hilder’s music would be perfectly suited to that sort of project. Like I said it was just a thought and maybe a crazy one at that but at least it shows that the the album got me seeing the music visually in my mind. A charming album, which deserves all the praise, it will hopefully receive.

Contact: www.myspace.com/thestormtrilogy  

Track Listing

The Eye Of The Storm
Modern World
Warlock
The Wind Of Change
Better Without You
The Witch
Pages From The Lost World
The Wicked One
Left In The Dark
Gumfunkle
The Dark Lord
Just A Boy
The Search For The Grail