Forgotten Gods are an Oxford based band, consisting of Mark Cunningham on lead vocals; Dave Boland playing keyboards and synthesizers / programming and backing vocals; David Hallett drums and percussion; Steve Harris electric guitars, acoustic guitars and guitar synth; and Michael Kentish bass guitars, harmony and backing vocals. Playing whistle on Vigil is the legendary Pete Jones.
The band have released their debut album, Memories, in October 2024, available at https://forgottengodsuk.bandcamp.com/album/memories and to start, I would state that it sounds sumptuous, this the result of some fine recording by Stuart Jones at Woodworm Studios and Mark Westwood at Blacktree Recording, with the mixing undertaken by the uber-talented Rob Aubrey at Aubitt Studios. The band’s website is at https://www.forgottengods.co.uk/#/
The artwork associated with this project is stunning, and there are six pieces of music which will strongly appeal to a wide range of rock fans, from the pomp progressive to the folk end of the spectrum, this has it all.
Opener is Alive, a song which tells of a journey, a long one by the feel of the lyrics, and looking back and down on the progress made. The beginning is journey pastoral before the opening burst, Boland to the fore with some lush sounds, and immediately, you are struck by the quality of the vocals by Cunningham, and I know that these are sentiments shared by colleagues at Progzilla Radio. There is such a positive vibe to this track, the clear sense of the joy of life, exemplified by the emotion fuelled guitar solo, and I have embedded it for you below as a strong example of why I highly recommend this album to you.
This is followed by Pillars of Petra, infused with the spirit of the middle east, the title referring to the ancient city cut into the rocks of Jordan. By a nice coincidence, I was talking about this to a close friend of ours who had visited the site on holiday last month, and the photos he took were stunning, not merely filling you with a sense of architectural or historical wonder, but also on the inalienable creativity and staying power of humanity, no matter what is thrown at us (often by ourselves, of course), the song correctly referring to a time when the science of astronomy and mathematics flourished in the middle east whilst we in the “west” lived under autocratic religious rulers who burned heretics at the stake. This track is an epic in every sense, length over fourteen minutes, and in scope, the opening voice and notes recalling the soul of the souk, the crescendo building in precisely the way a great epic should, and I might add here that it is a pity that I received the album too late to include in my “epic track of 2024” award, because it most certainly would have been a contender. I do especially like Hallett’s skin work on this, atmospheric and descriptive from the off. The first guitar solo when it arrives is achingly beautiful, reminding one strongly of a certain Mr Latimer, it is that good (the radio commentary on conflict is more Floydian in delivery, whilst some of the keyboard work which follows takes one back to classic Genesis). Sweeping, cinematic, especially the extended instrumental passage, simply wonderful music which should appeal to lovers of symphonic progressive rock.
Everybody’s Hero follows, and it is a loving tribute to Neil Peart, the genius of Rush sadly no longer with us. Indeed, the band performed for the second year at the 2024 “Prog for Peart” festival which raises money for the rare form of brain cancer, Glioblastoma Multiforme. The words reference the trials Peart endured (the tragic losses he suffered are too well known to bear repetition here), but also the trails of the extended bike journeys he made, and the simple fact that he was an inspiration to so many. This is a melodious joy, and it is embedded below for your enjoyment. Allow the guitar solo five minutes in to wash over you and take you to a different place.
Vigil is the second epic length track on the album, weighing in at over ten minutes. Lyrically, it puts me in mind of my late mother, whom I loved, but didn’t particularly like much (that sounds awful, but those of you who had “difficult” parents, either through their or your actions, but are fundamentally decent people will understand what I mean by this), the lyrics here “taken to, a darkened room, to hold your hand again one last time, as your light slipped away” transports me back nearly ten years now to her last moments in a hospital room, holding her hand, with my lovely wife in support. The start is full of Celtic mysticism, this courtesy of Pete Jones’s whistle – is there a more talented multi-instrumentalist in the UK now? The sense of drama and emotion is deepened by the almost military drums, this followed by distinctly Floydian piano and guitar, the realisation musically of the light slipping away perfectly and delicately expressed, the catharsis in the realisation that the departed are still with us. A majestic and extremely satisfying track.
The penultimate piece is Alone, and I am not sighted on the subject of the lyrics, but it is somewhat sad, the tale of a girl who, despite her mother’s exhortations that she would be a famous star of stage and screen, spent her life on her own, and had been from the moment she was born. This is another song dripping with emotion and melody, all sonically full of life. Three minutes in, you are treated to another delightful guitar solo, and it must be said that Harris is a seriously talented player (he has played in Ark and with Paul Menel). As the track moves to its conclusion, the whole band follow Harris’s lead and prove beyond any doubt that they are capable of rocking out with the best.
We close with Rose and Pink, Cunningham’s lyrics here yearning and putting me in mind of an intense, perhaps chaotic, but ultimately doomed love affair. The start of this is quite industrial, with some rather dystopian effects and a harsher guitar riff, in keeping, actually, with the imagery on the front cover. The drum work on this is particularly strong, the harmonies critical to the sound, and it all races along at a fair old pace, a cracking rock song to close an impressive album.
Forgotten Gods deserve to be mentioned in the same breath and company as the finest modern progressive rock acts - proof positive that we are living in an age of unprecedented creativity and music which simply makes my heart sing with joy.
This is a fine album, and it is highly recommended to you.