Clive Nolan & Laura Piazzi return with Imaginaerium’s sophomore album. Siege is released via Progrock.com Essentials on April 4th, and for more information about how to (pre) order, pop along to the Bandcamp page at https://imaginaerium.bandcamp.com/  Personally, I would strongly recommend the lush Earbook edition, because, a lot of love, care, and tender curating has gone into that particular product. The CD, a bonus, Blu-Ray, and 32 pages of lush words, pictures, and illustrations.

The debut Imaginaerium album was The Rise of Medici, with Nolan & Piazzai joining the late, great Eric Bouillette, much missed. You can see my review by clicking on the button below. I thought it was a fine rock opera.

Fast forward now to 2025, and the remaining duo have constructed a renewal alongside three top quality collaborators in Luis Nasser on bass (a founding member of classy outfit, Sonus Umbra), Mirko Sangrigoli on drums & guitar, and Simone Milliava on guitars.

I think this album is a supreme work of art, intelligent, moving, and undoubtedly taking the project to another level.

Thematically, it deals with the human condition, with situations which force us to confront our deepest fears and how we aim to come out the other side. It is not a sword and sandal epic in isolation, but rather a commentary, and with that in mind, I must say that despite the constant stream of overwhelmingly negative news we are exposed to, it leaves me filled with hope for the future, because humanity always finds a way to come out the other side.

We have twelve pieces of music on the “main” CD, so let’s concentrate on that.

There is a video teaser for the album, and I have embedded this below alongside an audio teaser for the interview I have conducted with Clive & Laura, to be broadcast on my Progzilla Radio (www.progzilla.com) show of Saturday 5th April, 16:00 UK time.

Cry Boudica! starts us off, referencing the Queen of the Iceni in Ancient Britain who gave the invading Roman army such a hard time after vowing to avenge her dead husband, Prestutagas, whose will was overlooked by the new authorities and his nominally independent kingdom annexed. She provided such a tough military challenge that Nero briefly considered abandoning his adoptive father’s addition to the empire. This stirring start deals with the courage of a woman who was forced after being raped and abused to face up to the mightiest force the world had seen, and, to this day, her ultimate fate remains unknown.

Piazzai plays the heroine’s part perfectly, the siege here stark in the opening passage:

“I am the queen of the Iceni

 Made widow, forced to live by Roman will

Witness to my daughter’s rape I was tied, and I was flogged

Deserted by our gods”

Almost eight minutes long, the drama hits one from the word go, a pretty melody and Piazzai fully up to the task of portraying such an important historical figure, the symphonic merging perfectly with a complex drum pattern and an intricate bass melody, the track rising in intensity as it develops.

Time to mention John Mitchell (Nolan’s bandmate in Arena) and the job he has done in mixing and mastering the vision of this album. It all sounds so lush, especially the passage detailing the victories of the home army from Colchester to London Town, filling the senses, and the first of more than a few guitar solos which imprint themselves on you, so presenting us with a lovely fusion of classic, hard, symphonic, and operatic rock. The closing passage is a rollicking noise, seriously loud and proud.

The Final Redoubt has a video released, and this is embedded below for you to enjoy. I’ll begin my comments about this song by quoting to you the words of the historian Victor Davis Hanson describing the Battle of Rourke’s Drift which formed the basis of the famous, and marvellous, classic film starring Michael Caine & Stanley Baker, thus; “in the long annals of military history, it is difficult to find anything quite like Rourke's Drift, where a beleaguered force, outnumbered 40 to one, survived and killed 20 men for every defender lost". The Final Redoubt is that last place of defence, where you stand or fall, with no choice to take a different path, alternative options having been exhausted. Siege, in the literal, and life-threatening sense of the word. The vocals and the militaristic rhythm section provide the backdrop to a tale of human courage, Piazzai expertly taking us to the heights of the danger, the effects, vocal harmonies, ghostly guitar bursts and orchestration providing the perfect accompaniment to this, and when the symphonic rock element bursts into life, it is magnificent. Turn up the volume.

Regular readers of mine know that I don’t do stereotypical “top ten/twenty” lists, but I do have annual awards which include a “track of the year” as their highlights. To win, the song must go beyond simply being enjoyable. It must hit me in a very sweet spot, that spot when you first listen, a certain moment makes you put everything down, sit, put the song back to the start, turn the volume up, and allow it to wash over and hit you again. Repeat for infinite listens. Footprints is one of those songs. Piazzai when she bursts out “leaving footprints in the snow”, is simply very special indeed. Walls are built, the chorus bursts at you, the cinematic soundscape discreet behind it, Nasser providing a stunning bassline, the arctic stronghold built for the siege stark and unforgiving, the guitar solo a killer in putting across the drama, senses filled with sound. The solo vocals at the end take the breath away. Stunning.

All There Is To See is the first single released, and I have embedded the lyric video for you below. Everyone’s house is their castle, and from the sanity of that castle we can view the rest of creation. Your home as a sanctuary against the madness outside, a place where we can be ourselves, free from control, able to make our own chaos, not everyone else’s. The interaction between piano, orchestration, and voice is powerful, the siege of the mind put across in such a manner as to make you listen in recognition of your own, occasional, inner turmoil.

The joy of intelligent music is that a discerning listener can place their own interpretation on the meaning of the song, and whilst that interpretation is not always wholly what the writer intended, it does not diminish both the enjoyment, or, indeed, the author’s creativity. Thus, with When My Eyes Are Closed, when you hear my interview with Clive & Laura, you will hear my original thoughts, and the true, sincerely emotional, meaning behind this song, the descent of a loved one into a condition which is challenging, the siege of a mind once sharp and urgent, but still displaying the spark of old, that sense of self and love. Intelligent music brought into a real-life situation and done with such sensitivity. I wish I could play you Laura’s beautiful interpretation of Clive’s words prior to release, but I can’t. Please do tune in and listen to this simply gorgeous piece of music, piano and voice reaching emotional trigger points which should melt even the coldest of hearts, the trio of musicians also contributing so much in creating a lovely impact, the guitar work from Simone, both acoustic and electric striking. As I write these words, I am looking at a full moon, sound pouring out, two tiny dogs on my lap, and I am about as happy as it is possible to be, music and words taking me to heights I am privileged to aspire to.

To The Victor Go the Spoils is an instrumental, telling of warriors looking forward to sharing the wealth of those they conquer. This is full of eastern mystery, some thumping rhythm beneath the orchestration, the perfect blend of rock and symphony over nearly seven minutes.

Never Burn the Cakes theme fascinates me. King Alfred should be revered in popular memory as one of our pre-Norman invasion’s finest monarchs, a king who introduced English language education, beat back the Vikings, reformed counties, and what is he remembered for? Burning bloody cakes, that’s what. No matter how wise, important, reforming, influential you are, the twist of fate can mean that you are remembered merely for a simple error, funny, and yet rather tragic, the siege of popular history counting against your achievements. Poor old Canute – a fine and intelligent ruler who tried to inform his subjects of the fruitless path they had embarked on, is remembered instead as a fool who tried to turn back the tide by his force of will, the very opposite of what he was trying to explain. There is a strong hint of Americana to the relentless rhythm on this track, a huge sense of fun in the performance tracking across the speakers. Nolan adds his distinctive voice to Laura on this, and anyone who has listened to his work over the years will know that he has a fine voice. Beware perception! Beware destiny! Listen to that acoustic guitar work!

The Last Arrow. One archer standing alone against the enemy. Could one more arrow buy a few extra precious moments? Could one more arrow turn the tide of the battle? That one last moment on earth, facing the ultimate challenge. There is some tremendous bass guitar and skins work on this, Nolan providing a deep lead vocal, with Piazzai showing in harmonies just what an instinctive understanding these two have musically and emotionally. The orchestration is extremely powerful, but the quieter passage kicking in at three minutes particularly poignant before an explosion of joyous noise providing those last few precious moments drinking in life.

Deep is a short track at three minutes, but packs one hell of a lot in, Piazzai providing us with such a sweet and tender voice against the orchestration, operatic sensibilities coming right at you in a rock ballad context, dramatic, the range that Laura has really coming to you here. With this, we sink deep into our inner self, becoming part of the light of the universe. This voice of hers is simply beautiful.

The main album closes with Blood Moon. Dark vocals, vocalists in perfect dramatic harmony, minimalist soundscape, that rhythmic drumming having such a sense of the calm before the storm, the sense of anticipation, those moments when mortals consider the battle in which they are likely to perish…. and then, Laura unleashes the storm, Simone leading the charge of the whole collective into the white heat of battle, and it is simply stunning rock music.

Siege is an incredible creation. I think Eric is up in heaven smiling and grooving to this fine work, an album which should be in the collection of every discerning music lover.

As Nolan himself said in our interview, if you like his music, you will like this. In Laura Piazzai, he has a musical partner who is not merely richly talented but has wholly brought into the vision.

This has been a lengthy review, but I must make mention of the bonus CD. I think this is a bit of a misnomer, because I like to think of it as a companion piece to the main album. When I broadcast my interview with Clive & Laura, there will be that evening a set of podcasts which discusses their wider collaborations, careers, and plays a wonderful track from the second CD here, namely Dorian Gray (Revisit), a song which first appeared on Shadowland’s 1997 reissue of their 1992 album, Ring of Roses. It is given the full Piazzai treatment, and it sounds utterly lush, brought into 2025 with sheer panache.

There we go. A lot of words, but I wanted to give this wonderful work justice. In my opinion, the care and sheer love which has gone into the production I have been privileged to have an advance copy of renders any few desultory paragraphs utterly inadequate. This album deserves dissection, it deserves attention, and it is simply an essential purchase in 2025, no matter what format you get. Roll on the live performance in October at Mead Hall. I can’t wait!