"Silent Sentinel" by Advent (2015 release)

[AdventAlan]

Greetings,

Sorry to have virtually dropped off of PE in August of 2015, but that was the start of a rather difficult time of consecutive family-related issues that each required a lot of care and attention. Coincidentally, the onset of these difficulties coincided with the release of Advent's latest CD, Silent Sentinel, and I was already swamped with new responsibilities by the time the album came out.

With this in mind, I hope you won't mind my opening up a new thread about the album here. From a personal standpoint, I have to say that the album was a rather massive undertaking, both in body and spirit, and I don't think I could have been much happier with the way everything turned out. Would love to hear your candid feedback on the album if you've heard it already as well. If not, the entire thing can be streamed from the following Bandcamp link:

http://advent-prog.bandcamp.com/albu...udiophile-2496

Please note that I've purposely selected the audiophile/2496 link here as we had Bob Katz join all the tracks which segue in order to ensure gapless playback of the corresponding connected music (although the Bandcamp streaming quality is no different) in all environments--including when streamed. Also, if you want to listen to the album from the beginning, please click play on the first track to get started.

Apologies for the rather obvious self-promotional aspect of this thread, but I haven't seen another one pop up since the album's release and hope that this will provide at least a little joy to some of the folks here--whether it inspires those who kindly bought the album to give it another spin or others who are unfamiliar to give it a listen.

Thanks very much and best wishes for a very happy, healthy, and musical 2017,


Alan

[progmatist]

I bought the 24/96 version from Bandcamp in August of 2015. Loved it then, love it now...sounds fantastic!

[progeezer]

I too have owned it from the jump, and (truly & purely coincidentally) the cd is in my car player right now!

Best to you & Amy, Alan.

[rickawakeman]

Hey Alan and happy New Year to you and Amy. I bought the "deluxe" package upon release from you, including the bonus CD and will try to spend some time with the disc this weekend as it's been too long between plays of this stellar work.

[Jefferson James]

A brilliant album, one I'm still wrapping my head around years later. Tons and tons and tons of layers to dig into, incredible details and musicianship.

The fact that stuff like this or any number of excellent albums are all but ignored helped solidify my decision to dial my own commercial musical efforts back, substantially.

Alan, I hope all is well with you and Amy, I miss keeping in touch via Facebook but, man, it's nice not to be tethered to that place anymore. Hoping you are both in pristine, mint condition. Hugs and thank you and Advent for putting everything you've got into "Silent Sentinel". I really wish it had seen more exposure for this fine album but it is what it is.

[progeezer]

Nice to see you're still taking nourishment, KK!

Astonishingly, so am I.

[Duncan Glenday]

...
Apologies for the rather obvious self-promotional aspect of this thread...

Nonsense - that's what this sub-forum is for!

Remember the problems we had in the old PE? Don't selfpromote. Okay, long-standing members could self-promote. A bit. Okay, maybe a lot. Oh - but CD sellers, maybe, or maybe not. And Blue Vino... etc. etc.

That's why we created this "What's On, What's New" sub-forum in PEv3 - specifically, so that artists and sllers could self-promote.

I too have owned it from the jump
...

I haven't

Will fix that in the next day or so.

[Duncan Glenday]

Some videos:





And pretty cool artwork:

[AdventAlan]

Greetings,

Thanks so much for all the very kind words, guys--and to Duncan for featuring the album as today's new release too! Very happy to hear that the album seems to continue resonating with those of you who have had it for a while and I only hope it continues to bring you pleasure for a very long time.

All the best and have a wonderful weekend,


Alan

P.S. For those who don't know, I also wanted to point out that the wonderful cover painting was done by PE's own Michael Phipps.

[Progatron]

Owned the disc since it was released and it's excellent, as was its predecessor! Thanks for the reminder, I'm pulling this one off the shelf today.

[Guitarplyrjvb]

The vocal arrangements and performances are great.

[Duncan Glenday]

...
P.S. For those who don't know, I also wanted to point out that the wonderful cover painting was done by PE's own Michael Phipps.

In case you were wondering if you've ever seen any of Michael's artwork, here's a hint:





And here's another...

[interbellum]

Michael is also involved in Frank Wyatt's/Stan Whitakers Oblivion Sun.
http://www.michaelphipps.net/

highplaces-2013.jpg

[Supersonic Scientist]

Embarrassingly, I must admit that I have not yet picked this one up yet. I absolutely LOVE the first CD. The musicianship is totally top-notch.

[miamiscot]

Love, love, love it. Need to score the first album though.

[progmatist]

Alan, is there any chance and/or possibility of Cantus Firmus being release in Hi-Res on Bandcamp? If so, I would buy it (again) in a heartbeat.

[AdventAlan]

Hi again,

Thanks so much for all the additional kind feedback on the album. It really means a lot to us all!

Alan, is there any chance and/or possibility of Cantus Firmus being release in Hi-Res on Bandcamp? If so, I would buy it (again) in a heartbeat.

While we'd love to have Cantus Firmus released in hi-res too, Bob Katz mastered it to CD quality--which I believe was the highest quality available for general release at that time (late 2005). As such, I'm afraid that CD quality is the best we'll be able to offer--at least for the foreseeable future. Please note that Bandcamp does offer CD-quality FLAC download of all our albums too, but you can always use a FLAC-ripping program like EAC (Exact Audio Copy) if you want to rip your own CD-quality FLAC files if you have any of the CDs already and didn't buy them through Bandcamp (where you should be able to download them instead).

Once Silent Sentinel was ready for mastering (in 2015), Bob Katz was very happy to master the album to both hi-res (2496) and CD quality (1644), so the hi-res FLAC files are truly mastered that way--and I have to congratulate Bob on the very fine work he's done for us on both albums, particularly on the hi-res version of Silent Sentinel.

The first album is a bit trickier as well, as it was mostly recorded at home on fairly modest equipment. On top of that, there are three "cover" tracks that the label was responsible for licensing and, now that our contract with the label has expired, we'd have to go through all this licensing ourselves and it's pretty difficult to justify the corresponding time and expense of doing so. With this in mind, we do offer an abridged version of this self-titled debut, in download form only, on Bandcamp for only US $3.50. Here's the direct link for anyone who may be interested (or just wants to check out the material via free streaming):

http://advent-prog.bandcamp.com/album/advent-abridged

Also, please note that purchases of this (self-titled debut) can be downloaded in CD-quality FLAC form too--so they'll sound just as good as the CD when played.

All the best and thanks very much once again,


Alan

[infandous]

Ashamed to say I don't have this one yet. Just in case anyone wasn't aware, this is their 3rd album, not second. I've never heard the first, but I do have the second, "Cantus Firmus". Guess I really have put this one off for too long!

[interbellum]

This is one of the covers on the first Advent:

[Oreb]

I too have owned this since it was released. A worthy follow-up to Cantus Firmus - which is very high praise because I think CF is the best US prog album not called "Happy the Man" or "Crafty Hands".

I've written that here before and it probably embarrases Alan and the others - but I think it's true.

[miamiscot]

Any chance of this coming out on vinyl?

[JB Horwitz]

I've played a good deal of Silent Sentinel on The PM Show as well as Cantus Firmus. I feel it's phenomenal work! I hate to say this Alan. But I want more. Lots more. All the best.

[AdventAlan]

Hi again,

Once again, I can't tell you how much all these kind words mean to us all. Thanks very much!

Any chance of this coming out on vinyl?

We actually did quite a bit of work along the way to keep this possibility open-ended, including asking Michael to create the cover painting in a manner where it could be expanded for a two-panel gatefold vinyl cover and determining the best alternate playing order to fit everything on two LPs. Although we weren't ready to commit to vinyl at the outside, I raised the subject with Bob Katz during our preliminary discussion regarding his mastering of the album and he felt very strongly that one must limit each album side to 17 minutes in duration to achieve optimal sonic results--and, since the album's title track is over 19 minutes long, that dampened our outlook on the prospect (especially as we'd want the music to sound its absolute best). I suppose we'd reopen the possibility in the future, though, if the right circumstances ever presented themselves--but, unfortunately, I have to say that seems unlikely at this point.

I too have owned this since it was released. A worthy follow-up to Cantus Firmus - which is very high praise because I think CF is the best US prog album not called "Happy the Man" or "Crafty Hands".

I've written that here before and it probably embarrases Alan and the others - but I think it's true.

As a huge Happy the Man fan, I'm particularly taken aback by this. Thanks so much!

I've played a good deal of Silent Sentinel on The PM Show as well as Cantus Firmus. I feel it's phenomenal work! I hate to say this Alan. But I want more. Lots more. All the best.

We very much appreciate your ongoing support, JB, and will definitely do our best to get you some more music before too much more time passes. Cheers!

All the best,


Alan