In May 2018, MATTHEW BROWNING wowed me with the spectacular album ‘Love & Grief’. Quite frankly, this digipack has intrigued me once I laid my eyes on the beautiful front-cover painting; and then impressed even more as CD began to spin. Overall, it’s a brilliantly conceived collection of masterful songs, captivating and edifying. On his solo record, Matthew Browning is accompanied by a string of guest musicians who help to create a majestic and rich sound. Namely, they are: Gina Milne (female vocals), Mike Rosebud (b/v), Taylor Johnson (guitars), Michael Rossback (bass), McKenzie Smith (drums), John Arndt (piano & keys). In effect, their common approach scores perfectly well on such criteria as the flawless vocal craftsmanship, a respectable instrumentation, exquisite arrangements with a symphonic backdrop, smooth production and tremendous sound quality. Lasting 61+ min, and comprising of eleven superlative compositions, CD ‘Love & Grief' has the lyrics with real meaning to tell a colorful and touching story. It can strike your heart and soul. Mesmerizing atmosphere is one of the most important factors here. In an album of such high grade, without weak moments, it’s really impossible to pick out highlights (especially, as everything flows together seamlessly). For sure, the space of this record gives Matthew Browning a chance to show off his awesome, expressive and textural voice. The musical splendour reveals a lot of terrific nuances. This release had me thinking for a while: how does it sound like? Well. Try to imagine a work of art with amazing synthesis of influences. At times, the material might be compared to Camel-ish finesse, while the other tracks come pretty close to Sylvan (on their mellow side). Also notable some hues of latter Marillion, the floaty traces of Riversea with undercurrent of Coldplay, and the specific echoes of Muse. There's one song which should please fellow George Harrison fans. All the ingredients mesh into a perfect sonic tapestry. Yes, I've found the details that reminds of certain prominent groups, but that's just a small portion of what's on offer... Anyway, this masterpiece is much better than majority of the other prog-rock albums being released today! I strongly recommend you give it a try.

https://matthewbrowning.bandcamp.com

P.S. Just my humble verdict: if this album won't bring the name of Matthew Browning to the map of important prog artists, then there's something wrong with the ears of our world.