After a "White Rainbow" strongly impregnated with the memory of its guitarist Liam Davison tragically disappeared, Mostly Autumn signs its return with a new album marked by the seal of the pandemic of Covid 19, wanted as a very personal testimony of the lived of this so singular period. Articulated around two epic tracks of 12 minutes which open and close the album, "Graveyard Star" plunges us in a rather melancholic atmosphere within which are obviously the usual markers of the band, in the line of "Sight of Day" and "White Rainbow".
It is the influence of the first named that we find on the eponymous track whose construction follows a similar scheme to 'Sight of Day': a long period of warming up with two voices supported by a magnificent work on keyboards of Iain Jennings who also brings a little electro touch in his sounds, followed by a calmer interlude before an unbridled final in which Olivia Sparnenn shows all her power. The same recipe, just as efficient, will be used again on 'Turn Around Slowly' which closes this first album, with notably four incredible last minutes started by a martial march sung by Bryan Josh, before his partner concludes the affair in a masterly way.
Between these two homeric paving stones, Mostly Autumn fills us up with tracks all more magnificent than the others, mixing calm parts sung on the edge of the emotion by an Olivia Sparnenn in a state of grace ('The Diamond'), mixed voices in couple ('Back in These Arms') and real hymns with unstoppable melodies sublimated there again by the incredible power of the singer (the quasi-single 'Spirit of Mankind' and its false appearance of 'Moonlight Shadow'). Of course, the whole is regularly magnified with these famous guitar soli played by Bryan Josh who, without doing too much, makes each of his interventions more luminous than the previous one.
Troy Donockley, a permanent guest of the band since its creation, brings his Celtic touch in a register that is in line with what he now produces within Nightwish and more particularly on 'Back in These Arms', a kind of hymn full of hope, while Chris Leslie, the violinist of Fairport Convention, more than colors a 'Skin of Mankind' with western music accents.
It would take more than the length of a simple review to detail each track of these 74 minutes of musical happiness, so much Mostly Autumn offers us a score without false note, with a know-how which allows the listener to never give up. King of the melody that hits the bull's eye, of the sumptuous arrangements and of an interpretation that regularly sticks shivers down the spine, Mostly Autumn delivers with "Graveyard Star" one of its most accomplished albums to date.
A word to conclude on the traditional bonus CD proposed to the subscribers of the first hour. Usually a tone below the official release, the one proposed with "Graveyard Star" stands out from its predecessors by a constant excellence, so much so that one can wonder why all these tracks were not included in the official release. Whether it is the exciting 'The Show is On' and 'Check in your Eyes', or the poignant 'Swallows' and its double violin/guitar solo, everything is good on this second album, concluded in a masterly way by a superb 'This House'.