How long has it been? Years? Weeks? Months? It’s been a while since I’ve listened to Diagonal’s music. And the answer to that question on how long has it been? I really don’t know. It’s like going back in time when I bought Pink Floyd’s 1973 magnum opus Dark Side of the Moon at Soundwaves. It was like a rocket ship that was ready for blast-off hearing that album. Or seeing Iron Maiden for the first time during the summer of 2008 for their Somewhere Back in Time tour at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion.
Those memories come back at you to remember the good times. But when I listened to Diagonal, it was the right moment at the right time. I have a vivid memory reading about them in PROG Magazine years ago at the time they were on Lee Dorrian’s label, Rise Above Records with Blood Ceremony, ASTRA, and Purson. Formed in 2006 in Brighton, they released their sole self-titled debut in 2008 and received critical praise including a nomination for Best New Band in 2009’s Classic Rock awards.
That and their second album released in 2012 entitled The Second Mechanism was a mixture between the obscure sounds of Marsupilami and Jonesy, along with the pacts of Magma as if they were serving hot tea with space rock maestros, Ash Ra Tempel. And then from 2013 to 2018, we didn’t hear much from them.
Alex Crispin pursued other projects including Baron, music for tabletop games from Escape the Dark Castle to Escape the Dark Sector, and his collaboration with Nicholas Whittaker on Irian Jaya. Now I can imagine Alex is a very busy, busy man. But there is one giant piece of the puzzle that he hasn’t forgotten, and that of course is Diagonal.
Arc was the band’s return in 2019. It had these various peaks of landscape from ‘70s prog, Krautrock, Post-Rock, and Funk at its best. Now in 2021, during the pandemic, Diagonal are back in action with the release of their latest album, 4. Released on the Cobblers label, they started out originally as 5-piece band, sort of in the realms of early Genesis to obscure British prog-rockers, Fantasy.
In the words of A.A. Milne, “Now we are six”, the band is a sextet since the Arc-era where they had to regroup and start all over from scratch. With 4, it is a sonic-soaring return. You can hear the jazzy elements to it, relaxing atmospheres, heavy rock sounds, and heading back into the outer limits once more. For Alex Crispin, Luke Foster, Ross Hassack, Daniel Pomlett, Nicholas Whittaker, and David Wileman, they aren’t just your typical prog-rock band singing dungeons and dragons, but they are a band of brothers who want to keep the train engines running.
‘Stellate’ features these John Bonhan-sque drum beats from Foster. Both Pomlett and Wileman channel their meaty, raw dooming tones between Tony Iommi and Hawkwind’s Dave Brock. Almost as if Miles Davis had teamed up with the Space Rock group during their Space Ritual-era with Motorpsycho leading the way, you can hear the crazy synthesizers throughout the stargate sequences.
Crispin lays down the thunder on his bass while Luke lays down some brutal drumming exercises. ‘Amon’ starts the album off with its late ‘60s introduction for Nicholas channeling the fanfare saxs from Van der Graaf’s David Jackson and Magma’s Teddy Larsy.
Crispin’s vocals are like a futuristic view of Alan Moore’s stories brought to life during his time with Swamp Thing and his magnum opus, Watchmen. And all of a sudden, you can hear the African-tribe percussion work as Diagonal takes us into the heart of the jungle with its galloping riffs, call-and-response sequences, and Bo Hansson-sque organ grooves.
I can always imagine either the swirling Vertigo label or the Swedish indie label Silence Records in the 1970s would have signed this band during that time frame and it would’ve been something out of the blue. And it would’ve knocked ELP right out of the ball park.
‘Chroma’ channels Rush’s ‘Red Barchetta’ with a mixture of the Soft Machine, Vince Guaraldi, and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Yes, it is a crazy combination, but it works very well! You can imagine yourself driving down the deserted highway as the vocalizations sets up the atmospheres for a sun-lighting groove.
‘Spinning Array’ has Alex’s bass guitar sounding like a combination between Rocco Prestia’s riff from Tower of Power’s ‘What is Hip?’ and Jaco Pastorius’ ‘Come On, Come Over’. I can imagine Alex was listening a lot of Funk-Jazz records like no other during the making of the 4 album. With its meditating scenery, it takes you beyond the Egyptian horizon of a supernova to come across the Raga-Rock textures of Quintessence.
The first five minutes of ‘Totem’ is the long drive home. Wileman and Pomlett share the views of the sunset for a calm-vibrative touch. The chain rattling sounds of an acoustic guitar sets up the last seven minutes of the composition to make it look like a crime scene.
It sounds almost like an alternate score to Christopher Nolan’s 2002 unsung remake, Insomnia starring Al Pacino, Hilary Swank, and the late, great Robin Williams. Not only that, but it is Diagonal’s tip of the hat to San Diego prog geniuses, ASTRA and its founder Richard Vaughan.
You can feel Will Dormer’s plague of the sleep disorder, knowing that the clock is ticking to stop Finch’s next move to kill his next victim. The music rises for the guitars to climb up towards those gigantic mountains before fading into a heavenly theme.
Diagonal’s 4 is a mind-boggling release. Capturing the designs and textures, it’s been worth the wait to hear back from them. It is always good to receive that warm handshake from them. And the magic itself, has only just begun.
