NORTH SEA ECHOES · Really Good Terrible Things | BLACK LP

Black vinyl in standard cover. 180g vinyl.

Background information about 'Really Good Terrible Things'

There are albums that hit you like a wave you didn't see coming — and then there's Really Good Terrible Things, the debut from North Sea Echoes, which feels less like a wave and more like the entire ocean rearranging itself inside your chest. This is the kind of record that doesn't just play; it breathes. A side project born from the minds of two seasoned architects of atmosphere — Jim Matheos (Fates Warning) and Ray Alder — this isn't some throwaway experiment. It's a fully realized, deeply immersive journey into the spaces between progressive rock, ambient textures, and raw human vulnerability.

From the opening notes of "Open Book," you know you're in for something different. Alder's voice — that unmistakable, emotive instrument we've come to revere over decades — is stripped bare here, floating over Matheos' layered guitars and shimmering electronics with a fragility that borders on devastating. Tracks like "Flowers in Decay" and "Unmoved" don't just unfold; they unravel, pulling you through corridors of melancholy and strange, quiet hope. This isn't prog in the traditional, look-at-me-I-can-play-a-million-notes sense. This is prog that understands the power of restraint, of letting a single note hang in the air until it means something. The production is crystalline, every detail meticulously placed — the low-end warmth, the spectral synths, the way the guitars seem to hover rather than attack. By the time you reach "The Mission" on Side B, the album has already carved out a space in your psyche that you didn't know needed filling. And then there's "No Maps," a closer so hauntingly beautiful it feels like watching the shoreline disappear behind you in the fog.

For fans of:
Fates Warning, OSI, Porcupine Tree, Steven Wilson, Anathema, Katatonia, Lunatic Soul

Other Versions

DIGIPAK CD · 12,99 € DEEP SEA BLUE LP · 23,99 € GOLD BLACK MELT LP · Sold out

Track listing

A1. Open Book
A2. Flowers in Decay
A3. Unmoved
A4. Throwing Stones
A5. Empty
B1. The Mission
B2. Where I'm From
B3. We Move Around the Sun
B4. Touch the Sky
B5. No Maps

Manufacturer: Metal Blade Records GmbH, Friedrichstr. 38, 73033 Göppingen, Germany, Contact: www.metalblade.com