Steve Hackett, Surrender of Silence Review

Steve Hackett is a renowned innovative rock guitarist known for his work as the lead guitarist with Genesis and Gabriel, Collins, Banks, and Rutherford. Hackett produced several of the band’s most acclaimed albums, including Selling England by the Pound (a favorite of John Lennon) and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. His versatility extends to both the electric and acoustic guitar and his compositions. Hackett’s music has many influences from many genres, including Jazz, World Music, and Blues. He is equally adept in his classical albums, including renditions of pieces from Bach to Satie. His original acoustic guitar compositions have gained the admiration of many, including Yehudi Menuhin. They have also yielded ambitious guitar/orchestra albums such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, recorded with the Royal Philharmonic. Hackett is released his new studio rock album, Surrender of Silence, on the 10th of September 2021, via Inside Out Music.

Bottom Line:  Surrender of Silence features eleven new songs and is the second studio album this year. Obviously, Hackett has been working hard throughout the Lockdown and, for the first time, has completed two studio albums for release within the same year. Hackett’s other release this year was a classical-acoustic travelogue called Under A Mediterranean Sky, which was released in January and hit Number 2 in the UK Classical Album Chart. Surrender of Silence is an electric guitar-based exploration of Hackett’s love of world music and its various sounds, moods, and textures. He combines those qualities with rock to deliver an album of astonishing diversity, authority, and gorgeousness. Hackett was joined by some of his musical friends from across the world to contribute. Including his regular touring band of Roger King (keyboards, programming, and orchestral arrangements), Rob Townsend (sax, clarinet), Jonas Reingold (bass), Nad Sylvan (vocals), and Craig Blundell (drums) are supplemented by Phil Ehart and Nick D’Virgilio (drums), the vocal talents of Amanda Lehmann, Durga and Lorelei McBroom, Christine Townsend (violin, viola), Malik Mansurov (tar) and Sodirkhon Ubaidulloev (dutar). “Natalia” opens with a classical string section and vibe that settles into a catchy rock song with a full backing choir. Hackett’s guitar takes over past the halfway point with a dexterous guitar solo. “The Devil’s Cathedral” features Townsend’s agile saxophone and King’s dramatic organ playing. After this intro, the band enters and unfolds a relaxed rock song with Hackett’s comfortable singing and warmly distorted guitar providing many high points, including a solo guitar cadenza. “Fox’s Tango” has a hip riff and tasty guitar playing by Hackett. Overall, Surrender of Silence is an impressive display of Hackett’s singing, writing, and guitar playing. This is an album that will release many secrets upon each listen. That’s the short of it!

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