| Price including postage |
| |
Finally, the wait is over! Haze release a new 10 track studio
album on Saturday 4th July. Produced & engineered by Danny McMahon at home & in
Cellar Studios the CD features all original compositions.
Full track listing:-
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Total time (68.55)
The first 100 orders come with a free double DVD of our 20th
anniversary show at the Boardwalk in 1998, and our Christmas show there the same
year, videoed by John Moorby & digitally enhanced by Jon Dunnington.
The album is also available as a
digital download/streaming from Bandcamp,
as well as all the usual places (itunes, spotify, etc, etc)
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REVIEWS
Velvet Thunder by Steve Pilkington
ProgArchives
by Steve Conrad
Progressive Rock Fanatics by Steve Conrad
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See You On The Other Side (P McMahon)
Paul McMahon (vocals, guitars) Chris McMahon (bass,
keyboards) Danny McMahon (drums) Catrin Ashton (flute)
|
The opening guitar tune is one of the older pieces of music on the
CD and was originally intended to be part of The Last Battle song. It
was performed at the 30th anniversary show as an intro to 'Ophelia' as
well as being played in The
Outlandish Knights ceilidh
set. The rest of the song was only finished in late 2019, and was
written about a trip to Italy in 2014 - which included a bizarre gig on
a boat on Lake Como. |
This is the first of a thousand miles, headed out in the world
a while the diesel roar.
Here where the land and the sea collide, we are
sailing against the tide to the jungle shore
Looking back the tall cliffs
fade. White horses carry us away.
The sea is churning, the wind blows cold.
The world keeps turning the tale unfolds
The water deep and the ocean wide
I’ll see you on the other side.
Here in the place where the plates
collide, the peak rises up so high it’s lost in cloud.
There in the last of
the fading light the snow on the mountainside makes a perfect shroud.
High
above on wings of light. Three generations cross the sky.
One mile down on
the mountain road, the night is falling, the pass is closed.
The snow is deep
and the mountain wide.
I’ll see you on the other side.
This is the
place where the journey ends as a stranger becomes a friend on a distant shore.
Here where the waves and the sky collide, in a boat on the waterside we breathe
once more.
Stone by stone we build a wall. The echoes build until it falls.
Rhyme and Reason are long long gone. Time and Season will carry on
The sun is
gone and the moon is high.
I’ll see you on the other side.
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Faces on the Wall (music P McMahon & C Ashton, lyrics C Ashton)
Paul McMahon (vocals, guitars) Chris McMahon (bass) Danny
McMahon (drums) Catrin Ashton (fiddle & flute)
| Written soon after the Last Battle CD was completed,
Cat set out to write a song which would reveal its meaning forwards and
backwards in time, simultaneously. We made a video for the song in the 2015
2weeks2 make it video competition, have a look here.
|
As you're staring at the wall
Wishing cold clay lips could
call
Sitting on a carpet bare
Under their eternal stare
And the
faces on the wall
They will watch you as you fall
Longing for a far
off shore
Or the heather on the moor
Somewhere high up in the sky
Somewhere sunny warm & dry
And the hand upon the faces
Point to all
those different places
And the faces on the wall
They will watch you as
you fall
Wishing you were someone else
Wishing you were somewhere else
Familiar language in your ears
Familiar faces without fears
And the
jewels on the hands
Flash you to those other lands
And the hands upon the
faces
Point to all those different places
And the faces on the wall
They will watch you as you fall
So you open up the clock
With the hole
where it should tock
Pull the drawer out again
Take it from the case and
then
Gather up your favourite tools
To suck the nectar from the jewels
And the jewels on the hands
Flash you to those other lands
And the hands
upon the faces
Point to all those different places
And the faces on the
wall
They will watch you as you fall
**********************************************************************************
The Snake (music P McMahon & C Ashton, lyrics C Ashton)
Paul McMahon (vocals, guitars) Chris McMahon (keyboards)
Danny McMahon (drums, percussion, brass arrangement) Catrin Ashton (fiddle &
flute)
| Another one that's been in the set for a while with
lyrics by Cat & a melody based on a tune played by a blind albino harmonium
player she met in Kashmir. Again featured in the 2weeks2 make it competition of
2018, this time it won the Scott Speranza award for best video. It should be
pointed out that Scott was 7! Watch it here.
For this recording I wrote an extra keyboards introduction, well, wrote is a bit
of a strong word for it, made it up more like! |
Into the night the grey snake runs.
Tortured by fire
tormented by guns.
Only to flee from the fighting all around.
Ony to see
where some sense can be found.
With no blood on the sea and no bones on the
ground.
With the coming of dawn the sun shining pale.
Stories are
passed from her head to her tail.
Tales of a time before the fields turned to
brown.
Before the walls came to split up the town.
Before the fires came
to burn it down.
On through the night the snake can’t pause.
Soldiers
would come and snatch her in their claws.
With nothing to feed on and no
place to lie.
Out in the darkness some piece of her will die.
Black
cloaked on black earth underneath a black sky.
Over the sand the grey
snake slides.
Scale upon scale is falling from her sides.
Until but a
sliver of snake slithers on.
Through the black mounds of skin with its
clothing still on.
Through the blackened mounds of corpses while the world
watches on.
One man alone from the column still stands.
The others all
lost on the journey to this land.
We’ve no place here for a man such as he.
We send him back to his own country.
Back to the bones and the blood on the
sea.
Back to the bones, back to the bones,
Back to the bones and the blood
on the sea.
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The Last Post (P McMahon)
Paul McMahon (vocals, guitars, guitar synth) Chris McMahon
(bass, keyboards) Danny McMahon (drums, string arrangement)
| One of the most recent songs on the CD, I think we
played it live for the first time at Christmas 2019. John Gelley was talking to
Paul about 'Turn Around' where an upbeat rock song crashes into a wall of prog
halfway through, and we realised that we hadn't done that for a while! The bass
intro is unashamedly stolen from Deep Purple's 'No One Came' where the bass
starts on the off beat, then everyone else comes in on the beat to throw your
internal metronome off (you do have an internal metronome?). |
A place that I no longer recognise
A world that’s leaving
me behind.
Every wayward word is amplified and twisted.
The mood is savage
and unkind.
As the innocent are crucified,
The guilty never take the
blame.
Hate & Ignorance the virtues of the day.
They lack the grace to
feel ashamed.
Beware the anti-social media.
Misinformation every day.
An echo chamber for the disconnected soul.
A force for chaos and decay.
I am a poltergeist in my own home
A ghost inside my own machine.
I can
move things but I can’t be heard at all.
I can feel but not be seen.
How will I know when it’s time to go?
Will someone give me the nod?
When
I’m tired, dull & uninspired.
When I’m just waiting for God.
‘Cos
I’ve got used to rejection, it hardly hurts me at all.
Totally numb is what
I’ve become, waiting for the curtain to fall.
If all your gods are made
of paper, and all your castles of sand.
In this new age of truth decay and
outrage
What do you have that will stand?
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Suzanne (P McMahon)
Paul McMahon (vocals, acoustic & lead guitars) Chris McMahon
(mandolin, electric mandola, bass, mellotron) Danny McMahon (drums, rhythm,
slide guitar, backing vocals, keys) Catrin Ashton (flute)
| Another very recent song, I heard it for the first
time when Paul played it during our lockdown livestream on 5th April, so all the
parts were recorded remotely & brought together by the magic of t'internet. It
featured the one & only appearance of my very lovely Electric Mandola on the CD.
The tune is dedicated to Suzanne Hoylaerts a 90 year old Belgian woman, who
contracted Covid-19 and refused a ventilator, saying that she had had a
wonderful life, and they should give the ventilator to a younger patient. Sadly
she died from the virus. |
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To Us All (C McMahon, P McMahon)
Paul McMahon (vocals, guitars) Chris McMahon
(backing vocals, bass, keyboards) Danny McMahon (drums, string arrangement)
| There's old songs, and there's old songs! I was still
in the 6th form when I wrote this, so that must put it at 1977. The song part is
mainly channeling the Moody Blues, but the instrumental section is pure Rory
Gallagher Irish Tour '74! Guitar, bass & drum parts were recorded live
simultaneously, only vocals & keyboard parts were dubbed afterwards.The intro
and outro sections were newly made up, sorry composed, for this recording, and
in the spirit of magpie thieving the 70s give a big nod to Van Der Graaf
Generator in the intro, and some sort of mutant Von Daniken (whatever happened
to them?) new age prog in the outro. |
The morning sun shows clear my way
I see the path before
me.
We must fight if we want to be free.
We must tear down the wall
Hear them whisper in silence to us all
I see the trees on the edge of my
dream.
Calling me on they softly sigh.
Is this the road I should take?
Should I listen to their call?
Hear them crying in silence to us all.
Stars that shine so bright alone.
Watch the moon sail on ‘til dawn.
Far in
the distance I hear the cries.
Bringing news of our fall.
Hear them
screaming in silence to us all.
Bringing news of our fall.
Hear them
screaming in silence to us all.
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Lockdown (lyrics P McMahon, music D McMahon)
Paul McMahon (vocals, slide guitar) Chris McMahon
(bass) Danny McMahon (guitars, keyboards, drums)
|
From the very oldest, to the very newest! This is a
post-lockdown Danny song, he'd played & recorded everything on it, Paul then
wrote the words and replaced the slide guitar and I replaced the bass, the rest
is Dan! I'm not even sure if we can play it live, but we'll have a go at some
point!
|
Beautiful day, the sky is so clear today
The sun shining
down.
Leaves on the trees, moved by a gentle breeze
That blows from the
east, bringing shadows
So here am I, caught like a butterfly
Trapped in a
jar, looking out through glass
Clinging on in vain
To memories of flight,
helpless and paralysed
I wait for the pin.
Isolate Insulate Try not to
congregate
Learn to appreciate don't forget to clap at eight
Time and
again
Let go of vanity cling on to sanity
Deal with calamity show some
humanity
We'll meet again
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The Awakeners (music P McMahon & C Ashton, lyrics C
Ashton)
Paul McMahon (vocals, guitars, mandolin) Chris McMahon (keyboards,
bass)
Danny McMahon (drums) Catrin Ashton (flute, mandolin, backing vocals)
|
Cat wrote this song after reading 'The Awakeners'
by Sheri S Tepper. Just when it seemed to be finished, Paul would add another
instrumental section and this went through a lot of arrangement revisions
before we finally (hopefully?) got it right.
|
In a town with a tower, lit by three moons.
See a face in
the water, light will come soon.
Workers in your pits, sleep while you may.
Come dawn, tears awaken you to toil one more day.
Chorus
Look to the
girl who holds a slow baby
Follow her up to the split river pass
Past the
teeth of the north, the ancient lady
Talkers and fliers will soon feast their
last.
Northshore river boatman, sail your Gift through the night.
Lift
a whisper from the water, safe from the blight.
Watch on you three
mendicants, take the root ‘til you choke.
Yellow flame, black of stone,
reality in smoke.
Chorus
Cruel beaks and talons, deadened by the
years.
Feast on the flesh softened by tears.
Chorus
In the
towers, the awakeners sleep one night more.
Already the widow’s son stands at
the shore.
Chorus
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A Call to Arms (P McMahon)
Paul McMahon (vocals, guitars) Chris McMahon (keyboards,
bass)
Danny McMahon (drums) Catrin Ashton (flute)
| A new song premiered at the 40th anniversary gig in
2018, we're deep in the prog here, notable live for me playing bass with one
hand and a keyboards solo with the other (no I didn't do that in the
studio!) Unintentionally, the song uses every chord in the scale at some point,
as the keys change relentlessly throughout. The eagle in the lyrics at the end
is, incidentally, the same one as in The Exiles Song! |
The snow is falling from a cloudless sky.
When did the
summer turn so grey?
You pull the shutters down and dry your eyes.
Turn
your head away.
The truth is buried in a shallow grave.
Just in case
it’s still breathing.
Now is it justice or revenge you crave?
Suffering or
healing?
I feel the earth shifting
Beneath my feet it’s drifting
The summer stars falling.
Another world calling, calling.
The perfect
circle broken and twisted out of true.
The precious metal blistered, base
metal showing through.
The vows have been unspoken, drowned in disbelief.
The veil has been lifted, dysfunction underneath.
And now you wonder
where the cancer lies.
And hope it isn’t in your soul.
When all sensation
is anaesthetised.
All you feel is cold.
I’ll take the blame
everywhere.
How could I leave it lying there?
As if that ever mattered
Beside a world shattered, shattered.
The call to arms is screaming for a
gathering of the clans.
They’re loading ammunition, preparing battle plans.
The livid sky is darkening, storm clouds block the sun.
The fury is
unfolding, your enemy is gone.
Between the silence of the mountain.
And the violence of the sea
There is no hatred here, there’s nothing left to
fear.
Watch the eagle rising free.
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The Summoning Dark (P McMahon)
Paul McMahon (vocals, guitars) Chris McMahon (keyboards,
bass)
Danny McMahon (drums, orchestral arrangements) Catrin Ashton (flute)
|
A suitably epic finish to the CD, this was premiered
live at the end of 2019. The lyrics are based on the work of Terry
Pratchett from the book Thud: "The Summoning Dark is a pan-dimensional creature
and spirit of vengeance from dwarf mythology". The music evolved from a piece
'The Lost Ones' that me & Ceri were working on, but has gone to a much grander,
darker place. It mixes prog, folk & metal influences in a way that perfectly
sums up the CD. The final section is played live using a looper pedal, layering
more & more guitars onto the underlying 15/8 riff. And the finale is pure Dan
studio magic.
|
Into darkness we were born.
Underground our fathers lived
their lives.
But we yearned for something more.
For it is written that all
things strive.
We came to this city on the plain.
To build a home to find
another kind of life.
A new race, never welcome in this place.
But we
brought gold and she is always welcome underneath the sky.
Into the city
the dark ones arrived.
The masters of religious law.
Looking for an
ancient device.
Buried somewhere beneath these city walls.
We found, in a
cavern underground.
A sound recording from millenia gone by.
We heard our
forefathers speak the words,
That told us all of our history was lies, lies,
lies.
When the dark ones heard the words.
With fear and hatred they
were filled.
When they knew we too had heard.
They gave the order that we
should be killed.
But there are signs that we use inside the mines,
And
there are darker things that dwell much deeper down.
Dying in mud, with the
last of my life’s blood.
I made the sign upon the wall that calls up
The
Summoning Dark
(It comes in darkness, it comes in revenge.
It will not
stop until the blood has been avenged.
It comes in darkness, it comes in
disguise.
It will not stop until the last one dies.)
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Due to the current Covid-19 situation, we can't play a
release show, but we will be livestreaming a performance of the CD from Cellar
Studios on Sunday 5th July at 3pm from
our facebook page. We've been
broadcasting every Sunday at 3pm since 5th April, starting off with acoustic
shows and building up to a 3 hour 42nd anniversary show on 31st May. You can
still see all the broadcasts on
facebook and on our youtube channel
Haze playlist,
and we're still continuing to livestream every Sunday, usually alternating an
'electric' show with an acoustic session each week.
