A quality product.

There's one question that is always on my mind when I see a John Mitchell release, especially when you take into consideration his involvement with It Bites, Kino, Frost*, Arena and all the other stuff he dabbles in − where does he find the time?

This is the final part of the Lonely Robot series and if there's one thing I was sure of before I listened, it was that it would be a quality product. There are eleven tracks in total, and it all kicks off with the very short, quiet intro song 'Terminal Earth' before 'Ancient Attendant' begins with a strong riff and powerful drums that instantly remind me of Arena and IQ. 'Icarus' follows next with an upbeat tempo that sounds like something he would do with It Bites. The title-track isn't a ballad per se, but it is calmer, very melodic and memorable, while 'Authorship Of Our Lives' is a mid-tempo offering with a nice keyboard refrain before it opens out into a more powerful chorus. 'The Signal' is a shortish song based on a central theme that it never really veers away from and you may hear a little sequence in the back that reminds you of Genesis era Steve Hackett (if you're old enough). 'The Only Time I Don't Belong Is Now' probably tells you the whole story of Lonely Robot just by the title and it features some lovely sounding guitar with Mitchell really getting some rasp into his voice during the chorus.

It also gets very proggy in the middle. Porcupine Tree fans will love 'When Gravity Fails', whereas 'How Bright Is The Sun?' is probably the most mellow track on offer; it maybe doesn't stand out as much as the others, but it does contain some nice lead guitar work. 'Inside This Machine' is a fantastic Prog instrumental which is very quiet at the start, but then it becomes big in every way and stays big, just how this kind of music should be – musically, it's my favourite song. I found the final track 'An Ending' to be a surprisingly short (two-and-a-half minutes) and relatively quiet end to the Lonely Robot story, which I thought would be, if not more powerful, then at least more majestic.

That's it, the Lonely Robot story is over! However, don't worry as I am sure Mitchell will already have something else – with yet another important message – up his sleeve to follow it.

Andy Brailsford