IN THE NURSERY
Anatomy of a Poet
(Third Mind Records)

Born in the mid 80s as a percussion-fired, nasty-sounding, semi-industrial band, the duo of Klive and Nigel Humberstone have gone through a variety of changes over the years. From the screaming angst of Breach Birth to less angry but equally-powerful albums such as Duality and the recent film soundtrack An Ambush of Ghosts, In The Nursery have developed a sound that's all their own.

Anatomy of a Poet pulls elements from the band's diverse past, starting with the incredible Bombed. A light, distant intro lulls you into a false sense of security before the booming strings weave almost frightening chords behind a mix of orchestral percussion, military snares and passionate female vocals. This even outshines the superb L'Esprit ~ ITN's previous crowning glory. Other elements of Anatomy throw somewhat unexpected curves, such as the techno beat behind the grandeur of In Perpetuum and the Enigma-style ambience of Hallucinations? and Paper Desert. These are all good fuel for either side of the classical/modern music argument: classical is not necessarily boring and dance music can be intelligent. If Beethoven had owned a sequencer... Well, you get the idea.

The theme of the title runs quite strongly throughout the album, with many tracks consisting of Poetry readings backed by fluid piano lines, delicate strings and woodwind. Don't be put off by this, though. It helps to create a mood that no other band can achieve.No-one else can hope to release an album of neo-classical dance music with poetic texts and manage to pull it off.

In The Nursery seem to manage with ease on a regular basis to take familiar elements and weave them into hypnotic, passages of music that are more moving than anything else I've ever heard, and Anatomy of a Poet spirals up to even greater heights than they've reached before.

Forget all your screaming guitar bands. This is real power music - made to mess with your heart and not just your ears.

Maff Evans