Luke Foster: Drums, Percussion, Piano, Backing Vocals
Ross Hossack: Synthesizers, Harmonium, Backing Vocals
Nicholas Richards: Bass Guitar, Mellotron, Synthesizer, Backing Vocals
Nicholas Whitaker: Alto Saxophone, Clarinet, Lead and Backing Vocals
Dave Wileman: Electric Guitar, Backing Vocals
If any band can claim to have kick-started the current UK Prog revival, it is Diagonal. The band’s self-titled 2008 debut album threw open the gates for a wave of like-minded bands to follow, attracting a heap of critical praise and picking up a nomination for Best New Band in the 2009 Classic Rock awards for good measure.
And then, just as suddenly as they had arrived, Diagonal disappeared. The departure of founder members Alex Crispin (Vocals/Keyboards) and bassist Dan Pomlett forced Diagonal into an unexpected hiatus. Diagonal needed time to regroup, to re-build. Original guitarist Nicholas Richards switched to bass and the band slightly stripped down their sound.
The Second Mechanism is the sound of that band reborn, ready once more to propel listeners on a journey to the outer reaches of rock music. But this is a more focused, more intense, more powerful Diagonal; a gleaming amalgam of Passport, Jaga Jazzist, T2, Dungen, Magma, Bo Hansson and Black Sabbath, forged in the crucible of experimentation.
The normal rules do not apply here; there is only the obsessive, unashamed spirit of eclecticism and no-holds-barred musical excess. Thunderous and hypnotic; euphoric and brutal, Diagonal is uncompromising in its approach and fearless in the creation of music which combines Prog, Jazz, Psych, Krautrock and Metal into an intense and explosive mixture which seems to belong to neither past, present nor future, yet somehow sounds like all three.
