Robby Valentine - Embrace the Unknown (2023)

Robby Valentine’s new release, Embrace The Unknown, is his 13th studio album.

Something of enigma, he’s worked with Kristoffer (Pain of Salvation) Gildenlow, Jeff Scott Soto, and Arjen (Ayreon) Lucassen, to name but three, and has released several very well received Queen tribute albums. He’s Big In Japan, and yet he’s relatively unknown in the UK.

Embrace The unknown might just change that. Several of the songs add to the growing number of voices speaking out against what they perceive as government “expansive rulemaking” and “control of the narrative”.

These “protests” may not suit all his fans, but you can enjoy his music without supporting his political views.

Let’s get to the “protest songs” first.

‘Break The Chain’ is obviously a child of the Pandemic. Valentine takes aim and fires a fusillade of broadsides at “Government (lockdown) Control”.

‘Never Fall In Line’ sets his sights on Big Pharma and the Corona virus vaccine, “the power of the lie”. It’s hard hitting stuff, and Valentine pulls no punches. His vocal melancholy, brooding, pulsing, provides the angst that fuels the song’s message.
Message aside, it’s a huge slice of high pitched operatic rock, punchy, powerful, guided by Valentine’s spine tingling orchestration.

Then there’s the others stuff. ‘Don’t Give Up On A Miracle’ creates a bit of background messaging. It’s a humorous tale that cruises along in a bouncy little groove. As an alternative, he uses an element of dark humour to relieve the seriousness of his album’s “protest” messaging with one of his music hall ditties, ‘Life Is A Lesson’.

There’s some very personal stuff here too. Feelings run deep on the epic ‘Friend’, “all these times that I thought you were on my side”. And ‘Show The Way’, a heart rendingly sincere “believe in yourself” ballad.

We’ve come to expect at least a couple of huge production numbers from Valentine and he doesn’t disappoint us.

The medium is the message with ‘Take It To The Light’, a fabulous, symphonically inclined melodic pop number, like Jellyfish had stumbled into a Queen soundalike contest. And won.

The album’s title track is the magnificently apposite closer. A dramatic insight into the man’s growing blindness, “clouds obscure my sun”. It climaxes appropriately in a crescendo of celestial choirs.

Clearly, despite his health problems, Valentine is alive and well, and firing on all six. ****~Review by Brian McGowan