There’s a maxim that if a reviewer calls something pretentious, he doesn’t understand it.
But there’s a lot to be said for a little pretension. It results in barking jazz-prog albums, for starters. Which brings us to Diagonal. The Brighton based seven-piece don’t mess around. This is chock full of drum solos and organ flourishes. And it’s almost on the right side of indulgent. There’s a cool Sixties vibe to opener ‘Semi Permeable Men-Brain’. But elsewhere there’s a whiff of Dutch dinosaurs Focus. Still, this is never less than listenable and the music is often good. Diagonal will likely appeal to fans of The Mars Volta. Sane people need not apply.
