"Troy Donockley delights in throwing people curve balls, so far he's done it on two albums, the first " The Unseen Stream," was a glorious rush of pastoral influence and high, folk art, his second " The Pursuit Of Illusion" more individual but way beyond any meaningless attempt to hang a label on.
Now we've his third opus - opus isn't a word I permit to be banded about loosely either- "The Madness of Crowds," which in my humble opinion is the most distinctive yet. It opens with the title track which, within minutes reminds you of either a soundtrack for a lost cut of "Lord of the Rings," music for a high brow BBC 2 documentary or the finest concert hall symphony. All this and another six items to boggle your critical facilities!  To try and describe everything would be futile, this man loves to play with sense and sensibilities, yet not in any ad hoc way more in a way that says ‘look I know this shouldn't work, but let's live dangerously shall we?' Thankfully Troy taking risks is one of the pleasures that "The Madness of Crowds," displays with pride, it wears non conformity like a medal of honour, there is nothing else like it in the racks and probably won't be until Mr. Donockley releases his fourth offering. Each track shifts and morphs into new shapes and sounds like a kaleidoscope; for instance  "Orkhaugr," opens like a Bulgarian, dance before ushering on industrial sound effects and huge guitar sustain, melting into Arabian textures, then comes a gorgeous melee of Vaughan Williams pastoral influence and soaring moments of Gustav Holst, all pushing out to a free form coda of high octane rock'n'reeling. Truly this man knows no boundaries.
Troy Donockley is idiosyncratic, a true one off, somebody who doesn't follow the rules, a benign musical rebel who enriches whatever he touches with a certain class and unmistakeable individuality. "The Madness of Crowds," is pretty well unique. It will endure. ""

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