IQ's label signs UK alt-proggers Returned To The Earth

Returned To The Earth's frontman Robin Peachy standing in a park with a leather cap on

(Image credit: Press)

GEP – the label co-founded by IQ's Mike Holmes and InsideOut's Thomas Waber – announce they've signed British alt-proggers Returned To Earth. They'll reissue the band's fourth album, Fall Of The Watcher, on January 27 with new packaging.

"Fall Of The Watcher was written and recorded through 2019-2021 and reflects the world and my own experiences over this time," explains singer and guitarist Robin Peachey (pictured). "It was written as an album to be listened to from start to finish rather than a collection of individual songs and it covers personal loss, the pandemic and a commentary on the state of the world."

The album has been mastered by The Pineapple Thief's Steve Kitch and clearly shares some of The 'Thief's musical inspiration too.

Says Peachey, "My music is influenced by many styles but mainly between prog to alt-rock and my only real criteria is that the music is interesting and fits with the overall feel of the album. I like melody and emotion above virtuosity and I like songs to have the time to breathe and develop naturally."

Watch the lyric video for the title track below.

Fall Of The Watcher Tracklisting

1 Fall Of The Watcher
2. White Room
3. Drowning
4. Sacrificed In Vain
5. Lack Of Information
6. April Sky

album cover for Returned To The Earth's Fall of the Watcher’ showing a man's pensive face — (Image credit: Press)

Contributing to Prog since the very first issue, writer and broadcaster Natasha Scharf was the magazine’s News Editor before she took up her current role of Deputy Editor, and has interviewed some of the best-known acts in the progressive music world from ELP, Yes and Marillion to Nightwish, Dream Theater and TesseracT. Starting young, she set up her first music fanzine in the late 80s and became a regular contributor to local newspapers and magazines over the next decade. The 00s would see her running the dark music magazine, Meltdown, as well as contributing to Metal Hammer, Classic Rock, Terrorizer and Artrocker. Author of music subculture books The Art Of Gothic and Worldwide Gothic, she’s since written album sleeve notes for Cherry Red, and also co-wrote Tarja Turunen’s memoirs, Singing In My Blood. Beyond the written word, Natasha has spent several decades as a club DJ, spinning tunes at aftershow parties for Metallica, Motörhead and Nine Inch Nails. She’s currently the only member of the Prog team to have appeared on the magazine’s cover.