"One of the great man's most powerful creations": The expanded version of Peter Hammill's Incoherence offers a unique glimpse into the febrile mind of a restless genius

An ambitious peak from a prog maverick revisited

Peter Hamill: Incoherence (Expanded) cover art
(Image: © Esoteric)

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

Very few artists get to make a thirtieth studio album, but then very few artists are as militantly committed to the creative process as Peter Hammill. Incoherence was originally released in 2004, on the Van der Graaf Generator man’s own Fie! Imprint, and was swiftly recognised as one of the most adventurous and absorbing records he had ever made.

A concept album about the ambiguities and inadequacies of language, it was an enthusiastic nosedive into the long-form experiments that Hammill had dabbled in with early classics like A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers (from Van der Graaf Generator’s Pawn Hearts) and Flight (from aggressively experimental solo album A Black Box). A 42-minute suite of songs, some fully realised but mostly presented as a collage of conjoined fragments, it remains one of the great man’s most powerful creations and the beginning of a meandering run of strong albums that continues to this day.

Cretans Always Lie - YouTube Cretans Always Lie - YouTube
Watch On

Almost entirely performed by Hammill himself, with former colleague David Jackson and the late, great Stuart Gordon contributing saxophone and violin respectively, drum-less songwriting shards like Babel and Cretans Always Lie combine to form a single, blearily poetic epic.

This expanded revamp features a new “continuous” mix of the original record, and a disc of Hammill’s mixes of the individual songs that were plundered and chopped up for Incoherence’s patchwork approach. A much-anticipated vinyl edition features a second, LP-specific mix and a gatefold lyric insert. Much like its 29 predecessors, Incoherence offers a unique glimpse into the febrile mind of a restless genius.

Dom Lawson
Writer

Dom Lawson has been writing for Metal Hammer and Prog for over 14 years and is extremely fond of heavy metal, progressive rock, coffee and snooker. He also contributes to The Guardian, Classic Rock, Bravewords and Blabbermouth and has previously written for Kerrang! magazine in the mid-2000s. 

Read more
Godley & Creme – Parts of the Process
“A universe of strangeness and charm”: Parts Of The Process – The Complete Godley & Creme is a trip into a subversive, mischievous world of erratic genius
The cover of Steven Wilson’s The Overview album
“A return to full-fat prog from the man who gave the genre a good name in recent years”: Prog fans rejoice! Steven Wilson has come home with cosmic modern classic The Overview
A press shot of Robert Ramsay
“When I found out you could do the Hawaii Five-0 theme in chicken noises, that became the challenge”: Robert Ramsay’s silly and serious album Confound And Disturb
Roger Waters - The Dark Side of the Moon Redux Deluxe Box Set
“The live recording sees the piece come to life… amid the sepulchral gloom there are moments of real beauty”: Roger Waters' Super Deluxe Box Set of his Dark Side Of The Moon Redux
Matt Berry – Heard Noises
“Communal spaces for the strange:…every diversion is explored – ideas and genres ebb and flow, occasionally careering out of control”: Matt Berry’s Heard Noises adheres to his oblique vision
Camel – Mirage and Moonmadness
“An already fabulous performance feels even more vital… sudden twists and turns are thrillingly kinetic”: Camel’s 3-disc reissues of Mirage and Moonmadness
Latest in
Foreigner at the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 2024
Foreigner will complete their Historic Farewell Tour with four different singers – and one of them has recorded Spanish versions of their hits
The cover of Classic Rock 339, featuring Pink Floyd
"It's the father and mother of The Dark Side Of The Moon!": The full inside story of Pink Floyd's Live At Pompeii - only in the new issue of Classic Rock
Asia
"The haters won’t stop us from doing what we do": Geoff Downes on Asia's new lineup and the band's future plans
Fleetwood Mac group portrait
"The soundtrack to the greatest rock'n'roll soap opera ever": The mightiest Fleetwood Mac line-up albums in one handy box
Pete Townshend - The Studio Albums cover art
"This collection embodies both the best and worst of Townshend the artist and arch conceptualist": An overview of the solo career of Pete Townshend, the man who never meant to have a solo career
Linkin Park 2024
Linkin Park launch "the best song we've ever made" Up From The Bottom
Latest in Review
Fleetwood Mac group portrait
"The soundtrack to the greatest rock'n'roll soap opera ever": The mightiest Fleetwood Mac line-up albums in one handy box
Pete Townshend - The Studio Albums cover art
"This collection embodies both the best and worst of Townshend the artist and arch conceptualist": An overview of the solo career of Pete Townshend, the man who never meant to have a solo career
The Horrors
Ghouls Aloud: The Horrors come back from the dead with "a dazzling nocturnal spectacle of sombre reflections and oozing catharsis"
/news/the-darkness-i-hate-myself
"When the storm clouds clear, the band’s innate pop sensibilities shine as brightly as ever": In a world of bread-and-butter rock bands, The Darkness remain the toast of the town
Sex Pistols at the RAH
"Open the dance floor, you’ll never get to do it again." Forget John Lydon's bitter and boring "karaoke" jibes, with Frank Carter up front, the Sex Pistols sound like the world's greatest punk band once more
Arch Enemy posing in an alleyway
Arch Enemy promised they'd throw out the rule book for Blood Dynasty. They didn't go quite that far, but this is the boldest album of the Alissa White-Gluz era - and it kicks ass