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Leon Alvarado — The Wicked Forest
(Bandcamp Melodic Revolution Records, 2026, CD / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2026-03-12

The Wicked Forest Cover art

On his previous album, The Changing Tide, Leon Alvarado paid homage to Pink Floyd, and on The Wicked Forest, he turns his attention to Yes. And just as The Changing Tide featured guests with connections to Pink Floyd, this album brings in Billy Sherwood and Jon Davison, along with Johnny Bruhns (who has worked with Yoso, Glass Hammer, and Circa) and James Griggers (who’s been on several of Alvarado’s previous albums). Given the participation of Sherwood and Davison, you might think that the emphasis would be on later Yes rather than the 70s classic era, and you would be correct. There’s even a cover of “Man in a White Car” from Drama, and that 1980 album is a good reference point for the rest of the music here. Davison’s voice is a big part of that, of course, but the style of the compositions and arrangements is right in line with Yes just before they went pop on 90125. “The Big Bang” is a short instrumental piece to get listeners warmed up for “Beyond,” a seven-minute slab of flashy keyboards, melodic bass, slide guitar, and waifish vocals, kind of like “Going for the One” crossed with “Run through the Light.” It’s well done, if not exactly ground-breaking. This is followed by more songs in the same vein, though the instrumental “Chase in Three” brings in some pseudo-symphonic textures that are much less Yes-like. I can see The Wicked Forest appealing to fans of later Yes, and it certainly solidifies Alvarado’s ability to emulate his influences successfully, but other listeners might want to seek out something less derivative.

Filed under: New releases, 2026 releases

Related artist(s): Billy Sherwood, Leon Alvarado

More info
http://leonalvarado.bandcamp.com/album/the-wicked-forest

 

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