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"From out of the dark"

From Out Of The Dark

From out of the dark is a collection of 6 songs finished during the infamous Covid lockdown of 2020, drawing musical influences from many different genres and based on different themes close to my heart.

Some with a narrative, others about how I felt a particular junction in life, playing music, writing and recording songs has been a great outlet for me and helped me deal with and express myself in a productive fashion.

With no single genre over the six songs I decided to put them out as From out of the dark, to show how something good can come from the darkness. I hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed making them.

I appreciate so much all the friends and family who have helped critique these tracks ready for public consumption. Thanks also to my younger sister, Hannah, for providing her vocal talents and lyric writing on two of the songs.

Please listen below and follow me on all of my social networks using the links above.

Matt x

#StarWars #CloakOfDeception Mini Review

Cloak of Deception tells the story of how the Neimodian Viceroy Nute Gunray comes to be in charge of the entire Trade Federation, as well as the beginning of Supreme Chancellor Valorum's demise.

It begins with a Terrorist or Resistance faction (depending on your point of view) called the Nebula Front, who successfully, with the help of hired militant Captain Cohl, take on a Trade Federation ship, offloading the cargo and stealing an enormous quantity of Aurodium ingots. Jedi Qui Gon Jinn and his Padowan Obi Wan Kenobi are sent to try & thwart these plans but do not succeed, and Captain Cohl becomes a bit of an obsession for Qui Gon.

Through many political twists and turns, the book climaxes at what we believe will be an assassination attempt on the Supreme Chancellor...

I thoroughly enjoyed this Star Wars book once again, and especially love how all the intricacies tie in to other books and films from the franchise, with no continuity errors that I'm aware of. The very end of the book sees Padme Amidala's rise to the thrown and the implementation of the Trade Federations blockade around Naboo, placing the events in this book directly before Episode 1.

I did find the book a lot harder to get in to, and took me three attempts to get started; however I'm glad I persisted, and the battles and distractions for the Jedi throughout kept me on my toes with a desire to read on.

I would recommend reading the Darth Plagueis book first, and Shadow Hunter after, as they too tie in to the same events preceding episode 1. I especially liked how in Darth Plagueis, Palpatine encourages Padme Amidala's parents that she should run for the throne of Naboo, and then in Cloak of Deception she is appointed queen, who contacts Palpatine to inform him that the previous King Veruna had died in suspicious circumstances. All falling into the master plan of Darth Sidious...

I think I'll go watch the two trilogies now...