Tori Amos - In Times Of Dragons

Tori Amos has never been an artist who shies away from the moment, and In Times Of Dragons finds her meeting this particular moment head on. Described by Amos herself as a metaphorical story about the fight for democracy over tyranny, the album is a direct and unflinching response to what she sees as the deliberate dismantling of democratic institutions in real time.

The imagery is characteristically Amos, vivid, mythological, and laced with a fury that burns cold rather than hot. The "Dictator believing Lizard Demons" of her own framing are not subtle villains, and she has no interest in making them so. This is protest music with the full weight of one of rock's most singular and intellectually fearless songwriters behind it, channeling outrage and grief into something that is as artistically ambitious as it is politically urgent.

Few artists have the range, the history, and the sheer force of personality to make an album like this land. Tori Amos is one of them.