Gravitas carries a weight its makers couldn’t have foreseen: it would be the last Asia album to feature John Wetton, the voice and heart of the band, who died three years after its release. Made in 2014 by the reunited original members minus Steve Howe, it leans harder toward Asia’s progressive side than their pop one — a dignified, keyboard-rich late-career statement from a band nearing the end of an era.

The short version

Gravitas (2014) is the thirteenth studio album by Asia, and the final one recorded with founding singer-bassist John Wetton. It was made by Wetton, keyboardist Geoff Downes and drummer Carl Palmer, with young British guitarist Sam Coulson replacing Steve Howe, who had left the band in 2013. Produced by Wetton and Downes and, as ever, wrapped in a Roger Dean sleeve, it emphasises the band’s classical, progressive leanings over radio-friendly hooks.

A new guitarist

After reuniting the original line-up in 2006 for three albums — Phoenix, Omega and XXX — Asia lost Steve Howe once more in early 2013, when his commitments to Yes made carrying two bands impossible. Rather than stop, Wetton, Downes and Palmer recruited Sam Coulson, a gifted young guitarist from Bromsgrove. Wetton deliberately encouraged Coulson to play in his own voice rather than imitate Howe, and his fresh, more aggressive tone gives Gravitas an identity of its own — a situation that echoes 1985’s Astra, the other Asia album made without Howe.

The sound

Originally titled Valkyrie, Gravitas is one of the more overtly progressive records of Asia’s later years. Downes and Wetton wrote everything, and their long partnership shows in the album’s thoughtful arrangements: the near-eight-minute title track builds from gentle keyboards into something grander and more aggressive, and several songs favour extended, atmospheric structures over quick choruses. Wetton’s voice and confessional lyrics sit at the centre, with Coulson’s guitar and Palmer’s drums in support and Downes’s keyboards, as always, holding the whole thing together.

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The songs

The album is led by ‘Valkyrie,’ its epic opener and single, filmed for a video in Los Angeles. ‘Nyctophobia’ and ‘I Would Die for You’ — the latter reworked from an unused Wetton-Downes demo dating back to the 1980s — were also singled out by critics, while ‘Heaven Help Me Now’ is among the album’s most intricate and powerful tracks. The deluxe edition adds a DVD featuring the ‘Valkyrie’ video, a making-of film, and three songs performed live with a full symphony orchestra in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, including orchestral versions of ‘Only Time Will Tell’ and ‘Heat of the Moment.’

Reception and legacy

Gravitas drew mixed reviews and sold less than its predecessor, though it still reached both the UK and US album charts. Some critics found it tired, missing the spark of the band’s classic work; others welcomed its progressive ambition and the chemistry of the Downes-Wetton songwriting team, and warmed to Coulson’s playing. Whatever its standing in the catalogue, the album took on a deeper significance in hindsight: it was the last studio record Asia would make with John Wetton, and a planned follow-up was left unfinished after his death.

The verdict

Gravitas isn’t the album to convert a sceptic, and it lacks a ‘Heat of the Moment’ to carry it — but taken as a late-career work from seasoned musicians, it’s a solid, sincere record with real moments of grandeur. If you value the progressive side of Asia and Geoff Downes’s widescreen keyboards, start with ‘Valkyrie’ and ‘Heaven Help Me Now.’ John Wetton, whose voice had defined Asia since 1982, died in 2017; Gravitas stands as his final chapter with the band he co-founded, and a fitting, dignified farewell.

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