Vino Del Mar - Bacò (2015)

The second and final album from this band from Italy.

The band was a seven piece big band with a lineup of percussions, drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, sax and trumpet.

I am by no means a fan of their self-titled 2014 album. A pretty dull run-of-the-mill jazz album, it was. 

So no expectations to Baco, then....

The music here is still jazz. But there is a lot of fusion here and some Latin jazz too. 

The music is more melodic and there are a couple of really tasty guitar and piano solos here too. This inbetween the mainly trumpet and saxophone dominated music. 

There is a lot of life in the music and some tasty details. The music is mid tempo but still lively and well crafted.

The result is a big improvement on the debut album and an almost good album.

This thirty-five minutes long album is a name-your-price Bandcamp album and it is a worthy download. 

2.5 points

 

 

Viima - Väistyy Mielen Yö (2024)

The third album from this band from Finland.

The band is a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, mellotron, flute and vocals.

A guest added keyboards.

The band returned again after a fifteen years long break. 

This album still sounds like a natural progression from their 2009 album Kahden Kuun Sirpit. 

The music here is still a crossover between Scandinavian folk rock and Italian symphonic prog (RPI). This despite of the vocals/lyrics being in Finnish, the local language in Finland. But the music still has these strong RPI influences.

The music is still based on pastoral Scandinavian folk music and indeed..... the rich Scandinavian psalms tradition. Psalms you can hear in every church in the Polar Region, sung by fewer and fewer believers. That tradition can be found on this album, at least. 

The music is in short pastoral. There are some really good songs and pieces of music here, indeed. 

Viima has made a triumphant return and I hope they will soon follow up this album. I do not want any more long breaks between their albums.

3 points

 

 

 

Atila - Encarnació (2024)

The third album from this band from Spain.

The band is a trio with a lineup of drums, percussion, guitars, piano, organ, moog, mellotron and vocals.

A handful of guests added bass and vocals.

This band released their debut album Intencion in 1976 and the follow up album Reviure in 1978. Both re-released as a two-albums-on-one CD in 1999 and 2009. I reviewed both albums for ProgArchives in 2009 and liked them a lot.

The debut album was a symphonic prog album whilst the second album was more a space rock album. And that was the last tone I thought I would ever hear from this band.... But I got a big surprise when the band returned earlier this year with their new album.

The band is very much welcome back as their first two albums gave them a well deserved status as one of the best ever bands from Spain.

The music on their new fifty minutes long album is a mix of Latin rock, psych rock and a bit symphonic prog. There is even some space rock lurking around on this album too.

The good vocals is a mix of female and male vocals. They are all in their local language. The mix of guitars and tangents are good too.

The music is pretty unique and original. It is very much in the Spanish prog rock tradition and sound. References is.... the two first Atila albums. 

The band are sticking to their guns, to their sound on this good album. An album which both are looking back on their two first albums and is carving out a new soundscape too.

The result is a good album which should interest everyone into the European progressive rock scene. This band should get a lot more attention.

3 points

Motorpsycho - The Death Defying Unicorn (2012)

The 16th album from this band from Norway.

This album is a cooperation between Motorpsycho, Ståle Storløkken, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and Trondheimsolistene. This is altogether twenty-five musicians.

The lineup was drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, vocals plus woodwinds and strings. 

Motorpsycho has done some of these cooperations and this one is perhaps their most known one. Ståle Storløkken is a conductor and a keyboardist. This one and a half hour long album was his idea, as far as I remember. 

Most of the music here is orchestral and there is not much of Motorpsyho's music here. However.. their DNA is all over the album as it is in their DNA to break down barriers and create something new. And the result is this album.

The music is jazzy, orchestral, epic, bold, monumantal, larger than life and avant-garde. It also has some zeuhl influences. This is the closest I have ever heard a Norwegian album come to being a zeuhl album. There is also a lot of Richard Wagner over and in this music. 

There are some melodies here too although they are subtle.

There is a lot of madness and over-the-top stuff here. Nevertheless, this is also a good album. Make that a good album as it mixes various genres. A mix that makes sense although the result is not easy on the ear and nowhere near being easy listening. 

This is an album for those who likes to be challenged. Their award is a very good album indeed.

3.5 points

Triumph - Just a Game (1979)

The third album from this band from Canada.

The band was a trio with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

Some guests added keyboards and backing vocals.

The band continued with their concept of playing hard rock with some catchy tunes. This album therefore gave the band and their record label two top forty hit singles. It also went platinum in their homeland and gold in USA.

The music is pretty much straight forward hard rock. There is some good details and some good hooks along the way.

The result is not a bad album at all. It is so far their best album. Nevertheless, the album falls a bit short when it comes to quality. Hard rock fans should check out this album.

2 points

Gong Du Balayeur. Le - Pas Important (1981)

The one and only album from this band from France.

The band was a duo with a lineup of guitars, keyboards, accordion and vocals.

This band has no connection to Gong whatsoever. The music is not far off Gong, though.

When I heard this album had got some strong Frank Zappa comparisons, I was a bit put off reviewing this album..... Nevertheless....

Take Daevid Allen and Frank Zappa at their most whimsical and add some chanson and French folk music. On the top of that, add some French symphonic prog in the vein of Ange too. And yes, the more whimsical parts of Gong's music also springs to mind.

The vocals are in French and they are good. As I do not speak a word of French, this spares this album from my criticism of the childish lyrics. Criticism I have leveled at Tusmørke, Daevid Allen and Frank Zappa. I suspect the lyrics are childish, but I cannot prove it. 

The music on this forty minutes long album is actually surprisingly good. I am indeed surprised. There are some fast songs and some more pastoral songs here. 

When the duo slows down and does their pastoral songs, the quality of the music is actually good. The faster songs, and I suspect the more childish lyrics parts, is not that good.

This is one of the albums who deserve a re-release and some more attention. To my surprise, this is almost a good album. Check it out if Gong or Frank Zappa is your thing.

2.5 points

Gong Expresso - Decadence (2017)

The one and only album from this band from Canada.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, percussion, vibes, marimba, bass and guitars.

This band is 3/4 of the guys who played on Gong's 1978 album Expresso II. So the band has indeed permission to name themselves Gong Expresso. 

This is one of the many Gong splinter bands too. Or tribute bands. Gong Expresso is both, I suspect.

Decadence is a pure jazz album though and not so much a Canterbury jazz album. Well, it is nowhere near being a Canterbury jazz album.

The music is softly spoken and not so loud. It is in the jazz quartet mould.

The music is a bit alien to anyone approaching it from a prog rock and metal background. These forty minutes is still pretty enjoyable. 

Nevertheless, the album is not particular good. It is a decent enough album and just that. Gong fans should check out this album as the band is related to Gong.

2 points

 

 

Treebeard - Snowman (2024)

The second album from this band from Australia.

The band is a quartet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars and vocals.

I really liked their 2021 debut album Nostalgia. An album that won them a lot of well deserved attention world wide.

The music here is a pretty extreme blend of post-rock and post-metal. 

There is a lot of shades and lights in their music. Music which is mostly instrumental. There is some really brutal blackened death metal vocals in the middle of this one hour long album and this part of the album is very much in the blackened doom genre.

The tempo, with the exception of some parts with the vocals, is mid tempo and in the post-rock vein. The music is very dark and desolate, though.

The quality is pretty good throughout. A bit more variations would have been good and the music is lacking a bit in quality. This is an album well worth checking out, though.

2.5 points

Vino Del Mar - Vino Del Mar (2014)

The debut album from this band from Italy.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, piano and saxophone.

This band released two albums between 2014 and 2015 before they were disbanded. Both albums are private pressings and impossible to find. Both are up for reviews this week in this blog.

The music here is jazz with some fusion and bossa nova influences.

The music is mid-tempo and not particular melodic. The music is indeed a bit staccato and riff based. 

There is a lot of solos here by all the instruments bar the drums and bass. 

This fifty minutes long album also has a lot of saxophones too.

There is not much interesting here and I can understand why this album is rarely getting any attention at all. It is an obscure, half-decent album. I am not impressed.

1.5 points

 

 

Viima - Kahden Kuun Sirpit (2009)

The second album from this band from Finland.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, saxophone, flute and vocals.

The band returned again after their 2006 album Ajatuksia Mailman Laidalta. 

That album had female vocals and were visiting various genres from it's folk rock base camp. It was also a good album.

Three years later and there has been some changes in the Viima camp. The female vocals is gone and has been replaced by some male vocals. Some very good male vocals, btw.

The music can best be described as a crossover between Scandinavian folk rock and Italian symphonic prog (RPI). Yes, the band is from Finland and the vocals/lyrics are in the local language in Finland. It still has these RPI influences.  

This blend of RPI and folk rock is also whimsical and quirky with some great details. Some of the songs on this three quarters of an hour long album also sounds a bit like psalms. The vocals is at times psalms like and more like psalms than songs.

The quality of the songs are somewhere between decent and good. The very good vocals, although sporadic as they are, and the many very good details elevates this album to a good rating. 

Viima is a new discovery to me but I really like them. Their new album will be reviewed sometimes later this week.

3 points

Bent Knee - Twenty Pills Without Water (2024)

The seventh album from this band from USA.

The band is a quartet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, violin, keyboards, synths, electronics and vocals.

This is the first album from the new Bent Knee after both their original members left the band. Only the vocalist Courtney Swain is left from the last album, if I am not much mistaken.

I thought I had reviewed some of their six first albums, if not all of them. But that is not the case so I will do that next year... or so. 

Their music is a mix of eclectic prog, electronica and a bit avant-garde pop/rock. The music is pretty elegant too and has got some pop sensibilities.

The music is also very much focused on Courtney's vocals which is everywhere. Some really good vocals, btw. Tori Amos is a good reference for both the vocals and the music on this album.

Some of the music is slightly atonal too. There is also a couple of strange songs here in the avant-garde folk rock vein. Weird but not that great. 

There are a lot of interesting details on this three quarters of an hour long album. Interesting details and lots of good music too.

It is an intriguing album which should please those into eclectic prog and female vocals progressive rock.

I will definate visit and review their first six albums sometimes in the next couple of years for # 4 of this blog.

Check out this album.

3 points

 

 

 

Spidergawd - Spidergawd IV (2017)

The fourth album from this band from Norway.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, steel guitars, harmonica, saxophone and vocals.

The band returned again for their fourth album and another great album art-work. Album art-work which means it is a joy to include this band in this blog. 

This band include the Motorpsycho drummer and comes from the same town, Trondheim, as Motorpsyho too.

The music is hard and heavy psych rock. There are also some garage rock here too. 

There are also some power pop influences although the band is anything but commercial. A couple of the songs here has a spring in their step and is pretty catchy though....

Most of all, the last two albums sounded like a heavy and harder version of Motorpsycho. A more straight forward rocking version of Motorpsycho.

The music here is still complex and hard though with some raw vocals. The songs on this forty minutes long album has some good details, some of them provided by the saxophone, and some good melodies.

This is a good album indeed and one to check out if hard psych and/or good old hard rock is your thing. 

Check it out.

3 points

Tusmørke - Bydyra (2017)

The fifth album from this band from Norway.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of glockenspiel, percussion, drums, bass, acoustic guitars, jews harp, moog, mellotron, grand piano, spinet, keyboards, flute and vocals.

The band was helped out by some guests who added electric guitar, violin, vocals and a children choir.

This album is one of the reasons I was a bit vary of reviewing their albums... I cannot stand childen vocals and children music. This is what we get on this album.

Take a bit Norwegian folk music, jazz and Daevid Allen solo albums and his more weird Gong albums. That is at best we get here. At worst, children rhymes and some electronic children music.

The vocals are good. The sound of children choir pretty horrible, although I am sure someone likes them too. 

The music is pretty naive and ditto for the Norwegian lyrics. 

This is a borderline turkey but it is only saved by the jazz and the Daevid Allen like weirdness. Hence, it is a half decent album. It is not an album I will ever listen to again.

1.5 points

Golden Caves - Dysergy (2020)

The third and so far final album from this band from The Netherlands.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

This album is in reallity their second album as their previous album, the 2017 album Collision, was a re-recorded version of the Bring Me To The Water album from 2016. I got no idea why but they chose to do so. 

I reviewed Collision back in February 2018 for # 2 of this blog and gave it a Good rating.

On Dysergy, we get the same again from Collision.

That is some poppy, songs-orientated and commercial art-rock with female vocals.

The music is pretty hard throughout. It is most of all commercial though.

The vocals and the vocal harmonies is good and the guitars and the other instruments are suitable good too.

The quality of the music is not right there.... It is somewhere between decent and good. There are a couple of cringe worthy moments on this album which does not add to the enjoyment of this album.

If commercial hard edged rock with female vocals is your thing, this album is something for you.

2.5 points

 

 

 

 

Emerald Dawn. The - In Time (2023)

The fifth album from this band from Great Britain.

The band is a quartet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, saxophones, flute and vocals.

This album has flown under my radar since it was released one year ago. This despite of me loving the previous album, the 2021 album To Touch The Sky. I gave that a great rating. 

The Emerald Dawn from Cornwall is also one of the better British progressive rock bands and has been among the top five British bands since their debut album. 

Their take on progressive rock is a mix of neo-prog and symphonic prog. The vocals is somber and I get a lot of Ashes You Leave, a Croatian band, vibes from this album as I did on the previous album.

There are three opuses here. The opening track is clocking in at twenty-four minutes and the second at fifteen minutes. A shorter track is closing this album.

The music is very somber at times and the band has clearly carved themselves out a niche here. The music is also complex and pretty technical with some saxophones and keyboards really adding some very good details to the music.

The vocals is really good and there is a lot of things going on in their music. Some pretty unique music, it is.

The result is a very good album, indeed. It is indeed an album prog fans should check out.

3.5 points

Meer - Wheels Within Wheels (2024)

The third album from this band from Norway.

The band was an eight piece big band with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, violin, viola, grand piano, church organ, electric organ, keyboards, programming and vocals.

Some guests added vibraphone, flute and backing vocals.

This album has been out for a month and it has already got a reputation for being a very complex album. So I decided to give it some extra time on my travels around Scotland, in the gym and in my office. 

The music on this one hour long album is a blend of symphonic prog, art-rock and pomp rock. 

The music is big, bold and epic. It has the US symphonic prog and pomp rock sound where everything big is best and there is no limits to the music.

The big band, eight members, is also one of the reason for the big sound. There is a lot of male and female vocals on the top of some multi-layered instruments. Some of the programming includes adding symphony orchestra instruments.

Despite of the big band, the melodies and the music is pretty quirky and has some unexpected twists and turns. The downside here is that the band has included a piece of music which is bordering to disco. Not nice but that is the only negative thing I can say about this album.

The result is a very good album from a band well worth checking out. 

3.5 points

 

Lazleitt - Perpetually Under Idle Grounds (2019)

The second and so far final album from this band from USA.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards, piano and vocals.

The band continued on from their 2018 debut album On The Brink with new members. Alex Lazcano is the only original member here. The band has also expanded from being a duo to being a quintet. 

The band, make that the main writer Alex Lazcano, did not change much of the music and approach from the debut album to this album, the follow up album. We still get US neo-prog with some keltic undertones. 

The references are still Yes, Marillion, IQ and Rush. The music is a bit heavier this time around and Dream Theater too can be added as a reference.

There is a lot of guitar solos here and most of them are good to very good. The vocals too is good and the rest of the band does a good job, supporting and carrying through Alex visions and music.

The music is pretty epic and hard. It is also melodic too. 

The quality of the music and sound on this forty minutes long album is good throughout. This band is a welcome addition to the scene and these two albums is well worth checking out. I hope we will get more albums from Alex.

3 points

Ira Del Baccano. L' - Paradox Hourglass (2017)

The second album from this band from Italy.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars and synths.

The band returned again with a new album, three years after their debut album Terra 42.

The music is still stoner rock with some space rock and hard rock influences.

The music is entirely instrumental too. 

The sound is very dry and not so colourful. The music is therefore a bare bones mix of stoner rock. There are not enough space rock here to add colours to the music.

That said, the music is decent enough. This album is not an improvement on Terra 42 though.... Nevertheless, this is a decent enough album.

2 points

 

 

Anubis - The Unforgivable (2024)

The seventh album from this band from Australia.

The band is a sextet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

A female vocalist delivered vocals on two tracks.

This is a band I have known since I started with reviewing progressive rock. But I have lost contact with the band and their albums in the last five years. I think there is a couple of their previous albums I have to review.

Their music has always been muscular neo-prog with a lot of progressive metal influences. 

That is also the case here. The music is muscular, epic neo-prog with lots of Dream Theater influences. Add Porcupine Tree and Kansas too and you get their more heavy influences.

The music is still melodic and elegant. The vocals is good and the musicians too does a good job.

There is a lot to enjoy here. Both the melodies and the details is good and this album is for me a welcome reminder how good this band is.

Check out this album.

3.5 points

Viima - Ajatuksia Maailman Laidalta (2006)

The debut album from this band from Finland.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, flute and vocals.

Two guests added bass and alto saxophone on a couple of tracks.

This band released their third album earlier this year which I got. I thought it would be best if I also reviewed their first two albums too so I could review all their albums this month. Something I will do.

The band has been referred to as a folk rock band. Or progressive folk rock band to be more precise. I will not disagree with that label but there is more to their music than that. Much more

There is both a lot of eclectic prog and symphonic prog in their music too. The female vocals also brings in some comparisons with Renaissance. Although Paivi Kylmanen's vocals are great, they are nowhere as good as Annie Haslam's vocals though.

However... there are a lot of Yes and Camel in their music and the guitar solos, which there is a lot of on this forty-three minutes long album, reminds me about Steve Howe. The flutes and the rest of the music is in the Jethro Tull street. That with some Gentle Giant influences too.

The music is somewhere between decent and good. The guitar solos, the organ solos and the vocals elevates this album to a good rating.

I am really looking forward to sink my ears into their two other albums too. This band is one you need to check out.

3 points

Tangerine Dream - Zeit (1972)

The third album from this band from Germany.

The band was a trio on this album with a lineup of organ, glissando guitars, electronics and keyboards.

Some guests added cello, organ and moog on this album.

I have to admit that progressive electronic is my least favourite genre within the big progressive rock family. But it is difficult, not to say impossible, to bypass this band. Hence my reviews of a dozen or so of their albums.

We get four pieces of electronic ambient pieces here. They are all around or just short of twenty minutes each. This means a seventy-six minutes long album, originally released on a double LP.

The first piece of music, Birth Of Liquid Plejades, has some cello and atonal guitars. It is by far the best piece here and bordering to being a good track. Piece no two and three is pretty dire while the closing piece of music is decent enough.

The result is a decent enough album which does not change my opinion about this genre. It is also the least interesting album of their first three albums.

2 points

Guranfoe - Gumbo Gumbo (2022)

The second album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, grand piano, organ, piano, keyboards, mellotron and synths.

A handful of guests added lap steel guitar, percussion, flute, saxophone and voice.

Their 2019 debut album Sum Of Erda was a good album indeed. Quirky, eclectic instrumental prog rock.

The band has in the years following that album done a lot of gigs and released a lot of live albums. Some of these tunes has found it's way to a studio and has become this album. There are also other compositions you only can find on this studio album too.

The music is still quirky, eclectic progressive rock with some Canterbury prog and jazz influences. There are also some RIO chamber rock influences here and those are pretty strong indeed.

There is a lot of interesting detail on this forty minutes long album. 

The overall quality is also good throughout. I hope we will get some more albums from this band. I have really enjoyed their two albums.

3 points

Green - Of Love and Soul (2005)

The second and final album from this band from Italy.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

I was not impressed by their pretty dire debut album, the 2003 album Life. So I had no expectation for the follow up album, the one I am reviewing here.

The music here is a mix of hard rock, college rock and indie rock.

The guitars are OK and ditto for the vocals.

The music is pretty hard but not overly heavy. There are some Rush influences here and some good guitar solos.

The band has not brought anything new to the scene with this run-of-the-mill album.

Nevertheless, the music is decent enough and that makes this a decent album. I can understand why the band broke up, though. They were one too many on this overcrowded scene.

2 points

 

 

 

 

Infringement - Black Science & White Lies (2024)

The third album from this band from Norway.

The band is a quintet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards, baritone horn and vocals.

A guest added some vocals to this album.

This is a band I have always liked a lot. I gave their first two album from 2017 and 2019 good ratings in # 2 of this blog. 

Those two album had the likes of Genesis, Arena, IQ, Pendragon and Magic Pie as good references. 

The same can be said about their new album too. The album has two suites, twenty odd minutes each which gives us a total running time of three quarters of an hour.

The music is monumental, epic, muscular and melodic at the same time. The music is not particular heavy despite of having some bombastic pieces of music. The music is bombastic as in symphonic.... symphonic prog.

The two tracks are clearly concept based with some narrations and some very good vocals.

The result is a very good album which will appeal to most neo-prog and symphonic prog fans. This album will indeed confirm this band's place among the best Norwegian prog rock bands. 

Check out this album.

3.5 points

 

 

Lazleitt - On The Brink (2018)

The debut album from this band from USA.

The band is a duo with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, piano, organ, keyboards and vocals.

Two guests added guitars and flute.

The band released two albums in 2018 and 2019 before they gave up the ghost. 

The band is listed as a neo-prog band in most prog websites. Which is a pretty accurate description.

Take a bit if Yes, Marillion, IQ and Rush and you get the music here. There is also some keltic folk rock undertones throughout this album.

The music is pretty hard and muscular throughout these forty minutes. There is a lot of interesting details here too and the vocals is good.

This is indeed a good album. An obscure album who deserve a lot more attention and I guess that also goes for their second album which I will review sometimes later this week.

Check out this album.

3 points

Ira Del Baccano. L' - Terra 42 (2014)

The debut album from this band from Italy.

The band was a quartet on this album with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars and synths.

This band has so far released three albums and they are all up for reviews this month in this blog.

Their music on this album is both heavy and spacy.....

It is in short a mix of hard rock and space rock. 

The hard rock has this hard and stoner rock sound from the 1970s. Ditto for the space rock.

The music on this one hour long album is entirely instrumental and it has all the usual outer space rock soundbites. Those are the best bits here. 

Both the guitars and synths are pretty good. The melodies are OK but nothing special.

This is an acceptable debut album from a band who has just come to my attention. I fear the reason for they anonymity is the not so good albums. I will soon find out if the two other albums are in the same vein as this one.

Space rock fans may want to check out this album.

2 points

 

 

Entity - Il Naufragio Della Speranza (2024)

The second album from this band from Italy.

The band is a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

The band returns after a ten years long pause. Their 2014 album Il Falso Centro was superb and is one of the best post-1970s RPI albums of all time. I reviewed it back in June 2014 in # 1 of this blog.

The music is still a return to the 1970s RPI scene with a lot of Banco references.  

The music is pretty muscular and epic. There is also some more pastoral pieces of music here. It is also mid-tempo with some slower parts here and then.

The music is songs based but it still feels like a fifty minutes long piece of music. The songs are well balanced with some piano interludes and opening tones of some of the songs.

The vocals are Italian and they are very good. Ditto for the keyboards, sometimes acting as pianos. 

The sound is very good and there are a few piece of great music here too.

The result is a very good album. It is not as good as the debut album. Nevertheless, both their albums should be essential purchases for RPI fans.

3.5 points

 

The Samuel Jackson Five - Easily Misunderstood (2005)

The second album from this band from Norway.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, piano, organ, oscillator, synths, samples, electronics and voices.

Some guests added percussion, bass, viola, violin, synths, saxophones and clarinet.

I was not too impressed by their debut album and the instrumental math rock they brought to the market on that album. That album was a bit short on quality but still a decent album.

The band continues with their brand of instrumental math rock on their new album. 

This album also sees the band expanding their horizons. That means this fifty minutes long album has some pretty good influences from cinematic rock, RIO and post-rock.

The post-rock influences here are good. Ditto for some of the melodies.

This album sounds like a crossroad between cinematic rock, post rock and math rock. Some better melodies and this album would have been a good album. It is not a bad album at all and an improvement on their debut album.

Check out this band and album if instrumental prog and math rock is your thing.

2.5 points 

Sleeping Pandora - Ride the Horizon (2021)

The sixth album from this one-man-band from Germany.

Mathias Rosmann did the guitars, piano, synths and programming here.

This band is his solo project outside his usual activities. 

The music on this album is space rock with some ambient music and electronica incorporated into the music.

The music is really minimalistic and softly spoken. The music is electric guitars with gentle picking and no hard riffs.

The guitars is supported by some synths, creating space rock soundscapes.

That is what we get on this three quarters of an hour long album. An album a step in the wrong direction, compared to the previous album.

It is still a decent album but nothing more than that.

2 points

 

Guranfoe - Sum of Erda (2019)

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitar, piano, organ and synths.

The band had help from some guests who provided vibraphone, recorder, flute, clarinet and violin.

This band has so far released two studio albums and thirteen - 13 - live albums (!!). It is pretty obvious that this band regard themselves as a live band and then as recording artists. I will review the second studio album sometimes next week.

The music here is instrumental eclectic prog. There is a lot of quirky Canterbury prog and some symphonic prog influences here too.

There is even twenty seconds taken from Lynyrd Skynyrd's classic Freebird here too. Which made me grin as a cat every time I heard it. Funny but also good and done with a lot of respect. That part is hard and heavy. 

There is also a lot more pastoral parts here. None on the music is particular easy listening as the melodies has a lot of twists and turns. Most of them unexpected.

The music is indeed eclectic and both Gentle Giant and King Crimson springs to mind. So does Caravan too.

The music on this thirty-seven minutes long album is also good throughout. I will keep an eye on this band.

3 points

Green - Life (2003)

The debut album from this band from Italy.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

The band released two albums between 2003 and 2005. Both of them will be reviewed here in the next days.

The band has been included in ProgArchives as an art-rock and neo-prog band

The music here is a mix of pop music, commercial rock and art-rock. 

There is not much art-rock here though. The music is more an attempt on commercial rock. 

The vocals is young and pop music orientated. The rest of the band does a decent job on some not particular difficult to play music.

The result is only a half-decent album. A couple of pretty decent songs are the only saving grace here. It is an album well worth bypassing.

1.5 points

Anderson. Jon - Jon Anderson & The Band Geeks: True (2024)

The 17th album from this artist from Great Britain.

This band, as this is really a band album, is a sextet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

I have yet to dig into my Jon Anderson solo albums for reviews so this is the first of his solo albums I am reviewing. 

Strictly speaking, this is not a Jon Anderson solo album. It is a cooperation between him and The Band Geeks. The latter one is a quintet and a band in it's own right. 

The Band Geeks was also Jon Anderson's backing band on some gigs and they decided to go into studio together. This to record some new songs.

The songs here is either a tribute to Yes or very much in the same vein as Yes. This is the most Yes like album I have ever heard outside Yes itself. So much that it almost make sense labelling this album as a lost Yes album. With Jon on the vocals, that is an interesting debate.

This instant Yes factor is both due to the vocals and the band successfully trying to sound like Yes.

There is one long song here clocking in at almost seventeen minutes. The other songs on this one hour long album is shorter and more punchier.

The songs are a bit on the sweet and sunny end of what Yes did of symhonic prog. The balance between shades and light you normally got on a Yes album is not present here.

That said, the songs are all very good and we are talking a very good to great album. There is some superb vocals here and that elevates this album to a great album indeed.

This is one of the best prog rock album of this year and a triumphant return of Jon Anderson. I take my hat of to him and this album.

4 points

Spooky Tooth - Cross Purpose (1999)

The eight and final album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

Three guests added keyboards and harmonica.

The band returned again for a final album exactly twenty-five years after their last album. A quarter of a century, in other words.

None of the members from that album returned to do Cross Purposes. Mike Harrison and Mike Kellie from the Witness album is involved in this album on vocals and drums, though.

The music is mostly old style rock'n'roll and has almost nothing at all in common with what this band has previously released on their first seven albums. 

There are some third rate versions of some soul classics here at the end of the album and those versions is pretty horrible.

The vocals is good and that is the only good thing I can say about this album. But not even these vocals can save this abysmal bad album. It is a turkey.

1 point

Ozul - Man on the Shore (2024)

The second album from this one-man-band from Norway.

Ozul is Paulo Chavarria on guitars, electronics and vocals.

Paulo is originally from Costa Rica, Latin-America but he has settled in Bergen, Norway. Two albums has so far been released and I reviewed the debut album last month and awarded it a good rating.

The music on the 2023 debut album Provenance was a mix of art-rock, psych rock and heavy prog. Porcupine Tree and Marillion is two good references here.

That is also the case on this album. There is a lot more electronica and cinematic rock this time around though. Even some djent can be found here.

The music is very much expanded and has a lot more influences.

There is still a melancholic undertone in the music. The music is a mix of mid-tempo and heavier prog. 

The vocals is really good. The absence of some killer tunes is my only gripe with this album. Paulo can go far with this project if he wrote and recorded some even better songs than the ones on his first two albums.

3 points

 

 

 

 

Esquizoide - Cronicas (2024)

The debut album from this band from Argentina.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

Five guests added cello, violin, flute, saxophone and bass.

This is a new band from Argentina who has previously released two EPs in 2016 and 2019 before they released this album. This album is clocking in at fifty minutes.

The band has been labeled as a heavy prog band. I am not sure about that.... OK, they reminds me about a heavy, hard rocking version of Jethro Tull, the version of that band who won them the best hard rock act at the Grammy awards and pipped the likes of Metallica to that price (to everyobody's shock and horror). 

That said, there are a lot more art-rock in their music than heavy prog. There are some Porcupine Tree influences here though and some of the guitar solos has some Iron Maiden influences.

The flute and a lot of the music is also leaning towards Jethro Tull as I stated above. And we even get some tango and Latin - Rock here....

The vocals is good and the band does a good job on some songs who are slightly lacking in quality.

This is a more than acceptable debut album. The sound is good and I am awarding it a weak good rating. The addition of some vintage organ is adding that little extra to this album.

This is an album most prog fans will enjoy.

3 points

Motorpsycho - Heavy Metal Fruit (2010)

The 15th album from this band from Norway.

The band was a trio with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals. 

Three guests added keyboards, trumpet and female vocals on three tracks.

The band continued on from the rather disappointing 2009 album Child Of The Future.

I have been under the impression that Heavy Metal Fruit is one of the pillars in this band's very big discography. So I was looking forward to this album.

The band shows a lot of restraint on this album as they are no longe jumping in all directions. The band has more gone for elegance and subtle expressions.

In the case of this album, that means an understated blend of psych rock and space rock. There is indeed some krautrock here too. And there is even a funky song here followed by some good potent jazz.

The music on this one hour long album has all the Motorpsycho trademarks too. Their sound is pretty unique and that carries over to the music itself.

The music is six long pieces where the longest one is clocking in at over twenty minutes. 

The overall quality is very good indeed and I have really enjoyed the music and the many interesting details scattered along this album.

This is an album psych rock fans should check out. It is an album most prog fans will find interesting too. 

3.5 points

Triumph - Rock & Roll Machine (1977)

The second album from this band from Canada.

The band was a trio with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars and vocals.

Some guests added keyboards and vocals.

I have come to the second album in my reviews of all their albums. Their debut album did not sound convincing as it is a pretty substandard album.

Rock & Roll Machine turned out to be their best selling album and they even got a hit single here. The hit single is their version of Joe Walsh's evergreen Rocky Mountain Way.

This three quarters of an hour long albums includes a mix of hard rock and some more pastoral rock songs. There are even a ballad here.

The music is pretty youthful and hard. The band were a proto-heavy metal band and that is evident in their music.

This album is an improvement on their debut album and a good album for those into hard rock and heavy metal. I am not but this is still a decent album.

2 points

Gracious - Echo (1996)

The third and final album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a trio with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

Three guests added guitars and vocals.

The band released their first two albums in 1970 and 1971. They are semi-classic symphonic prog albums. Why Tim Wheatley and Robert Lipson, two-thirds of the 1996 band, returned twenty-seven years later is something I do not really understand.

Nevertheless, they did and the result is this album.

The years of inactivity has meant a change of genre. From symphonic prog to.... well, this one hour long album has a mix of various genres.

The start off point is art-rock. Then we get some psych rock, mainstream rock and......jazz. Yes, jazz. Coser to fusion, mostly but still some minutes with jazz. Confused ? You will be confused by this album.

That is not a bad thing, a musically varied album as this album. The vocals is also good and the band does a good job.

The quality of the music is somewhere between decent and good. It is indeed an interesting album who is sadly overlooked. Undeserved overlooked as it deserve a lot more attention. Check out this album.

2.5 points

Gebarvaterli - Im Tal der Emmen (1978)

The one and only album from this band from Germany.

The band was a seven piece big band with a lineup of congas, drums, bass, guitars, organ, piano, flute, saxes, trombone and bassoon.

This band released this album, then split and the members then got involved in the German jazz scene and became quite prolific in their respective projects and solo careers.

The music here is indeed jazz. But there is some strong krautrock influences here too and it is only fair to label it as a crossover album between jazz and krautrock.

Clocking in at forty minutes, the album has some nice details and twists. There is not that many solos here and the melodies are a bit lacking in quality. 

There are some pretty good saxophone solos here though.

The rest of the album is a bit too pedestrian. The music is still decent and worthy some investigations.

2 points

Lodestar - Zonen (2024)

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

The band is a quartet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars and vocals.

I got this album sent to me from the usual promo agent and I was promised a hard psych rock album. Hence me accepting doing a review of this album.

The album starts out as a nu-metal album and then moves over to stoner rock. Hmmm...

 Most of the music on this three quarters of an hour long album is very heavy, indeed. The main genre is stoner rock with some strong nu-metal influences. The guitars are chugging and atonal at times. The vocals are OK throughout.

There are also some more subtle psych rock influences here. Subtle but they are very evident here. 

There are some pretty good pastoral psych rock at the very end of this album. The rest of the album has some decent music. The music is not progressive, but stoner rock fans should get this album. It has something unique to offer this overcrowded scene. 

Check out this album.

2 points

Spooky Tooth - The Mirror (1974)

The seventh album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, clavinet, piano, organ, keyboards, moog, electric piano and vocals.

This is their final album from the 1970s. One more album was released and that album was released in 1999, twenty-five years after this album. A review will follow later this week.

Their previous album Witness was an improvement on the pretty dire You Broke My Heart album from the same year. 

The band has by now returned to their roots as a hard psych and blues rock band.

The music is pretty catchy and bluesy. The vocals is good and ditto for the guitars and the organ sound. 

This forty minutes long album has a fine blend of hard rockers and some more mid-tempo psych rock songs.

The quality is decent throughout and this album is one of their better ones. It is an album well worth checking out.

2 points

 

 

Ozul - Provenance (2023)

The debut album from this one-man-band from Norway.

Ozul is Paulo Chavarria on guitars, electronics and vocals.

Paulo is originally from Costa Rica, Latin-America but he has settled in Bergen, Norway. Two albums has so far been released and I will review the new album sometimes later this week.

The music is a modern mix of art-rock, psych rock and heavy prog. Porcupine Tree and Marillion is two very good references here. Pink Floyd is a minor influence.

The music is more melancholic than hard. It still has an edge but the edge is not that sharp. There is a lot of pop sensibilities here too.

The vocals is very good. There is some multi-layered vocals on this album too and they are very good. The music is not complicated but it still has some good details.

The music is still pretty muscular and is heavy at times. This is adding variations and gravitas to the songs.

The album is clocking in at three quarters of an hour and the music is good throughout. 

This is an album well worth checking out and a good edition to the impressive Norwegian prog and art-rock scene.

3 points

Vientos Moderados del Este - Un Manual de Signos y Síntomas (2024)

The debut album from this band from Spain.

The band is a trio with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

I became aware of this band when they introduced themselves in ProgArchives, the new bands submission forum. So I got their album and put it on the list of albums to be reviews. A many weeks long waiting list.

Their music is a mix of psych rock, art rock, heavy prog and symphonic prog. All of this with a cool breeze of Latin rock. This is a genre we have got from both Spain and South-America.

The vocals are in Spanish and they are very good. They adds a lot of colours and quality to this album. Ditto for the organs here which sounds both vintage and very good. 

The guitars are also cool. They are both chugging and adding some Spanish flavours in the vein of Al De Meola at the same time.

This close to one hour long album has one long epic clocking in at seventeen minutes and that epic closes the album. It is a very good epic.

The rest of the songs are also very good and this album is adding a lot of colours to my record collection and the progressive rock scene. The band is talking about a second album and I cannot wait....

In the meantime......Check out this album.

3.5 points

 

 

Spidergawd - Spidergawd III (2016)

The third album from this band from Norway.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, steel guitars, guitars, saxophones and vocals.

This is quite an interesting band. Their debut album was very explosive hard rock while their second album was a more garage and psych rock inspired vintage hard rock album.

The band includes members from Motorpsycho and that is evident in their music. Hard psych rock is what we get on this half an hour long album.

The music both hard, melodic and slightly weird too. The garage rock inspirations are evident.

The vocals is pretty good. The guitars are dirty and vintage psych rock like.

This is vintage psych rock and it is pretty good too. The album is too short for my liking.

The result is a decent to good album which should have been longer and is lacking a bit in the songwriting skills. I like this band.

2.5 points

Tusmørke - Hinsides (2017)

The fourth album from this band from Norway.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of glockenspiel, drums, percussion, organ, grand piano, mellotron, keyboards, synths, electronics, flute and vocals.

Three guests added congas, hurdy gurdy, flute, crumhorn, narration and vocals.

I reviewed their first three albums years ago for # 1 and # 2 of this blog many years ago. I will now review the remaining albums this autumn and winter for this blog.

Tusmørke is a strange band and a pretty important band in the Norwegian prog rock scene. 

Their music is not traditional progressive rock. It is more on the fringes of progressive rock.

Take a bit of both Daevid Allen and Frank Zappa's weirdness and add a lot of psych rock and folk rock. This where you find this album. There are also some Canterbury prog on this album, as in Gong. 

The music is weird and so is the Norwegian lyrics. Lyrics not many will understand as Norwegian is only understood by five million lost souls.... myself included. The vocals is good, though.

The quality of the music is somewhere between decent and good. I hope their other albums is better than this one, let me put it like that.

2.5 points

Gruppo Autonomo Suonatori - Omnia Sunt Communia (2021)

The one and only album from this band from Italy.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, bouzouki, mandolin, guitars, piano, synths, electric piano, flute, saxophones and vocals.

This band is also called G.A.S and has been around for two decades before they released this album through Black Widows Records in Italy.

That does not means this band is a heavy occult metal band, the normal fare from this record label. This album is an unusual album from this record label.

The music here is a mix of folk rock and old RPI.

The music is heavy at times and reminds me a bit about Biglietto Per l'Inferno. But the music is much more sunny and lighter than that band. Some Angelo Branduardi influences also shines through.

This album is fifty minutes long and it really offers a glimpse into the good old RPI days.

Most of the music is very good indeed and this album is a revelation. I flew under my radar back in 2021 but it is one of the best RPI albums from that year. I need a better radar....

Check out this very good album.

3.5 points

Gambit - Abyssal (2013)

The second album from this band from France.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

To my regret, I have been unable to get a copy of their 2009 debut album Machiavelique. So this is my only review of a Gambit album. That is a shame.

Their music is neo-prog. Neo-prog with French vocals and some symphonic prog influences.

Three good references are Gens De La Lune, Magnesis and Ange.  

The music is both melodic and pretty complex at the same time. The French vocals is very good. The rest of the band does a good job too on this fifty minutes long album.

The organ sound is really good and adds a lot of 1970s references and sound. The songs are all very good.

This album fits nicely into anyone's collection of French neo-prog and symphonic prog albums.

This is indeed a good album and it is a crying shame that this band never released another album. 

3.5 points

Methexis - Potential Deltas (2024)

The fourth album from this band from Greece.

The band is a one-man-band with Nikitas Kissonas playing all the instruments, that means guitars, electronics and vocals.

I really liked the first two Methexis albums and gave them both good ratings in May 2016 in # 1 of this blog. I have by accident bypassed the third album Topos from 2018.

So I was happy when this album showed up in my inbox. 

Potenitial Deltas gives us three quarters of an hour with some Frank Zappa like ditties and sillyness. The final minutes of the album is a pointless ambient dirge.

The contrasts between the good and the bad music on this album is pretty huge and I have been struggling with this album. The vocals is good though and ditto for the more jazzy bits. There is not enough of the jazzy bits though.

Frank Zappa fans will like this album a lot. It is a decent album in it's own right too. I am not won over.

2 points

 

 

 

 

Trk Project - Sounds from the Past (2018)

The second album from this band from Poland.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

The full name of this band is The Ryszard Kramarski Project but most blogs shortens it to Trk Project. This band is a side project of Framauro and Millenium.

After reviewing their last two albums, I decided to get hold of the rest of their albums too. I reviewed their 2017 debut album Music Inspired By The Little Prince some days ago and gave it a decent to good rating. Reviews of their third and fourth albums will be published in some weeks time, before the end of the year.

The rather operatic vocals from Karolina Leszko continues on also on this album. She gives their music a bit of a musicals feel. 

The music is still a mix of neo-prog and art-rock. Add in some folk rock influences, Mostly Autumn influences too and you get their music. Music with a bit of a melancholic take on neo-prog too. 

The music is complex, epic and melodic. It is also good and the band hit their stride on this album. An underrated band/project. Check out this album.

3 points

Tristan Park - Looking Homeward (1998)

The third and final album from this band from USA.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

This band's first two albums has not exactly impressed me. Their mix of pomp rock, commercial rock and neo-prog has this US sound and is very melodic. The problem is the band's lack of ability to write good, even decent songs.

This one hour long album continues in the same vein as the first two albums.

The vocals is decent although it sounds strained and limited. There are some good guitar solos and hooks here. The keyboards is somewhere in the mix, neither adding quality or making this album worse than it is. The sound is not particular good and this album tends to loose the attention of the listener halfway through the album.

The band comes up very short when it comes to writing songs. The quality is not there. The band is also a bit undecided about writing prog songs or commercial rock songs. 

The result is a decent album from a band who, for some good reasons, never got their commercial breakthrough.  

2 points