Trettioåriga Kriget - Till Horisonten (2021)

The tenth album from this Swedish band.

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

I did not expect a new album from these Swedish veterans. But I got a very nice surprise when I learnt about this album. 

The band album debuted back in 1974 and joined the heavy prog genre. That album was pretty heavy. I have reviewed all their albums and I really like this band a lot.

This band has an x-factor charm and a lot of good music too. I like their albums.... most of them.

The band has returned again with an album best described as a proto-symphonic prog album.

Barclay James Harvest, The Moody Blues and early albums from themselves is the best reference. Welcome back to 1970.

The vintage keyboards and the good Swedish vocals adds a lot to this album. There is a lot of melancholy in this album too. The vocals speaks about times long gone. Indeed, the melodies does the same.

The songs are also good and listening to this album is a good way to close down this year. 

A good album, indeed.

3 points

Civico 23 - Siero Progressivo (2013)

The one and only album from this Italian band.

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

A guest added wind, tambourine, mandolin, narration and backing vocals.

This album is not the easiest on both the ears and to review......

This band has taken the hard rocking avant-garde'ish bands from the early 1970s Italian progressive rock scene - RPI -  and made an album from that. 

All of it is original material on this one hour long album.

The music is wild and hard rocking. Most of the times, that is. There is also some slightly jazzy and pastoral parts here. 

The vocals is at times harsh. It is also good throughout.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. It is an album well worth checking out as you will find very few albums on this side of the RPI scene. It is an unique album.

2.5 points

  

Inner Prospekt - Canvas Two (2021)

The 11th album from this Italian band.

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

This band run by the Mad Crayon member Alessandro Di Benedetti has been very productive in their lifespan.

I have reviewed a handful of their albums and I have liked their music.

I have now turned my attention to this album.

We get again some very lush progressive rock. 

The music is a blend of RPI and neo-prog. It is very much a modern Italian progressive rock album. One among very many albums in this genre.

The music is melodic. This time around, I cannot fail to notice that the band, at the end of this album, has borrowed a bit from the early Genesis albums and last century's psalm tradition. 

That adds some quality to a rather good album and elevates it to a good album. Some of the songs are a bit too much of a run of the mill songs. 

Nevertheless, this is a good album.

3 points

Duello Madre - Duello Madre (1973)

The one and only album from this Italian band.

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

The band had some help from two guests who provided keyboard and percussion.

This band had members from Nova, Il Volo, Circus 2000, Osaga Tribe and Nuovo Idea. All of them fairly successful bands in their own right. 

The album opens with a poppy folk rock song complete with vocals before the jazz takes over.

Soft Machine is a good reference here. Soft Machine at their most jazzy, that is.

The rest of the forty minutes long album also dives into a bit of an avant-garde jazz territory in between some pretty standard jazz.

The result is pretty decent, indeed. Jazz fans should check out this album. Ditto for fans of fusion.

A decent album, indeed.

2 points

 

 

 

Enid. The - The Spell (1985)

The ninth album from this British band.

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

They had help from some guests who provided percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards and woodwind.

The Enid is a band who operated somewhere between classical music and rock. They were far more out there in the classical music landscape than for example ELP.

The Enid was a band with some very eccentric personalities and musicians too.

We get the usual classical music piece here and some rather eclectic pop and rock with some folk music and music hall influences.

Eccentric, indeed. Eclectic too.

Sometimes, The Enid hits the target and the result is a good or even a great album.

The Spell sees the band not really hitting the target. Some of the music is rather good and some of it does not really work. 

It is still an interesting album and one to check out. 

2.5 points

Congreso - Para Los Arqueólogos Del Futuro (1989)

The ninth album from this band from Chile.

The band was a nine piece big band with a lineup of drums, percussion, marimba, bass, cello, guitars, saxophones, recorder, flute, synths, piano and vocals.

A children choir also added their voices.

This band was still going strong and released their ninth album.

You never really know what you get from a Congreso album. Well, in those times, anyway. 

This time, we find Congreso in a jazzy mood. Jazz with some funky vocals and melodies. The piano delivers some really stuff who hits fusion heads straight in their/our hearts. 

There are also some more pastoral folk stuff here. Folk music combined with jazz.

The quality is good throughout and this makes this a good, enjoyable album. This is an album well worth checking out.

3 points

 

 

 

Fröberg & Musical Companion. Hasse - We Are the Truth (2021)

The fifth album from this Swedish band.

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

Hasse Froberg is a member of The Flower Kings if I am not wrong. He had four good friends who are the Musical Companion here.

Those who remember his previous work will not be surprised when they put this album on.

That is Swedish symphonic prog, reference is The Flower Kings, mixed up with art rock and a lot of 1970s rock.

There is a lot of 1970s rock here and some of it has a party feel and a feel good factor. There is also music with a more pastoral feel.

There is a lot of interesting details here. Fans of Swedish prog will again highly rate this album as this band is highly rated.

My gripe is the missing great songs. The songs are lacking a bit in quality. 

Then again, this is a good album. I just wish it was better.......

3 points

Isuldurs Bane - In Disequilibrium (2021)

The 13th album from this Swedish band.

The band was a nine piece big band with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, viola, violin, keyboards, woodwinds, marimba, trumpet and vocals.

This album is their second cooperation with Peter Hammil who does the vocals and some guitars here.

I noted on the previous cooperation album that the album was pretty close to Peter Hammill solo and Van Der Graaf Generator.

That is again the case here.

But we also get a lot of Swedish eclectic symphonic prog here too. That a bit hidden behind the vocals, but it is still here.

The vocals and the music is pretty eclectic and dark.  

This forty-five minutes long album is not for those with weak hearts. Fans of the gloomy, eclectic world Isuldurs Bane, Peter Hammil and Van Der Graaf Generator will really lap up this album.

It is indeed a good album too. The vocals and the melodies are really good and the album delivers one heck of a punch to solar plexus. 

Check it out.

3 points

Salander - Stendec (2014)

The third album from this British duo.

The duo is Dave Curnow (Lead Guitars, Rhythm Guitars, Bowed Guitar, Vocals) and Dave Smith (Keyboards, Acoustic Guitars, Rhythm Guitars, Bass, Drum Programming, Vocals).

I was not happy about the debut album at all and I bypassed their second album.

Hence... I am now on their third album. The fourth album will be reviewed later this winter.

The band has dropped the hiphop and the ambient stuff.

What we get is more of a melodic, still slightly symphonic neo-prog.

There is a lot of very tasty guitar solos here too. The band has been listening to Pink Floyd.... a lot.

That is not a bad thing. The slightly bad thing is the vocals. But I have heard and tolerated a lot worse vocals than this one.

The result is one hour with good neo-prog. An hour well worth giving this album.... and I guess this album will soon win you over.

Check out this good album.

3 points

 

 

 

 

Cirkel - The First Goodbye (1983)

The one and only album from this band from Holland.

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

A guest added acoustic guitars on one track.

This band was a short lived band and their album released on a small record label before Musea re-released this album with lots of bonus tracks. I am reviewing the original album.

The band is one of the first ever Dutch neo-prog bands and is therefore of some value to those of us who are collecting Dutch neo-prog. 

Neo-prog from the 1980s is what we get here. 

The vocals is very much in the new romantics vein (Human League springs to mind) and the sound is pretty thin. 

This is not the muscular neo-prog who the neo-prog later developed into. This is pretty poppy, songs orientated neo-prog in the vein of Pendragon.

The quality is barely decent. But it is still decent enough and this album deserve it's status as an obscure album.

2 points

 

 

Freecall Jupiter - The Dark Influence (2021)

The debut album from this English band.

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

This band is from the south coast of England, or to be more precise; Bournemouth. The brothers Tom and Marcus Gee does the bass, guitars and vocals and has got help from Luke Bocchetta on drums.

Together, the band has released a Bandcamp album.

The music is hard. Hard with a lot of nu-metal and hard prog in the vein of Linkin Park and Porcupine Tree. There is no rap here and that is a blessing.

The sound is youthful and very much the product of the last twenty years. Ditto for the music.

The music is pretty catchy too with some very youthful and fresh vocals. Both main and backing vocals. 

There is no doubts we are talking about some pretty big talents here and I hope we will hear a lot more from them in the future. The rock scene is in a bit of a lull these days and this band may be one of those who brings life into the scene again.

The overall quality is good and this is an album well worth checking out.

3 points

 

 

Disen Gage - Libertage (2006)

The second album from this band from Moscow, Russia.

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

I reviewed their 2004 debut album Screw-Loose Entertainment for ProgArchives back in the summer of 2008. I then got Libertage and forgot about the band altogether. The band has in the meanwhile released five more albums.

The band is King Crimson admirers. That's for certain after listening to the one hour long Libertage.

The band has gone a bit longer in the avant-garde direction than the masters themselves.

Add in some post-rock and jazz too with lots of half-acoustic guitars.

The music is alien to most of us and it is very much avant-garde. Madly avant-garde.

Parts of this album is rather good and parts of it is decent enough. I find half an hour of this album pretty enjoyable and a gift which keeps on giving. The rest... not so giving.

Avant-garde fans should check out this band.

2.5 points

 

 

Ozric Tentacles - Strangeitude (1991)

The eight album from this British band.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, synths, samples, programming, flute and vocals.

These living legend of ambient space rock had reached their eight album now. 

There is some subtle differences between their albums.... or major differences in some cases. The band did renew themselves on a regular basis.

Strangeitude gives us fifty minutes of mellow space rock.

There is some Russian folk music influences here and some Balkan folk rock influences. There is also a lot of guitars here and this is a proper space rock album in the same vein as Hawkwind's many albums.

There are also some more ambient soundscapes here.

The overall quality is good throughout this album. 

This is an album well worth exploring.

3 points

Grails - Redlight (2004)

The second album from this band from USA.

The band is a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, violin,lap steel guitar, guitars, dulcimer, organ and piano.

A guest added some saxophones.

Grails is a band whose music takes me faaaaar outside my comfort zone. I am now reviewing their albums and that is a challenge.

Their music is based on post-rock. On this album, add a lot of folk rock too and a lot of ambience. Add a lot of pastoral psych rock too and some space rock.

The music is pedestrian and it is not particular dynamic. 

The music is pretty primitive indeed.

I am not really won over by this album and find it hard to write much positive things about it.

I understand the music but it is still only a decent album.

2 points

 

 

Kayak - Out of This World (2021)

The 18th album from this Dutch band.

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

Three guests also provided violins.

Kayak is a band still going. Their music has not changed much from their debut album either. The result is a pretty large fanbase, three generations big. 

That is indeed impressive.

The music on this album is a mix of progressive rock, pop and rock.

There is songs on this album that makes me cringe. There are also a couple of good songs here.

The band no longer deliver music with a lot of technical quirks and melodies. Then again, they probably has never done that either in their long career.

The music is pretty simple and is sailing close, too close too meaningless pop-rock.

The result is a decent album but nothing more than that. This album is sorely lacking in good melodies and interesting details. A plus for the cover art work. I have been there myself.

2 points

Osanna - Il Diedro del Mediterraneo (2021)

The ninth album from this band from Italy.

The band is a quintet on this album with a lineup of drums, percussion, guitars, bass, organ, keyboards, saxophone, flute and vocals.

This band album debuted 50 years ago. They have had a long break but reappeared again some years ago with some more albums.

Osanna is an institution within the RPI scene.

I have reviewed and liked their previous eight albums.

Their new album, and I love the cover art-work, takes us on a journey more towards Italian crooner pop and some Italian folk rock. This still being within the parameters of RPI. 

The music is pretty dynamic and at times.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. This is not their best album. It is still worth checking out.

2.5 points

 

 

 

Kesem - Post​ Terra (2021)

 

The debut album from this band from Los Angeles, USA.

The band is a quartet with a lineup of drums, djembe, bass, guitars, keyboards, samples, synths, mellophone, trumpet and vocals.

This is another album debuting band from USA. The west-coast, to be more precise. Again, they wisely use Bandcamp as their platform for this album.

The music is somewhere between post-rock, stoner rock, space rock and psych rock. There is also a lot of the good old hippie psych rock here.

The music is reasonably melodic too but the vocals are not particular good.

The guitars are running the roost here and they are mostly half-acoustic.

There is a good hippie ambience throughout this forty minutes long album.

This album is in a dire need of some good melodies and lot better ideas than we get here. Besides of those two gripes, this is not a bad debut at all.

2 points

Circle of Fairies - As The Years Go By (1995)

 

The one and only album from this Italian band.

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

I am supposed to be an expert on progressive rock from Italy. That is what I have been told I am. OK, my knowledge of this scene is substantial. But then again.... I did not even know about the existence of this band until last month where I dumped into their listing in ProgArchives. Album was then purchased.  

Something I am glad I did. This band is a nice surprise.

OK, more about their style.... Take good old RPI, symphonic Italian prog and mix it with English or even Dutch neo-prog. 

The vocals are in English and they are really good. The songs on this one hour long album is long. 

They are also pretty symphonic on the top of a neo-prog soundscape.

The result is a good album and one to check out. I am glad I did.

3 points

Leap Day - Treehouse (2021)

The sixth album from this Dutch band.

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

This band was a side-project of King Elder and Flamborough Head before Leap Day became their main focus.

Their first five albums was well worth making Leap Day into the main priority too. Some really elegant Dutch neo-prog. Leap Day is among the three to five best Dutch neo-prog bands.

So what about Treehouse, their their sixth album ?

Leap Day fans can be joyful with this album. We still get elegant neo-prog here and one hour of it.

The vocals is pretty heavy accented and that is an issue. Beside of that, the vocals are fine.

The guitars are very good and the keyboards also adds their bits in the songs.

Some of the songs are indeed very good and this is therefore a very good album when we add the many very good details on this album.

Leap Day has again delivered a very good album and one neo-prog fans should check out.

3.5 points

Diez & Bischof - Daybreak (1975)

The one and only album from this band from Germany.

The band was a duo of Peter Bischof on vocals and Frank Diez on bass, mellotron, guitars and keyboards. 

Kristian Schultze, the famous German composer of ambient krautrock, added organs, mellotron, synths, clavinet, electric piano and piano. Others added drums, percussion and backing vocals. Dieter Dierks, later the famous producer of The Scorpions albums, was the producer here.

The duo was in other words helped by some really big names.

This forty minutes long album has been described as a krautrock album. Hence.... I got this album.

I am not sure about the krautrock label here.

German pop-rock is a much more fitting label. There are also some country'n'western music on this album. Lots of it, in fact.

There are some good tunes too and the first half of this album, side A, is rather interesting. This before USA influences takes over with lots of female background vocals and the country'n'western music.

The end result is a barely decent album. I am not a fan but side A is worth a listen or two.

2 points

Oldfield. Mike - The Killing Fields (1984)

The 11th album from this British artist.

Mike Oldfield did the guitars, synths and drum machine.

He hired choirs and orchestras for the other parts.

The Killing Fields is a very important movie and this review has nothing to do with that movie. I recommend everyone to see this very brutal movie about the Cambodia genocide.

Not all movie soundtracks works outside the movie it was written for. 

This one is a good example.

The movie soundtrack is just some noises and some sorts of background for the action on the screen. No pictures means no value.

This movie soundtrack falls flat on it's face and never really improves at all. 

It is a turkey, no less.

1 point

Salander - Crash Course For Dessert (2014)

The debut album from this British duo.

The band is Dave Curnow on guitars and vocals + Dave Smith on drums programming, bass, keyboards and vocals.

This band has so far released four albums and I have got three of them. I will review the two others in the coming weeks.

This album is a mix of fish and birds....

Large parts of this album is neo-prog with some rock influences. The songs are long but not particular intricate. Pink Floyd springs to mind.

That is the opening of this album. The middle part is techno with vocals. It is abysmal and ugly.

The final part is again somewhere near Pink Floyd.

I am not impressed by the music, the vocals and the mix of this album. It is almost a turkey, but the neo-prog is rather fairly good. 

This is not a good start on a career.

1.5 points

 

 

Coevality - Multiple Personalities (2021)

The debut album from this band from USA.

The band is a trio with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, cello, midi controller and trumpet.

This is a new band from Los Angeles, California.

The band plays jazz with a lot of fusion and instrumental eclectic prog influences. The music is really dynamic and technical.

Liquid Tension Experiment has been listed as a good reference and I have to agree with that.

The music is a bit clever, clever. But it also has a lot of melodies and nice vibes too.

There is off course a lot of guitars here and the guitars are really good. The musicians, who may or may be not members of the Berkeley University, although the music sounds like it comes from there, are really good musicians.

There are some really clever stuff here and the melodies are good.

This is indeed a good album and one well worth checking out.

3 points

 

 

Monarch Trail - Wither Down (2021)

The third album from this band from Canada.

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

Monarch Trail has got my approval in my ratings of their first two albums. I was really looking forward to review this album, in other words.

Ken Baird is an established solo-artist with some albums under his belt. Monarch Trail is he branching out in a full band setting together with some other musicians.

First of all, let me rate the cover art-work by Annette Roche as one of the best one I have seen this year. Perhaps even the best one. I would not mind having this one on one of my walls in my castle.

The music also reflects the art-work. It is big, bold and very much symphonic prog. There are some fusion elements here. But this is essentially a symphonic prog album with a lot of instrumental parts in addition to some really very good vocals.

The music flows nicely and captivates the listener throughout most of this album.

The result is a very good album indeed. An album I guess will figure high on most progheads album of the year.

3.5 points

Ritual - The Hemulic Voluntary Band (2007)

The fourth and so far latest album from this band from Sweden.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, harmonium, bouzouki, dulcimer, recorder, harp, clavinet, grand piano, organ and vocals.

A guest added violins.

Ritual was a band who were around before The Flower Kings made Scandinavian symphonic prog really popular. 

Ritual still had a lot of fans with their mix of Scandinavian symphonic prog and eclectic prog. Kind of The Flower Kings meets Gentle Giant with King Crimson playing in the background.

The vocals is very good and the soundscape is very lush.

The melodies is intricate and complex. Most of the stuff is still pretty melodic with a nice Scandinavian undertone and ambience.

The result is a very good album and one who cement their status as one of the most important ever Swedish bands. Check out this band.

3.5 points

 

 

Circle Project. The - Bestiario (2016)

The one and only album from this band/project from Spain.

The band, make that project, consisted of around twenty musicians with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, woodwinds, flutes, strings, piano, organ, keyboards, synths, mellotron, narration and vocals.

It is my understanding this project was the work of a music school somewhere in Spain. It was picked up by a record label of some sort and released.

The music is progressive rock with a lot of musicals, folk rock, pop and some hard rock incorporated.

The vocals and narrations are in Spanish and this is a concept album. It clocks in at around eighty minutes.

The musicianship and the vocals are reasonable good.

The music is decent enough. The musicianship and vocals aside, the music is pretty dull and not good.

This is a decent enough album and that is that.

2 points

 

 

Watch. The - The Art of Bleeding (2021)

The eight album from this band from Italy.

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

The Watch is a most interesting band. They are both a Genesis tribute band who are touring the old Genesis albums and they are also recording artists who write and record their own material.

This album is a concept album. I am not sure what the concept is, though. 

The music is very, very similar to Genesis, the Peter Gabriel era. The band also includes some RPI influences in their own sound and music.

The vocalist sounds like Peter Gabriel. Ditto for the musicians who sounds like the other Genesis members. There are still this RPI undertone in their music and that adds a lot of quality to this album.

The songs on this album is very good indeed. A couple of great songs and this album would had been a great album. It is close, so close......

RPI and Genesis fans should get this album.

3.5 points

Diabolus - High Tones (1972)

The one and only album from this British band.

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

This band recorded this album, gigged a lot and broke up. They forgot about this album and only became aware of it thirty years later. Royalties payments was not something they had seen........

That was the norm back then and pretty much even now. A great shame but true. The music bizz has always been piranha infested water.

The music on this album is a mix of hard rock, eclectic prog, brass rock and symphonic prog. 

This album is pretty unique sounding as there is very few other bands, if any, with the same sound. The music here is very original.   

The vocals is really good and the mix between the instruments is really good. So is the sound too.

This is an album well worth checking out. When it comes to quality, it is somewhere between decent and good.

Check out this album.

2.5 points

Embryo - Surfin' (1975)

The seventh album from this German band.

The band was a trio with a lineup of drums, marimba, percussion, vibes, bass, guitars, clavinet, organ, piano, mellotron, sitar, saxophone and vocals.

Two guests provided flutes and saxophones.

Embryo had so far released six albums of various genre and indeed; quality.

Surfin sees the band adopt their take on krautrock to a more west coast of USA surfing ambience and style.

There is a lot of fusion and funk here. There is also some Beach Boys like surf music. Well, the band tried to adopt some of their music towards surf music. But they failed.

The music is through and through krautrock and the music is not too bad. It is a bit silly now and then. But most of the music is rather good.

The end result is an album somewhere between decent and good. I am not won over by this krautrock does surfing experiment.

2.5 points

Fermáta - Huascaran (1977)

 

 

The third album from this band from Slovakia.

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

Two guests provided cello and violin.

This band really impressed me on their two first albums and I duly rated the band as one of the best bands from the other side of the iron curtain.

The iron curtain was in the bad old days and their music is now available to us all.

The band continues down the fusion road at full speed.

Most of the music on this album is very intense with a lot of guitars and organs. The Soft Machine springs to mind on a lot of their music. 

There is also a lot of prog in their music too. Symphonic prog.

The result is another good album from this band and I am becoming a fan.... or rather; an admirer of this band.

3 points

 

 

Ossuary. The - Oltretomba (2021)

The third album from this band from Italy.

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

This album has been released on Supreme Chaos Records and it can be obtained from their Bandcamp page. It is one of those Bandcamp based record labels. A wise choice, indeed.

Italy normally means RPI. But Italy also has a good doom and stoner rock scene. It is in this scene The Ossuary can be found.

The Black Sabbath references comes thick and fast on this album. There is also some progressive rock here and a lot of space rock influences.

The music here is indeed a mix of stoner rock and space rock.

The sound is reasonably dirty. The music is both intelligent and groovy.

The vocals is good and the guitars are really cleverly applied on this album.

I am not a big fan of this genre. But this is a good album and one I really enjoyed. Good music like this is welcome in my office any time.

3 points

 

 

Porto Di Venere. Il - E Pensa Che Mi Meraviglio Ancora (2021)

 

The debut album from this band from Italy.

The band is a sextet with a lineup of percussion, drums, bass, guitars, cello, keyboards, saxophones, violin, electric violin, samples and vocals.

The band was supported by a trio who added saxhorn, guitar and bass.

The band is new. But the two guys behind it is veterans from bands like Finisterre, Moongarden, La Maschera Di Cera, Il Nomadi, Franco Battiato and Submarine Silence.... just to mention a few of their bands. Yes, step forward Maurizio Di Tollo and Cristiano Roversi. 

I have by pure accident just published a review of Maurizio Di Tollo's solo album from 2015. A classic RPI album.

And the same can be said about Il Porto Di Venere's debut album too. Classic but still contemporary sounding RPI with a lot of symphonic prog at it's core.

This album can and should be labeled as contemporary RPI.

And it is every RPI fans joy and pleasure.

Great Italian vocals and the typical RPI sound with it's basis in symphonic prog and Italian folk-pop music.

Added to this is some really great guitar solos too. 

Oh yeah... I am happy with this great RPI album. As happy as a pig in mud. 

4 points

 

 

 

Shurakay - Overseas Tales (2021)

The debut album from this band from Spain.

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

This is a new band in the Spanish scene and the world wide progressive rock scene. A nice addition, it is.

The band does instrumental music and this album is clocking in at over one and an half hour. Yes, it is a Bandcamp album.

I am not a big fan of instrumental prog. Well, unless it is really good.

Shurakay gives us some really dynamic music somewhere between symphonic prog, flamenco, progressive metal, soundtrack music and fusion.

The music is dynamic and pretty hard and wild throughout. 

The music also has some really great musicianship with some great guitar solos and hooks. The bass and drums is very good too.

That alone does not make a good or a great album. A good/great album requires some quality too.

The quality here is somewhere between decent and good. That said, this is one of the better instrumental prog albums this year. If you are into instrumental prog, get this album. If not.....

2.5 points

 

 

Chamaeleon Church - Chamaeleon Church (1968)

The one and only album from this US band.

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

This band only released one album. But some of the band members went onto better things. The vocalist Chevy Chase went on to becoming one of USA's best and most famous comedians. 

The other members joined Ultimate Spinach who released some albums. Albums I have reviewed in # 2 of this blog.

The year is 1968 and The Beatles was big. So was the hippie culture.

The music is a mix of the more banalities of The Beatles and psych rock. 

The music is very much what to expect.... from 1965. OK, the sitar adds some hippies and psych rock elements.

A couple of the songs are rather decent and the sitar is a nice addition. 

There is nothing much to enjoy on this album and this album has only some historical value. 

1.5 points

Drifting Sun - Forsaken Innocence (2021)

The seventh album from this multi-national band.

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

Three guests provided violin, guitars and organ.

This band has been around since 1996. Two of the members relocated to UK from France and this band is now a French-English band.

Neo-prog is the genre on all their previous six albums.

That is also the case here. There are a lot of French and Continental-Europe influences in their music too. 

There is also some gothic and more opera influences in their music and this album is pretty dark. 

The music is still melodic with some good vocals and guitars.

The music is rather good too on this seventy minutes long album. It is not their best album but it is still an album well worth checking out.

That also goes for their previous six albums. This is indeed a good band who deserve a lot more attention.

3 points

Di Tollo. Maurizio - Memorie di Uno Sparring Partner (2015)

The second album from this Italian musician.

Maurizio Di Tollo does the moog, synths, piano, programming and vocals himself.

He has got help from numerous guests who provides drums, percussion, bass, guitars, synths, piano, trumpet and backing vocals.

Maurizio Di Tollo is mostly known as member of bands like Hostsonaten, Distillerio Di Malto, Moongarden, La Mascera Di Cera and as a member of Fabio Zuffanti's band. He has also helped out on numerous other albums by other bands and artists.

I really loved his 2012 debut album L'Uomo Trasparente. But it has taken me some years to review the follow up album.

Maurizio Di Tollo gives us an hour worth of pastoral RPI - Italian Progressive Rock. 

That is... classic Italian progressive rock with some Italian folk rock influences and Italian pop music.

The music is really charming and Maurizio has a great voice and delivers some great Italian vocals here.

The quality is very good throughout and this album comes recommended.

3.5 points

Enid. The - Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)

The sixth album from this British band.

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

Two guests added drums, percussion, bass and guitars.

The Enid has so far released five strange albums. Strange, eclectic and colourful albums, that is. So I was scratching my head before I sunk my ears and brain into this album. What would they come up with this time ?

Well.... A mix of classical music and some rather weirdo prog in the direction of Gong.

Yes, you can actually combine these two opposites and you can put these two opposites on a forty minutes long album.

The Enid can as they are very talented musicians. 

There are most classical music here though and the quality is OK'ish. The music is a bit too bland to really attract me to this album.

The quality of the material is somewhere between decent and good. It is not their best album.

2.5 points

Congreso - Estoy Que Me Muero (1986)

The eight album from this band from Chile.

The band was a nine piece big band with a lineup of drums, percussion, marimba, bass, guitars, charango, cello, saxes, clarinet, flute, keyboards, piano and vocals.

The band continued with their eight album after their very eclectic seventh album. A jazz album, no less.

They changed their ways on the follow up album, the album I am here reviewing.

The music is folk rock with some pop too. There is also some gentle jazz here. 

This album is what their previous album was not. In style and accessibility, that is.

The vocals are really good and the music is both warm and interesting. The vocals are Spanish and you can feel the local culture on this album.

The quality is not the best as this album feels a bit bland. Nevertheless, this is an interesting album and a good one too.

Check out this album.

3 points

 

 

This Winter Machine - Kites (2021)

The third album from this British band.

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

Guest musicians provided guitars, violin, keyboards and vocals.

This Winter Machine is one of those new bands who is storming the scene and winning a lot of new fans. Myself included.

Their music is neo-prog. 

Their brand of neo-prog has a lot of 1970s stadium rock and progressive rock influences. That gives the band their own identity. 

The mix of stadium rock and neo-prog is pretty good on this album.

The vocals are really good and the guitars and the organ sound is very good.

The overall quality is good and the band will win a lot of new fans with this album. This is a band well worth following.

3 points

Transatlantic - The Absolute Universe (2021)

The fifth album from this Swedish/US/UK band.

The band is a quartet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, ukulele, charango, piano, minimoog, organ, keyboards, mellotron and vocals.

This is the review of the one and a half hour version of this album. There is a shorter version too, clocking in at one hour.

Transatlantic..... You know what you will get here and the band delivers.

That means symphonic prog with a blend of The Flower Kings, Neal Morse Band and Spock's Beard.

Neal Morse's vocals are really good as per always. The band members has decades of experience behind them and the first four Transatlantic albums has all been great.

I still get the feeling the band is running a bit empty here. The music is still very good and these ninety minutes offers up a good time for everyone into symphonic prog. The recipe is a bit........ too well known and does not offers up many really great tasty bits.

This is a very good album and one to check out. This is not their best album, though.

3.5 points

 

 

Ritual - Think Like a Mountain (2003)

The third album from this Swedish band.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, percussion, harp, bass, guitars, bouzouki, dulcimer, mellotron, organ, piano, synth, whistles, recorders and vocals.

Two guest musicians added cello, viola, violin and electric violin.

The band returned again with their third album after a rather indifferent second album.

The band returned to the rather Greek and Middle-East influences. 

The band still does a mix of Scandinavian neo-prog and symphonic prog. But with some folk rock influences from Greece and the Middle-East. There are also some Swedish folk rock influences in their music.

The result is one hour of some melodic but still eclectic songs. 

The vocals is very good and so is the music here. Music which is half-acoustic throughout. It is also soulful. 

The result is a very good album and one to check out. 

3.5 points

 

 

Chameleon - Rising (2013)

The one and only album from this US band.

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

This album is a collection of recordings this long forgotten band did between 1975 and 1980. It is not a proper studio album. But I have chosen to review it as there are so few reviews of this album out there.

The music is 1970s mix of hard rock, stadium rock, fusion, blues and progressive rock.

They have been influenced by the big bands and names of that era and that is reflected on this eighty minutes long album.

The vocals are good. Raw but good. 

The band does their best and some decent to good material. Material which at times is really heavy. Then we get some fusion workouts too.

The end result is a decent to good album which should satisfy those into the 1970s scene. The album is obscure but still worth the effort.

2.5 points

 

 

 

Galaad - Paradis posthumes (2021)

The fourth album from this band from Switzerland.

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

I have been an admirer of this band for quite a while. So when I heard about this album, I got it more or less the same day it was released.

Galaad plays neo-prog pretty much influenced by the French symphonic prog scene. Yes, the vocals is in French. But the band is also leaning a lot on the first Ange albums.

The sound is pretty much neo-prog, though. It is a contemporary sound.

The music is really dynamic with a lot of interesting details. The vocals is very good, indeed.

This album is a smorgasboard for all neo-prog fans, indeed. 

The quality is very good too and this one hour long album is not outstaying it's welcome in my sound system. 

Check out this album from one of today's better neo-prog bands.

3.5 points

 

 

Oximora - Espejo (2016)

The one and only album from this band from Mexico.

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

This band is new to me. The prog rock scene in Mexico has always been a good one and this band is adding this album to this scene.

The music is a mix of heavy prog and neo-prog.

The music is fronted by some female vocals and the vocals are Spanish vocals. The vocals are good.

This album is over eighty minutes long and that is a big, big mouthful of progressive rock.

The sound is really good and parts of this album has a bit of a jazzy, laidback feeling. Something some half-acoustic guitars and organs is providing. Most of the guitars are electric and we get a clean keyboards sound too.

The quality is rather good with a lot of interesting details. I hope we will hear more from this band or the members of this band. They are talented.

3 points

Ozric Tentacles - Erpland (1990)

The seventh album from this English band.

The band was a seven piece big band with a lineup of percussion, drums, bass, guitars, flute, synths, samples, programming and voice.

This band is an institution in the left-field end of the progressive rock scene in UK and world wide. They have released a lot of albums and I am trying to review most, if not all, of them.

The band has so far managed not to repeat themselves from album to album.

This album takes us to a rather varied and organic soundscape. There is some acoustic instruments here and samples. The album and music takes a lot of inspiration from the Middle-East and India too. There is a great deal of krautrock on this album in addition to some rather ambient space rock.

Most of the music can be labeled as ambient space rock and this album should be filed under that genre.

This seventy-four minutes long album also manages to sound both fresh and relevant even in this day and age.

The quality is very good throughout and this is one of their albums well worth checking out. It offers a lot for both heart and brain. 

3.5 points

Grails - The Burden of Hope (2003)

The debut album from this US band.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, lap steel guitar, guitars, violin and organ.

A guest added saxophones on three tracks.

I have got six of their seven albums I will review on a regular basis. I reviewed their sixth album ten years ago for ProgArchives and I should have been more methodical back then. In short, I should have started with this, their debut album....

This band is listed as a psych/space rock band in ProgArchives. But it is my understanding that the band was doing a lot of genre hopping throughout their career and seven albums.

Their debut album is very much a post-rock album. There is also some rather ambient acid rock here too.

The music is both laidback and softly spoken on most of the tracks here. The ideas is there but they are not particular well worked out.

This album is in short pretty bereft of any good tunes and any really good ideas. The half-acoustic guitars and the faint organ is running on empty. The saxophones and the violin is just adding some spice and a bit quality to the music here.

This album is decent enough, and that is that.  

2 points

Professor Tip Top - Lanes of Time (2021)

The seventh album from this Norwegian band.

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

I have really liked their previous albums and was looking forward to this album. 

The band is again taking their inspiration from the likes of Pink Floyd, Procul Harum, classical rock and some Canterbury prog like Caravan. There is also some Gazpacho in their sound and music.

There is also some post-rock vibes in their music.

The music is really laidback and half-acoustic. The vocals are very good.

There is also one psych/space rock workout on this album.

This album is forty minutes long and it offer some really good value for everyone who likes laidback progressive rock.

Norway is a country, a gift that continues to give and give to the progressive rock scene.

3.5 points

 

 

Asabove - Lightbender (2021)

The debut album from this US band.

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

Some guests added drums and bass too.

This band is from Hawaii, USA. That is Pearl Harbour, Honolulu and all that. It is not the mainland USA in other words and I cannot recall ever having heard about a band from Hawaii before. I have not reviewed an album from these islands before.

The band does a mix of stoner metal, post rock, post metal and a bit of grunge.

The vocals are in the grunge territory and the music is a bit harsh at times. It is also pretty melodic at times.

The band tries to give this one hour long album some different music styles and expressions. Which is fair enough.

The quality is not that good and I am not really won over by this album and this band.

It is a decent enough album and that is it. Fans of post metal should check out this album.

2 points

Chalis - One Small Chance (1975)

The one and only album from this band from USA.

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

Some guests provided strings too.

This band from Minnesota is largely forgotten and there is few reviews around. Something I can understand. The band is listed as a prog band in ProgArchives and has therefore got my attention and a review.

Progressive rock is not what I have in mind when I am listening to this album.

This thirty - five minutes long album has a mix of teenybopper rock, rock and stadium rock. OK, there are some hints of prog here too. A bit Supertramp. But also a lot of Elton John.

The vocals is fairly good and the band is doing their best with some pretty dull material. The organ and slide guitars are cool, though.

The quality is barely decent. But the music is decent enough and there may be someone out there who would appreciate this album. Check out this decent enough album.

2 points

Yes - The Quest (2021)

The 21st album from this British band.

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

A new Yes album... hmm..... For some reasons, a lot of people became very hopeful when they heard the single from this album. I did not bother and I just continue to listen to and review other albums. 

I had lost my faith in this once so brilliant band many albums ago.

What this one hour long album gives us is a mix of AOR and symphonic prog. The vocalist Jon Davison sounds like Jon Anderson. But he probably comes cheaper and is more tolerant of the material Yes cooked up for this album.

There is not much to feel joyful about on this album. 

It is still a decent album but still one of their worst ever albums. The best thing is Steve Howe's albums and a handful of decent songs. 

That aside.... avoid.

2 points