Kanaan - Odense Sessions (2020)

The second album from this Norwegian trio.

The trio has a lineup of bass, drums and guitars.

A guest adds additional guitars on a couple of tracks.

I very much liked their debut album and gave it a good review in # 2 of this blog. This was back in January 2019. Their debut album Windborne was released in 2018.

I will now do reviews of their other studio albums.

Odense Session has been recorded in a studio and it is not a live album as I first feared.

The music is a hard and bold mix of psych, space rock and jazz. It is type of music that suits the trio format.

O boy does Kanaan makes a lot of noise on this album. Intelligent noise and music that you can both listen to and really move your body to. This music leaves no prisoner and is hard, hard and monumental.

The music is also very good and this band is becoming one of those bands I am really into now. Reviews of their two newer album will follow in the coming weeks.

3.5 points

Ghosts of Jupiter - Ghosts of Jupiter (2011)

The debut album from this US band.

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

This band is new to me. They have so far released three albums and all of them are up for reviews in the coming weeks.

The debut album is the logical start.

The music is modern psych rock with a lot of americana and desert rock influences. Add some stoner too.

Black Sabbath has been an obvious inspiration behind the slabs of guitar riffs the band is churning out with glee on this three quarters of an hour long album.

The sound is really good and......... well, the music is not really on par with the good sound.

There are a lot of good details here but the songs are lacking in the quality department.

Hence....

2.5 points

Ueberschaer - Flow of Time (2022)

The debut album from this band from Germany.

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

They were supported by a trio of guests who provided guitars, organ, moog and synths.

The band is the vocalist Heko Ueberschaer with friends. 

Another year, another debut album from Germany in the neo-prog and art-rock genren. Well, many debut albums from Germany in this genren.

The band is new to me.

The music is more art-rock and more the last decades of Marillion than neo-prog.

The music is medium muscular and melodic. The vocals is really good and gets no complaints from me.

This album is seventy-one minutes long and it is one heck of a mouthful. 

Some of the songs and details are good. Some are not. 

The quality is therefore somewhere between decent and good. I am not won over by this band..... yet.

2.5 points

Dennis - Hyperthalamus (1975)

The one and only album from this German band.

The band was an eight piece big band with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards, flute, saxophone and clarinet.

Dennis is the name of the son of the ex Frumpy drummer Carsten Bohn, the man who formed Dennis.

The band split up in 1974 after the recording of this album and this album was released after their demise.

This album is also regarded as a mini-classic album in the krautrock scene. I had been looking to review this album for a long time.

What do we get here ? Four pretty long songs. The longest one takes the whole side B on this LP album. The music is spacey, jazzy psych krautrock. 

All of it is instrumental and they sounds a bit like Soft Machine on their best. Unfortunate, the pretty poor sound hides what could have been a really good album.

There is still some good stuff here. But not enough.

Hence, it falls between decent and good. It is still an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points

 

 

 

Mesmerising - The Clutters Storyteller (2020)

The third album from this Italian band.

Mesmerising is Mr Davide Moscato's band/project. He does the vocals and some keyboards on this album.

He has got support from drums, bass, guitars, flutes, sax, moog, mellotron, keyboards and organ.

Fabio Zuffante is the producer and adds some bass to this album too. That tells you how serious Davide Moscato is being taken.

And with good reason.....

The music is indeed progressive rock, but not RPI - Italian Progressive Rock. The music is too slick and too polished to be called RPI.

This soundscape is leaning very heavy on David Gilmour and his take on Pink Floyd. The music is neo-prog light with a lot of rock influences.

The vocals are really good and the musicians knows how to spice up these songs. Songs that is not really exciting. 

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. It is still an album well worth checking out at their Bandpage page.

2.5 points

 

 

Haken - Virus (2020)

The sixth album from this band from England.

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

This is their latest album per March 2022. I hope the band is planning a new one. 

There is not so many Dream Theater influences in their music. Haken has established their own style and is comfortable with that.

Take hard prog, djent, progressive metal and add a lot of operatic elements to that. Operatic elements but not gothic elements. The music is never really dark.

The music is very bombastic, though. And they can also be very pastoral. Pastoral with some great vocals.

The result is a good album, indeed. I am still a bit hesitant to fully embrace their music and I think that will never ever happen. But there is no denying that this is a good band.

Virus is also a good album and well worth checking out.

3 points

Ixthuluh - Some Chimeras (2014)

The fifth album from this band from Austria.

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

Someone has managed to dig out some more 1979/80 songs from this band and released it. This "someone" is probably the band themselves.

The sound is dubious but not as bad as on the four previous albums.

The music is improvised fusion, jazz and space rock. 

Or Krautrock to be more precise.

The music is pretty groovy and pretty good with some good jazz being the highlight of the album.

The dubious sound is pretty much impossible to ignore and the album loose one point because of the sound. If this album had been re-recorded, this could had been a good album. It is not.

2 points

 

 

Framauro - My World Is Ending (2022)

The second album from this band from Poland.

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

This band has resurfaced again after a twenty-four long break. Their debut album Etermedia was released in 1998.

We are talking neo-prog again.

The music is neo-prog in the British tradition. It is very old style neo-prog. 

The vocals are very good and the songs are leaning towards Pink Floyd and Pendragon.

There is a lot of very good guitar solos here.

The songs are good and this is an album everyone into neo-prog will like.... or love.

Simple and uncomplicated melodic neo-prog is sometimes very effective and gives the listener a lot of joy. Music like this album.

3 points

Enid. The - Sundialer (1995)

The 13th album from this British band.

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

They had support from two handfuls of musicians who provided guitar, low whistle, shaker, electronics and vocals.

This album is not really a full The Enid album. It is an album with one original song and four remixes of early material. 

The band has not approved the release of this album. But it is out and I feel it is right to review it despite of the nature of this album.

The music is OK'ish. It classical music and soundtrack music with some rock included.

There is a great deal of electronica on the remixes and they do not add anything of value to the original songs.

This is barely a decent album and it is an album well worth bypassing.

Get the albums the band approves on and has put their souls into recording and releasing.

2 points

Congreso - Por Amor Al Viento (1995)

The 13th album from this band from Chile.

The band was an eight piece big band with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, maracas, cello, marimba, saxes, guitars, piano, keyboards and vocals.

The band was back again with a new album.

The band returns to the folk rock genre again.

Folk rock with Spanish vocals and a lot of local colours. 

There is also a lot of what we lover of Italian progressive rock would claim is common between this band and RPI - Italian progressive rock. This cool sound and vibe.

There is some pop here too and the music is both melodic, pastoral and pretty clever.

The result is a good album indeed. One to cherish.

3 points

Fulcrum. The - Annihilate (2022)

The debut album from this band from New York, USA.

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

This is a new band to me. They released their album through Bandcamp and has got some positive reviews.

Their music hard rock. Hard rock with some heavy metal influences and a lot of prog rock influences.

Their sound is also a mix of the 2010'ish sound and the 1970s hard rock sound.

The vocals and the music is muscular and the sound is powerful.

There is no songs here who springs out and defines this album. But all songs are good and the band is really talented, fronted by a really great vocalist.

This is an album fans of hard rock and hard prog should check out. 

I hope we will hear a lot more from this band in the future.

3 points

 

 

Deep Thought - The Tunnel (2013)

The third album from this band from Switzerland.

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

This band released three albums before they were disbanded. Three not so successful albums.

This album is two CDs album clocking in close to two hours.

The music is neo-prog with some rock, hard rock and some progressive metal influences.

The music is songs focused and not particular long. There is an overture here which gives the listener a great deal of hope....

.... Soon dashed by some rather forced, half-decent vocals.

The music itself is rather unremarkable and difficult to remember minutes after the album has finished it's two hours on the speakers. 

There is no good songs here and this album is rather easy to forget. Some good details is the only saving grace on this album.

2 points

 

 

Panseri. Mario - Adolescenza (1973)

The second album from this Italian artist.

Mario Panseri did the vocals, keyboards, guitars and bass here. He had help from others on woodwinds and drums.

Mario Panseri released three albums before his recording solo career ended. He passed on in 1995.

Mario was highly rated by other musicians and his songs was recorded by many other Italian artists. 

Listening to Adolescenza, I can understand why.

The music is soft and poppy RPI with some jazz influences. The music is in the singer-songwriter tradition.

Mario's vocals are really good. It is just a shame that the quality is not of the same standard.

The music is OK'ish with some good details strewn around the album. 

Those who like soft RPI will like this album.

2 points

Gandalf's Fist - The Clockwork Prologue (2019)

 

The seventh album from this British band.

The band was an eight piece band with a lineup of drums, percussion, tubular bells, bass, guitars, mandolin, mandola, organ, piano, keyboards, synths and vocals.

Ten guests provided violins, vocals and narrations.

The band continued on from the three CD long 1996 album The Clockwork Fable. That album, three CDs and the two CDs on The Clockwork Prologue is more or less one album. You need both albums.

There are again long spoken words theatrical plays and narrations with some music in between the theatrics.

The music is a mix of neo-prog, theatrical rock and symphonic prog.

The music is good although the music is not what this album will be remembered for. It is all the theatrics I will remember this album for. 

This is still a good album and one to check out.

3 points

Haken - Vector (2018)

The fifth album from this British band.

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

Two guests added flugelhorn and drum programming.

The band was on a roll after some strong albums. They had also gotten themself a good fan base.

The formula is again what it was on the previous albums.

That is Dream Theater like progressive metal combined with a lot of symphonic prog and eclectic prog.

The music is really cleverly crafted. It sounds like math nerds has crafted the music.

The music is also bold and goes where few bands has dared to go. Or dare to go.

This album is pretty hard and is touching into djent on several songs.

The music is still good and the band shall never be accused for being dull. The music is always interesting. A couple of killer tracks is missed but this is still a good album.

3 points

Wildewind - Archipelagon (2022)

The debut album from this band from Sweden.

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

This is a new name to me and the cover art work drew me into getting this album.

A pretty good choice.

Take good old Scandinavian symphonic prog and mix it up with some neo-prog and Pink Floyd.

This is what you get on this album.

The music is muscular and sometimes epic and bold.

These forty minutes also gives us some good vocals and musicianship.

This is indeed a good album and one to check out. I hope we hear a lot more from this duo.

3 points

 

 

 

Ozric Tentacles - Curious Corn (1997)

 

The 12th album from this British band.

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

The band is long established and is by now churning out albums. Albums who are pretty different from each other.

The album is still within the space rock genre.

This time, the band has dived into the electronica genre. 

That means space rock meets electronica.

This time with a lot more computers and electronics than before.

The result is OK but not their best album.

This album is somewhere between decent and good. And it is still an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points

Groundhogs - Blues Obituary (1969)

The second album from this British band.

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

I have just started on my journey of reviewing all their albums.... and this album comes up.

Their debut album was pretty unremarkable blues.

Blues Obituary is a pretty left field blues album.

There is indeed a lot of psych rock in their slabs of blues rock. 

The song structures is a bit weird and pretty much different from most blues rock. It is still blues, but psyched out blues.

There is a lot of very good guitars here too.

I am still not won over by their music and this album is just a decent album in my ears. But the band seems to go somewhere.....

2 points

 

 

Jethro Tull - The Zealot Gene (2022)

The 22nd album from this British band.

The band is a quartet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, bouzouki, mandolin, accordion, piano, keyboards, flute, harmonica and vocals.

It is almost twenty years since their last album, the Christmas album, and the band is back again. That minus Martin Barre. 

At lot has been said about Ian Anderson. Some good and some bad things. But is beyond any doubts that he is a superb songwriter and vocalist. 

Which brings us to this album and the new Jethro Tull setup....

This album is taking us back to the folk rock era of this band. Their best era. 

There is a lot of flute, vocals and acoustic instruments on these twelve songs. There is no suites and no flirting with symphonic prog. The music is still progressive folk rock and in a style only Ian Andersen is capable of doing.

Oh yeah, this is a pure Jethro Tull album.

And it is among the better Jethro Tull albums too.

There are two great songs and some very good and good songs on this forty-seven minutes long album. Forty-seven pretty capturing minutes.

This is indeed a very good album.

I am happy now. Really happy with the return of Jethro Tull.

3.5 points

 

 

Deaf - Alpha (1994)

The one and only album from this band from Switzerland.

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

Two guests added more vocals.

This is a compilation of studio recordings this band did between 1970 and 1972. It therefore does not really belong in this blog, but I took pity on it after one listening session and continue to lend it my ears for some more sessions.

The music is hard, bluesy, improvised psych krautrock. 

The sound is pretty dire and nothing to be too happy about.

The music is pretty dire too and this fifty minutes long album, including a twenty minutes long improvised piece, is not something wasting money on.

There are some half decent pieces here and this album is not a total failure. But it is close..... and it is a turkey.

1 point

 

 

Penrose Stairs - Divided By Light (2015)

 

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

This band released their album through Bandcamp and their Bandcamp is a bit difficult to find as it has a low Google score.

This album has not really been an internet sensation, in other words. Neither has anything been heard from this band after the release of this album.

The music is heavy prog with a lot of Porcupine Tree influences. There is also some djent and neo-prog here.

The vocals are muscular and on par with the muscular music.

The result is a fairly OK album who has a blend of good and decent music. This album should be better known and more people should get this album. It is an album bordering to being an obscure gem.

2.5 points

Ixthuluh - What's The Name (1981)

The fourth album from this band from Austria.

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

We have again a recording from this band who was dug up and released in 2005. The same as on the previous three albums.

The music is a mix of space rock and psych rock.

Krautrock in other words as the band is close in sound and music to German acts who is labeled as krautrock.

The sound quality is basement quality.

There are some decent stuff here. But most of the quality is very low. 

This is an album well worth avoiding and forgetting. 

1.5 points

Gandalf's Fist - The Clockwork Fable (2016)

The sixth album from this British band.

The band is a quartet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, mandolin, mandola, synths and vocals.

The band was supported by a handful of guests who did bodhran, saxophone, guitars and vocals. Numerous actors also did spoken words and narrations.

Among the vocalists is Arjen Lucassen and Blaze Bailey (ex Iron Maiden).

This album is three hours long ! And it marks the recent progression of this highly talented band from the north-west of England.

Three hours.... OK, some of it is narrations and spoken words. Spoken theater, no less. 

This album takes us into the history of England. The music is sometimes pretty musical like, it sometimes moves into neo-prog and symphonic prog and it also strays into folk rock and Iron Maiden like heavy metal. There is also a lot of female vocals on this album.

There is a lot of variations on this album.

But three hours..... And these three hours is an opera, more or less.

These three hours gives is some really very good music. The spoken theater sometimes runs too long and makes me yearn for the music pieces. 

This album is up to this point their best album and it should be regarded as an opera.

It is indeed an album well worth the purchase. 

Check it out.

3.5 points

Kryptograf - The Eldorado Spell (2022)

The second album from this band from Norway.

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

The band returns again after their self-titled debut album in 2020. A good album.

We are back in the 1970s and we are back in Black Sabbath.

The vocals are very similar to Ozzy Osbourne and the music is stoner rock.

... In the same vein as Black Sabbath.

There is some retro stoner bands around and Kryptograf is one of the better ones.

Their music may sound primitive and it is feels like a return to the more simpler times. Kryptograf delivers a healthy punch with their music and the music is effective.

This is is indeed a good album and one to check out. 

The music genre Black Sabbath invented is indeed timeless.....

3 points

Oldfield. Mike - Heaven's Open (1991)

The 15th album from this British artist.

Mike Oldfield did the guitars, synths, organs and the vocals here.

He had help from a dozen or so musicians who provided drums, percussion, bass, saxophones, bass clarinet, organ, piano and vocals.

A small choir also added their voices.

Mike Oldfield was moving into his third decade with this album and that presented a challenge.

Go for commercial money making music or go for artistic integrity as a cult artist ?

Mike Oldfield goes for both on this album.

The first five songs are short, sweet and commercial music. There is even reggae here.

The final song is a twenty minutes long return to this cult roots.

None of the songs are good. Most of this material is not even decent.

Hence my lack of good things to say about this album.

1.5 points

 

 

Haken - Affinity (2016)

The fourth album from this British band.

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

The band had by now established themselves as one of the big bands in the heavy prog and general progressive rock scene. Their releases was always an event.

For some reasons, I have always mistaken this band for being from Sweden. That from their first album too.

Affinity sees the band take on a much more Swedish symphonic and heavy prog sound. That in addition to being pretty close to Dream Theater. 

Thee is also some jazzy and King Crimson feelings here. Mostly in the construction of the songs.

The music is pretty commercial and bold. The music is big and expansive. The musicians is doing a wonderful job here.

The vocals is also very good and does not sound forced at all.

This is indeed a very good album from a great band.

This is an album both regular prog rock fans and prog metal fans will like........ a lot.

3.5 points

 

 

Pulsar - Origins Of Life (2022)

 

The debut album from this Italian band.

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

This band is not the same as the French band of the same name and their music is very different from each other.

Pulsar from Italy has chosen to mix good old heavy metal/hard rock from the 1970s with progressive rock and psych rock.

Most of this three quarters of an hour long album is pretty hard rocking with a small, but still pretty distinct desert rock influence.

The keyboards has this organ and 1970s keyboard sound. The vocals are also in the same vein and the songs are pretty long.

There are also some Eastern Asia rock feel here.

The music is refreshing and good. The quality is here and the band knows what they are doing.

This is not a masterpiece, but this album is still well worth checking out.

3 points

Dead Time - Asynchron (2019)

The debut album from this French band.

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

Hmm..... why am I sinking my teeth into albums and music like this ? It is because I like to explore the more leftfield music out there.

The music on this album is a mix of harsh post-metal guitars and dub. 

This type of music can be pretty effective as a sound collage. And that is what we get here.

The music is pretty hard at times.

There are some really melody lines here and some good guitar works.

There is also some dub and electronicts here. But not as much as I feared.

Most of the album is a wall of guitars.

The end result is somewhere between decent and good. It is a cool album and well worth checking out.

2.5 points

Pentola di Papin. La - Zero 7 (1977)

The one and only album from this band from Italy.

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

This band came, released this album and went again.

None of the members has later been involved in music.

This thirty-five minutes long album contains RPI in the vein of PFM. 

The music is pretty wild and heavy at times. Some more pastoral elements makes this album more interesting.

The music is not overly complex.

It is a pretty much basic RPI album. 

Some of the songs are good and some others are not that good or interesting. I have heard worse RPI albums than this album. An album for avid RPI collectors only.

2.5 points

Peperi Partum - Peperi Partum (2014)

The one and only album from this band from Argentina.

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

This is one of many bands who released one album and then disappeared again. It is also one of those albums I have yet to see reviewed.

So that is an injustice I hereby is correcting.

The music is a mix of King Crimson, fusion and jazz. 

Mostly jazz, it has to be said. The melody structures are as intricate as those we are used to from King Crimson.

The music comes with a mix of guitars and saxophone. At the end of this album, we also get some vocals on a laid back jazzy song.

The music is surprisingly good and this is indeed an album well worth checking out.

There are some goodies out there among obscure albums and this album is one of them.

3 points

 

 

Dead Birds. The - The Avalanche (2017)

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

The band is the young man Oystein Furevik on guitars, computers, bass, drums, synths and vocals.

Oystein Furevik lives and compose his music in a small town on the west coast of Norway. A town without any known music scene.

The music is dark post-rock with some Cult Of Luna and Depeche Mode influences.

There is also a lot of post-metal in the music.

These seventy minutes is not easy listening. There are some more pastoral pieces here too. But easy listening.... No.

The music sounds professional and the soundscape is dark enough to give dark vibes and funeral like moods.

The music is indeed gloomy and this is a good album. An album who deserve a lot more attention. I hope Mr Furevik will record more albums as this album is the last sign of life from him.

3 points

 

 

 

Laughing Stock - Zero Acts 3&4 (2022)

The fifth album from this Norwegian band.

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

The band was supported by a handful of guests who provided guitars, violin and vocals. 

This band has had a fine development during the last years. Zero Acts 1&2 was indeed a good album.

I was therefore looking forward to this album....

Nad Sylvan has been drafted in as a vocalist on one song and there is also female vocals here.

The band has moved closer to the more Swedish symphonic prog sound over the last couple of albums. That includes on this album where they has even moved closer to this sound.

The music is pretty pastoral and has some pretty significant Scandinavian folk rock influences too.

The vocals are very good and so is the instrumentation here.

The songs are indeed very good on this three quarters of an hour long album. 

This an album that comes recommended. 

3.5 points

Ixthuluh - Tea At Two (1980)

The third album from this band from Austria.

The band was a sextet on this album with a lineup of drums, bass, percussion, guitars, saxophone and vocals.

These first five albums from this band has been compiled by studio recordings the band left behind them before they disbanded.

On this album, they have managed to get together seventy-seven minutes of some weirdo krautrock.

Krautrock with some jazz and psych rock.

The sound is poor and so is the music.

This is a turkey and nothing more than that. Avoid.

1 point

 

Gandalf's Fist - A Forest of Fey (2014)

The fifth album from this British band.

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

They were supported by a handful of guests who provided bodhran, bouziki, flutes, synths and vocals.

This band from Cumbria is one of the best British bands at the moment and they has impressed us since their first album.

Their music is a mix of eclectic, symphonic and neo-prog.

That is also the case on this album.

The band tells a story with male and female vocals. The story is a fantasy story, I gather.

The music is good throughout and this album is another reason why this band has a growing fanbase.

Check out this album.

3 points

 

Timelock - Sygn Yn (2022)

The fifth album from this band from The Netherlands.

The band is an eight piece big band on this album with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, synths, keyboards and vocals. 

Two guests provides guest vocals.

Timelock is one of the long running bands in the Dutch neo-prog scene. They have been around since the early 1990s. 

This is my first album from this band though.....

What we get is pretty standard neo-prog from the 1980s and 1990s. The music has been written and recorded in the last year and that tells you how dedicated this band is to the early neo-prog sound.

The sound is a bit thin and not as muscular as the last decades neo-prog sound.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good.

I am not overly impressed by this album. But neo-prog fans will like this album.

2.5 points

 

 

Phideaux - Infernal (2018)

The 10th album from this Canadian band.

The band was a ten piece big band with a lineup of percussion, drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, dobro, saxes, violin, piano and vocals.

Numerous guests provided vocals, trumpet, cello and handclaps

Phideaux is Mr. Phideaux Xavier on vocals, guitars and piano. He is the mainstay in this album during their eleven albums. The last one released in 2020.

This album is a double album clocking in at one and an half hour.

The music is art-rock with symphonic prog influences.

The vocals is both male and female.

This album is one I have been struggling with since I did the reviews of the first nine albums years ago. 

The music is overblown, too much musicals like and falls a bit short when it comes to quality. It is by far not the best album from this band/artist and those who want to explore this band/artist is best served by other albums.

2.5 points

Phish - Big Boat (2016)

The 17th album from this US band.

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

They had help from numerous guests who added keyboards, strings and woodwinds.

This is my first meeting with this band and probably the only meeting too.

This is not really my kind of music as I find it a bit dull.

In other words, I am not a fan of party fueled rock music.

This is really party rock'n'roll with a youth feeling. Just like these days Glastonbury and rock festivals.

The songs are catchy and slightly teenyboppers. There are also some woodwinds dominated songs who takes this album towards soul like rock and pop music.

There is not many interesting details here although the music is not bad at all.

This is a decent enough album but nothing for me and nothing really for progheads. 

2 points

 

 

Pholas Dactylus - Hieros Gamos (2019)

The second album from this Italian band.

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

Nobody thought this band would release a second album after their debut album released in the 1970s. That album is regarded as one of the more challenging albums from the Italian progressive rock scene, the RPI genre.

But they returned in 2018 and released this album just before the covid epidemic hit us all. I have no idea about their plans now.

Hieros Gamos is another challenging album.

It feels like bits and pieces has been thrown together to form a three quarters of an hour long album.

None of the bits are that good and I am a bit saddened about this album. I feel sad because this album is only a decent album in my ears.

I am not won over by their comeback album.

2 points