Long Distance Calling - Satellite Bay (2007)

The debut album from this band from Germany.

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

A guest added some minutes with voices.

Long Distance Calling has established themselves as a good German post-rock band and I have a handful of their albums to review this summer. 

The music on this album is the usual mix of light and shade we expect from a post- rock album.

The album clocks in at one hour.

There are no real surprises here. 

This is however a more than acceptable debut album who sets out their stall and course. 

Check it out.

2.5 points

Kanoi - Blisterfinger (2011)

The debut album from this band from Austria.

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

Kanoi is Benjamin Kantshieder's project and a one man band. On the debut album, Kanoi was a trio.

I got a handful of Kanoi albums and will review them this summer. 

The music is krautrock.

This means spaced out krautrock with a lot of repetitions. The bass, drums and guitars format does not create much variations during these seventy minutes either.

On the other hand, the band creates a pretty good soundscape with what they have got at hand.

The music is not bad at all. 

This is a decent album and I hope a taste of what to come as I have some more Kanoi albums to review.

2 points

 

 

Flower Kings. The - By Royal Decree (2022)

The 15th album from this Swedish band.

The band was a seven piece big band with a lineup of percussion, drums, bass, guitars, ukulele, moog, piano, organ. keyboards, synths and vocals.

A handful of guests added saxophones, accordion, bass and vocals.

The Flower Kings is one of the biggest bands in the prog rock scene since 1990. That is a fact. Maybe not in sold albums. But they are certainly one of the most influential bands since 1990.

They and Kaipa gave us the Scandinavian symphonic prog genre and sound. 

By Royal Decree is clocking in at ninety-four minutes and it is a double album. That means a lot of things has to go right here as every listening sessions take that amount of time.

They are keeping the sound and the music. The music is really epic and the band has not gone down this pop-rock motorway. They have in fact made their music less accessible and more avant-garde symphonic prog on this album.

It has taken me some time to collect my thoughts about this album and get these into an opinion.

This album is indeed a very good album from some musicians who refuse to compromise. I can only admire Roine Stolt & Co for that.

This is one of their most mystical albums and a gift who will continue to give and give in the coming years and decades.

Check it out.

3.5 points

 

 

Masoni. Marco - Il Multiforme (2014)

The debut solo album from this musician from Italy.

Marco Masoni does the bass, acoustic guitars and vocals here. 

He has got help from his friends who added drums, electric guitars, keyboards, piano and flutes.

Marco Massoni formed the pretty good RPI band Germinale in the 1990s before he became a studio musicians. 

He has so far released two solo albums.

The music on this almost fifty minutes long album is a mix of acid folk, pop, prog and psych rock.

RPI... ? I am not sure but I would not be offended if someone decide that this is the genre for this album.

The vocals is good and in Italian.

The rest of the band also does a good job. 

The music is pretty melodic although the vocals is dominating everything.

This is a more than acceptable debut album. A bit less vocals and more music would have made this album a bit better.

2.5 points

Master of Ceremony - Above and Beyond (2009)

The one and only album from this Italian project.

Master Of Ceremony is a one man band and the musician is Marco Cinti. The lineup is drums, bass, keyboards, synths and vocals. I guess programming is also one of the tools used here.

The music is..... neo-prog. 

Take Genesis from their Wind & Wuthering album. That is the best reference when it comes to style and genre.

Hence, there is some symphonic prog here too.

The vocals are pretty good. The other instruments are treated with capable fingers.

The music is not bad at all. It is one of the better one man and a dog acts I have heard for a long time.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. But fans of neo-prog, Genesis and symphonic prog should really check out this album.

2.5 points

 

 

Kanaan - Earthbound (2021)

The fourth album from this Norwegian band.

The band is a trio with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, oscillations, synths, mellotron and farfisa.

Kanaan is a band I have really come to love. Their three first albums, that is.

Hence, I was really looking forward to put on this album.

The strength of this band has always been the post-rock'ish changes between the harsh and the more pastoral in their take on spaced out jazz.

I was very much looking forward to another serving of the same on Earthbound.

That is not what I got.

Earthbound is a very hard album who borders the space rock, extreme metal and jazz territories. It is more jazz though and that of the more modern, harsh jazz variant. Mark Wingfield springs to mind.

The music here is harsh.

There is a lot of good details and this is indeed a good album. It is a bit of a let down compared to their three other albums.

3 points

 

 

Ghosts Of Jupiter - Keepers of the Newborn Green (2021)

The third and latest album from this US band.

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

The band was supported by a duo who provided hand-claps and percussion.

This band made a remarkable large leap in quality between their debut album and their second album.

Their second album The Great Bright Horses from 2016 was a very good album. What would their third album give us ?

The band does quirky psych rock with some good references to the early English symphonic prog scene. And may I now add on this album....... The Beatles. Not overly so, but you can hear the sound and soul of the fab four on some of the tracks.

There is also a lot of acid folk on this album.

The vocals are very good and the music is both melodic and quirky. The keyboards sound has both moog and melotron vibes. The flutes also adds a lot of colours to the music.

The songs are pretty much very good throughout this three quarters of an hour long album.

This is one of the better albums from last year and I am slowly becoming a fan of this band.

Check out this album.

3.5 points

Bresk - A Journey Through The Life Of Peder Balke (2022)

The debut album from this Norwegian band.

The band is a trio with a lineup of drums, bass, organ, Moog and clavinet.

This trio consist of the Narum family. It is a family project and their tribute to the Norwegian painter Peder Balke who lived between 1804 and 1887.

The music is instrumental.

The music is also symphonic prog. References are Camel and some more eclectic, symphonic prog bands. 

The music is both eclectic and melodic. Well, the melodic parts interchanges with the eclectic parts.

The music is both dynamic and muscular. It is not so classical music based. It is not based on classical music at all, to correct myself. 

These forty minutes, and Peder Balke's artworks, has a lot to offer. 

Quality wise, the music is between decent and good. This is an album bound to get a cult status sooner or later. 

2.5 points

 

 

Enid. The - White Goddess (1997)

The 14th album from this band from England.

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

The Enid's music is somewhere between classical music and symphonic prog. 

This is also the case when it comes to this one hour long album.

The music is a bit too classical music in my opinion. I have never really admired classical music as it is a bit of snobbery, that genre.

But The Enid (and the likes of Karfagen/Antony Kalugin) has got a good balance between symphonic prog and classical music.

The main theme on White Goddess is a very good theme. The band has spun an hour long album around this main theme. This is why Mike Oldfield springs to mind when it comes to this album.

The music on White Goddess is bold and beautiful. It is a bit cheesy too. 

The result is a good album and one of the better albums from The Enid.

Check out this album.

3 points

Congreso - La Loca Sin Zapatos (2001)

 

The 15th album from this band from Chile.

The band was a seven piece big band with a lineup of tarka, marimba, drums, percussion, bass, guitars, piano, keyboards, woodwinds and vocals.

This band had now become a national institution in the free, democratic Chile. 

The band has been dabbling with jazz, progressive rock, pop and avant-garde during their long career.

The basis has always been folk rock. Or folk prog.

The music here is progressive folk rock with some psych rock influences. There is also some acid rock here.

The woodwinds adds a lot of flavour to this one hour long album.

The flavour is mostly South American/Latin American and that makes it an exotic album for those of us living in other parts of the world.

The quality is good and the band has again delivered a good album who enhances their very good reputation.

3 points

Karfagen - Land of Green and Gold (2022)

The 13th album from this band from Ukraine.

Karfagen is Antony Kalugin on keyboards and vocals.

He got help from a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, flute and woodwinds.

As we are all aware of, Ukraine was attacked by Russia two months ago. Antony Kalugin lived in the east of Ukraine in or near Kharkiv. As far as I understand, he and his family is one of those who had to flee his home and Antony is also probably defending his Ukraine with arms these days.

I send Antony and his family my warmest thoughts every day.

The music he has released during the Covid pandemic and now during the war has been of a good quality.

What we get here is two good long pieces of music. Land Of Green and Land Of Gold. I personally take this as Ukraine but I may be mistaken.

The music is somewhere between symphonic prog and classical music.

The quality is again good and this album sounds like a defiant support of Ukraine. I take it as that. And Ukraine got my full support.

But the music itself is good and this is an album well worth checking out.

3 points

 

 

Master Cylinder - Elsewhere (1981)

The one and only album from this US band.

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

They had help from a eight guests who provided organ and woodwinds.

Canterbury Prog from Texas, USA is as rare as a hen's tooth. But that is what we get here.

There is no vocals here and the music is on the more jazzy side of the Canterbury Prog scene. 

The music is very quirky and eclectic too. There is no doubt in which genre this album belongs.

The music is dynamic and fast. The musicianship is on a high level.

There is no killer tracks or killer pieces of music here who would have elevated this album to a great status. 

Nevertheless, this is a good album and an album fans of this genre must check out.

3 points

 

 

Materia Gris - Ohperra Vida De Beto (1972)

The one and only album from this band from Argentina.

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

This band were active in the 1970s but has never really got the attention other bands from that era got.

Their music is a mix of psych, blues and progressive rock. The music has this 1970s sound and style.

The reason for that is that the album was recorded in 1972. I should therefore put the release date to 1972 instead of my original plan of putting it as 2014 as Discogs. 

OK, 1972 it is. That just to tell the readers what sound and flavour they can expect from this album.

There are some raw guitars here. The vocals are pretty good and tasteful.

The music is indeed decent. It has a lot of attractions to offer those into late beat and early psych rock. It also has Spanish vocals.

Check it out.

2 points

Melange - Viento Bravo (2017)

The second album from this band from Spain.

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

Three guests added triangle, handclaps and voice.

I really could not stand the dull, boring self-titled debut album from 2016. An album that I still use against insomnia. 

I had no confidence in the follow up Viento Bravo...... None whatsover.

The music is a mix of fusion, psych and progressive rock with a lot of Spanish folk rock and pop incorporated. 

The music is pretty laidback and sunny. It has a positive sound, indeed.

The music is still very dynamic and full of interesting details. So much that I wonder if this is the same band as the one who released that horror album the year before.

The vocals are really good and the band also gets going on some parts that sounds improvised and jazzy. 

This is indeed a good album. Unfortunate, this seems to be their final album too. What a shame....

3 points

Yak - Journey of the Yak (2008)

The third album from this band from England.

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

I was not a big fan of the debut album and I have yet to find a copy of their second album. So I am jumping straight to this album and later..... their fourth album.

Instrumental prog is what has been put on the plate in the front of me.

The music is somewhere between Camel and ELP. Not so classical music improvised as ELP and not so fusion orientated as Camel.

This is pretty much what symphonic prog is about, with the vocals removed.

The melodies are soaring and well into the skies, high above the earth. 

The music is keyboards based with some piano adding a lot of acoustic sound to the music too. The organs gives the music a nice 1970s feel. 

The music is surprisingly organic. Very organic, in fact.

This is indeed a good album and one to check out if symphonic prog makes your boat float.

3 points

Snowman - In a Better Place (2022)

 

The debut album from this band from Portugal.

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

This is a new band on the scene and they have got some attention. Well deserved attention too.

The band has described their music as somewhere between Genesis, Porcupine Tree, Opeth, Pink Floyd and Camel.

I would agree. The music on this album is a mix of old and new progressive rock. Of old and new progressive sound. 

The references to this day and age version of Opeth is pretty obvious in their music. There is indeed a lot of Porcupine Tree here too.

There is still a lot of Pink Floyd and not so much Camel and Genesis. 

The vocals are really good and there is lot of very interesting details on this fifty minutes long album.

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

3 points

Ozric Tentacles - Waterfall Cities (1999)

The 13th album from this British band.

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

The band was still going on and in fine form.

The band has chosen water as the theme on this album.

Water in a space rock ambient setting. 

There are some cool soundscapes created by both synths and guitars. The guitar solos are subtle, but also very effective and cool. 

The flute adds some folky feel to the soundscapes too.

This album is one hour long and has a lot of good stuff. 

This is another good album from this band. A band I really like and a band who are turning me into being a fan of this end of the progressive rock scene.

3 points

 

 

Groundhogs. The - Thank Christ for the Bomb (1970)

The third album from this British band.

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

The band was a leading blues band in the UK and had a big fanbase.

Then they released this album....

There are still some blues in their music. But most of it is really clever, eclectic hard psych rock.

The title track is a very good track and one not to be forgotten in a hurry. A very clever track indeed. 

The rest of the tracks are almost as good as them. The music is a mix of more pastoral psych rock and harder psych rock.

The vocals are raw, but also very good. The guitars are also very good and they are backed up by some good bass and drums.

This album has got a bit of a semi-classic status and I can understand why. 

This is a very good album indeed.

3.5 points

Naxatras - IV (2022)

The fourth album from this band from Greece.

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

A female vocalist also added her vocals on some tracks.

I have not heard about this band before. The album dumped into my email as an attachment and I downloaded it for reviews.

The band is a psych/space rock band, according to ProgArchives. This is indeed the case.

There is a lot of standard rock here too. But the more interesting parts, the majority of the album, gives us psych rock from the 1990s. 

Let me conclude that this album is a mix of Art Rock and psych rock.

The quality during these fifty minutes of music is good. The vocals is good and the music is both intellectual and charming.

Me think I should check out their first three albums too.

3 points

Matharu. Jay - These Clouds Are So Undisciplined! (2017)

 

The one and only album from this British artists.

Jay Matharu does the guitars, drum programming, synth and bass here.

He got help from ten xtra musicians who adds their guitars, bass, piano and trumpet on some songs.

.... Or make this compositions.

There is no vocals here. Just instrumentals. 

The main instrument here is guitars and everything evolves around Jay Matharu's guitars in a landscape between progressive metal, movie soundtrack, melodic rock and fusion.

Guitar shredding heros and their solo albums is not a genre that interest me and normally my heart sinks when confronted with this music.

As it did this time too.

The opening track Ascent has a lot of promises and the rest of the album is not bad at all. This is still an album which lives up to the phrase "decent".

A decent album, it is.

3 points

 

  

Mavara - Consciousness (2017)

The fourth and so far last album from this band from Iran.

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

The band is now based in USA and has got one US band member.

This is my first and only meeting with this band. Their "progressive rock" moniker got my attention and I got this album some time ago.

Progressive rock is a label that maybe suited this band on their first albums. They have in that case moved away from this label.

What we get is a mix of djent and mostly....... sing along pop/rock.

The vocals is not great and leaves a lot to be desired.

Ditto for the songs.

I am not impressed at all. Nevertheless, this is a decent album.

2 points

Kanaan - Double Sun (2020)

 

The third album from this Norwegian band.

The band is a trio with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, synths and organ.

I very much liked their previous two albums.

Their mix of psych, space and fusion is a great combination.

Kanaan also has a great talent for melodies too. Hence, I am an admirer.

Double Sun is not as intensive straight in your face as the previous album Odense Sessions.

There are parts here which is pretty pastoral and laidback. There is also some electronica. 

Nevertheless, this only means that the band is exploring an other avenue than taken on their first two albums. 

The quality is there and their ability to fascinate is also there.

The result is another very good album. And my conversion into becoming a fan is complete.

3.5 points

 

 

Ghosts of Jupiter - The Great Bright Horses (2016)

The second album from this band from USA.

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

I am not a fan of their debut album. It had some good ideas but it sorely lacked in the quality department.

The band has returned again with their take on psych rock.

That is psych rock with a lot of Americana, west coast and New York folk rock influences. There are also some South Asian influences here. 

In the bottom of the grooves and the melody can we find obvious The Beatles influences.

... and some really good melodies.

The band has taken a big step in the right direction on this album. 

The music is a lot better with a very good soundscape. The band sounds tighter and there is a lot of brain feeding details here. 

The result is a very good album and one album well worth checking out. 

3.5 points

Tetrasound - Creation (2022)

The second album from this band from Finland.

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

A new trio with the drums/bass/guitars/vocals lineup. A format introduced by Cream and made popular by the likes of Rush.

Tetrasound has gone their own way.

Take psych rock with some punk and garage guitars. 

It feels like a clash and it is in indeed a clash.

It sounds like a car-crash. 

The music is decent to good. The vocals are good. The guitars just annoys me. 

I understand the concept of being innovative. But I am not so sure about the guitars here. The are a bridge too far for me on an album which has some good music.

2 points

 

Oldfield. Mike - Tubular Bells II (1992)

The 16th album from this British artist.

Mike Oldfield does the percussion, guitars, violin, mandolin, electronics, organs, bass, synths and numerous other instruments himself.

He has help from two handful of guests who adds drums, bagpipes, synths, organs, narrations and vocals.

There is no doubts that the original Tubular Bells is a classic album and close to a masterpiece. It put Mike Oldfield on his way as it was his debut album too.

Fifteen albums later and he decide to rip the whole piece of music apart and put it together again. Mostly with different music lines and sounds.

The result is an album that is dull and simply nowhere near good.

It feels forced and unnatural. It simply does not live up to the Tubular Bells name.

A couple of decent pieces here saves this album from being a turkey. I will never ever listen to this album again and good riddance.

1.5 points

 

 

Henry Cow - Legend (1973)

The debut album from this British band.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, viola, violin, piano, organ, recorder, saxophone, clarinet, whistle, flute, bells and vocals.

The band was supported by a sextet of players who added pixiphone and vocals.

I got their four studio albums and will review them during this spring.

This is among the handful of bands who created the RIO scene. The other bands was Etron Fou Leloublan, Stormy Six, Samla Mammas Manna and Univers Zero.

RIO is another word for avant-garde and that is what we get here.

Henry Cow is perhaps the most avant-garde bands of all the RIO bands. There is not much melodies here. Actually, there is none.

Some of the stuff on this album is decent and some is good. I am not a fan of this album at all as it is not that good and does not have much quality.

This is a decent album and just that.

2 points

Crime in Choir - Trumpery Metier (2006)

 

The third album from this US band.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, guitars, synths, piano, keyboards and saxophone. 

A guest provided bass.

This band released four albums between 2002 and 2009. I am reviewing this after mistaking this as being a brand new album. 

No harm done...

I am by no means a fan of instrumental progressive rock. There is a lot of that around. Vocals gives music a bit of a focal point. A necessary focal point in most cases.

Trumpery Metier contains forty odd minutes with some eclectic prog. Add some jazz and symphonic prog and you get this.

The music is pretty interesting and quality wise somewhere between decent and good. I think I have got my fill of this band and will not pursue their other three albums.

2.5 points

Desert Wizards - Ravens (2013)

The second album from this Italian band.

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

The band has released three albums and I have reviewed the two others in my other blogs of this name. 

The band plays a kind of psych desert rock. Add some Italian prog and heavy metal and you have got their sound and music.

The band has added female vocals in addition to their usual male vocals.

There is also some flower-power in their music and the 1960s sound and ambience.

I am again not particular impressed by this band. Their problem is to find a good melody. The rest of what they are doing is good. But the music is only decent.

Hence.....

2.5 points

Masheen Messiah - For the Light Unseen (2016)

The one and only album from this band from Japan.

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

The band name gives a lot of Yes associations. The omission of this band and album from the prog archives makes me wonder if this was some sort of heavy metal.

The truth is neither.

The music is indeed progressive rock. Neo-prog mixed with some heavy prog and symphonic prog.

The music is bold and bombastic at times. It is very dynamic. The Yes influences is clearly there. So is he Rush influences. There are also some Asia and AOR influences here

The result is a very interesting album. The band knows how to spice up their melodic music. The vocals is also good and some of the best I have ever heard from Japan.

This is in short a good album and an album fans of progressive bands should check out.

3 points

Melange - Melange (2016)

The debut album from this band from Spain.

The band is a quartet with a lineup of percussion, drums, bass, sitar, guitars, dulcimer, organ, carillion, synths, electric piano, harmonium and vocals.

This Spanish band has so far released two albums. I will review the other one later this month.

This band present themselves with a seventy minutes long album.

The music is based around psych rock. Add in a lot of Spanish, African, Middle East and Asian folk rock too. There is also some space rock pieces here.

Add the Spanish vocals too.

The album has a main melody theme and all the music is just small variations over this theme. Even the folk pieces variations over this theme where these elements are just being added onto the melody. 

There is not much variations during these seventy minutes.

There is not much quality either.

This is a decent enough album but I had expected a lot better album than this one.

2 points

 

 

 

Yak - Dark Side of the Duck (2004)

The debut album from this one-man project from England.

Yak is Martin Morgan. He performs all instruments here. That means a lot of keyboards and synths. Not to mention drums, bass and guitar-synths.

This was sold to me as a neo-prog album. It is instead an instrumental album in the symphonic prog to neo-classical and soundtrack genres.

The music is pretty dynamic and there are some interesting themes here.

And it is what it says on the tin.... the artwork.

It is ideas and some of them has been pretty well developed.

The quality is decent enough. But I hope the two other Yak albums I got is better than this one. Yak has in total released four albums and I may get hold of the album I am missing too for the purpose of a review in this blog.

This album is a bit on the dull side of the scene. 

2 points

 

 

 

 

Android - Another Midnight Ball (2022)

The fifth album from this band from Hungary.

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

This is my first ever meeting with this band who album debuted in 1980, then took a long break around the end of last century before they reformed a decade or two later.

From what I understand, this album is a re-recording of their 2011 album Midnight Ball. Two songs has been added too.

This album comes with English vocals whilst Midnight Ball had magyar vocals.

I would have preferred the 2011 vocals as the vocalist has a very faint grasp of the English language. The vocals are heavy accented and so is the narrations. 

This is not good at all.

The music is darkened neo-prog with some jazz and gypsy influences. There is also a lot of classical music and symphonic prog influences here.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. This is another album I am struggling with. Hence, I am not won over.

2.5 points