Tabula Rasa - Ekkedien Tanssi (1976)

The second and final album from this band from Finland.

The band was a seven piece big band with a lineup of timpani, percussion, drums, bass, guitars, piano, organ, harspiscord, electric piano, synths and vocals.

This album is the follow up to the self-titled album released the year before. An album I really like a lot and I reviewed last week.

The band still offered up mellow symphonic prog with some folk rock and art-rock influences.

References this time around is Camel, Supertramp and a bit of Steve Hackett. 

The vocals are in their mother-tongue and that adds a lot of character to the music too.

The guitars and the guitars solos are very good on this album and the best thing about this album. A song like Omantunnon Rukous is a very good song.

Not everything works here. Some of the songs are too pedestrian. 

Nevertheless, this is a good album from an underrated band.

3 points

 

 

King of Agogik - Exlex Beats (2014)

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

Hans Jorg Scmitz does the drums, bass, keyboards and guitars here.

He got help from numerous other musicians who contributed with bass, guitars, mellotron, flute, violin, chapman stick, oboe and keyboards.

I reviewed the fourth album last week and did not find any musical value in that album. It is a turkey.

Hans Jorg Scmitz is mainly a drummer and has some skills on his three other instruments. Nevertheless, this album is a rhythm fest.

He has also taken guitar and keyboards riffs from other bands and added them together in songs. He has also added his own bridges and melody lines to other bands and artists ideas, riffs and melodies. 

That is albums like this eighty minutes long album and the previous album.

I am not impressed.

This album has some half decent ideas and it is not a turkey..... but it is close to be one.

Avoid is my advice.

1.5 points

 

 

Passage - Voyage (2022)

The third album from this band from Canada.

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

This band debuted in 2005 with the Passage album. That album was followed up twelve years later by the As Darkness Comes album.

Both of those albums were more post-metal and alternative metal.

The band has changed genre since the 2017 album, from what the band tells us on their Bandcamp site.

I have not heard their previous two albums so I cannot comment on that. But I gladly believe them.

The new version of Passage is a post-rock band.

Classic post-rock that is with ebbs and flows. There is a lot of atmosphere and soundscapes in their music. Well, that is what this one hour long album is all about. Sigur Ros springs to mind although Passage's music is not that ambient as Sigur Ros music.

Voyage gives us one hour of intelligent, clever melodic post-rock.

The quality is good throughout this album and the music is really enjoyable. Enjoyable for everyone. Not only the post-rock and shoegaze fans.

Check out this album.

3 points

Oldfield. Mike - Guitars (1999)

The 20th album from this artist from England.

Mike Oldfield does the bass and guitars here. 

A Mike Oldfield with only bass and guitars...... OK, it was not something I was really looking forward to spend some time with.

All the drums and percussion sounds is guitar made on this album. Ditto for the more keyboards sounds.

This is a real solo - album with no contributions from anyone else.

The music is a bit new-age ambient and very mellow. There is no guitar solos and wild runs up and down the guitars.

Very pedestrian music, indeed.

This forty minutes long album is therefore a half decent album, only saved by his talent and some good guitars.

Only devoted fans of Mike Oldfield should seek out this album.

1.5 points

 

  

 

 

Miller. Rick - Dark Dreams (2012)

The 11th album from this artist from Canada.

Rick Miller did the vocals, keyboards and guitars himself here.

He had help from a handful of guests who contributed drums, bass, guitar, violin and flute.

Rick Miller evolved from doing ambient soundscapes to doing straight progressive rock over the last albums before he released Dark Dreams.

The music is indeed progressive rock with a lot of Pink Floyd influences. And the music is laid back and... ambient.

His vocals are very good. 

There is a lot of good guitars and guitar solos too on this album.

The music is laid back and it is also good.

This is indeed the best album I have heard from him.... so far.

3 points

 

 

 

Sound of Smoke - Tales (2022)

 

The debut album from this German band.

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

This is a new band from Freiburg in Germany. They released an EP a couple of years ago and that is that before this album arrived.

This forty-five minutes long album has been released on CD and Bandcamp.

The music is a mix of blues, grunge and rock. It was given to me as a prog rock album to review. There is no prog rock here.

The band is fronted by the very good vocals of Ms Isabele Bapte. She also does the keyboards and is the band leader.

The music is fair enough and pretty decent.

This album does not offer anything new besides of the very good vocals. 

This is a decent album and just that.

2 points

 

 

Kultivator - Barndomens Stigar (1981)

The one and only album from this band from Sweden.

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

A boys choir also adds their voices.

This album has lately got a bit of a semi-classic status.

It is easy to understand why.

Take a bit of symphonic prog, a lot of folk music, eclectic prog and add a lot of zeuhl.

There is a lot of boys choirs here and some other vocals on the top of Rhodes and bass created zeuhl.

The music is eclectic, quirky...... and good.

This forty-six minutes album leaves it's marks and make the listener really question why we cannot get more music like this.

3 points

 

 

 

Amon Ra - We Never Said Good Bye (2015)

The second album from this German band.

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

I was really expecting a krautrock album here when I put this album on for the first time.

I was wrong.

Melodic and a bit progressive metal influenced neo-prog was what I got.

Over seventy minutes of the same too.

This album also includes a radical version of Elton John's Rocket Man. 

The vocals and the guitars are OK. 

The music is pretty good throughout this album.

Fans of German neo-prog should check out this album.

3 points

Contraluz - Novus Orbis (2011)

The fourth and final album from this band from Argentina.

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

The band left the scene and bowed out with this seventy minutes long album.

The music is a mix of art-rock and folk rock with some mid 1970s progressive rock also incorporated into their music.

The good vocals are in Spanish.

Some of the music is pretty mellow. Some of the music is also catchy. 

The flute are good here and creates a good Latin American sound. Ditto for the vocals.

The result is a good album from a band who were a bit under estimated and therefore deserve some more attention.

Check out their four albums.

3 points

Long Distance Calling - Boundless (2018)

The sixth album from this band from Germany.

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

The band is back again with this album.

The band had by now ditched the vocals and gone back to basic. 

That is instrumental post rock with some post metal influences.

There is quite a lot of metal on this fifty minutes long album. Lots of metal riffs.

The music is based on post rock and most of the music is pretty standard run of the mill post rock.

There is not much variations here and there is not much ebb and flow in their music.

This album is not too bad. 

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. I just hope that their following albums is better than this one.

2.5 points

 

 

 

 

Greenseeker - The Wish (2022)

The second album from this band from USA.

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

This is another new band to me. Their self-titled debut album was released back in 2020.

The band and their music is fronted by a female vocalist. Her vocals are pretty melancholic and sad.

The music is a mix of psych rock, progressive rock, stoner and a bit of heavy metal.

The music is also pretty melodic throughout.

The stoner element is always there in the music and the music is also pretty gloomy. 

Old style heavy metal and doom metal is what most people would label this music as.

There are a lot of good guitars and vocals here.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. The art of writing good songs are something the band has yet to master. It is a promising album and well worth checking out.

2.5 points

 

 

Kanoi - Vessels (2013)

The fourth album from this one-man-band from Austria.

Benjamin Kantschieder does the electronics and guitar here.

I am by no means fond of ambient landscapes. I rather prefer silence or more dynamic music instead of ambient music. 

We get almost forty minutes of an ambient landscape here divided into four pieces. I cannot hear any difference between these four drones. 

I find it pointless and this album is a turkey.

1 point

Morse. Neal - One (2004)

The fourth album from this artist from USA.

Neal Morse did the guitars, keyboards and vocals here.

He had help from an army of friends who provided strings, woodwinds, drums, bass and additional vocals.

Neal Morse returns again with a seventy-seven minutes long album. This is the follow up to the great Testimony album. 

The music is again pretty much in the US symphonic prog vein. Just like his old band Spock's Beard.

Neal Morse ventures a bit towards standard stadium rock on this album. There are some mellow songs here and some more intricate songs.

There is a lot of instruments on this album and that creates a big sound.

Some of the stuff is just decent and some stuff is very good. 

This is still a good album and one worth checking out if US symphonic prog is your thing.

Check it out.

3 points

 

 

Kaipa - Urskog (2022)

The 14th album from this band from Sweden.

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

Two guests added their saxophone and violin to this album.

Kaipa is the godfathers of the Swedish symphonic prog scene. Their sound has been the basis of this scene and it has been copied by so many other bands. Some of these bands contains ex Kaipa members.

Yes, The Flower Kings is the band I mostly have in mind here.

Kaipa continues with their female and male vocals. The basis is still symphonic prog with a lot of folk rock inspirations. The sound is still the usual Scandinavian symphonic prog sound.

The band has notably shifted their music towards fusion. Fusion is then another element, another aspect of this album.

The music is still bold with some long songs and complicated music. 

This one hour long album proves beyond any doubts that Kaipa is one of the better bands in today's scene. The quality is very good and there is a lot to be joyful about on this album.

Kaipa has not let us down on this album.

3.5 points

Kolkhöze Printanium - Vol.1 Kolkhöznitsa (2008)

The one and only album from this band from France.

The band was an eight piece big band with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, piano, keyboards, saxophones and voices.

This band recorded and released one album before they broke up again. The album and band then entered the world of obscurities.

The music here is avant-garde/RIO.

Take Present and Univers Zero. Add some jazz to it and you get this album.

The saxophones is pretty dominant on this one hour long album.

The music is still pretty melodic and light, being avant-garde. The reason is probably the infusion of jazz into their avant-garde music.

The sound is good and this is an album fans of the MoonJune Records albums may check out.

This is a decent album and one that deserve some more attention.

2 points

Alpha to Omega - A Life (1976)

The one and only album from this band from Switzerland.

The band/project was an eleven piece big project with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, flute, piano and vocals.

This album was recorded but still unreleased in 1976 and was not officially released until 1997 where the retro-albums specialist record label Black Rills Records released it. 

That label has released a lot of other albums I have reviewed in this blog too.

This album, CD, includes everything this band has recorded. That included left overs. Left overs which is not any worse than the songs intended for the album. This means seventy minutes of music.

That means seventy minutes of medium hard krautrock blues with some soul included. There are some female and some male vocals here.

The music is typical 1976 rock, in other words. 

The music is pretty decent. This band and album is obscurities for a good reason. The music is simply not good enough.

2 points

 

 

Tabula Rasa - Tabula Rasa (1975)

The debut album from this band from Finland.

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

This band from Finland released two albums before they gave up the ghost. Both albums has got a good reputation and I was looking forward to review them. The second album will be reviewed later this summer.

The band comes from the deep forests of Finland. The vocals are all in Finnish.

I just said this because their music is a mix of Finland folk rock, symphonic prog and hard rock.

The music has this very nice 1970s symphonic prog sound, despite of not being a fully signed up symphonic prog band.

The flutes and the vocals are very good here. The guitars too are good.

Parts of this album is pretty pastoral with some cracking vocals. There are also some harder rocking parts here.

The result is a colourful, good album.

Check this album out as you may find yourself a new friend in this album.

3.5 points

King of Agogik - From A To A (2011)

The fourth album from this German one-man band.

King Of Agogik is Hans Jorg Scmitz on drums, bass, guitars and keyboards.

He had help from a large amount of guests who provided bass, chapman stick, guitars, oboe, saxophone, flutes, keyboards, mellotron and voices.

This is my first meeting with what I thought was a proper neo-prog band. I quite like neo-prog so I got two of their albums. A review of my second purchase will follow later this summer.

I was wrong when I thought this album was a neo-prog album. Mislead, no less.

This album is almost eighty minutes long.

It is eighty minutes with short neo-classical soundbites and melodies. These soundbites has got some hard rock and hard prog treatment.

It is still soundbites which has been taken from various places. 

It is barely proper music and most of it makes no sense. The quality is therefore pretty poor.

It is by all means a turkey. Hence it's inclusion in my fine collection of turkeys.

1 point

 

 

Strange Horizon - Beyond The Strange Horizon (2022)

The debut album from this band from Norway.

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

I got some promos from a record label in Bergen. Most of them were progressive rock... with one exception. This album.

Strange Horizon is a doom/stoner band.

The music this trio gives us is unashamed Black Sabbath worship. 

This is a respectable genre in itself and not just copying Black Sabbath.

There is also some 1980s heavy metal guitars in their music and their doom metal is not as primitive and extreme as most of this genre.

The vocals are really good and ditto for the guitars.

This fifty minutes long Bandcamp album is a good album and well worth checking out.

3 points

 

 

Enid. The - Risen (2011)

The 17th album from this English band.

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

This album is a collection and re-recording of older stuff as the band had legal and financial problems at that time. They were not allowed to release new music.

Most of the music here is neo-classical music with the full sampled symphonic orchestra and instruments. A genre I am not fond of and hardly ever review.

The Enid is mostly trying to balance neo-classical music and symphonic prog. The balance is not here and the music is old music.

This is a decent enough album but just that.

2 points

 

Dream Theater - When Dream and Day Unite (1989)

The debut album from this US band.

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

Dream Theater was one of the three bands, the other two are Rush and Saga, who introduced me to progressive rock. I was a fan since the Awake album in 1994 and did review some of their albums for ProgArchives ten to twelve years ago.

I then concentrated on other bands and were not even listening to the Dream Theater albums I bought. 

I have now decided to get on the top of their albums and review the eleven or so studio albums I did not review for ProgArchives. The reviews will be done this year.

When Dream And Day Unite has Charlie Dominici on vocals instead of James DiBrie who took over the vocals duties on the following album. Charlie does a competent enough job but he is not as good as James.

There is some Dream Theater standards on this album like Ytse Jam, Killing Hand and A Fortune In Lies. Those are good songs.

The sound is a bit substandard and so is the other five songs on this album.

This is a fairly good debut album. It is mostly an album with the three songs listed above and not much more than that.

It is still an album well worth checking out. 

2.5 points

 

 

Da Captain Trips - Maths Of The Elements (2022)

The new album from this Italian band.

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

This band is new to me and their Bandcamp page has listed numerous releases from the band. I guess this is their fifth album, but I am not sure.

This is another instrumental band in the psych and space rock genre.

There is also some post rock in their music and some ambient music.

This genre, instrumental music, tends to be pretty dull and mostly works as background music. 

Da Captain Trips has overcome this problem by adding a lot of interesting details into this fifty minutes long album.

The melodies are good and they are filled with good hooks and details.

The music is very intelligent and quirky, indeed.

The end result is a good album full of colours and life. 

Check it out.

3 points

Puppenhaus - Jazz Macht Spazz (2009)

The one and only recording from this band from Germany.

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

This album is not really a studio album. It is a recording the band did for the famous SWF station back in 1973. 

I liked the band name and the cover art work and decided to include a review of this recording.

The recording is live and it is eighty minutes long.

The music is mostly jazz in the vein of Soft Machine. Add a lot of krautrock here too and you get the message.

There is a lot of flute and saxophones on this album. Ditto for organ. The guitars are not that much in the forefront of the mix. 

The sound quality is surprisingly good and this recording deserved a release.

There are some substandard music here too.  

This is a decent album, well worth checking out for krautrock fans.

2 points

Alas - Alas (1976)

 

The debut album from this band from Argentina.

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

This band released two albums in the 1970s before they gave up the ghost. Many years ago, I reviewed their second album Pinta Tu Aldea and liked that album a lot.

The debut album is a mix of ELP and Return To Forever.

Symphonic prog meets fusion, in other words.

There are also some avant-garde bits here. Quite a lot of it, actually.

The album is divided into two long pieces and one shorter piece. The two long pieces, suites, clocks in at between fifteen and eighteen minutes each.

There are some sparse vocals here and these vocals are good.

This album clocks in at forty minutes and it is a rather interesting album. An album well worth checking out despite of the lack of quality. 

Symphonic prog and fusion fans will enjoy this album.

2.5 points

Contraluz - Ramos Generales (2003)

The third album from this band from Argentina.

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

Two guests contributed orchestration, acoustic guitars and saxophones.

This album is over seventy minutes long.

That is seventy minutes full of progressive folk rock with some rock music also incorporated. 

The vocals is really good. Ditto for the guitars and the other instruments.

Seventy minutes is perhaps a bit too long for an album like this.

The music is still good and enjoyable throughout. It has some quirky details throughout. 

Check out this album.

3 points

Long Distance Calling - The Flood Inside (2013)

 

The fourth album from this band from Germany.

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

The band had help from numerous guests who provided percussion, guitars, programming, vocals sampling and vocals.

Long Distance Calling started out as an instrumental post-rock band. That was also the case on their third album.

The Flood Inside indeed starts out as an instrumental post-rock album. A lot of chugging guitars. 

The vocals then comes in and we move over to a landscape somewhere between grunge, hard prog and post-rock.

The vocals are really good.

The music is still based on guitars with some samples and vocals too.

The music is also really good. This is a good band and this album more than proves that.

3 points

Hemingways - The Gift Of Isolation (2022)

The debut album from this band from Greece.

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

This is one of the new bands who can be put into this post-metal genre.

In this case, take some hard prog, add lots of post-punk, psych rock and alternative rock.

They have, as per usual for bands like this, released their album through Bandcamp. The album is one hour long.

The vocals is very strained and does not feel natural. 

The music is a bit all over the place. From very hard to a bit pastoral.

The quality is decent enough and this band may have a chance in a scene now overflowing of new talents.

Check out this album.

2 points

Ozric Tentacles - Spirals in Hyperspace (2004)

The 16th album from this English band.

This album is essentially an Ed Wynne studio album. He does keyboards, programming and guitars here.

He got help from around ten guests, including Steve Hillage, who provided drums, bass, programming, guitars, samples, percussion, flute and synths.

The album is still released under the Ozric Tentacles flag/name and deserve some attention.

The various guests has added their influences and that makes this album a bit more varied and kicking in all directions than a true band album.

There is some African music here, some ambient, some more dub, electronica, space rock and some acid instrumental rock.

This during this seventy minutes long album. An album not exactly full of guitars.

The quality is not bad. Neither is this a good album.

Half of this album is decent enough and half of it is a good album. It is still an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points

 

 

 

 

Groundhogs - Hogwash (1972)

The sixth album from this British band.

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

During their first five albums, and my reviews of them, I have learnt that Groundhogs is one of the most interesting of the 1970s British bands. 

That status I am giving them is not so much because of the quality. But I am thinking about their music and their development from a hard rocking blues band.

The band is pretty hard rocking on this album too. But the very clever use of mellotron and more subtle melodies adds a lot to this album. That as per accident as the guitarist and vocalist Tony McPhee had been in an accident and damaged his hands. 

Hands and fingers is as we all know pretty essential when it comes to playing guitars. Which there is a lot of here. But he had to use mellotron to support the guitars too, due to his health.

The songs are quirky and really clever here. Progressive rock ? Oh yeah.

The vocals and the guitars are all good, despite of Tony's physical health. 

This album is a grower. But it is still a very good album.

Check out this album.

3.5 points

Pymlico - Supermassive (2022)

The seventh album from this band from Norway.

The band is now a seven piece big band with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, saxophone and keyboards.

Some guest musicians, including Roine Stolt from The Flower Kings, added their woodwinds, guitars and organ.

I have followed the two Brøter brothers and their band Pymlico with interest during their six first albums. 

The band started out as an instrumental symphonic prog band. Camel was a good reference.

Supermassive sees the band going down a more fusion, jazzy movie soundtrack type of instrumental music.

The saxophone is everywhere and there is also other brass as in trombone and trumpet here. There is also a lot of guitars and keyboards.

The music is elegant and nice. A bit too nice and a bit anonymous throughout. 

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. The band now urgently need some better tunes for the next album or two to reverse their latest trend towards becoming a supplier of supermarket muzak.

2.5 points

Psychocean - Luminescence (2011)

The one and only album from this band from Italy.

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

A friend added vocals on one track.

This band has also released five EPs and that gives a good indication what kind of genre this band operates within.

Post-metal, it is.

The music has some punk attitude and a lot of thrash metal and some stoner rock. 

The music is distorted and pretty technical. The vocals is the typical forced thrash metal vocals.

There is some interesting details here among the noises. 

The end result is a decent album which has a lot to offer for those into post-metal.

Check it out.

2 points

 

 

Akropolis - Half a Million Hours Symphony (1979)

 

The one and only album from this band from Denmark.

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

This band and album is even today pretty unknown and very obscure. I have yet to find a review of this album anywhere else. Hence...... I am reviewing it.

The music is as obscure as the album. I think there is a recurring theme here.....

This thirty-five minutes long album is divided into an Overture and five Movements. Yes, as in a classic music album.

The music is not symphonic prog or classic music. It is..... Gosh....... A bit of various elements.

Take a bit classic rock, some classic music, eclectic prog and symphonic prog. 

The result is eccentric and weird. 

The quality is decent throughout and this album deserve a bit more attention than the zero attention it has got. Check it out and make up your own mind. 

2 points

 

 

Karcius - Grey White Silver Yellow & Gold (2022)

The sixth album from this band from Canada.

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

This band was a jazz/fusion band on their first four albums before they changed genre and became a progressive metal and hard rock band.

The change took place on their fifth album, which I reviewed a couple of weeks ago.

Karcius has completed the transformation to a progressive metal band on Grey Whit Silver Yellow & Gold.

The music is heavy and pretty complex. The vocals is good. The drummer is good too.

There is too much metal here to really interest a progressive rock fan. 

The quality of the music is somewhere between decent and good. 

I am not won over.

2.5 points

 

 

Kaleidoscope - Faintly Blowing (1969)

The second album from this British band.

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

This is the final album from the original version of Kaleidoscope before their changed their name to Farfield Parlour who released one album. 

A third Kaleidoscope album was recorded in 1970 but not released before 1990, long after the demise of this band.

Faintly Blowing is pretty similar to the debut album.

We get forty minutes of psych pop from the 1960s.

The influences are The Moody Blues and The Beatles. That and the other beat bands from that time.

The music is pretty charming.

The vocals are good and the musicians does their best.

The quality is decent enough and I have heard worse albums from the beat genre than this album.

This band is well worth checking out.

2 points

Lionville - So Close To Heaven (2022)

The fifth album from this Italian band.

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

Their first four albums has bypassed me. The reason for this is that they are progressive metal albums.

Yes, Lionville is a progressive metal band from Italy.

Frontiers is their record label and although I hugely respect this label, progressive metal is not my thing. But this album still landed in my inbox.

The music here is melodic and sugary sweet progressive metal with some teenybopper influences. 

That means verse-chorus-verse with not much else than that. There are some good guitars and that is all. The vocals is also good.

I am not a big fan of love songs and all these cliches from that world. This album is full of them. 

This is a decent fifty minutes long album and an album for progressive metal fans. I am not one of them.

2 points

Morse. Neal - Neal Morse (1999)

The debut album from this US artist.

Neal Morse did the guitars, bass, synths, piano and vocals himself.

He got help from a handful of other musicians who provided drums, percussion, strings and backing vocals.

This is a review I am doing after I by sheer luck discovered that I got this album. I thought my first album of him was the third album Testimony and I did review it last week. So this is an out of sequence review.

I am still looking for his second album with the hope to review it sometimes soon.

The music on his debut album.... well, he set the tone for his later albums. The tone and music but not the lyrics. If the lyrics are Christian, they are very well hidden. I do not regard them as preaching. The lyrics are good, though...

The music is simplified symphonic prog and simplified Spock's Beard like symphonic prog. US symphonic prog in other words.

The first ten minutes are good to very good. The quality falls off a lot towards the end of these fifty minutes and the album becomes a decent album.

This is still an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points

 

  

Oldfield. Mike - Tubular Bells III (1998)

The 19th album from this British artist.

Mike Oldfield did the synths, bass, guitars and the electronics on this album.

Some vocalists added their vocals.

Mike Oldfield is again out to explore and exploit the Tubular Bells album and world. This album was his big album and claim to fame. Without that album, his career would had been pretty poor, mostly working as a studio musician.

Or I may be wrong.

Exploitation is the right word when it comes to this album. This is a piece of music and it has been given this name to sell far more albums than it would normally have done.

The music is pretty poor.

It is a close to being a turkey. A couple of decent melodies saves this album from inclusion in my turkey farm.

1.5 points

 

 

 

Miller. Rick - Falling Through Rainbows (2009)

 

The seventh album from this artist from Canada.

Rick Miller did the mellotron, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals himself.

He got help from a handful of other musicians who did drums, guitars, flute, cello and violins.

It is my understanding that this is the first of his albums where he employed a full rock setup and went electric and rock. 

Not hard rock, though.

We get the full rock band treatment. But the music is not hard rocking....

We are still in a more ambient landscape where the melodies are restrained and pretty ambient.

The vocals is good and there is some good guitar solos. The mellotron, strings and flute adds a nice ambience and sound to the music.

The music is relaxing.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. It is still a bit of a nice surprise as I did not really knew what I was letting myself into when I decided to review his last seven - eight albums.

2.5 points

Great Rift - Utopia (2022)

The second album from this band from Austria.

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

This album was pitched to me as a progressive rock album.

It is not.

The music is melodic, songs orientated stoner rock.

The vocals and sound is pretty dirty.

The guitars are pretty good.

The songs are pretty good too. There is some substandard songs too.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. 

Check out this album if you are curious about stoner rock. It is a nice introduction to that genre.

2.5 points

Prysma - Closer to Utopia (2019)

The debut and so far only album from this band from Greece.

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

This band released their album on Bandcamp and on CD.... and then covid arrived and the best laid plans disappeared in this pandemic which meant no gigs and no gathering of fans.

Which was unfortunate for both the band and this album.

The music here is a mix of art rock and neo-prog. 

There is also strong Rush influences here. There is also an undertone of jazz in their music.

The music is quirky and eclectic. The songs are long too. Over ten minutes in two of the five songs.

The vocals are good and the guitarist is doing a very good job.

My only gripe is the lack of any better songs than we get here. Nevertheless, this is an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points

Akasha - Akasha (1977)

The one and only album from this Norwegian band.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, mellotron, synths, organ, piano, vocals and spoken words.

This band was from a small fishing village called Kjollefjord up in the far north of Norway. Only Thule from Honningsvaag is a more northern band than Akasha.

This album was recently re-released on CD through the Norwegian classic albums series and that got mine and the rest of the Norwegian prog rock fans attention. 

A pretty well deserved attention too.

The music is a mix of psych rock and symphonic prog. 

The sound is good and ditto for the English vocals.

The music is filled with mellotron. The music is also quirky and pretty eclectic. There is also some cool melodies here.

The quality of the music on this forty minutes long album is indeed good. 

This album is indeed a hidden gem. It is one of the finds of the year.

3 points

 

 

Proage - Coelum (2022)

The fourth album from this band from Poland.

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

A female choir added their vocals too.

I was not particular impressed by their debut album. I have not heard their second and third album yet.

I have therefore arrived at their fourth and newest album.

The band does a mix of neo-prog, art rock, a bit of gypsy music, jazz and fusion.

This band is not a run of the mill progressive rock band. They are still a progressive rock band and the music is progressive rock.

The vocals is pretty poor. The saxophone is a pretty dominant instrument in their sound.

The quality of the songs are decent to good.

This is a good album and band for those who want to listen to quirky, but still melodic progressive rock.

 2.5 points

 

 

 

Pattern Seeking Animals - Only Passing Through (2022)

The third album from this band from USA.

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

The band is back again with their third album.

Pattern Seeking Animals consists of some Spock's Beard members. 

It seems like the band is now something more than just a side project of their main band (?) Spock's Beard. Three albums in a short period sounds like the band means business.

The music is still a bit of US/Canadian folk rock meets Spock's Beard. 

The music is still pretty complex but not as complex as the music from their main band.

Only Passing Through is still pretty much a symphonic prog album.

The music is good throughout and fans of both Spock's Beard and Neal Morse will lap up this album with a happy smile. 

This is very much a satisfying album.

3.5 points

 

  

Colosseum - Restoration (2022)

The eight album from this band from England.

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

This band has been going on since the late 1960s. Their first two albums is classic albums in the rock and blues scene.

Their following albums has not been of the same class. But the band is still a classic band, revered by most of the rock scene.

Chris Farlowe is on vocals and the lineup has some other veterans too.

The music is a mix of rock, brass rock and some blues.

This one hour long album is also song based.

The vocals are good.

The songs are decent enough. This album is still only a shadow of this band when they were at their best. 

This is not their finest hour.

2 points

Morse. Neal - Testimony (2003)

The third album from this artist from USA.

Neal Morse did the organ, synths, piano, guitars and vocals himself.

He got help from numerous friends who added drums, bass, woodwinds, guitars, viola, violin, cello, flute and backing vocals.

I have got hold of more than ten of his albums which I will review over the coming months. I will avoid the praise worship albums and stick to his progressive rock albums.

I have not managed to get hold of his first two albums so this double album, two hours long album, is the first of many albums I will review.

Neal Morse had left Spock's Beard after finding God. As he sings himself on this album.... rock music and the rock scene was nothing for him. It was just emptiness.

... So he rejoined this scene not so long after he sung and recorded those words on Testimony.....

This two album is a bit preaching. But that is his solo career and I respect that. 

The music is a mix of Spock's Beard, The Beatles and art rock.

The music is mostly great with some great symphonic prog throughout. 

The end result is a great album and one of the best symphonic prog albums this century.

I am really looking forward to reviewing the rest of his albums.

4 points

 

 

Kanoi - Fierce Ghosts (2012)

The third album from this one-man-band from Austria.

Benjamin Kantschieider does all the electronics and vocals himself.

I am not a big fan of electro prog bands. This despite Kanoi being labeled krautrock.

I am a pretty big fan of krautrock.

The album opens with a song, no less. The song are a melancholic dirge backed up by piano. The vocals are good.

The rest of the album is dirge and spaced out ambient music before we get a repeat of the title track.

The music is decent enough. There is a meaning and an idea behind this album. The title-track is fairly good.

This is a decent enough album and fans of ambient krautrock should check it out.

2 points

 

 

Strange Pop - Ten Years Gone (2022)

The debut album from this band from Poland.

The band is a one man project from Mr. Michal Dziadosz. He plays bass, flute, synths, programmed drums and vocals.

He got help from a trio who provided guitars. These are the guitarists in Collage, Amarok and Seasonal. The album has been released by the good Polish label Lynx.

The music on this album is not surprisingly progressive rock.

Take a bit of Marillion, Gazpacho, Radiohead and a large part of Pink Floyd. Add some melancholic Polish neo-prog too. This is where we can find this album.

The music is very melodic and very Pink Floyd'ish at times. 

The vocals is good and the pretty long ambient part towards the end is pretty good.

The end result is a good album and another good addition to the progressive rock scene in Poland.

Check out this album.

3 points

 

 

Project Lo - Dabblings In Darkness (1995)

 

The debut album from this US band.

The band was a duo with a lineup of guitars and bass.

They got help from some guests who provided drums, saxophone, guitars and some keyboards.

This jazz combo released two albums before they gave up the ghost. The second one was released in 1997. It is an album I do not have.

Dabbling In Darkness gives us almost an hour full of jazz.

The jazz is pretty mainstream. It is also pretty melodic and it is full of interesting details. It is one of those albums who makes progheads like myself wonder if the jazz scene offers a lot for us progheads.

And it does.

The music is indeed pretty much leaning towards fusion too and offers up some really good stuff even for those not really into hardcore jazz.

The result is a good album indeed.

Check it out.

3 points

Aisles - Hawaii (2016)

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

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

I knew this band pretty well for many years and this album has been hanging around in my inbox for far too long. Strangely enough, I have not heard anything from this band and their social media channels for a long time.

I am afraid this mean the band has split up. If this is true, that is a great shame.

Their music is a mix of art rock and neo-prog with some symphonic prog elements.

This album is a double album/cd and it is over eighty minutes long.

The songs are not particular long. This album has still got a concept album feel with some instrumental parts.

The music is very melodic without being light and fluffy. The amount of quirky details means this album is not as easy accessible as the big masses would have liked it. This album is a progressive rock album.

The overall quality is good throughout. The vocals also makes it nice on the ears and the details gives the brain a lot of food.

I would recommend this album and this band.

3 points

 

 

Karcius - The Fold (2018)

 

The fifth album from this band from Canada.

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

This band went below my radar during their first three fusion albums before I caught up with them on their fourth album, the 2012 opus The First Day. I reviewed it ten years ago and quite liked it.

The band had by then changed genre and gone a bit more progressive metal. 

That is very much the case on The Fold.

There is also some neo-prog and some djent here with lots of growls.

Some of the music is really melodic with some pastoral melody lines.

The quality is not really impressive. There are some decent stuff here and some good stuff here. 

That is my gripe with this album.

2.5 points