Lugnet - Lugnet (2016)

The debut album from this band from Sweden.

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

I have no idea why I got this album but it is now up for review.

The band has released at least one more albums and is still alive. They are one of the many bands in the 1970s retro hard-rock scene.

Take Led Zeppelin and crossbreed them with Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. This is when you end up with Lugnet. Both the album and the band.

The vocals is good and very fitting this music. Music which is really hard throughout without being heavy metal.

This is in short through and through hard rock and the quality is somewhere between decent and good. Some good songs would had made a lot of difference. They are not here. 

Check out this band if retro hard rock is your thing.

2.5 points

 

 

Great Wide Nothing - Hymns for Hungry Spirits, # I(2020)

The second album from this band from USA.

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

Four guests contributed with saxophones, trumpet and female vocals.

I pretty much liked their 2019 debut album The View From Olympus. A pretty good US neo-prog album.

The band continues in the same vein on the follow up album.

US neo-prog with a lot of Rush and some americana influences.

The music is melodic and not particular technical or quirky.

There is indeed some Pink Floyd influences on this forty minutes long album too.

The vocals is good and the band does a good job on some songs which is letting the band down.

The quality is therefore somewhere between decent and good. I am not won over.

2.5 points

Birth - Born (2022)

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

The band is new. The musicians is not. They played in the now disbanded band Astra. A band who released some albums, if my memory serves me right. I have reviewed at least one of their albums.

Birth plays 1970s psych and doom metal. There is also a lot of progressive rock in their sound.

There is nothing revolutionary in their music.

Their mix of psych, hard rock from that era and progressive rock gives us a good soundscape.

The vocals is really good and the sound takes us back to 1973'ish.

The music is bordering to good. This forty minutes long album is sorely lacking some good tunes and that is my only gripe with this album.

It is a welcome debut album and the quality is somewhere between decent and good.

Retroheads should check out this album.

2.5 points

Grombira - Desert Warp (2022)

The second album from this band from Germany.

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

Their debut album was an Asian sounding space rock/krautrock album with some raga rock influences. It was and still is an unique album within that genre.

Gosh did it blow my head off.

The follow up starts with some really good sitars before it takes a much more desert rock, space rock and krautrock direction.

Desert Warp is not as far out as the debut album.

That is a kind of a shame.

The music is still engaging with tinged with Indian folk music and Ravi Shankar references.

This forty five minutes long Bandcamp album is very much well worth checking out as it is a good album with four good compositions. The longest and the best one clocking in at over twenty minutes.

This is a band I regard as one of my best finds this year.

3 points

Glasfrosch - Aubades (2013)

The second album from this band from Australia.

The band was a trio with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, piano, organ, keyboards, synths, tabla, programming, electronic and vocals.

I was not impressed by their debut album. Chaotic to the extreme and not much when it comes to quality. I had heard on the grapevine that Aubades was more structured and more melodic.

Indeed, it is.

We are talking a mix of post-metal and jazz. There is also some pop sensibilities here and some King Crimson influences.

The vocals is good and the music is a lot organic despite of all the programming and electronics it is supposed to contain. The piano is great.

The band is onto something on this album. An album with a lot of style and poise.

This is a good band and I hope I will meet up with their last album sometimes soon.

3 points

Fromuz - The Asymmetric Rules (2022)

The fifth album from this band from Uzbekistan.

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

This is their comeback album after a nine years long break. The band was very active ten years ago with DVDs, live album and studio albums.

Then a long radio silence from Uzbekistan.

They have now returned with this seventy minutes long album.

The music is this time progressive metal with some jazz influences. There is even some blues at the end of this album.

The album starts as a progressive metal album and becomes more and more jazzy during the album before it ends with ten minutes of pure blues.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. The jazzy progressive metal bits are the best on this album. There is also stuff here who does not pass my test. 

Hence...

2.5 points

 

 

Enid. The - The Bridge (2015)

The 21st album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of guitars, piano, programming and vocals.

The Enid is a kind of an enigma to me. Their music was somewhere between classical music and symphonic prog in the beginning. That was in the 1970s. 

Due to some legal problems, the band was then reduced to record re-worked versions of old pieces for a while..... make that on a handful of albums.

I more or less gave up on the band then after their reasonable good first albums. But as I have vowed to review all their albums, I continued this task.

The Bridge sees programmed symphony orchestra and choir with Joe Payne's vocals on the top. Robert John Godfrey adds piano and does the programming while we also get some guitars too.

The music we now get on forty minutes long The Bridge is a mix of musicals and classical music influenced pop songs. 

The songs are well crafted. The quality is somewhere between decent and good.

This is a stylish album who falls a bit short when it comes quality. It is still an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points

Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)

The sixth album from this band from USA.

Dream Theater was a quintet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

I really loved and love the 1999 album Metropolis. It is one of the greatest, if not the greatest progressive metal album of all time.

The band waited three years.... toured, that is, before Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence arrived.

This album is a double CD taking us past one and a half hour. 

The band is here discovering symphonic prog and is making their own symphonic prog album as they are discovering this genre.

The music is at times progressive metal and this is very much a Dream Theater. Nevertheless.....

 This is their symphonic prog album. There is a lot of epic melodies here. All of them are in the masterpiece class. The music is very complex throughout. 

This is indeed a superb album and my favourite Dream Theater album.  

A masterpiece, indeed.

5 points

Galeria De Raices - Espíritu Y Fuego (2022)

 

 

The third album from this band from Argentina.

 

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

 

Two vocalists also adds their voices to this album as guest musicians.

 

The third album sees a change in music and styles.

 

The band has now become a female vocals fronted progressive rock band.

 

The King Crimson and the more eclectic prog has gone. Left is some clever progressive rock with some pop sensibilities. There is a lot of Mostly Autumn influences here but with Spanish vocals.

 

The vocals is very good and the band is clearly very talented. 

This album is close to forty minutes long and it is a good album too. This is a band well worth checking out.

3 points

Lingus - Lingus2018 (2018)

The one and only album from this band from France.

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

This is an interesting band from France, based on this album. I hope they will release a new album again.

Their music is a mix of symphonic prog with Ange/Genesis as a reference, fusion, chanson and pop music. Add some Rush and The Beatles too.

The vocals are both male and female.

There is a lot of interesting details in their dynamic and lively music. The vocal harmonies is good and there is nothing to dislike and disapprove of here.

This is indeed a good album who sounds really fresh. I hope we will hear more from these guys.

3 points

 

Gallary - Gallary (1979)

The one and only album from this band from Germany.

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

Two guests added flute and congas.

Nothing is known about this band who released this album and then disappeared.

The music on this forty minutes long album is sunny, shiny symphonic prog.

Camel springs to mind and so does Genesis. That without vocals.

The bird songs and flutes adds a lot to this album. The guitars are pretty good. The tempo is mid-tempo with some psych rock influences. The congas adds some African elements to their music.

The organs is really cool and the harmonies between the organ and the acoustic guitars are interesting.

The result is a decent album who did not set the world on fire and will never do so. It is a decent enough listen and worth checking out.

2 points

Grombira - Grombira (2017)

The debut album from this band from Germany.

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

The band has so far released three albums through Bandcamp and I got the first two albums and intent to get their new album too.

The band label themselves as "oriental space rock". They are not kidding.

There has always been some kind of oriental sound and rhythms in space rock. In particular space rock from Germany. Some of it has been labeled krautrock.

This band is perhaps a krautrock band too and I would not be too surprised to find them labeled as krautrock in the likes of ProgArchives. And that would be justified too.

There is some weird things in their space rock and on this forty-five minutes long album. The music is a bit raga rock and is not outer space rock. It is more like an Indian rock album.

The music is good too and this band and album adds a lot to the progressive rock scene. 

Check it out.

3 points 

 

Glasfrosch - If You Go Far Enough Into The Sky You'll Come Out Underwater (2011)

The debut album from this band from Australia.

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

Three guests added tabla, saxophones and vocals.

This band from Australia has released three albums so far and I got their first two albums for reviews.

The long album title tells you about an eclectic, if not an avant-garde band. 

The music on this almost seventy minutes long album is somewhere between electronica and avant-garde rock.

There is not much method in this madness. 

Various ideas is thrown onto a tape recorder in hope they will make sense. In most cases, they fail to make sense.

There is some half decent stuff here and that is all. Avoid unless avant-garde is a genre you avidly collect every album from.

1.5 points

 

 

Inner Prospekt - Grey Origin (2022)

The 12th album from this band from Italy.

Inner Prospekt is Alessandro Di Benedetti on keyboards and computers.

He had help from a guitarist on one of the tracks.

Alessandro Di Benedetti has released some good symphonic prog and neo-prog albums under this name. Hence, I was looking forward to this album.

This album though is an electro-ambient album.

The instruments are all digital and I guess, mostly computer generated.

The music is fairly OK on this album. It is also pretty dynamic with some ambient pieces too.

This is a fairly decent album and I hope it is a one-off dive into this electronic genre and that we will see a return to more organic progressive rock next time around.

2 points

Pastoral - Pastoral (1973)

The debut album from this band from Argentina.

The band was a duo consisting of Alejandro De Michele and Miguel Angel Erausquin. Both did guitars and Spanish vocals.

Session musicians added keyboards, bass, percussion and woodwinds.

Pastoral started as a duo, expanded to a multi-members band and then finished a duo on the final couple of albums. They released six studio albums and I got them for reviews this year.

This half an hour long album does not offer much of progressive rock.

It is half an hour of singer-songwriter duo folk rock. Mostly only with vocals and acoustic guitars.

There is not much quality here and this album does not offer up much joy unless you a fan of acoustic guitars and vocals.

Both vocalists has great voices and that is the saving grace.

I am still not won over. Nevertheless, it is a decent enough album.

2 points

 

 

Groundhogs - Black Diamond (1976)

The 10th album from this band from England.

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

Tony McPhee was still active and was rocking on.

This is their tenth album and I was curious to find out what the band was up to on this anniversary album.

Groundhogs got rid of their edges and went a lot more polished and cleaned up on this album. 

The result is a clean sounding rock album.

Rock'n'roll is the label I would use here. There is some hard rock and some blues here too.

The album is vocals and guitars dominated. The music is uncomplicated and songs dominated.

The music is pretty charming but still not on the same level as most of their previous albums. The dirtiness is missing on this album. Good songs is also missing.

This is still a decent album. But it is probably their least interesting album of the their, up to then, ten albums.

2 points

Plesiosaurio - Archipiélago (2022)

The second album from this band from Argentina.

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

This is another new band in the pretty big prog rock scene in Argentina. This band also comes from Patagonia in the far south end of South America. Their next neighbor is Cape Hope and Antarctica. They may even claim the title as the most southern prog rock band on this planet. 

But they have now relocated to the capitol of Argentina, which is some hundreds of miles north of Patagonia.

I liked their debut album so it was a no brainer to review this album too. Both albums are out on Bandcamp.

The music is Latin-American progressive rock. The vocals are Spanish and the references back to the great 1970s bands from this region are many.

The music changes between being pretty heavy and pretty pastoral. The songs are pretty long, without becoming suites or epics.

The quality is good throughout. This album is a name-your-price too (Bandcamp) and a sure download.

Check out this album and this band.

3 points

Lindquist. Freddy - Menu (1970)

The one and only solo album from this guitarist from Norway.

Freddy Linquist did the guitars, bass, percussion and flute himself.

He had help from good friends on drums, keyboards, saxophones and vocals.

Freddy Linquist played in The Beatnicks, The Vanguards, Junipher Greene and Lucifer Was. That in addition to adding his guitars to around one hundred other albums.

As as studio musician and guitarist, it is hard to find any better and greater one in Norway than Freddy Lindquist.

This album is most known, to me at least, for the cover art work. It is...... ehhh...... interesting. It also killed the album flat out back in 1970 when the attitudes were different than today. That was a shame. 

The music is a mix of folk rock, blues and hard rock with some progressive rock influences. The music is pretty hard with some Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple influences.

Freddy Lindquist does a great job on the guitars but the other musicians also does a good job. 

The music is decent enough but not particular good. It is still an interesting album and one well worth checking out.

2 points

Initial Gravity - Lost (2011)

The one and only album from this band from Argentina.

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

This band released their album through MySpace and Spotify as a free album before they gave up the ghost.

I am not a big fan of copycats. OK, I quite enjoy the Yes and Genesis copycats. But they do it with skills and style. Initial Gravity, on the other hand.....

... is a Dream Theater copycat.

It is like I am starting to believe that Lost is an album Dream Theater was not happy with, but still felt had to be released some way or another. That as a made up Argentina band and released in silence without any fanfare.

But this is not a Dream Theater album as the musicians in Initial Gravity is nowhere as good as the great musicians in Dream Theater. That also include the vocalist who does a very good job trying to sound as James Labrie but still falls short of the target.

The songs has taken a lot from Dream Theater songs and I get the feeling that the band sometimes has taken Dream Theater songs and tweaked them into their own. A lot of tweaking, but still tweaking.

The result is still a decent album and a sure (free) purchase if you cannot get enough of the real thing; Dream Theater. The album is a charming album, I gladly admit.

2 points

 

 

Ozric Tentacles - Space for the Earth (2020)

The 21st album from this band from England.

The band is now a trio with a lineup of drums, guitars, synths and programming.

Some guests has added percussion, flute, drums and synths.

As I am writing this review, this is the latest album from this band from Brighton. I think they are in studio again, though. If that is the case, I will happily get their new album. 

The music is again space rock. Space rock with some acoustic guitars and some African rhythm added too. There is a lot of electronica as per usual. The mix of space rock and electronica is the genre this band has single handed created over these twenty-one albums and many decades of hard work.

Space For The Earth is also pretty laid back and the various melodies gets space to breathe and grow on the listener.

The result is another very good album from a band I have learned to respect and then love during my reviews of most of their studio albums. It is a journey I highly recommend.

This album is one of their better albums.

3.5 points

Galeria De Raices - El Costo De Lo Eterno (2020)

The second album from this band from Argentina.

The band was now a duo of Marcos Ameri and Emanuel Vivar with a lineup of drums, drum programming, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

The duo had help from numerous guests who added piano, keyboards, bass, harmonica, guitars, female and male vocals.

I was pretty happy about the debut album and valued that. I was therefore looking forward to sink my ears into this album.

The band is giving us thirty-five minutes of art-rock with some progressive rock influences and a lot of Latin - American pop influences.

The mood and sound is melancholic. The music is sometimes beautiful and there is a lot of very good vocals here. Both male and female. 

The music is also understated and very much in the Latin - American prog rock tradition. 

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. It is still an album well worth checking out from a really good band. I will soon review their brand new album.

2.5 points

Retreat From Moscow - The World as We Knew It (2022)

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The band was formed in 1979 and soldiered on until 1981. The band members then met up some years ago and decided restart the band again and record their songs plus some new songs.

The music on this seventy-four minutes long self-released digital album is a mix of hard prog (Rush) and neo-prog. There is also some symphonic prog influences here.

There are also some rock influences here and the music is both rocking and dynamic.

There is a lot of interesting details here and those are really carrying this album.

The songs are pretty OK, but not really great. They are pretty long though, somewhere between five and ten minutes long.

This is an album for those who both like British prog and the likes of Rush. It is also a piece of British prog rock history and well worth checking out.

3 points

 

Oldfield. Mike - Light + Shade (2005)

The 24th album from this artist from England.

Mike Oldfield does the guitars, grand piano, bass, synths and computers here.

After the awful previous album Tr3s Lunas, I had lost all hope. And the cover art work did not give me any hope either.

This album is a double CD album. That is more than eighty minutes of music.

The two CDs is divided into one acoustic guitars and one electronica. 

The first cd, called Light, is bordering to being new age and is as exciting as watching paint dry on a wall. How could a gifted man like Mike Oldfield sink that low ?

The second cd is more interesting with a lot of half decent electronica. All of it computer generated.

The result is still pretty dire and this is indeed a turkey of an album, despite of that not too dire second cd. But nothing can save this project when the first cd is so dire.

Turkey, it is.

1 point.

Miller. Rick - Breaking Point (2015)

The 2th album from this artist from Canada.

Rick Miller does the drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals himself here.

He got help from some guests who adds their percussion, guitars, cello, violin and flute.

Rick Miller has in his new life as an electric rock found his own niche and style now. 

That is..... pastoral neo-prog.

The music is a bit dark and there is some Middle-East influences here. But this album does not deviate much from the previous three albums.

The music is a bit meandering and not so exciting.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good this time around.

I wish there had been some better and more distinct good melodies and details here. But no..

2.5 points

Knight Area - D Day II (2022)

The eight album from this band from Holland.

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

I reviewed # 1 of the D Day albums last year together with some rather older Knight Area albums. I was happy about their first albums. I was not impressed by the direction the band had taken on D Day, # 1 of this series of albums.

The band has gone from being a good neo-prog band, one of the better bands in this genre, to becoming a progressive and power metal band.

Mostly power metal, as on this album, # 2 of this series.

Yes, it is about the D Day and the assault on the beaches of Normandie back in June 1944. It is a kind of a concept album.

The album is decent to good in the beginning of these three quarters of an hour this album takes up our time. The end is pretty dire, although it is probably essential for the story told on this concept album. I concede that.

This album takes us through some power metal cliches too.

The end result is barely a decent album and an album I cannot recommend.

Sorry...

2 points

Leoni. I - La Foresta (1971)

The one and only album from this band from Italy.

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

A female vocalist also helped out on vocals.

The band released two singles and this album between 1970 and 1971 before they disbanded in 1974. Nothing has been heard from anyone in the band again after they disbanded.

La Foresta is a thirty minutes long RPI album. 

The music has Italian vocals and the music is mainly pastoral Italian symphonic prog with some folk music and pop influences.

The ballads are pretty sweet and good. 

There are also some harder stuff here with some wild guitars.

The vocals is really good and ditto for the sound.

There are some stuff that are pretty substandard. Their attempts on a Jacula like piece of music falls a bit short compared to the rest of the album.

This is an obscure album from an obscure band. It is still a decent to good album and one of the obscure RPI - Italian symphonic prog albums well worth checking out.

2.5 points

 

 

Inn Vinegar - Pastel Places (2021)

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

The band from Charleston, South Carolina is off course new to me. The album has been released through Bandcamp too and I guess they have a local following.

The music is a blend of vocal jazz and art-rock. There are also a lot of progressive rock and some fusion influences here.

The music is pretty laid back and cool with some cool male vocals.

The music is also pretty playful at times as it has this jazzy feel.

Most of all; this album has got this jazz sound from the southern states of USA. 

The musicians does a good job too.

There are some really good stuff here and this is an album well worth checking out. It is indeed a good fifty minutes long album.

3 points

 

 

Ozric Tentacles - Technicians of the Sacred (2015)

The 20th album from this band from England.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of bongos, congas, drums, bass, guitars, synths, baglama and programming.

The band returns with their 20th album. Some of the albums has been cassette albums and I think the band only think they have released 15 albums. Nevertheless, their cassette albums also deserve attention.

Moving back to Technicians Of The Sacred, the band has again developed and dragged in another soundscape.

That on this ninety minutes long double album/CD. 

There is a lot of Asian and Middle East sounds on this album in the voices used. A lot of exotic sounds.

These new sounds really enhances the band's core music. That is pretty impressive and that makes me a fan.

These ninety minutes are very good and really makes a space rock rock fan happy.

Check out this very good album.

3.5 points

Galeria De Raices - Contracultura (2018)

The debut album from this band from Argentina.

The band was Marcus Ameri on drum programs, bass, guitars and keyboards.

He got help from numerous guests who added bass, guitars, saxophone, flute and vocals.

This is a new'ish band who has released three albums so far. The two other albums is up for reviews in the coming week.

The music is a mix of indie rock, art rock, symphonic prog, hard prog and hard rock.

References are Rush, the RPI scene and the Argentine symphonic prog scene.

There is a lot of different music going on here. But Rush is a good reference for most of it. 

The music is pretty elegant throughout these thirty-seven minutes. The vocals is good and the guitars has a good hard prog and jazz feel.

It is an acceptable debut album which flags up this band as a promising band.

2.5 points

Big Big Train - Welcome to the Planet (2022)

The 15th album from this band from England.

The band was a seven piece big band with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, violin, keyboards, female and male vocals.

This is the final Richard Longdon album, recorded before he so sadly was taken from his family and the rest of us in a car accident.

Life is not fair.

The band delivers us some more pastoral symphonic prog. This time, fifty minutes of it.

David Longdon's vocals are unique and will be massively missed in the years to come.  He was one of the best vocalists in today's progressive rock scene.

The band has set the bar/standard and expectations high on the previous albums and I was expecting a very good album again from the band.

That is what I got and this album is another winner from this band. 

I fear for the future of this band. But they have at least released fifteen albums which has established them as one of the better bands in the history of progressive rock.

3.5 points

 

 

Like Wendy - The Storm Inside (1998)

The second album from this band from Holland.

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

This is a band I have yet to sample although they have released eight albums. I have now got four of their albums and reviews will follow this summer/fall.

The band is a neo-prog band and their neo-prog is middle of the road when it comes to this genre.

The band is also very much in the Dutch neo-prog tradition.

The music is very melodic and gentle. There is some guitar solos but most of the album is on the gentle side.

This kind of neo-prog is very effective and nice.

The problem with this album is that there is too few really good melodies and details. 

This album is therefore somewhere between decent and good.

But check out this band and this album.

2.5 points

Morse. Neal - Lifeline (2008)

The 13th album from this artist from USA.

Neal Morse plays keyboards, guitars and does the lead vocals.

He got help from numerous guests who provided drums, percussion, bass, guitars, strings, saxophones and vocals.

Neal Morse's discography is a bit difficult to follow as there is so many Worship albums included who does not have any interest for a progressive rock fan and collection. Not to mention a blog who does reviews of prog albums. So I have to choose his progressive rock albums.

The lyrics on this seventy minutes long album is very much preaching and overly so.

The music is pretty progressive and in the same vein as his progressive rock output. That means US symphonic prog with some singer/songwriter influences.

The main opus is good. The best song is the title-track who opens the album and to a certain degrees gives the listener false hope. There is some sub-standard material here before we come to the main opus So Many Roads who fills up the final half an hour of the album.

This is probably the least impressive album he has done for some time. It is still a good album and that says a lot about his level and standards. 

Nevertheless..... it is a good album.

3 points

 

 

Jalayan - Floating Islands (2022)

The second album from this band from Italy.

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

I have not been able to get a copy of their 2019 debut Sonic Drive so this is my first meeting with this band.

The band has been listening to Hawkwind and in particular Ozric Tentacles a lot. That is evident on this album.

The Ozric Tentacles references are all over this album. 

Jalayan is a band in that scene and the sound the above mentioned band has created and it is indeed a very good thing that someone else also takes up the genre created by the band from Brighton, England.

There is some rather harsh and heavy guitars here and the music is by no means ambient. It is nicely flowing outer space rock and it has got some snarling teeth.

The quality is good all the way through this forty five minutes long album. The band has something going for them and this album should get a lot attention in the progressive rock scene.

3 points

 

 

 

Laura - Colis Postal (1981)

The second and final album from this band from France.

The band was an eight piece big band with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and French vocals.

I review their self-titled debut album some years and was not impressed.

Laura's music on this album is a kind of a dark prog rock with some goth rock influences. It is a bit theatrical and the music is a kind of a melodic, dark version of French symphonic prog.

The sound is not particular good and that is my main gripe with this album.

The music is decent enough with some good parts here and there. But the sound where the vocals is far too much in the front of the mix, is not good.

The result is a half-decent album and a huge disappointment. Well, at least for me.

1.5 points

 

 

Azitis - Help (1971)

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

This band was a short lived band who released this album and recorded a new album in 1975 who was released decades later, in 2010, through CD Baby, as Window Into In. I may do a review of that album too... It is under consideration.

The music is old style psych rock with Christian lyrics. 

That is overtly Christian lyrics who are really preaching. That seems like the whole point of this forty odd minutes long album.

The music is loose and there is not much quality. I am tempted to label this as a turkey as the music is bad. OK, it is a turkey as the music is really bad on all levels.

Avoid.

1 point

 

 

Nana. Bader - Wormwood II (2021)

The fifth album from this Lebanese artist, living in Kuwait.

Bader Nana does the drums(programming), bass, guitars, keyboards, computers and vocals himself.

He got help from some guests who has added guitar solos, violins and vocals.

Bader Nana has impressed me and others who has taken the plunge to discover neo-prog from the Middle-East. His debut tribute album to Michael Jackson is an album well worth ignoring. The other ones is good albums.

The opening minutes takes us to an intro which is not that unfamiliar to us who remember Dream Theater's intro on the Metropolis album. Nothing bad about that and Bader Nana delivers a great intro here.

Dream Theater in their most symphonic prog mood is a very good reference to this album. There is also plenty of neo-prog here.

The music is melodic with a lot of guitars and some violin. The vocals is really good too.

The end result is a very good album and one that should put Bader Nana firmly on the progressive rock map as one of the biggest talents and new artists.

3.5 points

Indigo - Herbstwind (1982)

The third and final album from this band from Germany.

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

A guest added bass throughout the album.

The debut album Meer Der Zeit from 1977 was quite a decent take on symphonic prog and krautrock. Unfortunate, I do not have their second album so I have therefore landed on their third and final album.

The music are again early days symphonic prog with some Eloy influences. Add Camel and Kayak too to the list of references.

The organ and the keyboards are pretty dominant here.

The music is still light and pretty pastoral. There is no cascades of sound here.

The German vocals is OK. The organ is good.

The sound is also pretty good.

The quality of the music is somewhere between decent and good. This is a pretty charming album and symphonic prog fans will find this a pretty entertaining album.

2.5 points

Dear Hunter. The - Antimai (2022)

The ninth album from this band from USA.

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

The Dear Hunter started out as a post-hardcore band back in 2006 with their Act I album.

Post-hardcore is not what we get here.

The band, through the main man and vocalist Casey Crescendo (probably not his real name....), has changed territory and genre.

Tamla Motown with some brass rock and pop is what we get here.

The music is rather sparkling and catchy. There are even some retained post-hardcore on this album.

The Tamla-Motown brass rock and soul elements are totally dominating though and the band has kicked some life into that genre on this fifty minutes long album. Not that anyone from that scene will notice as I am afraid that this band will forever be lumped into the post-hardcore scene.

The quality is good though and this is an enjoyable album. 

Check out this album.

3 points

Enid. The - First Light (2014)

The 20th album from this band from England.

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

A drummer did the drums on the final live track.

This is another re-work of old songs from this band + a live track.

These many re-works albums has made the band a tribute band to themselves. 

The re-worked tracks are all a mix of neo-classical music, musicals and some symphonic prog. 

When I started reviewing their albums, and I will continue to do so until their final albums, I did not expect that many re-works albums. But that is what The Enid has been reduced to. 

There is two brand new tracks here and they are all in the pop/musicals tradition. They are decent enough.

The rest of this one hour long album is also decent enough. The fans knows what they get here and I hope they are satisfied. I am not.

2 points

Dream Theater - Metropolis 2 Scenes From A Memory (1999)

The fifth album from this band from USA.

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

The band had help from some narrations, female vocals and a choir.

The band was by now the biggest progressive rock band in the world and not far off the likes of Iron Maiden and Metallica when it comes to being the biggest metal band in the world.

It was therefore not a bad idea to release a seventy-seven minutes long concept album.

The music is a mix of progressive metal and symphonic rock too. The music is pretty hard and the vocals are great.

The opening symphonic prog part of this concept album, in two acts, is simply some of the best music this band has ever released.

Act one is simply great and close to being a masterpiece. OK, it is a masterpiece.

Act two is superb too but not in the same vein. Too much metal.

The end result is still a masterpiece and one of their best ever albums. 

This is an album all prog heads should have.

5 points

 

 

Relayer - Waiting (2022)

The seventh album from this band from USA.

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

This band album debuted back in 1994 and their debut album was pretty good. 

The music back then and on some of their albums was progressive rock.... symphonic prog.

That is long time ago and I have not been impressed by the couple of albums I have reviewed before I got this album up for review.

We get some medium lively rock here and some ballads inbetween. Progressive rock ? Nope. Not a bit progressive rock.

Straight rock is what we get and the music is pretty commercial. It is meant to be commercial.

The problem is the quality and this album is found missing in that department. A couple of decent tunes and that is it. 

Sorry...

1.5 points

 

 

Labirinto di Alice. Il - RiPassi (2018)

The debut album from this band from Italy.

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

This is a new band in the RPI scene and they have so far only released this album.

RPI = Italian symphonic prog in this case and that is what we get here.

The music on this half an hour long album has both Banco and PFM as good references. 

The organ sound is really good and ditto for the vocals. The guitars too are good.

There is also some funk in their RPI and that adds spices to an album full of interesting details but who does not really have the great melodies and songs.

Nevertheless, this is a good album and a nice addition to mine and anyone's RPI collection. I hope we will get more from this band.

3 points

Avant Garden - Maelstrom (2001)

The one and only album from this band from USA.

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

They had some support from guests who provided didgeridoo, percussion and loops.

The music on this album hit like a bit of a bolt in my head....

We are talking heavy fusion here with some hard rock, folk rock and progressive rock influences.

There is a lot of flute, saxophones and guitars on this album.

The music changes between pastoral, intense and heavy throughout this one hour album.

There is some hidden gems in this scene. Hidden gems I love to find.

This album is a hidden gem and a very good album too. My only gripe is a missing killer track or killer detail. Besides of that........ check out this album.

3.5 points

Nana. Bader - Devolver (2017)

The fourth album from this artist from Lebanon & Kuwait.

Bader Nana does the guitars, drums programming, bass, keyboards and vocals.

He got help from two guests who added vocals and guitar solos.

Bader Nana's previous three albums has been a revelation to me. So I was looking forward to give this album a listening session or three.

Bader Nana's music is somewhere in the neo-prog landscape. It is in the British neo-prog tradition and bands like Arena is a good reference.

The music is both melodic and at times very catchy. Commercial in other words and it is only the Bandcamp and his location in Kuwait who prevents him from having a greater status in the scene. I think he is vastly underrated.

The vocals is good and Bader knows how to make clever music. 

This is another good album from him. My only gripe is the missing great melodies. There is none here. But this album will give those into melodic, clever neo-prog a lot to feel joyful about.

3 points

Indigo - Meer Der Zeit (1977)

The debut album from this band from Germany.

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

The band released three albums before they gave up and moved on. I got this album and their final album up for reviews in the coming days.

The band played some sort of German symphonic prog with German lyrics and some krautrock influences.

The music is Hammond organ and Fender Rhodes dominated. 

The music is one long suite called Ruckblende. The album clocks in at forty minutes.

The music is not heavy and it is not bombastic epic either. It is meandering somewhere between pastoral and poppy. It is still symphonic prog but more proto than bona fida symphonic prog.

The vocalist and the band is doing a decent job on an unremarkable album.

This is a decent enough album and fans of symphonic prog may want to give this album a spin.

2 points

 

 

Turning Point - Vanishing Dream (2022)

The third album from this band from England.

The band was a quintet on this album with a lineup of drums, percussion, electric piano, bass, piano, synths, saxophones and voices.

This is not really a new album and it is not really their third album either. This album consists of studio recordings made in the 1970s but who has not seen the light of day before the piano and synth player Brian Miller released it with the consent of the families of the other members. Members I guess has long passed on.

The album has been marketed well and I feel it is only right to do an exception here and review it.

The music is Canterbury scene jazz. Gilgamesh is a good reference. There is also some hints of zeuhl here in the use of the vocals less voice and chanting.

There are indeed some Magma like melodies here too. Not as intense but you get the Magma hints quite often during this one hour long album.

The music on this album is actually an improvement on their two studio albums. Which is pretty rare when it comes to studio albums vs archive outtakes records. 

The sound is very good and the music stands there, tall and proud.

This is indeed a good album and more than validates Brian Miller's hard work on this album.

Check out this good album.

3 points

Ozric Tentacles - Paper Monkeys (2011)

The 18th album from this band from England.

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

One guest added some percussion on the opening track.

When you put on an Ozric Tentacles album, you more or less know what you get.

Ambient space rock with some Hawkwind influences, that is. And it is a good recipe for making music.

A bit hip hop has been added to this album. An album with spaced out compositions with lots of good guitar solos and keyboards runs.

We get one hour of this and it is nice to crash down on the sofa while listening to this album. In general, their albums is a good excuse to lay horizontal out on a sofa as their music is both relaxing and pretty good for the brain.

The band always creates good melodies and sprinkle some quirky details all over them.

This is another good album from this band..... make that legends and rightly so. 

3 points

Groundhogs - Crosscut Saw (1976)

The eight album from this band from England.

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

The band had arrived at their eight album.

They had also stripped down their sound from keyboards, synths and mellotron to a more basic drums, bass, lots of guitars and vocals sound.

Tony's guitars and vocals is again the dominating factor.

Although the sound has been stripped down, the music is still quirky and pretty progressive. There is also a lot of blues in their music.

The music is pretty heavy. But it is very clever and quirky.

I was expecting a bombastic hard rock album based on this cover art-work and I am therefore surprised by the music. Positive surprised.

The songs are all clever and good.

Groundhogs has got even more respect from me after this album. That says a lot....

3 points

Ars Pro Vita - Truth (2022)

The fourth album from this band from Brazil.

The band is Paulo Jose Venegas and Luis Fernandes Venegas on flute, guitars, keyboards, narrations and vocals.

They got help from numerous guests who has contributed drums, bass, narration and female vocals.

Their previous albums was a bit of a hit and miss. Their second album was a good one but their third album was a bit of a let down, being a decent album.

We are supposed to be in the symphonic prog genre here. Hence why I got it. This seventy minutes long album feels like a mix of symphonic prog and musicals.

In short, it feels like a concept album and it is probably a concept album too.

There is lots of gentle music here with female vocals and some good Brazilian and South American pop and folk music. These influences are not high in the mix and very notable, but they are still there and that as a gentle breeze throughout the album.

There is not any epic dramas on this album. Just gentle music and the music is good..

This is an album well worth checking out.

3 points

Labirinto - Anatema (2010)

The debut album from this band from Brazil.

The band had nine members on this album with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, sitar, banjo, violin, cello, synths and sound effects.

This is a new band to me. They have released three albums and some EPs. 

I have only got this album of these three albums.

The album is clocking in at seventy minutes and we are talking post-rock here.

The music ebbs and flows as per normal from this genre. The unusual here is the instruments. Sitar, cello, banjo and violin is not normal fare when it comes to post-rock.

These sounds makes the music a bit more interesting.

Music which is decent enough. The music is too much run of the mill post-rock to really engage me fully. The use of these four instruments adds a bit more quality to the album and that is to be rewarded.

Check out this album if post-rock floats your boat.

2.5 points