Red Sand - Gentry (2005)

The second album from this band from Canada.

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

I have in the previous versions of this blog, I and II, reviewed most of their ten albums. There was a quartet of unreviewed albums, including this year's albums. Their time is up.... reviews will follow this autumn.

The band is based in Quebec.... but they does not play Quebec style jazz/prog.

The band is one of the better neo-prog bands from Mexico, Canada and USA. North-America in other words.

This album has three songs. One short one and two songs touching twenty minutes each.

The music is very lush with a lot of symphonic prog influences. 

The music is also very complex and the vocals is good.

This is another good album from this band. A band who deserve a lot more attention.

3 points

 

 

Chatarra Espacial. La - Batalla del Tiempo (2018)

The second and latest album from this band from Argentina.

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

I was not impressed at all by their 2016 debut album. It was full of bad song writing. It was a half-decent album.

The band has again released a Bandcamp album and that is the way to go with albums like this.

The music is a mix of art rock, indie rock and Latin pop music with a lot of jazz influences.

The Spanish vocals are really good and the best thing about this close to forty minutes long album.

The music is not as bad as on the debut album. It is just music that is suffering from some pretty average bad song writing. The music is also pretty dull. It is.... yes, dull.

The result is a decent album and just that. I am not going to become an avid follower of this band...

 2 points

 

 

Nauticus - Disappear in Blue (2018)

The third album from this band from Finland.

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

Numerous guests added their viola, cello, choirs and lead vocals to this album.

I was not a fan of their debut album. A pretty dire post-metal album. 

I do not have their second album and did not want to buy it from Bandcamp either just before my payday. 

I did have this album, Disappear In Blue.

The band has moved on from their debut album and has gone more towards post-rock and art rock. Yes, this album is indeed a crossover between those two genres. Add some goth rock too and you get it.

This album is eighty minutes long and has various male and female vocals plus some choirs. I almost believe this is a concept album or a rock opera. 

The lack of any good songs and songwriting is letting this album and band down again. The music sounds very generic and is struggling hard to get the attention from the listener.

It is an improvement on the debut album... but just about. This is a decent album and that is it.

2 points

Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso - Orlando: Le Forme dell'Amore (2022)

The 20th album from this band from Italy.

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

This band is widely regarded as one of the best RPI bands of all time. Their 1970s albums set the tone and the music for the RPI scene.

Their 2019 albums Transiberiana was quite OK and cosy.

The band continues in the same vein with some pastoral, uncomplicated RPI. 

The songs on this very, very long album is pretty short and based on the rock/pop formula. I mentioned the length of the album. It is clocking in at almost eighty minutes.... That means it need something to keep the interest of the RPI listener up. 

The vocals is good but there is not many interesting details here. There is not much for the brain here.

This is by no means a bad album. It is just not a good album. It is somewhere between decent and good. 

Check out this album if this sounds interesting to you.

2.5 points

Pastoral - Generacions (1982)

The sixth and final album from this band from Argentina.

The band was a duo with Alejandro De Michele and Miguel Angel Erausqui on guitars and vocals.

Guests added piano, synths, percussion, drums, programming, guitars, strings and bass. 

This band is one of the more interesting bands to ever have come out of this big country called Argentina.

Their pastoral folk rock spilled over to the symphonic prog genre on the previous album De Michele Erausquin album from 1979. 

That album was the high water mark in their career. 

Generacions is more like the band has discovered pop music and gone with this genre.

The music is still pretty pastoral. The pop music elements is everywhere and the vocals is still good.

The result is half an hour with some decent music. It is by no means among their best albums. Nevertheless, Pastoral deserves a lot of credit and attention for their albums and career. 

Check out this band.

2 points

 

 

Osiris - Reflections (1990)

The third album from this band from Bahrain.

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

A trio of guests added keyboards and bass.

This album was released as a cassette in 1988 before Musea stepped in and got it out on CD and later a digital download.

The music is a mix of neo-prog and instrumental symphonic prog.

A lot of the music on this album is indeed instrumental and guitars driven. The few vocals on this album is good so I have no complaints here.

The music is melodic and takes the listener through some landscapes also habitated by the likes of Camel.

This is a good album from this band. A band well worth exploring as they have something extra to offer those into melodic progressive rock.

3 points

Wilson Project - Il Viaggio Da Farsi (2022)

The debut album from this band from Italy.

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

A guest added his guitars.

The band released this concept album about Elon Musk earlier this year. 

The band is fronted by a female vocalist and the vocals are all in Italian. 

The music is a mix of rock, progressive rock and more hard rock. The music is pretty melodic and the vocals are good.

The guitars are OK and the rest of the band does their best on some pretty meandering material. 

The songs on this three quarters of an hour long album is simly not particular impressive. There are some interesting details and some good hooks on this album. The vocals is good. The songs not so good.

2.5 points

 

 

Morse. Neal - The Grand Experiment (2015)

The 21st album from this artist from USA.

Neal Morse did the guitars, keyboards and vocals.

He had help in a band constellation from a quarter who did drums, percussion, bass, bodhran, keyboards, clarinet, guitars and vocals.

Another trio added strings, saxophone and programming.

Neal Morse is an artist who released and release progressive rock albums, singer/songwriter albums and gospel praise albums. I am bypassing the praise albums and most of the singer/songwriter albums as I am only finding his progressive albums worthy of this blog's attention.

His progressive rock albums is mostly very good to great and there is a lot of them. This ex Spock's Beard and now Transatlantic member is one of the alltime greats in the prog rock scene.

The Grand Experiement sees Neal Morse embracing the US symphonic prog genre again. A genre he himself has been instrumental in developing.

The twenty-seven minutes long Alive Again is very good with some very good hooks and melodies. The rest of the album is not that great and there is a couple of cringe worthy moments on this album.

The overall quality is good through and this is another Neal Morse album worth checking out.

3 points

 

 

Progres 2 - Dialog S Vesmírem (1980)

The third album from this band from the Czech Republic.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, bells, clavinet, piano, organ, minimoog, synths and vocals.

This band was one of the better and most prolific bands from behind the Iron Curtain. What this and other bands from the east managed to release of progressive rock and fusion under the watchful, repressive eyes of the Stalinists for those times, is really very, very impressive.

Progres 2 has by releasing so many albums during that era deserved my admiration and is hereby getting it.

The quality has not been good on the first two Progres 2 albums. I did not look forward to review any more of their albums. But I feel I need to complete their disco........ hence, I wrapped my ears around this album.

Progres 2 has gone kraut and space rock on this album. There is a lot of Eloy influences on this album, indeed. 

The music is really muscular and at times pretty hard. The space rock element is always there.

There is a lot of good vocals and a lot of stirring guitar solos who makes me unwrap the air guitar and go crazy in my office. The final parts of this forty-three minutes long album is indeed a guitar hero's paradise.

The rest of the album is also good and this album has redeemed this band in my ears and mind.

Check out this album.

3 points

Chatarra Espacial. La - Ciencia y Ficci​ó​n (2016)

The debut album from this band from Argentina.

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

Three guests added guitars, narrations and vocals.

This is another Bandcamp album that has been hanging around in my files for a long time. Probably since the release of this album.

The band has released two albums and the review of the second album is coming up later this fall.

The band describe the music as a mix of indie rock and progressive rock.

The music is pretty muscular and the vocals are OK. 

Quality wise, the music is pretty dire. It is a very forgetable fifty minutes and I am struggling to even remember a hook or a melody from this album..... even minutes after the final tones of this album after fifty minutes. In my case, x amount of fifty minutes.

This album is only a half decent album, I am afraid.

1.5 points

Nauticus - A Wave To Carry Us Out (2009)

The debut album from this band from Finland.

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

This name is unknown to me. I got two of their altogether three albums and I will review both of them this fall.

The band is releasing their Bandcamp albums in the post-metal genre.

Take some punk, hardcore and a lot of post-rock. Add metal to the mix and you get this album and indeed... piece of music.

The music is pretty raw with some not so good vocals.

These forty-five minutes is also pretty bereft of harmonies too. There is a goth feeling over some of the material.

The song writing is not up to scratch and the result is only a half decent album.

1.5 points

Tircu. Jacob - Alaska (2022)

The second album from this artist from the Czech Rebublic.

Jacub Tircu does the bass and guitars here. 

He got help from friends who added drums, bass, trombones and keyboards and piano.

I have never heard about this artist before. From what I gather, he is or was a member of other bands before he released an EP and two Bandcamp albums.

From the first minutes of Alaska, the promised mix of post-rock and neo-prog is coming into fruition. This label is very much the correct one.

This forty-five minutes long album is all out instrumental.

The music is guitars based and with a lot of post-rock sounds and sensibilities. The music is also melodic and dynamic.

The guitars are really good. The best thing here is the quality of the music. It is rare to hear an instrumental album with this level of quality. I really rate this album.

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

3.5 points

 

Pastoral - De Michele Erausquin (1979)

The fifth album from this duo from Argentina.

Miguel Angel Erausquin and Alejandro de Michele did the vocals and guitars here.

They had help from some guests who provided drums, bass, piano, keyboards, synths, woodwinds and strings.

The band had been going from strenght to strength over the last albums. I was therefore looking forward to give this album some of my time.

This is though my favourite genre as I am not that interested in singer-songwriter music. In particular with twin vocals and with 1970s pop music.

This album has all this... but a lot more than that too.

The music is pastoral symphonic prog with some folk rock influences. I get a lot of Harmonium, the classic band from Quebec, Canada vibes from this album. Most notably from their masterpiece Si On Avait Besoin.. album.

There is some pretty tasty, wild electric guitar solos on this album which adds a lot of colours and contrasts in their music.

The vocals are very good. Ditto for the melodies, acoustic guitars and the tasteful use of piano and other instruments.

The result is a thirty-five minutes long album and it is a very good one. 

Those into Harmonium and pastoral symphonic prog will really like this album. 

Check it out.

3.5 points

Osiris - Visions From The Past (2007)

 

The fourth album from this band from Bahrain.

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

Osiris has been blending British neo-prog with a lot of Arabic flavours on the last couple of albums before they released Visions From The Past. 

On this album, they broaden their Arabic music inspirations a lot and let them take some more space on this album.

The main music is still standard 1980s British neo-prog with some flutes and some pomp rock added onto the pretty much run-of-the-mill neo-prog we get here.

The sound is not the best and I am not particular impressed by the quality of the music on this fifty minutes long album. OK, some of it is rather good. The vocals is good too.

This album is still only a decent album as the sound is not the right sound for this kind of progressive rock. Neither is the bands goth rock elements right for this album. Hence...

2 points

 

  

MesaVerde - KY (2022)

 

The debut album from this band from Norway.

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

Another addition to the vast ocean of Norwegian bands. 

The band has described themeselves as a mix of Led Zeppelin and Tama Impala. Which is not too bad of a label. It also puts a lot of pressure on the band and this album.

Lots of pressure, indeed. 

I am not so convinced about this Led Zeppelin label. I think that is meant to draw in the likes of myself. The progressive rock label is also not quite correct.

I would label this album as somewhere between art rock and indie rock. Progressive rock ? Nope. Led Zeppelin ? Nope. Tama Impala ? Yes.

The music is very clever though and hence the art rock label. There is lots of indie rock here too but some really smart ones too.

The music is melodic and dynamic. The music is at times a bit quirky too.

This is indeed a good album and one that would make the art rock world happy. Not so the Led Zeppelin and prog rock fans....

3 points

 

 

Quasar Lux Symphoniae - Abraham (1994)

The third album from this band from Italy.

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

The band was helped by some guests who did a choir and narrations.

After the not convincing debut album and the dreadful second album, the band turned to epic rock for salvation and redemption.

The result was this ninety minutes long rock opera.

The Bible is again the theme for a rock opera from Italy. The language is English, though.

The genre is a mix of symphonic prog and more musicals pop.

The music is everywhere but seldom anywhere near good.

These ninety minutes is not particular interesting and the music is severe lacking in quality.

This is still a decent album. It is not an album I will remember with much fondness.

2 points

 

 

Quaterna Requiem - Velha Gravura (1990)

The debut album from this band from Brazil.

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

I thought I had reviewed this and the other three albums years ago. That is not the case as I have only reviewed their 2012 album O Arquiteto. An album I pretty much liked.

The band also goes under the name Wierman & Vogel.... just to confuse everyone. 

The music is half-acoustic symphonic prog with a lot of chamber orchestra and pre-Josef Haydn classical music. A lot of the music here is indeed classical music.

The music is not as bombastic as The Enid and ELPs take on classical music. It is rather more pastoral, a lot more pastoral.

The music is rather good in all it's eclectic weirdness. This is indeed a weird... but also an elegant, good album.

This is an album all fans of melodic, symphonic prog should own too.

Check it out.

3 points

Cerebus Effect - Acts Of Deception (2005)

 

The one and only studio album from this band from USA.

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

This band is the forerunner of better known bands like Deluge Grander and Birds & Buildings. Yes, one of Dan Britten's bands.

The music on this is pretty eclectic. It is also an eclectic take on jazz.

Take eclectic prog, add some zeuhl, avant-garde, metal and a lot of Canterbury prog.

The result is a bit all over the place. But that seems to be the plan and intention during the hour of eclectic music.

This album is a good pointer towards the two bands this band and album developed into. It is also a good album in it's own right and one fans of eclectic prog and Canterbury prog must check out.

3 points

Nau Aletheia - Los Misterios De Eleusis (2017)

The one and only album from this band from Argentina.

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

The band had help from numerous other musicians who added their percussion, woodwinds and vocals to this album.

This band released a self-titled EP back in 2016 and followed up that EP with this fifty-four minutes long album.  

The music on this album is eclectic. Eclectic progressive rock. 

The opening minutes reminds me a lot about King Crimson. As the album progresses, ends and gets more spins, King Crimson is a name that pops up, over and over and over again.

The use of violin as the main instrument is very eclectic too. It is a great asset to this album too.

There are a song with vocals at the end. The first forty odd minutes is instrumental and eclectic as heck.

The result is a very good album indeed. It has a lot of class and a lot of guts and bravery. The music is indeed very good and this is a gem of an album.

Check it out.

3.5 points

Versa - A Voyage / A Destination (2022)

The third album from this band from Canada.

The band is a trio with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals. Both male and female vocals.

The band had help from two friends who added their woodwinds.

Victoria is to my knowledge on an island west of Vancouver and as remote as it gets...... the band members in this band would probably strongly disagree with me.

The music is also pretty much..... Pacific.

Take some indie rock, merge that with ambient post rock, progressive rock, art rock, jazz and folk rock. That is somewhere near what you get here.

The music has got a half-acoustic guitar as a main instrument. It is helped out by some woodwinds and keyboards generated strings. On the top of that, we get some good vocals.

This almost one hour long album is a very elegant album. Both the cover art-work, the sound and the music is very elegant.... and full of substance and quality.

This is indeed a good album and another surprise from this 2022, this year.

 3 points

Viriditas - Green Mars (2021)

The second album from this band from England.

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

They were helped out by a handful of guests who contributed with their guitars, clarinet, saxophones, moog, hammond organ, narrations and vocals.

Their 2018 debut album Red Mars took me by surprise. Good neo-prog with a lot of symphonic prog influences too.

This album is a one hundred and fifty seven minutes long album. That is two and a half hours with music.

Music which is a mix of art-rock, symphonic prog and neo-prog.

The music is melodic and pretty complex. The vocals is split between female and male vocals.

The music is good too. Good but not really great. Nevertheless, this band is well worth keeping an eye on. They may come the best new thing in the prog rock scene. May. Or maybe not. The band has a lot going for them.

3 points

Neue Planet. Der - Area Fifty​ Fun (2022)

The second album from this band from Germany.

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

The band debuted with a self-titled EP back in 2016 before they released the Magrathea Erwacht album two years later. An album I quite liked.

The music on this almost forty minutes long album is a mix of krautrock, post-rock, jazz and spacerock.

The band has chosen not to follow the post-rock and spacerock flow. They have instead chosen to create go into the forest and create their own path.

The half-acoustic jazz guitars brings memories of Django Reinhardt to the forefront. There is not much of this jazz. But it is enough of it to really give this album an own identity and it's own colour and sound.

The music is on the too light and fluffy side of the spectrum. Hence my reservations. The music is somewhere between decent and good too. Nevertheless, the band has both class and quality. It is an band well worth following. 

2.5 points

Nanot - Nanot (2022)

The debut album from this band from Greece.

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

Another day, another trio.....

This one is a bit outside the norm.

This Bandcamp album contains one hour of fusion. 

Fusion normally means a bit watered down jazz. In this case, it means a bit of a return to the organs and keyboards dominated 1970s prog rock scene with some added jazz on the top of that.

There is some Camel here but most of the sounds and inspirations comes from the early prog bands like Genesis and ELP.

This combined with some Return To Forever like jazz makes this a potent album.

It is also a good album and one of the more pleasant surprises of this year.

Check out this album.

3 points

Enslaved - Blodhemn (1998)

The fourth album from this band from Norway.

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

Enslaved had done some changes in their lineup. The core of the band, Ivar Bjornson and Grutle Kjellson, was still at the helm and are indeed still at the helm in 2022.

The band was still leaning towards black metal on this album.

The band still managed to make their music pretty interesting despite of the raw sound and vocals. The guitars are also very raw and dripping with blood.

The riffs, themes and melodies are also pretty progressive and is driving the band and the scene forward. 

Enslaved was and still is one of a kind. Never really a black metal band although they were sailing pretty close to being one on this album.

This is an interesting album without the big, memorable songs and moments. It is still a decent album who still offers a lot to the listener.

2 points

 

Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011)

The 11th album from this band from USA.

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

I am continuing my run through the Dream Theater albums I did not review ten years ago for ProgArchives. Studio albums, that is.

I was living in the belief that all their albums was good albums and that I was not going to get a nasty surprise during the reviews of their albums.

Wrong.

A Dramatic Turn Of Events gave me a nasty shock and a wake up call.

The band has simply run out of good ideas on this very long album. It clocks in at seventy-seven minutes and there is not much to scream hooray about here.

I catches myself many times thinking that I must have heard this theme of music before. When investigating the matter, it turns out that the band has changed some chords on a previous album and presented this as a new theme on this album.

Not good at all.

The vocals is good and the musicians is good. There is not enough guitar solos here as John Petrucci's guitars must have been put in a prison cell and made unavailable for it's owner. 

The result is a decent album and by far their worst ever album.. so I hope. I still have four albums of them to review. Please make A Dramatic Turn Of Events their worst ever album...

2 points

Colour Haze - Sacred (2022)

The 13th album from this band from Germany.

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

The band started out as a space rock band with a dirty sound back in 1995 and became pretty big in that scene, one of the biggest bands in fact, before they branched out and got a much more krautrock sound. Even vocals was being introduced.

The band is still on an exploration into new grounds on Sacred, this year's album from the band.

There is not much bombastic music here.

The music is much more modest and pastoral with a lot of more melodic and krautpop sensibilities.

These forty-two minutes is mainly krautrock and space rock though and their fans should be both assured and happy about that.

The music is also good and this is an album that I have really enjoyed.

Check out this album.

3 points

Nadavati - Le Vent De L'esprit Souffle Ou Il Veut (1978)

The one and only album from this band from France.

The band was a collective of numerous musicians who provided drums, percussion, bass, guitars, woodwinds, viola, violin, cello, clavinet, electric piano, piano, synths and vocals.

The band was a new band. But it had musicians from the likes of Triode, Nyl and Magma. 

The music on this album is a mix of jazz and fusion. Other reviewers has compared the music and band to the likes of Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Well, Nadavati does not have a great guitarist and the guitars here are OK but not great. Nadavati does not have many great musicians and that is the undoing of this album.

Nevertheless, this album is not bad at all.

It gives us forty minutes of some rather colourful fusion and jazz. The basses are really good and the best instruments here. The rest of the band is good too and the music is somewhere between decent and good.

Fans of fusion should really check out this album.

2.5 points

Us - Stars in Broad Daylight (2022)

The 12th album from this band from Holland.

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

Us is really Jos Werners band and he has been running it since the beginning of this century. First as a proper band and then as a more studio-project and then home-studio project.

I have been reviewing the US albums since 2010'ish and has become very fond of the band and Jos Werners. We never speaks but he has a kind of a fan over here in Scotland.... me.

Us music is strange and almost an own genre in itself.

Take symphonic prog, add a lot of neo-prog and write songs who almost feels like dirges and funeral music. That is both surreal music and the music we have got on the last Us albums.

The music is not technical. It is slightly epic and it is suffering from the lack of resources like great musicians and a proper band environment.

What it has got is some very strange, disturbing female vocals who fits the dirge like progressive rock like a hand in a glove.

The result is an own genre and an album somewhere between decent and good.

Us and mostly because their music is so out there on it's own, deserve a lot more attention. Pick up the courage and do some explorations here. 

Check out this album.

2.5 points

Viriditas - Red Mars (2018)

The debut album from this band from England.

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

This is a new band to me. The band is from Hampshire down in England and their three singles and two albums has been released through Bandcamp. The two albums has also been released on CDs too. The second album, the 2021 album Green Mars, will be reviewed next week.

The band gives us an hour with a blend of Mostly Autumn like folk rock, symphonic prog and neo-prog. 

In short, my kind of progressive rock. Most prog fans would agree with me. So why did it take me until the beginning of this year to hear about this band ? I am sure that is entirely my own fault.

The twin female and male vocals is really good. The six short songs, shorter than ten minutes in other words, is good and the same can be said about the almost half an hour long We See Red opus. 

This band has in short delivered a good debut album and I am going to follow this band with a great deal of hope and interest in the coming years. This band is one of my best finds of the year.

3 points

Neue Planet. Der - Magrathea Erwacht (2018)

The debut album from this band from Germany.

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

The band debuted with a self-titled EP back in 2016 before they released this album two years later. The band released their second album earlier this year and a review is coming up later this month.

All their albums has been released on both CDs and through Bandcamp. The band is also pretty extensive gigging.

The music on this forty-two minutes long album is instrumental post-rock.

The music is half acoustic guitars and electric guitars driven ebb and flow post-rock.

The music is very standard post-rock and there is no surprises along the way.

The result is a decent album with it's qualities. Fans of shoegaze post-rock will like this album.

2 points

Psycada - Hiking Lung (2022)

The debut album from this band from Greece.

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

Two guests added clarinet, percussion and vocals.

This is a new name to me and the band has released this album through Bandcamp. Which is the way to go these days. 

The music is a mix of post-metal, jazz and space rock.

The jazz bit is taken care of by a clarinet player who delivers a weird piece of music just after the band has been on a journey to outer space in a piece of space rock. Weird stuff and a weird sequence of music. And a good one too who catches the attention of the listener.

There is indeed some weird stuff here. The music is also pretty melodic and gives us a forewarning of a band with a lot of talents. Hopefully, that will mean more albums and more weird stuff like this.

The quality is good throughout and this is an album well worth checking out. I have hopes for Psycada.... big hopes.

3 points

Psicolorama - Fear (2014)

The second album from this one man band from Spain.

The anonymouse man who is this band does the guitars, bass, keyboards, programmed drums and the vocals here.

He had some more help on vocals too. Male and female vocals.

The debut album Momo, also from 2014, was all over the place and sounded more like some ideas thrown out in the air in some hope that at least one of them would not crash-land and die. They all did.

Fear sees the man takes on a bit more piano pop with some progressive and electic prog elements to creates more variations during these sixty minutes.

The music is pretty elegant and is mostly hitting the right notes. The piano sometimes get help from some keyboards.

The song writing is passable and ditto for the vocals.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. It is still a massive improvement from the Momo album.

2.5 points

Pastoral - Atrapados En El Cielo (1977)

The fourth album from this band from Argentina.

The band was a seven piece band with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, mandolin, woodwinds, keyboards and vocals.

The band, who are really only a duo, cracks on again with their twin-vocals pastoral progressive rock heavy influenced by folk rock and latin pop.

This very much describe the music on this forty minutes long album.

It is flowery, pastoral music with Spanish vocals.

The music is not rich on details. Nevertheless, there are some interesting details and melodies here.

The result is a good album from a band who deserves some attention. They are a good band from this vast country.

3 points

 

 

 

Colour Haze - We Are (2019)

The 12th album from this band from Germany.

The band is a quartet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, piano, mellotron, clavinet, mini-moog, synths, keyboards, organ and vocals.

This band has so far released thirteen albums and I got their last two albums for review this fall.

This band is veterans in the new wave of krautrock.

They debuted back in 1995 with their debut album Chopping Machine. I have reviewed all their albums with the exception of their last two albums. Reviews which is now coming up.

We Are is three quarters of an hour long album and it starts with some vocals before it continues down the dirty space rock alley Colour Haze has followed since the debut album.

 I get the feeling that the band want to both break with the past and still want to keep some toes still dipped in their old sound and music.

The result is an album which stands a bit apart from their other albums. Which is good and proper if the quality was there. It is not.

There are some good stuff here and some not so good stuff here.

The result is somewhere between decent and good. I am not won over by this album.

2.5 points

 

 

Nascent - Nascent (2006)

The one and only album from this band from USA.

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

The band had help from a couple of guests who provided bass and electric piano.

The band is listed as a progressive metal band in the always trustworthy ProgArchives. But with the words that the metal here is very twisting and non-linear.

The music here is not traditional progressive metal. That's for sure.

There is some eclectic music and some more goth rock here too.

The music is a bit undefined. Mostly because the band did not have much of a clue on their instruments. Their output on this album is poor.

The result is really poor too and this is a turkey.

Avoid.

1 point

TransQueb - Station (2022)

The debut album from this band from Canada.

The band is a quintet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, bouzouki, steel guitar, guitars, keyboards and saxophone.

This band is from Quebec, the French speaking part of Canada. The Quebec scene has for the last fifty years given us a lot of great bands and music.

TransQueb is clearly aspiring to become a member of this scene with this album. And with success. The most obvious reference is Maneige.

The music on this album is a mix of jazz and fusion. There is also some progressive rock influences here.

The forty minutes of jazz, fusion and prog flows nicely and is a reminder about the Quebec scene and how good music sometimes sounds.

The music is still full of interesting details and solos.

The quality is good throughout and this band is a very welcome addition to the scene. More albums, please.

3 points

 

 

Miller. Rick - Old Souls (2022)

The 16th album from this artist from Canada.

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

He got help from some guests who added drums, percussion, guitars, violin, cello and flutes.

I have during the summer reviewed half of his albums and I have learned to respect and like his albums.

Rick Miller started out as composer of ambient music before he changed over to play and record progressive rock albums.

Pastoral progressive rock with a lot of Pink Floyd, Camel and Genesis influences is what he has given us so far. 

He has stayed on that formula and that has won him fans and admirers. 

Old Souls is full of guitar solos in addition to some really melodic and at times epic pieces of pastoral prog. The vocals is really good.

There is actually a handful of some very good tracks here. This is no doubts his best album so far and an album well worth checking out.

3.5 points

 

 

Via Dolorosa - Canciones Del Sagrado Corazón (2016)

The fourth album from this band from Mexico.

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

I reviewed their second album, the 2004 album Eclipse, last week and did not enjoy that experience. 

That goth metal is only a half decent album. Hence, my expectations to Cancionees Del Sagrado Corazon was very low. Frightening low.

The metal stuff has by now gone and what is remaining is some sort of psych and goth rock.

Well, there is not much goth rock here either so we are stucked with some warm and melancholic psych rock.

The vocals is really good some of the music is rather catchy. 

There are still some good details here.

The result is a decent album and me wondering if I should get their 2018 album too. Maybe.... 

This album is a cosy, decent album well worth checking out.

2 points

Regal Worm - Worm! (2022)

 

The fifth album from this band from England.

The band is Jarrod Gosling on drums, percussion, bass, guitars, mellotron, organs, synths, electric piano, vocoders and vocals. 

He had help from a quartet of guests who did the woodwinds.

This band, that is Mr Jarrod Gosling, has gained a very good reputation during the last years. The albums is good and I was actually looking forward to this album.

The music on this album is a mix of post-punk, progressive rock and electronica.

The music is rabid fast and has a lot of breaks too. There is indeed a lot of manic space and psych rock on this forty minutes long album.

The vocals is really good here too.

The band has again delivered a good album. This album and this band is well worth checking out if you are interested in a new and untraditional take on progressive rock and psych rock.

3 points

Morse. Neal - Songs from November (2014)

The 20th album from this artist from USA.

Neal Morse did the drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals himself.

He got help from a dozen of guests who provided percussion, drums, steel guitars, viola, violin, cello, piano, trumpet, saxophone and vocals.

Neal Morse's albums can broadly speaking be divided into three different types. Symphonic prog, Christian worship and singer/songwriter.

I have avoided reviewing the Christian worship albums as I cannot stand the bland music. But the singer/songwriter albums... OK, this album is in that genre.

Something the naked profile picture on the album cover also alludes to. 

The music is pretty simple with not that many interesting details. The music is a mix of old style pop and rock. 

His vocals is good and that is the saving grace on an album with very few likeable things and elements.

This is a decent album but nothing more than that. It is also by far the worst album I have ever heard from this great artist.

2 points

 

Progres 2 - Mauglí (1978)

The second album from this band from the Czech Republic.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, mandolin, guitars, harmonica, harpsicord, moog, piano, organ, keyboards and vocals.

Three guests are adding sitar, moog and saxophones.

The band was trying to create music behind the Iron Curtain and with some Russia influenced stalinist dictatorship. Just as Russia are trying to impose on Ukraine these days. Must they never succeed.

I was not a fan of their debut album. An album where the band were everywhere in the popular music and with some strong influences from folk music.

Maugli sees the band take a long and hard look at the likes of The Beatles, Barclay James Harvest Band, some pop music, a lot of brass rock and some folk rock.

The music sounds a bit more coherent this time. This album still offers the listener a bit of a confusion regarding what the band wanted to play and do on the album. Most of the vocals sounds cheesy too.

The result is another half decent album and one that fails to make the grade.

1.5 points

Carpe Noctem - Schattensaiten (2016)

The second album from this band from Germany.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, violin, cello and vocals.

The band released their debut album Opus 2 back in 2013 and then this album three years later before they broke up.

The band, or their record label, labeled their music as strings metal.

That is label that should have made me laugh..... if it was not for this very accurate description of the music on this album and probably on their debut album too.

The musc is cello and violin playing gothic, melodic metal with some neo-classic music.

This is the kind of music that makes me turn of the speakers in disgust. And to be fair, the violins are not easy on the ears. Fifty minutes of this and both my ears want to apply for medical asylum in progland.

The music is still decent and this album comes across as both unusual and decent. 

I am not convinced. But those into goth neo-classical music with metal influences should check out this album.

2 points

22 - You Are Creating (2018)

 

The debut album from this band from Norway.

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

This album the You Are Creating EPs # 1 and # 2 compiled into one full lenght album. I was a bit confused in the beginning before this dawned on me. This album is one hour long. 

The band comes from Trondheim, a city/town who has given the world a lot of progressive rock bands. Most of them pretty heavy.

The music on this album is indeed a mix of hard progressive rock, neo-prog and art-rock.

There are a lot of Marillion, Porcupine Tree and Radiohead influences here. Fans of these three bands get an hour of agreeable music on this album.

The music is pretty joyful with some mad vocals throughout this album.

The quality is good throughout too. 

This is another good progressive rock album from Norway.

3 points

Moon Letters - Thank You from the Future (2022)

The second album from this band from USA.

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

Their debut album Until They Feel The Sun was released in 2019 and was reviewed by myself the same year in # 2 of this blog. It got a good rating review.

This quintet plays some flowery progressive rock with a lot of US symphonic prog, psych rock, eclectic prog and heavy prog references.

There are some folk rock influences here too.

The music is pretty melodic throughout without being bland. 

The shiny and bold US music culture shines very brightly throughout this forty minutes long album.

The result is another good album from this band. A good band and one to keep an eye one. Talents, they are. 

3 points

Miller. Rick - Unstuck in Time (2020)

The 15th album from this artist from Canada.

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

He got help from five guests who added drums, percussion, guitars, cello, violin, flute and vocals.

Rick Miller has again come up with an album in his very on take on progressive rock.

That is pastoral neo-prog with some electronica and ambient new-age music.

The first half an hour is very good and among the best music I have ever heard from this artist. The ambient electronica takes over a for a while before we see a return to some more pastoral progressive rock at the end of this album.

The quality is good to very good throughout this album.

This is one of this best albums and a very good album indeed.

Check it out.

3.5 points

Via Dolorosa - Eclipse (2004)

The second album from this band from Mexico.

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

I got two albums from this band kicking around in my to-review list and they have been on that list for far too long. So it is about time to review them. The other review will be published next week.

The band is unfortunate not one of the many good progressive rock bands from this vast country.

What we get instead is some sort of gothic metal.

The Spanish vocals sets the band and this album a bit a part from this overcrowded goth metal scene. The vocals are pretty decent, btw.

The music is not particular heavy or hard. It has some progressive rock influences. 

The quality is half-decent and I am not impressed. I am not sure if I can even recommend this album to anyone. Some bats in a cave may like this album.

1.5 points

 

 

Major Parkinson - Valesa Chapter I: Velvet Prison (2022)

The fifth album from this band from Norway.

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

Major Parkinson has become a pretty big band in the Norwegian progressive rock scene with their five studio albums, two live albums and a record deal with Karisma Records. 

Major Parkinson is now more an art-rock band with a lot of the latter days Marillion influences than Genesis influences.

The band sounds as they are influenced by the New York art-rock scene too and some soul and americana. In the middle of all this, the ghost of David Bowie is also making itself felt.

The music is very ambitious and big.

The band manages to pull it off though and this is another very good album from this band from Norway.

Check out this very good album.

3.5 points

Quasar Lux Symphoniae - Night Hymn (1984)

The second album from this band from Italy.

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

 I will this autumn review their remaining albums after giving their debut album a decent rating ten years ago. 

This band's first two albums did not give any forewarning of the symhonic prog band who emerged on their third album.

The debut album was pretty dire and best forgotten.

The band turned to heavy metal and trio based heavy metal on their second album to get some wind into their sails.

The result was a horror of all horrible albums.

The heavy metal here is very, very bad. 

This is in short a turkey and is best avoided even among those who want everything. 

1 point

Osiris - Myths & Legends (1984)

The second album from this band from Bahrain.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, percussion, guitars, piano, minimoog, organ, keyboards, moog and vocals.

Two guests also added bass and vocals.

The band gives us forty-two minutes of neo-prog.

The neo-prog is of the Dutch tradition and it is pretty much middle-of-the-road like.

There are the usual Marillion, Pendragon and Genesis influences here. What sets this album a bit a part from other basic neo-prog albums, is the slightly Arabic influences and the accented vocals.

The sound leaves a lot to be desired. The music is between decent and good. 

If neo-prog is your favourite genre, Osiris and this album is well worth checking out. I have my reservations.

2.5 points

 

 

Carnival Barker - Carnival Barker (2014)

The one and only album from this band from USA.

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

This is a Bandcamp name your price album and I downloaded it years ago. Then I forgot it...

The band plays a mix of progressive rock, hard rock, arena rock and rock'n'roll. 

The sound and music is the typical, unashamed Made In USA. 

It is bouncy, it is full of life and it does not have this melancholy the more restrained, shameful progressive rock and music from Europe has.

The vocals is pretty good but the songs on this one hour long album falls a bit short when it comes to quality. It is still a worthy download and an album who survives a round or two on the speakers.

2 points