Thorne. Steve - Malice in Plunderland (2023)

The seventh album from this artist from Great Britain.

Steve Thorne did the guitars, keyboards and vocals.

He got help from three guests who added drums and guitar solo.

The seventh album sees Steve Thorne downsizing his sound and music. 

The music is singer/songwriter pop/rock and most of the progressive rock has gone. The instruments are mostly keyboards and guitars. There is a lot of vocals too. This is an inexpensive way of recording music.

Yes, most bands and artists are downsizing after the Covid and living cost scares. I have noticed that on the latest albums I have received. Life is also hitting the progressive rock scene..... hard.

The songs are not that interesting and the music is a bit too run of the mill pop/rock at times. It has a familiar feeling and this album is suffering from a brainfog and lack of interesting ideas.

The result is a decent album. An album who should be a call for a reset in the Steve Thorne camp. Back to the drawing room and some time in the awesome, inspiring nature, me think is the solution. 

2 points

Shadow Thoughts - A Vision Obscured (2023)

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

Some guests added drums, keyboards and vocals.

The band has released some singles and EPs on Bandcamp before they released this Bandcamp album. A thirty-seven minutes long album.

The base camp here, the core of the music, is progressive metal. But there is also some progressive rock and power metal in their music.

The vocals is fairly good and the synths reminds me a lot about Symphony X. Ditto for the guitars. 

The quality is pretty good throughout with a mix of decent and good songs and details.

This is an acceptable debut album and something to build on. 

2.5 points

Days Before Tomorrow - Now and Then Part II (2023)

The second album from this band from USA.

The band was a seven piece big band on this album with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

The band released their debut album The Sky Is Falling back in 2009 and I reviewed it two years ago in this blog. I had no idea that the band was to unleashe their second album two years later.

The music is still US neo-prog with some pop influences. But there is more to this album than that. The band has also moved a bit, well more than a bit, towards progressive metal.

The music is therefore muscular US neo-prog. It is still melodic and the music has a fine retro organ sound who gives the music some added identity and quality.

The result is a good neo-prog album and one to check out.

This album should win them a lot of new friends.

3 points

Act - Falling (2023)

The seventh album from this band from Sweden.

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

Some guests added percussion, strings and backing vocals.

This album may be an album prog rock snobs will rally against........

Act has made a good career of blending pop and progressive rock. The likes of ABBA, Queen and The Flower Kings. Yes, it may sound improbable and a clash of styles. But it works. It has worked on many albums and they have got a big fanbase.

The music on this half an hour long album is catchy, melodic, poppy.... and it has got a lot of interesting details too. The music is also glamerous. And some of the stuff is really complicated and progressive.

The vocals, and there is three main vocalists here, is very good. Ditto for the vocal harmonies. The strings does a good job and the guitar solos is really good.

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

3.5 points

 

 

Brujas Del Sol - Deculter (2022)

The third album from this band from USA.

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

The band continues on from their two first albums. This time with a forty-five minutes long album.

The music is again mix of progressiver rock, space rock, psych rock and stoner rock. 

The music is a bit heavier this time and there are some harsh dissonances scattered around this album.

Most of this album is instrumental. That is the trend now, it seems from the many albums I have reviewed in this genre.

Again, the quality is somewhere between decent and good. Mostly good and there are a couple of very good details here.

Check out this band. It is a talented band and they are bound to release something very special, with the talent and skills they got.

3 points

Yawning Man - Long Walk of the Navajo (2023)

The fifth album from this band from USA.

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

My so far only meeting with the guys in this band was when they did an album under the Yawning Sun name together with another band. That was a good desert rock album.

I should really check out Yawning Man now.... I really should.

Forty minutes divided on three songs. This is some long compositions. The music is a mix of stoner rock, post-rock and space rock.

The guitars are the main melody making instrument and the guitarist does a good job. 

These three compositions are good and makes me yearn for more albums from this band. I need to check them out.

This album is a good example of how good spaced out stoner and post rock sounds.

3 points

Zappa. Frank - 200 Motels (1971)

The 11th album from this artist from USA.

Frank Zappa does the bass, guitars and arrangements on this album.

He got help from a lot of guests who contributes with drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, woodwinds, symphony orchestra, narrations, choirs and vocals.

The is the soundtrack to a movie who also featured Ringo Starr and Keith Moon. The story in the film is some rock stars loosing the plot.

Which is exactly what Frank Zappa did by releasing this piece of music on a two hours long album. It does not help that the music on the album is mostly different from the music in the movie.

The music here is orchestral and most of time, based on spoken words.

The music is poor and so is the pieces who makes no sense. There are a couple of decent songs here and that is all. This is still an album best avoided and a turkey.

1 point

Beggars Opera - Suddenly Ahead Ahead (2010)

The tenth album from this band from Great Britain.

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

A guest added male vocals on one track.

The band is again more or less the same as it was on the ninth album and since they reformed again after a long pause. 

The band playse power pop. They sounds like Blondie at times. This mostly due to the female vocals.

The songs are around five minutes long on average. They are pretty punchy too.

This is pop and there is not that many interesting details. The music is quirky and weird.

The music is still not too bad. The quality is somewhere between decent and good. 

Gosh, this is a weird band..... A weird experience.

2.5 points

Thorne. Steve - Island of the Imbeciles (2016)

The fifth album from this artist from Great Britain.

Steve Thorne did the vocals, programming and keyboards himself.

He had help from some guests who added drums, bass, guitars and backing vocals.

I have reached album three out of the four Steve Thorne albums I am reviewing this summer. This of his in total seven released albums.

The music on this album, as on the first two albums I have reviewed, is a mix of singer/songwriter, pop/rock and progressive rock.

There is a lot of Pink Floyd here as you would expect from an album like this.

There is not many eclectic, if any eclectic melody lines here. These has been replaced by elegance, a bit pomp and a lot of melodies. 

The vocals are good and so is the guitar solos. The music is also good and this is a good melodic album. I wish it had offered my brain a bit more to work on. Nevertheless.....

3 points

Sound of Strangers - Crossing Border (2023)

The debut album from this band from the Netherlands.

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

The band was a cover band, covering symphonic prog classic songs and compositions before they started to write their own songs. Hence this album and a new career as a recording band.

The music is a mix of psych rock, symphonic prog and neo-prog. This means a blend of Pink Floyd, Marillion and some Riverside. 

The music is melodic and pretty clever. The vocals is good and the guitar solos makes me happy as I am pretty fond of guitar solos.

Yes, there is a lot of Pink Floyd in their music. Yes, there is also a lot of David Gilmour hanging around in their music. This is still a good album and the music is pretty original. 

I hope the band will continue to release albums.

Check out this good album.

3 points

Pixie Ninja - Hypnagogia (2023)

The third album from this band from Norway.

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

A guest added woodwinds and vocals.

I really liked their 2020 offering Colours Out Of Space and gave it a good rating.

Their music is a mix of math-rock, jazz and post-rock. There is also a lot of King Crimson lurking away on this album. 

The compositions are not particular melodic. They are a bit mellow but still pretty eclectic and with some dissonance.

The quality is pretty good throughout and the band has again delivered the goods on this forty minutes long album. Check out this album.

3 points

Act - Circus Pandemonium (2014)

The fifth album from this band from Sweden.

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

Some guests added a string orchestra, keyboards and vocals.

I discovered far too late that I have actually not reviewed the first four albums from this band from Sweden and that their fifth album is my first review of one of their albums. I need to rectify that in due time.

The band was a pretty big band in their time. They were a connection between mainstream music and the progressive rock scene too. They were indeed coveted by the mainstream media throughout their life. 

The music is a mix of neo-prog, art-rock and mainstream rock. There is also a lot of Queen in their music. Even ABBA is not a bad reference.

The music is most of all pomp rock with some big and bold melodies. The strings orchestra is never far away in their sound.

Yes, the music is a bit circus and glamerous. The vocals is really glamerous and good. 

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

3 points

Brujas Del Sol - II (2018)

The second album from this band from USA.

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

The band continues on from their 2013 debut album Moonliner. This time with a forty-five minutes long album.

The music is a mix of progressiver rock, space rock, psych rock and stoner rock. Mostly space, psych adn stoner rock.

Most of this album is instrumental. There are a couple of songs but they are not long. Neither are they particular remarkable. The vocals is good though.

The music is a bit too much run of the mill standard. It is pretty average within this genre. There is nothing here that stands out and put their music obove the rest of the crowd.

This is a decent to good album. In an overcrowded market..... Well, they are said to be a good live act and is touring. That is their best card on their hand at the moment.

2.5 points

 

 

Frøislie. Lars Fredrik - Fire Fortellinger (2023)

The debut album from this artist from Norway.

Lars Fredrik Frøislie did the drums, keyboards and vocals himself. 

A guest added bass on this album.

Lars Fredrik Frøislie is a leading member of both Tusmørke and Wobbler. Two big bands in the Norwegian progressive metal scene.

In short, a lot was and is expected from this album. This almost fifty minutes long album.

Two sixteen minutes long compositions is bookending this album. Two shorter compositions is crammed in between these two epics.

No guitars means a lot of keyboards. These keyboards means vintage mellotron, harpsichord, moog and organs. Really vintage, it is too.  

These four compositions is in reality one long epic suite.... one piece of music. There is one main theme and it appears, in some variations, throughout this album. The main theme is tweaked but it is obvious the music is built around it. That is a good thing and one detail I appreciate.

It is indeed a great piece of music too with a lot of interesting details. It is a borderline superb album but there are not enough superb details to elevate it to this level. 

Fans of Norwegian symphonic prog will love this album.

4 points

Bloodrock - Bloodrock 3 (1971)

The third album from this band from USA.

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

The band was climbing the hard rock ladder in USA and their career was in good flow. 

.. So what a good time to branch out a bit and include some more mainstream rock, funk, soul and..... psych rock.

Most of the album is hard rocking. This is why I became very surprised when Hugh Hopper suddenly showed up on the credits list. Yes, the band did a cover version of Soft Machine's A Certain Kind. OK, it is from Soft Machine's debut album and their two psych rock albums. Nevertheless, it is a strange choice from a hard rock band. But the band does a good version of the song.

I get the feeling that the band really wanted to become more than a hard rock band. And this is confirmed by most of the material here. 

Most of this forty minutes long album is pretty hard rocking. But there is also some mellow psych rock here. My only gripe is the lack of any really good songs here.

The result is a decent enough album and one that will surprise the listeners who think this band is another run of the mill US hard rock band.

2 points

Voivod - Nothingface (1989)

 

The fifth album from this band from Canada.

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

This album is a break with both their German record label Noise and with speed metal. It is something different again....

The inclusion of Pink Floyd's psych rock classic Astronomy Domine should raise a big red/white/green flag in the record buyer's mind when they buy this album. 

No, Voivod has not become psych rock band overnight. But their version of this song is not that different from the original version..... and the rest of this album.

Take some dissonant post-punk, add some metal and psych rock and you get most of this album. Most of it means this band is highly original and has plowed their own path on the surface on this earth. 

The vocals are at least clean and a bit dissonant. A bit punk'ish flat and detuned. 

The songs are between decent and good. I still think the band should improve and I am waiting for them on their next albums. Reviewing their albums is a rewarding task, to say at least. It is exciting......

2.5 points

Thorne. Steve - Crimes & Reasons (2012)

The fourth album from this artist from Great Britain.

Steve Thorne did the computers, drum programming, bass, guitars and vocals himself.

He got help from a quintet of guests who provided drums, bass, flute and guitars.

I have not been able to get his second and third album. But I reviewed the debut album and noted that it was a singer/songwriter album with a lot of neo-prog and art rock influences.

This is what we also get here. Singer/songwriter rock where the vocals is dominating. The music has also a lot of neo-prog and art rock influences. In particular neo-prog influences.

The music melodic and in the British neo-prog tradition and sound. The vocals is good.

The music on this fifty minutes long album is pretty good throughout. A couple of better songs would have elevated this album to a higher level. 

Check out this artist if melodic, uncomplicated art rock and neo-prog is your thing.

2.5 points

 

 

Death of Giants - Ventesorg (2023)

The debut album from this band from Norway.

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

Some guests added drums, cello, guitars and vocals.

This band and album is Morten Søbyskogen's tribute and story of his wife Astrid who sadly passed away due to cancer last year. Cancer is a massive killer and it touches everyone. Hence, I wanted to review this album and give it some attention.

This is a concept album about the time between Astrid getting the diagnosis and her tragic passing.

The music is doom metal. The Finnish band Swallow The Sun is a very good reference here. There is also some funeral doom here.

The five original compositions is really good. The inclusion of Iron Maiden's Only The Good Die Young fits the concept... but it still feels strange. OK, it a good addition to the album as it has been made into a doom composition. 

I am really positive surprised by this good album. I do not know if it is a one off album. If it is not, this is a band to keep an eye on. If it is, get this album from Bandcamp.

Astrid, your husband has indeed given you a fitting tribute. R.I.P.

3 points

 

 

Fall Of The Albatross - Rite (2023)

The fourth album from this band from USA.

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

I got this album and a request to review it for this blog. Hence, I am cracking on with the task.

I have yet to hear their first three albums. Tagged as math rock, I think I will bypass these three albums too. 

Math rock is what we get here. Take some post-metal and add in some jazz. We get math rock and we get this half an hour long album.

There is a lot of harsh, death metal like guitars and some speed metal like runs inbetween some more jazzy, half-acoustic guitars.

There is a lot of dissonance and disharmony in their music. The riffs is pretty good though and this is a decent enough album.

Math rock fans should check out this album.

2 points

Dropshard - Silk (2014)

The second and final album from this band from Italy.

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

Their 2011 debut album Anywhere But Home was a straight progressive metal album. It was a decent one too.

The band changed a bit direction on Silk. The art-work made me purchase it as it looked like a more progressive rock album. Indeed, it is.

There is still a lot of progressive metal on this album. Add some hard rock too and some djent. But the band has still managed to make a pretty consideral step towards neo-prog and RPI. 

The music is rather melodic. The vocals is good.

I believe this band is no more. But at least, they signed off with a good album and an album everyone into melodic progressive rock should check out.

3 points

Leptons - La Ricerca Della Quiete (2021)

The second album from this band from Italy.

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

Leptons is Lorenzo Monni's idea and project. This album is also so far his last album although he is still composing music.

The music here is forty minutes full of quirky rock with a lot of jazz influences. Add some folk and funk too and you get the music here. There is even some pretty strong The Beatles influences here.

The two Leptons albums are pretty similar and that also goes when it comes to quality.

The quality is decent to good. It is therefore a good idea to check out both Bandcamp albums and see if this is something for you.

2.5 points

Kikimora - For A Broken Dime (2023)

The third album from this band from Bulgaria.

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

The band debuted back in 2011 in their homeland with an album in their own language. Then they moved onto the international market and their next album was in English. And that also goes for this album.

I got a promo copy and agreed to review it as it was described as a mix of heavy metal and progressive rock.

Well, it is a heavy metal album, this album. There is no progressive rock here. 

Take some power metal and mix it with some heavy metal. Then you get run-of-the-mill albums like this one. An hour long album, it is too.

The vocals is good and the band does a good job. The songs are not particular interesting and this album does not offer anything new. This is a decent album and just that.

2 points

Circa Survive - Blue Sky Noise (2010)

The third album from this band from USA.

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

It is questionable if this band can be labeled a progressive rock band. At least, a traditional progressive rock band. 

This also goes for this album. Take post-punk, add some jazz and a lot of indie rock. The result is pretty much art-rock.

The music is loud, brash and bold. It has this indie rock structure.

The thin, female like vocals takes a bit time to get used to. It is good but still untraditional. 

The music is very much in the US indie rock style and it also has some prog influences. Hence the art-rock label.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. This album is sorely lacking some better songs. That is my only gripe with this album.

2.5 points

 

 

 

Cross - Gaze (1996)

The fourth album from this band from Sweden.

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

A guest added additional drums and percussion.

I got a handful of albums with this band and they are up for review this summer.

They have so far released twelve albums and there is some notable gaps in my collection of their albums. Their first three albums, for a start.

But I am cracking on with this album, the almost seventy minutes long Gaze from 1996.

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

The vocals is not particular good and it sits in the sound on the top of a pretty generic 1990s guitars and keyboards/synths soundscape.

There are some hints of talent here. Nevertheless, the songs are decent but never really interesting or good.

I hope the other Cross albums I got is better than this album. 

2 points

Thorne. Steve - Emotional Creatures Part One (2005)

The debut album from this artist from Great Britain.

Steve Thorne did the bass, percussion, guitars and vocals himself.

He got help from numerous guests who added drums, bass, guitars, chapman stick, mandolin, keyboards, synths, flute and backing vocals.

Steve Thorne did not have a great career in other bands before he went solo. The list of famous guests are pretty long so he must have had a pretty high profile back then. 

I got four of his in total seven albums and they are all up for reviews this summer.

The main theme here is singer/songwriter rock. That is with his instruments and vocals pretty much doing the majority of the work here.

There is also some neo-prog and folk rock influences in his take on rock music.

The proper opening track God Bless America is a good song and one to remember. 

The rest of this one hour decent to good. The music is vocals dominated and the vocals is good. 

This is a good debut album and it has made me hungry for more of his music.

3 points

Eloy - Echoes from the Past (2023)

The 21st album from this band from Germany.

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

This is the third and final album in the Jean D'Arc trilogy of albums, started in 2017. The second album arrived in 2019 and now we got the final album.

Jean D'Arc is a heroine in France and many other countries. And with good reasons. A trilogy of albums in her honour is in the spirit of Eloy too. Jean D'Arc and Eloy suits each other. 

Eloy album debuted more than fifty years ago and they have followed the same recipe from more or less their debut album. That is space and psych rock with very significant symphonic prog influences. Pink Floyd has always been a reference. But Eloy, and the main man Frank Borneman, has inserted a lot of krautrock influences in their music too. 

That also goes for this album. Echoes From The Past must have a double meaning. One of them is refererring to Jean D'Arc and the other one is referring to the classic era of Eloy. 

This album is indeed pretty much a classic Eloy album. Frank's heavy accented melodic and very good vocals, the space rock, the good eye for a good melody. 

The result is a very good album and one that will please every fan and admirer of Eloy. A band I still think deserve a lot more attention and praise.

3.5 points

Bend The Future - Sounds So Wrong (2023)

The third album from this band from France.

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

Some guests also added strings, saxophones, backing vocals and sound effects.

I have had the pleasure of reviewing their first two albums last year and you can find these reviews somewhere else in this blog.

The music on this, and on the first two albums, is a mix of Canterbury prog and more laidback jazz. Laidback but also pretty quirky.

The album starts with some vocals and they are the only proper vocals on this forty-five minutes long album.

The rest of the album is dominated by both strings, saxophones, synths and guitars.

That makes this album both eclectic and quirky. 

The quality is good throughout and this French band is a band well worth checking out.

3 points

Dropshard - Anywhere But Home (2011)

The debut album from this band from Italy.

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

This band has so far released two albums and both of them are up for review in this blog. 

Dropshard's music on this album is a blend of progressive metal, rock and hard rock. 

The vocals on this forty minutes long album is good and there is a lot of variations between the songs. The band is nowhere near a run-of-the mill progressive metal band. That is a compliment and an observation, btw.

Some of the songs are decent and some are pretty good.

This is an acceptable debut album and one I hope the band has improved on.

2.5 points

 

 

Leptons - Between Myth and Absence (2015)

The debut album from this band from Italy.

Leptons is Lorenzo Monni's band and he does the guitars, guitars effects and vocals here. 

He got help from two guests who provided drums and bass.

Lorenzo released three solo albums, see reviews somewhere else in this blog, before he then released two albums under the Leptons name. A review of the second album will follow next week.

Leptons sees Lorenzo wandering down the rock and songs path. This on an album released through Bandcamp.

This means forty-five minutes of quirky rock with a lot of jazz influences. Add some folk and funk too and you get the music here.

There is indeed a lot of jazz in the rock songs here. 

The sound is good and ditto for the vocals.

The result is an album somewhere between decent and good. It is well worth checking out this album.

2.5 points

Lumsk - Fremmede Toner (2023)

 

The fourth album from this band from Norway.

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

Lumsk debuted in 2003 and went on a long break after their 2007 album. Hence, they have flown a bit under my radar although they are popular in Norway and I have heard their name mentioned many times. I thought they were a goth folk metal band and that is not something that I find interesting. 

I was wrong.

The music is melodic folk rock with some prog rock and metal influences. Take Folque and mix them with Mostly Autumn. 

The good female vocals are in Norwegian, German and in English. The sound is great and the music is rather mellow. There are some progressive metal scattered around but there is not much of it.

There is some very good male and female vocal harmonies on this album too. 

The music is mellow and at times pretty pastoral. There is a lot of progressive themes and melody structures throughout this album. 

The music is also good throughout and I should check out their first three albums.

Check out this album.  

3 points

Psicolorama - Astronomy (2021)

The 18th album from this one-man-band from Spain.

Manuel Casado does the computers, synths and some voices on this album.

Manuel Casado has been using Psicolorama as his ambient project and has sometimes branched out into psych and progressive rock too. There has been some albums with proper songs. 

His albums are name-your-price Bandcamp albums and therefore quite interesting. A bit hit and miss but quite interesting for those of us who likes to explore the world of art rock and progressive rock.

This album is essentially an ambient music album. This one hour long album starts pretty light with some voices and piano. Then the album becomes more dark and drone like.

The quality is not that good. It is a half decent album and a bit of a miss when it comes to finding good or decent albums among his many releases.

1.5 points

Brujas Del Sol - Moonliner (2013)

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

This band has so far released three albums through Bandcamp and the remaining two albums will be reviewed before the end of this month.

The music on this fifty minutes long album is a mix of space rock and progressive rock. There are also some stoner and psych rock influences here.

Most of this album is instrumental. There are a couple of songs but they are not long. Neither are they particular remarkable. The vocals is good though.

Most of this album is pretty groovy space rock. 

The guitars are good and there are some Indian raga rock influences and spices scattered around the whole of this album.

The themes are pretty good and this is an acceptable debut album.

Check out this band.

2.5 points

 

 

Popol Ace - Curly Sounds (1978)

The fourth and final album from this band from Norway.

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

Some woodwind players and female vocalists are adding woodwind and backing vocals. 

The original vocalist Jahn Teigen had left the band. His replacement was Asa Krogtoft from Saft. A very poor replacement although the vocals here is not too bad. They are just not great.

It also seems like any artistic ambitions/the budget for a good album cover had left the band. Hence the poor, poor cover art-work. 

The art-work itself serves as a big warning against approaching/buying this album.

What's left is some funk and poorly crafted light pop. There is some west-coast rock here too. There is even some Bad Company references here. 

This album is a borderline turkey. But a handful of the songs are decent enough and saves this album from being included in my large collection of turkeys. 

Nevertheless, stick to their first three albums and avoid this one.

1.5 points

Gunerius & Verdensveven - Kapitalypse Nå (2023)

The third album from this band from Norway.

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

The band got help from a female vocalist on one of the tracks. 

This band is quite active live and on their Bandcamp page. I am trying to keep myself updated on everything progressive rock from my homeland..... but this band has flown well under my radar. So far. 

The band is now on my radar and I may get their first two albums later this year.

This album is a bit short, clocking in at twenty-seven minutes. But I guess the band feel that this is what they got of quality music this time around. No need for wasting the listener's time.

And that is what they are not with their mix of Frank Zappa, King Crimson and a lot of krautrock like Amon Duul II and Popol Vuh. 

There is some spoken narrations in Norwegian here over some pretty eclectic rhythms and melody bits. The music is pretty floating. The female vocals is the only real song here and even that song is floating and jazzy.

The result is pretty good. It is a decent to good album. It is an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points

Yes - Mirror to the Sky (2023)

The 22nd album from this band from Great Britain.

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

A symphony orchestra delivered a piece of classical music.

There are two giants, pillars of symphonic prog. Yes and Genesis. Only Yes are still around, releasing new albums. 

Only two of it's members are from Great Britain these days. The vocalist is from Canada and the rhythm section is from USA. 

Mirror To The Sky is a bit of a return to the more symphonic and eclectic albums Yes released fifty years ago. The albums that made their name.

The art of great songwriting has long gone. The band has still manage to cobble together an album who reminds the listener about the good old days of Yes. There are sporadic whiffs of greatness throughout this album.

The rather bizzare, but still pretty meaningfull piece of classical music reminds me about the ambient parts of Awaken. It still feels like an album filler. 

The proper songs has some good songs and they makes me conclude that this is a good album. I am still not really won over and I can understand the controversy around this album among the Yes fans.

3 points

Bowness. Tim & Erra. Giancarlo - Memories of Machines (2022)

The cooperation between these two artists from England and Italy.

Tim Bowness did the vocals while Giancarlo Erra did the keyboards and guitars.

They got help from numerous guests who added drums, bass, cello, guitars, woodwinds, synths, electric piano and vocals.

Among the guests, we find Peter Hammil, Steven Wilson, Robert Fripp, Colin Edward and many other household names.

This album is a rework and expanded version of their 2011 album Warm Winter. An album that has flown well below my radar. 

The music ins Memories of Machines is a mix of ambient psych rock and progressive rock. The music also has a lot of post-rock sensitivities. 

The music is melancholic and Tim Bowness vocals is on the top of the music. They are good too.

The quality is good throughout this album and this is one of the better albums from last year.

Check it out.

3 points

Alpha III - The Edge (1995)

The 13th album from this band from Brazil.

The band was a duo this time with a lineup of drums, percussion, farfisa, mellotron, synths and vocals.

A guest added female opera vocals on one track.

The 1993 album Voyage To Ixtlan was a good album. A more fusion orientated album than the previous albums and a bit of a big surprise. My hopes for another good album was raised.

This is the last remaining Alpha III albums I have got in my collection and The Edge is probably the final album I will review from this band. 

Alpha III is mostly a one-man-band on the albums I have reviewed. Alpha III is the vehicle of Amyr Cantusio Jr, indeed. 

He got help on this album though. The result is a slightly more organic album. Nevertheless, the thin synths from Amyr is still around on this album which gives us a mix of goth and symphonic prog. That and some ambient music.

The sound is pretty poor and the quality is only half-decent. I have to admit I have never really warmed to this band's sound and music. Alpha III is an obscure band and that for a very good reason.

Warning delivered.

1.5 points

Vele di Oniride. Le - La Quadratura del Cerchio (2023)

The debut album from this band from Italy.

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

The Italian progressive rock scene, the RPI scene, is a gift that just continues to give and give. The scene has been like that for the last fifty-three years. 

The band has gone back to the 1970s and the sound and music we got from both Banco and PFM. 

The music is mid-tempo and the vocals are in Italian. The album clocks in at forty-five minutes too.

The vocals is good and pretty muscular. Both the keyboards and guitars are not overpowering and the result is a good unity of vocals, keyboards and guitars.

The song writing could have been better. Nevertheless, this is a good retro sounding RPI album and one that will make a lot of RPI fans happy. 

3 points

Zappa. Frank - Chunga's Revenge (1970)

The 10th album from this artist from USA.

Frank Zappa did the guitars and some harspischord, drums, percussion and vocals himself on this album.

A long list of guests added their drums, percussion, bass, guitars, woodwinds, organ, piano, keyboards, tambourine and vocals.

This album is regarded as a studio album. A lot of this album is live recordings and with old material. 

The songs are of the half-witty sort with socalled humour and irony. This falls flat on it's face.

The sound is pretty poor and this album is a half-baked album.

This is an album which should had been reserved for an outtakes box and not released as a serious album. This is an album demeaning to his good name and reputation. It is a turkey.

1 point

Beggars Opera - Touching The Edge (2009)

The ninth album from this band from Great Britain.

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

A saxophon player added his saxophone on a couple of tracks.

Beggars Opera is a band who comes in three acts. The first albums as a symphonic prog band. The second part as a heavy metal band and the third part as a..... Well, a female vocals driven power pop band. 

Ricky Gardiner from Glasgow is the only member during these three acts and the band was a Glasgow band. Not that they were that active as a live band.

We get one hour of power pop here, including a pretty long ambient piece/interlude towards the end of the album.

Virginia Scott has a good voice and her vocals is pretty good.  

The music is pretty punchy and full on. The interlude is the only breather the band afford the listener on this album.

The music is pretty good. Somewhere between decent and good. I am still not the wiser when it comes to this band.

2.5 points

Popol Ace - Stolen From Time (1976)

The third album from this band from Norway.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of percussion, drums, bass, guitars, glockenspiel, harpischord, clavinet, minimoog, mellotron, piano, organ and vocals.

Three guests added voxals and saxophones.

This was their first album after they had changed their name from Popol Vuh to Popol Ace.

The band moved towards operatic pop and art rock on this album. There are still some traces of progressive rock and psych rock here. 

There is a lot of pomp in the music on this fifty minutes long album.

The excellent vocalist Jahn Teigen is still to a large extent carrying their music. It is easy to believe the (false) rumours/story that Jahn Teigen was in the running to become Genesis new vocalist after Peter Gabriel left that ship. Sadly, Stolen From Time was also his final album with Popol Ace before a long solo career made him a national treasure. He sadly passed away some years ago.

The other musicians is also doing a good job. 

The songs on this album is still good and this is another good album from a band who were probably the best progressive rock band in Norway at that time.

3 points

 

 

Nautha - Metempsychosis (2023)

The second album from this band from Italy.

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

I have never heard about this band before. Let alone their 2018 debut album Tutti I Colori Del Buio. An album I may have to get based on their new album. Both albums are Bandcamp albums in addition to being available on LP and CD.

The music is mainly psych rock. There is also a lot of post-rock and to a lesser degree progressive rock and desert rock influences here.

The songs on this three-quarters of an hour long album is pretty long. The lyrics are in English and the (male) vocals is good. 

The music is pretty muscular and has a bit of a grunge feel. 

The quality of the music is good though and this band comes as a refreshing surprise. It is a band well worth checking out.

3 points

Phlebotomized - Clouds of Confusion (2023)

The fourth album from this band from the Netherlands.

The band is listed as a seven piece big band on this album and with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

This band got my attention on their first two EPs from 1993...which is thirty years ago. I reviewed both of them for ProgArchives around thirteen years ago. 

The band has also released full length studio albums and I should check out their first three albums sometimes later on. 

The band played doomy death metal with some prog rock influences on their two first EPs. Hence their inclusion in ProgArchives as the band was one of the first band to combine death metal and progressive rock.

There are still some progressive rock on this album. The music is also a mix of doom metal and death metal. A lot of blast beats and more doomy riffs. 

The band has refined their style from the first two EPs but not moved too far from their origins. There is more death metal than usual and that is it.

Fans of progressive and slightly melodic death metal should check out this one hour long album. The quality is decent to good too.

2.5 points

Bowness. Tim - Butterfly Mind (2022)

The seventh album from this artist from Great Britain.

Tim Bowness does the synths, ukulele and vocals here.

He got help from numerous guests who added woodwinds, drums, bass, guitars, chapman stick, violin, keyboards, flute and vocals.

This album is not really a proper studio album. It is a kind of best off with alternate takes and studio mixes. This is also a double CD album.

It is also an album with some more frisky, funky versions of his better songs.

These new versions is not really improvement on the originals. The music is still singer/songwritere with some neo-prog influences.

Only fans of Tim Bowness will find this an interesting album. I very much prefer the original albums from this interesting artist.

2 points

 

 

Alpha III - Voyage to Ixtlan (1993)

The tenth album from this band from Brazil.

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

The band had help from additional guitarist and drummer.

I cannot say that Amyr Cantusio Jr and his Alpha III band has impressed me so far. 1980s synths sound on some pretty basic music is not something that floats my boat. The sound has been pretty poor too.

Then he gets together a band and comes up with this album...

This album gives us over one hour of a mix of fusion and space rock. Mostly fusion, it has to be said.

This very much feels like another band than the one-man-band. And it is. 

The sound is pretty thin and Amyr's synths is pretty bombastic. I am not a fan of his synths and they falls a bit flat on their face when compared to the superior guitars.

The music is pretty good and this is by far the best Alpha III encountered so far. 

The sound is the only thing that is not up to the good standard set by the music itself. Nevertheless....

3 points

Vonn Zandus - Unimortal (2023)

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

The band is a one-man-band with Joe Burns doing the drums, glockenspiel, marimba, tambourine and synths.

He got help from a guitarist on one song.

This project is entirely a studio project, as you can expect. It is also a Bandcamp album.

The music is a mix of electronica and a bit ELP like symph prog. There is also some zeuhl on this forty minutes long album. Another good reference is the Brazilian one-man-band Alpha III. Other references are the likes of Pink Mice, Trace and Ekseption.

In short, there is a lot of references back to early 1970s bands here.

The music on this album is both bold and epic. The soundscapes are pretty big.

The music falls a bit short when it comes to quality. Nevertheless, this is a decent album. Those who loves all the bands listed above should check out this album.

2 points

Bloodrock - Bloodrock 2 (1970)

The second album from this band from USA.

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

This band was a rather popular hard rock band in USA. They also had a small following in Europe.

The music on this album also got some elements from stadium rock and southern rock. But most of it is pure hard rock.

There are some very good guitars and vocals here. 

The songs on this forty-three minutes long album are pretty punchy. The sound is good and very much the 1970s hard rock sound. 

The quality of the songs are decent and there is no real outstanding song here. It is a decent hard rock album. Those into this genre should check out this album.

2 points

Voivod - Dimension Hatross (1988)

The fourth album from this band from Canada.

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

The band was gradually moving on from being a speed metal band to becoming a progressive metal band.

Eclectic progressive metal is what they are really playing. There is no Dream Theater in their music or sound. 

Voivod takes the punk route and attitude to progressive rock and progressive metal. This is something they have done from their very first album too. They and Mekong Delta was and still is two unique bands spawned from the speed/thrash metal scene.

The speed is still neck breaking and the music has a great deal of punk in it's core. There is though some prog rock hooks, timeshifts and themes in their music.

The result is a decent enough album from a band who has been forging their own paths, far away from any other bands.

Check it out.

2 points

Popol Vuh - Quiche Maya (1973)

The second album from this band from Norway.

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

This was their final album under this name before they changed the name to Popol Ace due to the name conflict with the German band off the same name. 

Another iconic cover art-work for those of us who grew up in Norway. Their first three (Vuh and Ace) albums has some great art-work.

The music on this album is again a mix of psych rock, some folk, some hard rock and a lot of art-rock. 

Jahn Teigen's vocals is great on this album and a big step up from his vocals on the debut album. He really own this album. 

There are no really killer tracks here. But the songs on this forty minutes long album is all pretty good and the vocals is the icing on the cake on all the songs. 

This is another good album from this band. An album well worth checking out.

3 points

Führs & Fröhling - Ammerland (1978)

The debut album from this duo from Germany.

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

This duo is normally listed as Schicke & Führs & Fröhling in most archives. But after two albums as this trio, Gerard Fuhrs and Heinz Frohling released their first album as a duo. The first of in total three albums. I intend to review the two follow up albums and the Schicke & Führs & Fröhling albums later this year. 

The full trio is more a full on electric rock band. The duo version is more a downtuned, acoustic duo.

There is a lot of synths here in addition to the acoustic guitar. 

The tempo is rather pedestrian and pastoral.

The music is really ambient but it is not that exciting and interesting. 

This forty minutes long album should appeal to those into acoustic progressive rock and/or Mike Oldfield. This despite of the lack of quality throughout this album. Nevertheless, this is a decent album.

2 points