Tritop - Rise of Kassandra (2023)

The debut album from this band from Italy.

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

Some guests added mandolin, steel guitars, acoustic and electric guitars.

Italy has recently spawned some bands who are playing retro progressive prog, but not really RPI. Tritop and the others in this genre are more into the likes of Yes, Kansas, Gentle Giant and Queen. Four very different bands but bands who is still worthy being inspired by. 

These band's genres and sounds has been distilled into this fifty minutes long album. An album full of admiration for the old masters and the joy of playing progressive rock. That is very evident throughout every second of this album.

The music is at times hard. It is also mellow and a bit pompous when the Queen influences shines through.

The music is full of interesting details and the vocals is really good. The songs, make that compositions, are long and complex.

There is a lot to like on this very good album. I really hope we will hear a lot more from this band in the future.

3.5 points

Drudkh - Microcosmos (2009)

The seventh album from this band from Ukraine.

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

I started to do reviews of this band's album back in 2010 for ProgArchives. The first five albums was reviewed there and then the sixth album for # 1 of this blog in June 2012. Then I stopped reviewing their albums. I got no idea why. 

I will now review the rest of their albums this fall. 

Their seventh album sees them going down a pretty standard black metal path. Their music has some Ukraine folk rock influences. But that is all. 

The music reminds me about the Frost album by Enslaved.

The music on this forty minutes long album is decent but nothing more than that. I have heard this band do better albums than this one.

2 points

Voivod - The Outer Limits (1993)

The seventh album from this band from Canada.

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

A guest provided bass.

Voivod is without any doubts one of the most influential progressive metal bands around...... so I have been told. I am reviewing their albums and is finding a lot of interesting music.

The band has moved from being a post-punk thrash metal band to being a.......... gosh...... they have changed a lot from their first four albums. That is for sure.

The music here is a mix of progressive metal, quirky hard prog, grunge and psych rock. 

The band is pretty influenced by Pink Floyd. But not the guitar wailing, melodic part of their music. Voivod is very much in the vein of the more quirky, eclectic part of Pink Floyd's discography. One of the songs on this album is indeed a Pink Floyd cover, The Nile Song from the More soundtrack.

Sometimes, the band also reminds me about Rush, their post millenium albums. 

The music on The Outer Limits is quirky and pretty melodic too. It is hard music though and it is clever. 

This is indeed a very good album from a band who deserves a lot of attention.

3.5 points

Alfa Serenar - Cobra Sofia E Outras Lendas Amaz​ô​nicas (2022)

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

Rafael Senra did the bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals here. 

A guest added drums on two tracks.

I have yet to be won over by this artist based on the two meandering first albums. They are decent enough but the quality left a lot to be desired.

I did not have much hopes for Cobra Sofia E....... in other words.

The album has four long songs about myths and stories from the Amazon river, the longest river in the world. A very lush area.

The music is indeed very lush indeed. Some of it is more folky pop. But most of it is symphonic prog, South American symphonic prog.

There is a lot of local colours and tribal rhythms here too. The guitar solos are long and really cool. Ditto for the good vocals. 

There are also some retro keyboards here. Keyboards which takes us back to the 1970s Brazilian and Argentine symphonic prog scene.

It feels like Rafael Senra has found his level, his home on this album. It is his best album to that date and surely his breakthrough album. 

Check out this album.

3 points

 

 

Pagan Harvest - Pagan Harvest (2015)

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This band is new to me although they have been around for many, many years. 

I have picked up their three albums for reviews in the coming weeks. 

... Starting with this album. 

The music is some sort of folk rock. The songs are long and there is definate some strong progressive rock and classical music influences here. There is also some americana in their music.

The sound and music is pretty dark with some, almost menacing good vocals. There is a lot of gloom and impending tragedies in their music.

The instruments are sparse but cleverly used.  

The result is an album somewhere between decent and good. It is an album both folk rock and progressive rock fans will find very interesting.

2.5 points

 

 

TNNE - Life 3.0 (2023)

The seventh album from this band from Luxembourg.

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

The band started out as No Name and then changed name to TNNE The No Name Experience on their fifth album. I have reviewed the fifth and the sixth album for the two first issues of this blog (see links, top of this blog). They are two good albums.

The country Luxembourg borders to Germany while Holland is on the other side of Belgium. TNNE does a mix of Dutch and German sounding neo-prog.

That is perhaps a coincidence. I do not know. But their music is muscular, a bit epic and bold neo-prog. There are also some pretty obvious art-rock here too.

The vocals is good and the musicans deliver some pretty complex music.

The result sounds a bit run-of-the-mill. The music is a bit middle of the road neo-prog.

That said, this is a good album and one neo-prog fans will really enjoy. 

Check out this album.... and not at least, this band.

3 points

Cerchio D'Oro. Il - Pangea E Le Tre Lune (2023)

The fifth album from this band from Italy.

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

Three guests provided guitars and violin.

This band album debuted in 2005 and has released albums on six years or longer cyclus. I reviewed their fourth album, the 2017 album Il Fuoco Sotto La Cenere, one week ago. It is a very good album.

Il Cerchio D'Oro is one of those bands who inherited the 1970s RPI sound and music..... and then added their own take on this music. The band is a classic RPI - Rock Progressive Italiano band. 

That comes with some very good Italian vocals. The music is also a mix of hard RPI and more pastoral, poppy and folky RPI.

The music is very good throughout and fans of RPI should be happy that this year has seen both the veterans and the newcomers deliver some very good albums. The scene is alive and well.

3.5 points

Bloodrock - Whirlwind Tongues (1974)

The sixth and final album from this band from USA.

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

Bloodrock was one of the bands who were highly inspired by the British bands Led Zeppelin and Who. Bands who became big in Bloodrock's backyard. Hence a bit of a national pride and "we too can do this."

At their best and with their original setup, they released some good hard rock albums. 

The original members had left Bloodrock by now and so had their idea of emulating Led Zeppelin and Who. The band retreated into americana on Whirlwind Tongues.

.... And some progressive rock, too. There is a lot of Kansas in the sound and music on this album. There is also a lot of pretty standard americana rock on this album.

Some of the music here is pretty good. There is also some pretty bad stuff here. 

This is not a bad swansong at all. It is indeed a decent album and well worth checking out.

2 points

Aisles - Beyond Drama (2023)

The fifth album from this band from Chile.

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

This band is one of the most respected bands in the neo-prog scene. They album debuted back in 2005 and has had a good progression. They have also been keeping the melodic progressive rock scene in South America alive and well.

Beyond Drama gives us one hour with a blend of art-rock, indie rock and neo-prog.

There is some Cirka Survive and Radiohead in between the cascades of neo-prog here.

The vocals and the guitars are really good. 

The music feels a bit cold and distant. It is also pretty melancholic.

The result is another good album from this band. One of the better bands from South America these days.

Check it out. 

3 points 

Circa Survive - Descensus (2014)

The fifth album from this band from USA.

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

The band continues with their art-rock. That is art-rock with a lot of post-punk and indie rock influences. 

There are again some subtle changes of directions in their music.

The music is a bit more pastoral and more elegant pop orientated. There is not so much jazz here and the music is not as brutal as on earlier albums.

The vocals is still good and the band is doing a good job.

This is indeed art-rock and the music is still youthful and fresh.

The quality of the songs are all good and this album has a lot of quirky details and melodies which should excersise the brain cells of the listeners.

Check out this good album.

3 points

 

 

Cross - Secrets (2000)

The sixth album from this band from Sweden.

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

Four guests added keyboards, cello and female vocals.

I am halfway through a series of reviews of some of their albums. 

As on the previous album, the music is a mix of AOR, hard rock, pomp rock, art-rock and neo-prog.

The Saga influences comes thick and fast on this album. The music is pretty pomp rock focused. 

The music is bold and melodic. It is also pretty hard but not particular heavy.

The vocals is good and the musicians is doing their best on some decent to good songs. 

Pomp rock and AOR fans should check out this album.

2.5 points

 

 

Alfa Serenar - Via (2020)

The second album from this one-man-band.

Rafael Senra did the keyboards, electronics and vocals himself here.

The music follows up from the music from the 2019 debut album The Mood Machine. A not particular impressive album.

The music here is a mix of folky pop, post-rock, progressive rock, cinematic ambient music and some psych rock.

The music is very mellow and at times, pastoral too. There are some vocals here. Most of the music on this forty minutes long album is instrumental.

The music is not particular good or exciting. This album is a slight improvement and a good development on the concept launched on the debut album.

This is indeed a decent album.

2 points

 

 

 

Aliènor - The Raven (2023)

The debut album from this band from Germany.

The band is a one-woman-band with a 60 years old lady called Alienor who does all the keyboards and some vocals here.

She is helped out by a dozen of guests who contributes with drums, bass, guitars, violin and vocals.

The music is a mix of neo-prog, goth rock and progressive metal. There are also some classical music interludes here and those are mainly at the end of this fifty minutes long album.

The vocals is mostly female vocals and the music is pretty heavy.

The music has this gothic, commersial sound associated with German metal.

The music is in short polished and pretty elegant with this gothic dark sound.

There is also some 

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

It is still a more than acceptable debut album. Check it out.

2.5 points

Avkrvst - The Approbation (2023)

The debut album from this band from Norway.

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

With a name and cover like this, I can only congratulate the black and extreme metal scene with a new addition to their scene........ ehh......... ????

I could not have been more wrong. 

The music here is a mix of Porcupine Tree, Opeth and some of the harder, bold neo-prog released during the last five years. There are also some djent in their music and some psych rock.

The vocals is really good. They are mostly clean vocals. The death growls, and there is not many of those, are very fitting in the themes they are used. 

A lot of the music is atmospheric and melodic. 

There is a lot of interesting themes and melodies on this album too. The music sounds modern and it is clearly inspired by a wide array of different genres and ideas. That makes these fifty minutes such an interesting journey.

The quality is also very good throughout this album. This is a cracking debut album and it leaves me wishing this band a long, healthy career. This band is one of the bigger new talents in the scene.

3.5 points

Cerchio D'Oro. Il - Il Fuoco Sotto La Cenere (2017)

The fourth album from this band from Italy.

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

Three guests added their drums, organ and vocals.

This band album debuted in 2005 and has released albums on six years or longer cyclus. I will review their brand new album in some days time.

Il Cerchio D'Oro is one of those Italian bands who has taken over the RPI scene after the originators has either died and been unable to release albums or tour due to old age or illness. 

A new generation has indeed taken over the RPI scene and both the scene and the music sounds as fresh as it did in the 1970s. Or even better.

Il Cerchio D'Oro gives us fifty minutes of classic RPI. 

The music varies from heavy, bold, epic, quirky to pastoral and soft. The album has references to hard rock, classical music and Italian folk and pop music.

The vocals is very good and that also goes for the music here.

This is fifty minutes of mostly joy. Most RPI fans will be fond of this album, I believe. 

3.5 points  

Bloodrock - Passage (1972)

The fifth studio album from this band from USA.

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

Most of the original members had left the band but the band soldiered on for two more albums.

The change of musicians removed most of the hard rock from the band. It was replaced by some middle of the road US rock and americana.

The music has a lot of woodwinds but not enough to make this a brass rock album.

The vocals is good and the flutes is trying to emulate Jethro Tull at times. Bloodrock tries indeed to sound like them on a couple of songs. They fails.

The introduction of a track with some ELP like prog is OK.

The quality of the songs are simply not good and that makes this album barely a decent album.

I am not won over.

2 points

Bacio Della Medusa. Il - Imilla (2023)

The fifth album from this band from Italy.

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

This band is an interesting, good band in the new wave of RPI scene. A scene that has taken the best from the 1970s RPI scene and renewed this genre. They have also kept this genre alive and it is now as alive as a Ferrari F1 car at full speed. 

The band debuted back in 2004 with their self-titled debut album. Their next albums was good until they hit some problems on their fourth album.

Hence my trepidations before I put on this album for the first time.

The band plays classic, muscular RPI with some flutes and saxophones pretty much in the foreground of the sound. Ditto for some Italian vocals.

The music is still pretty melodic with some Italian pop and folk rock incorporated into their RPI.

The result is a good album and one fans of RPI should pick up. You cannot go wrong with an album like this.

3 points

Psicolorama - Dark I (2022)

The 20th album from this band from Spain.

The band is a one-man-band with Manuel Casado on guitars, computers and vocals.

This is the twentieth of his albums and the journey through Manuel's albums has been a journey of hits and misses. Mostly misses, it has to be said.

All albums are Bandcamp albums and this platform encourages creative people to express themselves. That is a massive plus and we should all be grateful for the likes of Bandcamp and the Amazon self publishing platform. I am indeed an author myself, publishing books through that Amazon platform.

Dark I sees us first walking down an organ and distorted guitars path before the music takes a more ambient psych rock path. The last minutes of this album sees Manuel as a singer on a pretty decent folk like song. 

The result is his best album for a while. Some of the ambient music leaves a lot to be desired. Nevertheless, there are also a lot of pretty good stuff here.

That is why this is a decent album and one to check out.

2 points

Doors. The - Strange Days (1967)

The second album from this band from USA.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of marimba, drums, percussion, guitars, harpsischord, piano, organ, keyboards, minimoog and vocals.

A guest added bass on most of the tracks.

The Doors reached their commercial and creative peak with their self-tifled, iconic debut album. One of the bigger albums of our time.

The band was pressed into the studio again by their record label Elektra who had been taken by surprise by the success of their debut album.

The mercurial vocalist Jim Morrison had by now already started to self-destruct and the only way to keep him under control was in a record studio.

The band did not have any real hits up their sleeves when going into the studio and they did not produce any songs rivalling the best songs from the debut album. They never did that again, with the exception of Raiders Of The Storm from their sixth album.

What we get here is one long track and nine shorter tracks. The shorter tracks is quirky blends of west coast pop/rock, psych rock and blues. The long track When The Music Is Over is quirky long blend of blues and psych rock.

Jim Morrison is on fire here and his vocals is very good. If he only had been as dedicated to singing as substance and alcohol misuse.... Tragic, indeed. 

The real stars here and the reason why the album is a very good album, is the three other musicians who adds some very good drums, keyboards and guitar solos, riffs and hooks. Ditto for the guest bassist.

The songs are all very good, made very good by the musicians. The Doors has maximised some pretty good songs and made them so much better. That is the magic of this album.

3.5 points

 

 

Alfa Serenar - The Mood Machine (2019)

The debut album from this band from Brazil.

The band is a one-man-band and Rafael Senra does all the guitars, bass and voices here.

I have got all the four Alfa Serenar for reviews this summer. I begin with this album....

We are deep into ambient music here with some wailing acoustic and electric guitars and voices on the top of the bass.

There are also some normal acoustic guitars here too.

There are some post-rock ambience in the music and that is the only good thing about this album. 

This is a half-decent album and just that. I am not won over.

1.5 points

Perfect Halo - The Second Sun (2023)

The second album from this band from Germany.

Perfect Halo is a one-man-band with a lineup of guitars, vocals and electronics.

This album was released as the debut album Cluster One earlier this year without the vocals added onto The Second Sun. The vocals is a major goodie here so I think it is safe to say that Cluster One is best avoided. 

It is indeed a smart move to add vocals to this music.

Music somewhere between psych rock, cinematic rock and pop. References is both Ghost and Pink Floyd.

The sound is very good and professional. I get the feeling that the human being hiding behind the initials JMT is a veteran musician as he does most things right here. 

The music is very melodic but it also has some good details. This means a pretty interesting sixty minutes long album.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good too. I therefore hope we will hear more from JMT and Perfect Halo in the future. 

2.5 points

Morse. Neal - The Dreamer Joseph # One (2023)

The 30th album from this artist from USA.

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

He got some help from a handful of guests who added guitars and vocals. There is also an uncredited choir on this album. 

Neal Morse is an extreme busy and creative man. He tours and has been a member of Spock's Beard and Transatlantic since the mid 1990s. His first solo album was released in 1999.

Most of the album released has been within the US symphonic prog genre. This is also a genre visited on this album. Roughly speaking, that is.

Neal Morse is a Christian man and that comes to the foreground on this album. Joseph is the subject on this concept, Christian lyrics album.

The music is mostly symphonic prog. But there is also some praise-me music here and an choir acting sounding like angels. Some classical music, computer generated, also pays a visit on this album.

The music is pretty soft on this one hour long album. Neal Morse is not bringing much news to the table on this album and he is mostly threading water on this album. Those familiar with his music will feel that he is visiting old grounds on this album. It is almost like he is copying himself. 

This is by no means a bad album. It is indeed a good album and this album is most welcome. But Neal Morse is operating well within himself here and is not serving up a new, exciting piece of music here.

3 points

 

 

K'mono - Mind Out of Mind (2023)

The second album from this band from USA.

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

A guest added additional vocals and vocal harmonies.

The band is back again after their good 2021 album. 

The band is still a trio and the sound is still the retro 1970s English symphonic prog sound.

The band has shed most of their eclectic sound and gone for some more lighter, yet complex music.

References are Yes, Gentle Giant, Camel and Goblin.

The vocals is a bit more darker than Jon Anderson so there is no reason to label this band a Yes copycat. Nevertheless, Yes fans will really embrace this band and indeed... this album. And rightly so.

The music is a bit more complex than symphonic prog and the band visits the Gentle Giant territory many times during these forty minutes.

This is mainly a symphonic prog album though and one the many fans of this genre will really appreciate and love. 

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

3.5 points

Ok Goodnight - The Fox and the Bird (2023)

The second album from this band from USA.

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

The band consists of students from the leading music school Berklee College, their east-coast branch in Boston.

The band has so far released two albums and I reviewed their debut album some days ago. A good album.

The band is female vocals fronted and the vocals is both good and everywhere. 

The band's music has evolved a lot since their debut album. They have indeed expanded their horizons on this album.

In addition to the mix of progressive metal, fusion and alternative rock from their debut album, some djent and extreme metal has also been added. There is also some symphonic prog here too. 

The music is very complex throughout. The band is pushing through a lot of different ideas at the same time. A lot of themes and ideas throughout these fifty minutes

The result is eclectic progressive metal. It is Mars Volta territory and that much more than Dream Theater territory. The music is that fiendish non-melodic.

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

3 points

Seven Impale - Summit (2023)

The third album from this band from Norway.

The band is sextet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, banjo, cello, guitars, keyboards, flute, tenor saxophone and vocals.

There is an eclectic prog scene in Bergen, Norway which is supported by Karisma Records. There is a handful of bands from Bergen plus the prog avant-garde metal band Enslaved. You also got a more fusion prog scene in Oslo on the east coast who is not that eclectic and fiendish as that scene in Bergen.

Hence Norway's standing and reputation in the progressive rock scene.

The band still sounds like a mix of Picchio Dal Pozzo, Area, King Crimson and the likes of Anglagard and Anekdoten. Take some jazz too and some more pastoral symphonic prog. Some avant-garde metal can also be added.

The tenor saxophone adds a lot of darkness to the music. The music is by default pretty dark. It is also very eclectic and it has taken me some time to really get into this forty-five minutes long album.

Summit has four songs/compositions, averaging eleven minutes each. They are all very good. 

Check out this album but do not except an easy ride. 

3.5 points

Zappa. Frank - Waka/Jawaka (1972)

The 12th album from this artist from USA.

Frank Zappa did some vocals, guitars and percussion himself.

He had help from a long list of other musicians who provided washboard, percussion, drums, bass, guitars, minimoog, piano, woodwinds and vocals.

You never know what you get when you put on a Frank Zappa album. Vaudeville avant-garde pop/rock or jazz. 

This album gives us both.

The first half is an eighteen minutes long jazz composition in the vein of what Miles Davis did on Bitches Brew. A good piece marred by a bad sound quality.

Then we get some vaudeville pop again. It is half decent to decent. 

The album closes with some decent and good jazz. Some of it with some cajun woodwinds.

The result is a decent to good album. I am not really won over by this album.

2.5 points 

Beggars Opera - All Tomorrows Thinking (2010)

The 11th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This band who started out in Glasgow, Scotland is still alive on this album. Now as a trio and without a bassist. But the band has had had a female vocalist on the last albums.... and the band let go of bass many albums ago too.

The music is a mix of post-punk, psych rock, art-rock and pop. 

Mother Gong now sounds like a good reference and I should have noticed this reference on the last two albums too. There is some Gili Smyth like weirdness here.

That in addition to the other weirdness in their music. 

The music is pretty good. Good and unique. Unique when it comes to the progressive rock scene. A scene the band is still a part of due to their first three semi-classic progressive rock albums. Hence my reviews of their albums.

This is not a bad album. It is an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points

 

 

M Opus - At the Mercy of Manannán (2023)

The third album from this band from Ireland.

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

This band has been flying under the radar for a long time. The band was vastly ambitious on their first two album and bit over more than they could chew on the second album Origins. 

I really like their bravery and their attitude.

On this album, we get a mix of Scandinavian symphonic prog and neo-prog. Yes, Ireland is not among the Scandinavian countries. But M Opus has adopted many of the best parts of that scene.

There is also a lot of Yes in their music too.

The vocals is good and the music is both bold and complex. It is also epic and still has a lot of melodies. 

At forty-two minutes long, the album is both punchy and free of any surplus fat. 

I sincerely hope this album will break the band as they are both giving the scene a taste of the old symphonic prog scene and something new and refreshing.

This is a very good album indeed.

3.5 points

 

 

Saint Karloff - Paleolithic War Crimes (2023)

The third album from this band from Norway.

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

Sometimes, cover art-works are a bit deceptive. 

In this case, we are promised lots of ugly, fiendish music on the inside of the art-work. We just have to unpack the album and put it on the LP/CD player...... 

And yes, there is a lot of harsh, fiendish doom and stoner rock on this album. There is also some more gentle acoustic progressive rock here too. And some music who blends progressive rock with stoner rock.

The vocals is pretty harsh. The music not so harsh..... at least half of it. Yes, this album is both heavy and hard. It also has a gentler side.

The quality of the music is decent enough. Fans of stoner rock will probably embrace this album more than I do.

Check it out if stoner floats your boat.

2 points

Homunculus Res - Ecco l'lmpero Dei Doppi Sensi (2023)

The fifth album from this band from Italy.

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

Numerous guests added oud, guitars, moog, organ, keyboards, woodwinds, flute, whistle and vocals.

This band is without any doubts one of the most interesting, and indeed musically challenging, bands in the Italian progressive rock scene. Their debut album was a sensation.

The scene, and indeed myself, has now got used to their mix of baroque pop, folk rock, jazz (Area) and classic RPI from the 1970s.

The Italian vocals are as usual very good and the music on this fifty minutes long album is intriguing and very interesting. It can be debated it the music is rock at all or just progressive music.  

I still think this is progressive rock and very much RPI. 

These fifty minutes never stops to amuse, bemuse and surprise the listener. The music is also very good.

This is another very good album from one of RPI greatest and most interesting bands.

3.5 points

K'mono - Return to the 'E' (2021)

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

This band has so far released two albums and I will review their second album sometimes soon.

The band has listed Yes, Camel, Goblin and King Crimson as references on their Bandcamp page. 

The Roger Dean (Yes) artwork and the retro 1970s sound is a good reference too. Indeed, the band is mostly right when it comes to the references. Mostly.... because the music here is a mix of psych rock and neo-prog. There is even some of the dark harshness of Van Der Graaf Generator hanging around here.

The organs, the sound and the dark vibes makes this album a worthy purchase in itself. The quality of the songs leave a lot to be desired. The vocals are good, though.

This is a more than respectable debut album and we can only hope this band will continue their good work.

3 points

Ok Goodnight - Limbo (2019)

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

The band consists of students from the leading music school Berklee College. In this case, from their east-coast department in Boston. The Los Angeles department of Berklee is regarded as the best and most influential modern music school on this planet.... and beyond.

The band has so far released two albums and I will review their new album next week.

The band delivers a mix of progressive metal, fusion and alternative rock. Think Mars Volta and Dream Theater. Add in Panic Room too. 

The music has some female vocals on the top of their mix of these genres.

The vocals are very good. Some of the guitars are a bit dissonant and crosses into djent on an infrequent basis.

The music is still not heavy. It is playful and elegant. 

The result is a good album and one for those who like modern prog. 

Check it out.

3 points

Forty Days. The - Beyond the Air (2023)

The second album from this band from Italy.

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

A guest added an 8 strings guitar on one track.

I very much liked their 2017 debut album The Colour Of Change. That is a good neo-prog album in the vein of Marillion and Pendragon.

That was six years ago and the band has gigged a lot since then.

Neo-prog is still the core element in their music. But the more symphonic parts of their neo-prog has been removed and replaced by a more Pink Floyd take on rock and neo-prog.

The vocals are in English and they are very good.

The production is slick and the music is both elegant, muscular and good. 

The result is forty-five minutes of good progressive rock who will please everyone into melodic, yet complex prog rock.

3 points

 

 

Bloodrock - Bloodrock USA (1971)

The fourth album from this band from USA.

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

This is the final Bloodrock album with the original members. The two final albums, to be reviewed later this fall in this blog, was a diversion from the original albums and concept behind this band.

The music on this almost forty minutes long album is a mix of hard rock and more stadium rock. There is some prog and soul elements here too.

The vocals is good and the band does a decent job on some decent songs.

The music sounds a bit dated and too americana. Nevertheless, fans of US hard rock from the 1970s will like this album a lot.

2 points

Voivod - Angel Rat (1991)

The sixth album from this band from Canada.

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

Some guests added keyboards, bass, synths and computer programming.

The band was now reduced to a trio and had lost the bass player. That is not the only major change here...

The band has ditched the speed and thrash metal we can find on their first five albums. Angel Rat is a major, major break with those five albums and their history.

Take a bit grunge, add progressive metal, hard rock, indie rock and progressive rock. 

There is a lot of Rush in their music now. That's not only because this album was produced by the, then, regular Rush producer Terry Brown.

In short, my jaw dropped to the floor when I heard this album for the first time.

The vocals and the sound is good though.

And so is the music. It is at times bordering to being very good. 

This is an album well worth checking out. Voivod is a brave band with their own, independent mindset. I can only applaud them for that and that is added value.

3.5 points

M Opus - Origins (2020)

The second album from this band from Ireland.

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

Numerous guests added guitars, flute, vocals and narrations.

Two CDs.... Well over two and a quarter worth of music. That means one track clocking in at twenty-four minutes, the closing track, and twenty-seven shorter songs and narrations.

The album has a lot of proper songs mixed up with a few spoken words and narrations. This is in short a concept album.

The vocals is good and the music is well performed.

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

The first CD has some pretty dull songs and material. The album becomes a lot better on the second CD where the best songs and pieces are. 

Decent first CD. Good second CD. Hence the verdict. This album is a let down compared to their very good debut album. Can do better.

2.5 points

Dez Dare - Perseus War (2023)

The 11th album from this one man band from Great Britain.

Darren Smallman does the guitars, vocals and electronics here.

This project from Brighton on the south coast of England has flown well under my radar for years. All the albums are Bandcamp albums and the music is not normally on my radar.

Take post-punk, add some krautrock, electronica, punk and some noise. That is when you end up with this album. An album I was promised was full of King Crimson like prog. It is not. 

There are some of The Clash anno the Sandinista era, though.....

The music is not bad at all. It is uncomplicated but it still has got some good krautrock vibe. Hence a possible crowd for this album. 

All the stuff, including the vocals, is decent on this half an hour long album. If krautrock floats your boat...

2 points

Hemina - Romancing the Ether (2023)

The fifth album from this band from Australia.

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

A handful of guests added violin, viola, cello, organ, piano and vocals.

This band debuted back in 2012 and has delivered the goods on a frequent basis since then. They have even visited Europe on one than more occasion.

Progressive metal is what they play.... but with some twists. Colourful twists.

The band use both male and female vocals. The music is wandering towards symphonic prog on this album and can be found somewhere between that genre and prog metal. There are also a lot of eclectic prog here.

This album has only one piece of music, clocking in at thirty-five minutes. The music is bold and very complex. It is not easy to follow and this album require a lot of patience.

Nevertheless, this is a good album and one well worth checking out. 

3 points

Dillinger - Don't Lie To The Band (1975)

The second and final album from this band from Canada.

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

Their debut album was an album that included a lot of genres. Psych rock, rock, symphonic progressive rock and some hard rock, that is. 

So the band must have thought we can expand on this and even include some soul, blues and folk rock. Which they have on this, their second album.

The main two genres are symphonic prog and hard prog. 

The vocals is good and the band sounds more coherent in what they are doing.

There is also some good songs here and the band's output went up one level when it comes to quality.

This is an obscure album who deserve to be heard and liked by the progressive rock fans.

Check out this good album.

3 points

Difference - Different Ways (1975)

The second album from this band from Norway.

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

This is their final album with original self-written songs. 

I was not impressed by their Titanic, The Beatles and Procol Harum influenced rock album. But I were commited to review both their albums.... So here we go again.

The more Titanic and psych elements were gone. What is left is a pop/rock album with some Procol Harum influences.

There is a lot of keyboards and vocals on this mid-tempo pop/rock album. 

The vocals is good and the band does a good job on some pretty mediocre songs. 

This album ends at around thirty-five minutes and it leaves the listener deeply unimpressed. It is still a decent album and fans/collectors of old Norwegian progressive rock should check out this album to get this genre complete.

This is an album for collectors only, in only words. 

2 points

Yaaroth - The Man in the Wood (2023)

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

A guest added some extra drums.

This project and album has got the scene's attention. This although none of the members are well known musicians.

The music is what has made people listen up. The type of music.

Take good old Black Sabbath, add some apple orchards like folk rock and a lot of old symphonic prog. Then you get this album. This forty minutes long album.

Unusual and untraditional is the two words I would use.

The opening half of the album is the band visiting their inner Black Sabbath. The final half is at times a bit ambient but it is still good old symphonic prog mixed up with folk rock. 

The result is a good album and a new band I hope we will hear a lot more from in the future. 

More of this, please.

3 points

Circa Survive - Violent Waves (2012)

 

The fourth album from this band from USA.

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

The band continues with their art-rock. That is art-rock with a lot of post-punk and indie rock influences.

The music is less jazzy than before. That is the difference between this album and the 2010 album Blue Sky Noise.

The sound and music is also more mature. The music has got a more melancholic sound too. 

The songs are indeed more melancholic. They are not that youthfull this time around.

The vocals has matured a bit too and is not as screamo as before.

The music is pretty good. A couple of more good songs would have made this a good album. It is still an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points

Cross - Visionary Fools (1998)

The fifth album from this band from Sweden.

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

A guest added some extra vocals.

This band album debuted back in 1988 and released their twelfth album two years ago. I got a handful of these albums up for review and started last month with their fourth album, Gaze from 1996. An album that I did not find impressive.

The music on Visionary Fools is a mix of AOR, hard rock, pomp rock, art-rock and neo-prog.

The music is pretty bold and epic. It is clear that the band is massive influenced by neo-prog on this album. A lot of the structures in neo-prog.

Some of this album is really good. And then we get these vocals who sounds strained to breaking point far too many times during these fifty minutes. Some of the music is also barely album fillers.

The result is fifty minutes of music somewhere between decent and good. It is an improvement though on Gaze. I hope the next album is even better than this one.

2.5 points

M Opus - 1975 Triptych (2015)

The debut album from this band from Ireland.

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

Some guests added drums, bass and lots of strings.

I have heard about this band and the well received first two albums for a while. Then I got a copy of their new album and decided to review all three of their albums this month.

The genre is symphonic prog. In this case, that means a mix of ELP, Yes, The Flower Kings and Wobbler. 

There is a lot of Scandinavian symphonic prog influences on this fifty minutes long album. The band still maintains a healthy distance from the Scandiavian hordes and that is evident in the more cool and technical bits of this album.

The keyboards is very cool and the same goes for the good vocals.

The album has a thirty-four minutes long opus called Different Skies and two rather shorter tracks between seven and ten minutes.

The only gripe I have got is that the music falls a bit of a greatness standards in most cases. Nevertheless, this is a very good album. 

This is an album all symphonic prog fans should check out and include in their record collection.

3.5 points

Sudden Voices - Sudden Voices (2023)

The debut album from this one-man-band from Great Britain. 

Ben Morris does the vocals and computers.

Some guests has added drums, bass, percussion, guitars and synths.

Ben Morris from London took a fifteen years long break from music due to having to sort out real life issues like bringing up children and holding down a steady, well paid job. 

Then an itch to play and record music again made him record and release this Bandcamp album.

The music is a mix of bebop jazz, krautrock and art-rock like Talk Talk.

Miles Davis, Amon Duul and Talk Talk in other words. 

The music is really catchy and Ben Morris is onto something here. It is a more than an acceptable debut album and well worth checking out.

2.5 points

Schizofrantik - Truth Is an Illusion (2023)

The seventh album from this band from Germany.

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

I have had the pleasure of reviewing some of their earlier albums and I have liked them a lot. 

I think it is fair to label this band and this album as eclectic prog. Their mix of progressive metal, post-metal, eclectic prog and baroque progressive rock is too far out avant-garde to really get the progressive metal fans to dig them.

Then again, the music has one foot in progressive metal. But the music is far from uncomplicated.

There is a lot of strange twists and turns on this three quarters of an hour long album.

The vocals is good and the band does a good job on some pretty strange, eclectic pieces of progressive rock.

The result is a good album which will appeal to anyone into muscular and eclectic prog. 

3 points

Dillinger - Dillinger (1974)

The debut album from this band from Canada.

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

This band released only two albums before they gave up the ghost. Two pretty influential albums and they are both up for review this summer.

The music is a mix of psych rock, rock, symphonic progressive rock and some hard rock.

So far, so far so normal..... 

What is not normal is the use of accordion and saxophone. That adds some slight quirkiness and avant-garde music to this pretty hard, but melodic half an hour of music.

The music is not great though. The male and the occasional female vocals is good. There are a couple of good guitar solos and that is all.

This is a decent enough album and one to check out.

2 points

Difference - Difference (1974)

The debut album from this band from Norway.

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

Some guests added woodwinds and strings. 

Difference was a band from Trondheim who released two studio albums with their own material and then ten years later a jubilee album with only cover tracks. The band then started to work in theaters and finally.... became a big sensation in a pre-Christmas TV series. 

But they started out as a serious rock band and I got their two first albums up for review. 

The band sounds like a crossover of psych rock and a beat band on this album. Procol Harum has been mentioned as a good reference. Add the early MK 1 of Deep Purple too and some The Beatles. The Norwegian band Titanic also comes in as a good reference.

The album is a bit short, clocking in two minutes short of thirty minutes. The vocals are decent enough. There is no really good songs here and that is my main gripe with this album. It is a decent enough album and just that.

2 points

 

 

Comedy Of Errors - Threnody for a Dead Queen (2023)

The sixth album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The band started out in the 1980s as a straight neo-prog band. Some cassettes was released. Their proper CD debut album was in 2011 with their Disobey album who caused quite a sensation.

The Glasgow band has built on their debut album since then with new albums.

All of them in the neo-prog genre.

Hence, I got quite a shock when I heard this album for the first time.

Cinematic prog was not the thing I expected. OK, the first impression was not entirely correct.

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

There is a lot of guitar solos here. The vocals is for the first time restrained down to a level the vocalist is really good at. Hence the very good vocals here.

There is a lot of ideas and themes here. A lot of cinematic stuff and I suspect this is a concept album.... of some sort.

The quality of this one hour worth of music is good to very good. 

The band has again delivered the goods and proven that they are one of the more interesting progressive rock bands in and from Great Britain. Check out this album, but with an open mind.

3 points

Psicolorama - Crusoe (2021)

The 19th album from this project from Spain.

Manuel Casado does all the synths on this album.

Manuel has released a lot of Psicolorama with vocals and various instruments. He has also released albums with only one instrument and no vocals.

It seems like Manuel has gone really solo on the last albums.

This is forty minutes long piano piece. 

There are some synths and acoustic guitars too. 

Nevertheless, this is a very poor album and only the ambient music crowd will find something decent or good here. 

1 point