JB Fairfield - Songs for Dreamers (2022)

The third album from this artist from Australia.

JB Fairfield plays all the guitars, keyboards, vocals and the electronics himself on this album.

I am not a big fan of one-man-bands. The music tends to be very one-dimentional and not that exciting.

JB Fairfield is in this Pink Floyd psych rock tradition. 

That means a long melody which is pretty much the same throughout the forty minutes.

Long instrumental pieces of this melody is only intercepted by some sporadic vocals.

The vocals is decent enough.

The music is not particular exciting. Large parts of this album is working OK and the quality is somewhere between decent and good.

It is well worth checking out this Bandcamp album.

2.5 points

Morly Grey - The Only Truth (1972)

The one and only album from this band from USA.

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

A guest added drums on one of the tracks.

I like to check out obscure, old albums. They are a bit different from these days more polished and perfect sounding albums. 

The bands was also pretty happy to jump around between the genres back then.

This album gives us almost fifty minutes of a mix of blues, psych rock, hard rock and krautrock.

There is indeed a lot of weird rhythm figures and melody lines on this album. The kind of music now regarded as krautrock. The band was bang in the middle of USA though... 

The music is quirky and slightly eclectic throughout this album. It is not a run of the mill album.

The vocals and the sound is good, this being a 1970s album. 

The quality of the music is decent and this makes this an album well worth checking out.

2 points

Kodiak Empire - The Great Acceleration (2023)

The third album from this band from Australia.

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

I have not had the chance to sample their first two albums. Both of them are Bandcamp albums and their debut album was released back in 2015.

All their albums are pretty short and some may even label them as EPs. The Grand Acceleration is clocking in at just under half an hour. 

The music is a blend of post-rock, psych rock and some indie rock.

The music is mostly mid-tempo and pretty modern.

The sound is good and the vocals is suitable for the music.

The quality is pretty good. The album is too short and I hope they will bring us some more value for money in the future. Check out their Bandcamp page and their three albums.

2.5 points

Mighty Bard. The - Blue God and Other Stories (2014)

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This band is a new band to me. They are not included in the many progressive rock magazines and blogs. That is a mistake. Their two albums are both worthy of a progressive rock label.

Their music is neo-prog. Neo-prog with some art-rock and a lot of symphonic prog.

The vocals is good and the rest of the band does a good job too. 

The music is not very complex. It still has a good symphonic prog vibe and structure on some of the songs on this one hour long album. 

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

3 points

Metallica - Death Magnetic (2008)

The ninth album from this band from USA.

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

Some guests added strings.

Metallica....... I, as many else, became a fan after their Master Of Puppets album. I still like that album, Ride The Lightening and in particular And Justice For All a lot. The latter one is my all time favourite album.

Their debut album Kill Em All is a more than decent album. I understand why they did The Black Album and respect it. Load, Reload, St.Anger and in particular S & M however is pure disasters. It was followed by the Lulu disaster released after Death Magnetic. The remaining three albums, Death Magnetic, Hardwired and their new album 72 Seasons........ 

As an old fan, I decided to run through them this fall and add my reviews to the many hundreds, if not thousands of reviews, each of these albums has got.

Death Magnetic is a return to their thrash and speed metal days. It is like a simplified version of Justice For All, but with a far superior sound.

Death Magnetic is not as unrelenting intense either. 

Nevertheless, this sees the band returning to good form again. The overall quality is good indeed and I have no problems welcoming back Metallica to my list of great bands.

3 points

Klidas - No Harmony (2023)

The debut album from this band from Italy.

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

This is a new band in the Italian scene. 

The music is a mix of fusion, jazz and some progressive rock. RPI, that is. 

There is some Area in their music. But this music most of all reminds me about Norwegian bands like Kanaan. But as Klidas is from Italy, some label them as an RPI band. Which is fair enough.

There is a lot of saxophones here and some of the music is hard and noisy. There are also some more pastoral pieces here.

The quality of the music is somewhere between decent and good. It is an acceptable debut album and the band has got something to build on here.

Check out this album.

2.5 points

Psicolorama - Dark III (2022)

The 22nd album from this band from Spain.

This is a one man band and Manuel Casado does the electronics here.

The last couple of albums has given us some good vocals and even a couple of songs from Manuel. So much that I was under the impression that he was moving away from the electronica genre.

Then I get this album and it seems like this is not the case.

We get a three quarters of an hour piece of music here. It is done by synths and there is not any organic sound here besides of some sporadic piano.

The music is a bit epic and a bit melancholic. It is a pretty decent at times too. It is not one of his best albums, though.

1.5 points

Doors. The - The Soft Parade (1969)

 

 

The fourth album from this band from USA.

 

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

 

Some guests added woodwinds, congas, bass, mandolin, fiddle and classic orchestra instruments.

The band carried on despite of Jim Morrison's alchoholism and other problems. He is still to be found on this album.

Despite of his alcoholism and drugs misuse, Jim managed to deliver some very good vocals on this album. That is a minor miracle.

The music is all over the place. From bluegrass to whimsical pop and some psych rock. The band sounds unhinged throughout this album. The strings from an classical music orchestra does not make the music and situation any better.

There are some decent songs here and some songs who falls flat on their faces. The result is a poor, poor album.

1.5 points

JB Fairfield - AtOneMent (2021)

The second album from this artist from Australia.

JB Fairfield plays all instruments himself. That is bass, keyboards, guitars, vocals and a lot of electronics.

I am reviewing his four albums this year. The two remaining reviews to follow later this month.

JB Fairfield went neo-classical music on the debut album.

On AtOneMent, he has gone in another, total different direction.

We are well into the singer/songwriter genre on this album.

There are some psych rock, read Pink Floyd and some neo-prog influences here too. But most of the music is based on vocals and is in the songs tradition.

These three quarters of an hour worth of music is decent enough. The highlights is the instrumental parts. The vocals is decent enough but the quality of the music on this album leaves a lot to be desired.

Check out this album it this sound like your cup of tea.

2 points

 

Tryo - Suramérica (2023)

The seventh album from this band from Chile.

The band is a quintet with a lineup of drums, gongs, percussion, djembe, electric vibraphone, bass, guitars, cello, electric cello, horn and vocals.

Some guests added charango, bass, cuena, piano and vocals.

Tryo continues with their blend of latin rock/pop, latin progressive rock and fusion. It is their style and their own corner in the progressive rock and fusion genres. 

We get a lot of references to the South-American  symphonic prog scene in the 1970s on this album. Ditto for the fusion and pop scene.

The music is at times pretty hard too. There is also some latin folk rock here and those pieces of music is pretty pastoral.

This album also sees the band detaching themselves more from the fusion scene and sees them moving more towards progressive rock. The music is still elegant and has a good fusion vibe.

This album is not as good as their previous two albums. It is still a good album and the band is still one of the best bands from South America.

3 points

 

 

 

Malombra - T.R.E.S. (2023)

The fourht album from this band from Italy.

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

This album contains tracks recorded between 1994 and 1997. It was supposed to be their third album. But it remained unreleased until a few months ago. In the meantime, the band released an album in 2001.

Malombra is a band that has never really impressed me. I have reviewed their first two albums for ProgArchives and # 1 of this blog. I have not been bothered about their 2001 album.

Their music is a mix of folk rock, goth rock and dark progressive rock. 

The Italian vocals is dark and there is some spoken words here too.The sound is dark and muddy. The music is also pastoral, dark. The sound quality is pretty poor at places. The guitars sounds too plastic and thin.

The songs are not particular good either and there is not much to be happy about here. 

This is a decent album but nothing more than that.

2 points

 

 

Capside - Ladyesis (2023)

The third album from this band from Italy.

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

This is their brand new album. Their self-titled debut album was released in 2008 and is best ignored. The follow up album Tous Les Heros followed ten years later and was reviewed in this blog last week.

Capside does a mix of laidback jazz, fusion, dream pop, folk rock and RPI on this album.

Valentina Casu vocals is pretty dominant. And they are great vocals. They are clear and not over the top. 

The instruments plays a more supporting role on this thirty-five minutes long album. The four musicians here still does a very good job. The guitars are understated, but still elegant and expressive. Ditto for the keyboards which sometimes changes over to a vintage organ sound. Most of the keyboards are indeed vintage.

The music is elegant. There will be a debate among RPI purists if this album is a RPI album at all. I am undecided here as this is a more jazzy album than a rock album. 

The important thing is what comes out of the speakers or the headset. And the music is good throughout. 

Capside is a good addition to the Italian scene and this is an album well worth checking out.

3 points

Beggars Opera - Mrs. Caligari's Lighter (2012)

The 14th and final album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The final Beggars Opera album included only one of the original members, Ricky Gardiner, and a dramatic change of music from the debut album back in 1970.

Gone is the symphonic prog and the middle era of heavy metal, three albums or so, is best forgotten. I have reviewed all their albums and that has been a journey. 

The history should remember this band as a dream pop band. I think they have lost out on some fans by being labeled as a symphonic prog band. A label that did them no justice at all.

We get three quarters of an hour worth of spaced out, dissonant and a bit avant-garde dream pop here. 

The music is still melodic. It is not based on the verse-chorus-verse formula, though. It is more floating around.

The title track is the best song they have released for some albums and the stand out track on this album. The rest is somewhere between decent and good. But the title track is saving this album's bacon.

My final thoughts on this band ? It is a band well worth checking out. Ignore their heavy metal albums and you will get some fine albums.

3 points

Anchoret. The - It All Began with Loneliness (2023)

The debut album from this band from Canada.

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

Numerous guests added percussion, guitars, saxophones, flutes, clarinet, keyboards, mellotron, synths and vocals.

This is said to be the new hope in the Canadian progressive rock and metal scene. This album has been true and well hyped.

The music is indeed a mix of heavy prog and progressive metal. There are some psych rock and djent here too. 

The music on this one hour long album is pretty varied and ranging from djent and almost cascades of death metal to more pastoral and Pink Floyd like psych rock.

The music is too varied and the quality is not good enough.

The band is highly talented though. They just need to write some better songs and become more focused. At the moment, there is some work to be done in that respect.

Check out this album.

2.5 points

 

 

Zappa. Frank - OverNite Sensation (1973)

The 14th album from this artist from USA.

Frank Zappa did the guitars and vocals here.

He got help from a dozen of guests who added percussion, marimba, drums, bass, violin, keyboards, synths, trumpet, trombone, saxophones, flute, clarinet and vocals. 

Tina Turner, George Duke and Jean-Luc Ponty was among the guests here. 

You never know what you get with a Frank Zappa album. Thankfully, he focused more on writing good music those days instead of just fooling around in the studio.

OverNite Sensation is a fine blend of fusion, funk, psych rock and Canterbury prog. 

There is a great variety of instruments here. Some of the songs are still pretty simple... and effective. Some of them are indeed very good. 

Frank Zappa, the songwriter, is turning up on this album and the result is forty minutes of very good music. The highlight being the closing song Montana. But the other six songs are very good too. 

This is an album well worth checking out.

3.5 points

 

 

Elder - Elder (2008)

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

I will review their seven albums this fall, starting with this album, their debut album.

The band is quite popular these days and are playing a lot of gigs around the world.

Their debut album gives us forty minutes with a mix of dirty stoner rock and heavy metal.

The vocals sounds forced and is not really that good. The music is pretty generic.

The music is still decent enough although it is pretty generic. It is their debut album. I have no idea how they developed. Only the reviews of their albums will tell me that.

2 points

JB Fairfield - Unbearable Lightness of Being (2020)

The debut album from this artist from Australia.

JB Fairfield plays all instruments himself. That is bass, keyboards, guitars, sampled female vocals and a lot of electronics.

JB Fairfield recently released his fourth album and they are all Bandcamp albums. Hence, I found it worthwhile going through these four albums and review them this fall. Or spring as it is down under, in Australia.

The music on this album is a mix of neo-classical music, psych rock and symphonic prog.

Neo-classical, baroque music is the dominant genre here. 

These forty-five minutes is melodic but not that interesting. The range and amount of quirky details is a bit limited on an album recorded by a one-man-band. 

The result is a decent album who may interest those into neo-classical music and symphonic prog. The quality of the music is simply not good enough on this album.

This is a decent album and I am looking forward to reviewing the remaining three albums too.

2 points

 

 

 

Tryo - Órbitas (2016)

The sixth album from this band from Chile.

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

The band was helped out by some guests who added sonajaz, djembe, violin and vocals.

I thought I had reviewed this album many years ago. So when I got their brand new album, I went straight on that.... just to discover that Orbitas had fallen through the cracks in my office. Hence this review. A review of their new album will follow next week.

I reviewed their first five albums some years ago for # 2 of this blog and liked them a lot. 

Fusion with a lot of Latin jazz and pop is what Tryo stands for. That is also the case when it comes to this album.

The music is pretty muscular at times. The music is still fusion with a lot of Latin jazz and pop/rock.

Their fans should be happy.

The music is both elegant and good. This is one of the better fusion bands around and well worth checking out.

3 points

Tram - Tram (2023)

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

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

I got this album sent to me and I am always trying to review the very few albums I get for free unless they are not suitable for this blog.

This album is barely suitable. Hence this review.

The music is mix of electronica and psych rock. There are some proper songs structures here and some decent guitars. 

The vocals is also pretty good throughout.

The electronica is pretty dominant here and the listener gets the feeling that most of the album has been done on a computer and not by real instruments. I am not even sure if the guitars are real.

There is a lot of samples and spoken words over some ambient music too.

The result is not too bad. There are some decent stuff here. It is not an album I would recommend to progheads.

1.5 points

 

 

Capside - Tous Les Hèros (2018)

The second album from this band from Italy.

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

Their self-titled debut album was released in 2008 and I have been adviced to ignore it as it does not represent today's version of the band. 

The band has just released their third album and I thought it was a decent idea to first review Tous Les Heros before reviewing their new album this weekend.

The music on this fifty minutes long album is a mix of laidback jazz, dream pop and RPI. Yes, Rock Progressive Italiano.

There is enough RPI here to include this band and album in that genre. 

The music is pretty mellow, pastoral and laidback. 

The female vocals are very good and the best thing on this album.

The songs/compositions are not of the same standard. Nevertheless, this is an acceptable debut album and one RPI fans should check out.

2.5 points

 

 

Beggars Opera - Lose A Life (2011)

The 13th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The band was close to giving up the ghost by now, forty years after starting out. Only the guitarist and bass player Ricky Gardiner from Glasgow was the remaining member from their first albums.

The band had gone from symph prog to heavy metal and now dream pop during those years. The vast majority of their albums are dream pop albums.

Lose A Life is a dark, melancholic album. It sounds angry too at times. Very bitter, twisted and angry. This within the dream pop genre. But the band are really pushing that envelope, the borders of that genre, with this album.

This is dream pop. But it is a bad dream.

The vocals are good. The music is a bit baroque and melancholic. 

The songs are all good although the lyrics are twisted at times.

This is one of their better dream pop albums and well worth checking out.

3 points

Rabaska - Rabaska (2023)

The debut album from this band from Canada.

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

This band is a new band from the French speaking part of Canada. The name of the band is the local word for a large cano.... That the band name the bands Cano and Harmonium does not come as a surprise when listening to this album. It is another good reminder how good Cano was and I would urge everyone to check out this band and albums. Ditto for the fabelous band Harmonium.

This means we are listening to a folk rock album with French vocals. Vocals with a lot of chanson influences. The vocals is at times chanson.

There is also some pretty good psych rock influences in their music.

The vocals is good on this one hour long album. 

The quality of the songs are lacking a bit and not all here passes the quality control. It is a more than acceptable debut album and I hope the band will return and build on this album.

2.5 points

 

 

Drudkh - Handful of Stars (2010)

The eight album from this band from Ukraine.

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

I started to review their albums again last month after a break of more than ten years. I have no idea why I did not review all the Drudkh albums up to that date, ten years ago. 

Anyway.....

Their music is black metal with a lot of folk rock and some ambience influences.

The music here is like Burzu#'m (this blog probably get banned if using the right band name) meets Enslaved. 

The black metal is not too bad. It is a bit simple and there is not that much folk rock here. The folk rock is indeeded very subtle.

This is not really a bad album or a turkey. But this band can do a lot better. This is a half-decent album.

1.5 points

Voivod - Negatron (1995)

The eight album from this band from Canada.

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

Wow !!!

After their two last albums where they nicely mixed psych rock and progressive metal, I did expect more of the same.

Negatron is nowhere near psych rock and progressive metal.

I wonder if this album is an album with left-over stuff from their speed metal days.

The music is still weird. But it is also a speed metal album. The tempo is mostly at two hundred miles an hour on this one hour long album. There is also a lot of industrial metal on this album.

The music is hard and very much extreme metal. Voivod did not go in the same direction as Anathema, as I did expect. They went into a screaching reverse...

The quality is a big step back from the likes of the Angel Rat album. There are some interesting stuff here. Nevertheless, this is nothing but a decent album.

2 points

Mouth - Getaway (2023)

The fifth album from this band from Germany.

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

I have missed out on their third and fourth albums. From what I have been told, they are more like rehashing the first two albums. Which is not a bad thing.

Getaway sees the band mixing up 1970s symphonic prog with krautrock, stoner rock and psych rock. 

The vocals are good. The best thing here is the ancient keyboards. The organ, mellotron and moog sound. That gives the listener a good 1970s vibe. 

Some of the songs and indeed the sound reminds the listener about The Doors. But there is also some krautrock here and the music is at times pretty hard. 

Hard psych rock is never far from the music here.

The songs, sometimes compositions, are very good and this makes this album one of the better albums of the year.

Germany has given us a new great band and their albums is very much worth checking out.

3.5 points

 

 

Wild Turkey - Turkey (1972)

The second and final album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This band was a spinoff from Jethro Tull. Ian Anderson decided to take Jethro Tull towards progressive rock and that made the bassist Glenn Cornick to jump ship and start his own band.

Hence this band who released a handful of albums. I only got this album though. This is their most known album too and a good intro to this band.

The music is what we can call classic hard rock with a lot of southern rock and blues influences.

The vocals is good and ditto for the guitars. The sound is pretty good.

There is indeed a lot of stuff here who later inspired the likes of Budgie and Man.  

This is a decent album and one to check out if classic rock and hard rock is your thing.

2 points

 

 

Oiapok - OisoLün (2023)

The debut album from this band from France.

The band is a nine piece big band with a lineup of drums, percussion, vibraphone, xylophone, bass, guitars, harp, keyboards, trombone and vocals.

This is a new band too me and the scene. It is the new project of the Ske and Camembert bass player. A project he did all the compositions and had full control.

The music is Canterbury jazz. 

The music is quirky and has got a lot of female vocals. Playful vocals with a lot of sounds and not so many words, if any words at all. There is also some folk rock influences and themes here. Not to mention eclectic prog and Canterbury prog.

The music is really elegant and classy. 

Both the jazz and the prog rock fans will get their fills on this album. A fourty minutes long album. 

I hope we will hear a lot more from this band.

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

3.5 points

Thirteen Of Everything - Time and Other Delusions (2023)

The third album from this band from USA.

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

A guest added his keyboards on one of the compositions.

This band album debuted in 2005 with their Welcome Humans album. An album I reviewed one week ago. I reviewed their second album for # 2 of this blog back in 2019 when it was released. I like both albums a lot.

We are in the middle of the symphonic prog genre in this album. Seventy minutes of it. The music is very complex at times. 

It feels like the band is barely holding onto the ideas and compositions throughout these seventy minutes. The ambitions is bigger than the abilities and some of the music falls a bit flat on it's face. 

Most of the stuff is good though. But it is hard to overlook the flaws of this album.

The band can and should do better. Nevertheless, symphonic prog fans should seek out their three albums.

2.5 points

 

 

 

Theorie Des Cordes. La - 4U 9525 (2023)

The second album from this band from France.

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

The band returned twelve years after their debut album with the follow up album. 

Not much has changed in their music. The sound is far better this time around. The music is much more jazzy than before. 

The jazz is at times pretty avant-garde too. 

The guitars, half-acoustic or electric, is the main instruments here. There are some piano based compositions too who adds a lot of colours to this album.

The compositions here are all decent to good. I am yet to be won over by this band. My wish is that one of their upcoming albums will convert me to their cause.

Those into jazz will really like this album.  

2.5 points

Flor de Loto - Lines of Nasca (2023)

The ninth album from this band from Peru.

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

I have reviewed most of their albums for # 1 and # 2 of this blog (see links below the logo, top of the page). Their mix of Latin-American folk rock and metal has always been good and I have previously compared them with the likes of Thin Lizzy.

On Lines Of Nasca, we still get some pretty strong Latin-American flutes. A flute called quena. 

And the quena that is all what remains of the folk rock.

The music here is a mix of heavy and power metal. There is a lot of German power metal here. 

The inclusion of the Iron Maiden song Afraid To Shoot Strangers is a bit of an oddity. Then again, the band has moved in and occupied a lot of their territory throughout his forty minutes long album. 

I am by no means a power metal fan and when the power metal is even pretty generic, I do not find much to be impressed about on this album. The vocals is good and the quena is slightly refreshing. That is the best I can say about this album. That and a pretty good Iron Maiden cover.

2 points

Dungen - Dungen (2001)

The debut album from this band from Sweden.

The band was an eight piece big band on this album with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, sitar, violin, keyboards, saxophone, flute and vocals.

I only knew about Reine Fiske, the guitarist in this band, before I purchased their albums. I really admire his work in other bands. This is why I will review all their, to this date, nine albums during this fall. 

I am on for a bumpy ride, I found out during listening to this, their debut album.

The music is based on folk rock. The folk rock has a pretty strong psych rock influence too. Add some jazz and you get the picture.

The Swedish vocals adds a lot of colours to the music. 

The music is pretty quirky. Some of it is pretty eclectic too.

Although I did not expect this type of music when I decided to review Dungen's nine albums, I have now got used to the music. This is a good album from a band who are not afraid to stand on their own feet. I really like their attitude and the attitude on this album.

3 points

Cross - Playgrounds (2004)

The seventh album from this band from Sweden.

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

Some guests added percussion, taurus, electric violin, saxophone, keyboards and background vocals.

I have reviewed some albums from this Swedish band and I have yet to be won over... Their previous album, Secrets from 2000, was a mix of AOR, hard rock, pomp rock, art-rock and neo-prog.

This mix of AOR, hard rock, pomp rock, art-rock and neo-prog seems to be their own style, their niche in the market. And they are not alone in that market.

The vocals are not impressive, but it works.

There is some instrumental pieces here and that is a major departure from the Secrets album. The instrumental pieces are well within the neo-prog genre.  

The result is another slightly frustrating one hour of music from this band. Frustrating because the music is a bit too generic and there is not enough good music here to make this a good album.

I really like this band but their music is not good enough on this album. Hence....

2.5 points

Mouth - Vortex (2017)

The second album from this band from Germany.

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

This band has to this date released five studio albums and I got three of them up for reviews in the next week or so.

Their music was pretty youthful and wild on their 2009 debut album Rhizome. So I expected more of the same. 

Eight years had passed and the band had evolved. The music on Vortex is darker and more moody. More melancholic and more avant-garde. The music is still a mix of hard rock, classic rock, glam, psych and krautrock. But with some avant-garde and post metal influences. Again, some of the music is dissonant. 

The band has still retained their ability to write good and pretty catchy songs/melodies. 

The result is another hour with good music from this band. A band I would label as highly talented and possible one of the future greats in the progressive rock scene.

3 points

Wyatt. Frank & Friends - Zeitgeist (2019)

The second solo album from this artist from USA.

Frank Wyatt did the synths and piano here. He had help from numerous friends who added drums, percussion, bass, guitars, sitar, synths, keyboards and vocals.

Frank Wyatt was a founding member of Happy The Man and Oblivion Sun. He sadly passed away earlier this year.

Zeitgeist is regarded as his best solo album. It is a tour de force in what he as a musician did and stood for.

Hence, this album gives us an hour full of contrasts.

The opening pieces of music is fusion. Some good fusion too and there are some Canterbury prog in these pieces of music too. Then we get a pretty bland and not so interesting song. A musicals type of song. It is bold ballad but it has not much going for it.

The final part is a piece, a suite called Perelandra. This piece of music is somewhere between neo-classical music, ambient and symphonic prog. There is some ELP in this suite. But most of the music in this four piece long suite is pretty pedestrian.

Half of this one hour long album is good and the rest is decent. Hence my reservations.......

2.5 points

Rhun - Tozïh (2023)

The second album from this band from France.

The band is a sextet with a lineup of drums, bass, violin, keyboards, saxophones and vocals.

Zeuhl is not the genre where we get a lot of new studio albums from. In a lucky year, between seven and ten albums. That includes a new album from Magma. Or in most years, between four and six albums. 

2023 has been a pretty bad year when it comes to zeuhl. Then we get an unexpected album from a band I thought had split up years ago. In the case of Rhun, that is indeed the case. The drummer Captain Flapattak recruited five new musicians and marched them into the studio.

An excellent idea !

The vocals are in Kobaian too and the music is in the Magma vein. The difference is that where Magma were and are bombastic with the use of choirs and massive amount of drums, Rhun are more subtle and has chosen a more jazzy version of zeuhl.

They still sound pretty similar to Magma.

The music is pretty frantic and busy. Ditto for the vocals.

Tozih is also a logical follow up to their very good 2013 debut album Fanfare Du Chaos. 

The forty minutes long album has got three compositions and the main composition Ehmet Um Rhet Sam is the clocking in at twenty-two minutes. It has everything a major piece of zeuhl should have... and some pleasing surprises. This is a great piece of music.

The two other compositions is not of the same standard.

Nevertheless, this is a very good album and one to check out. The Zeuhl genre is alive and well.

3.5 points

 

 

Thirteen Of Everything - Welcome Humans (2005)

 

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

I reviewed their second album, the 2019 album Our Own Sad Fate back in June 2019 for # 2 of this blog. I quite liked that album. The band has released a new album earlier this year and I aim to review that one later this week.

US symphonic prog is what we get here. One hour and fifteen minutes of it.

There are a lot of early days neo-prog influences too. Pendragon springs to mind. This British band has indeed been a major influence on this album. Add IQ and Arena too among the bands who has greatly influenced this album.

There are some fusion influences and themes on this album too.

The music is pretty epic and bold. It is also melodic with a good organ sound.

This album is pretty different from their second album Our Own Sad Fate released fourteen years later and I wonder what I will get on this year's album. 

Welcome Humans is a very good album in it's own right and one to check out and I would had been very pleased and put them on my list of big talents if I had got it eighteen years ago. Then again.... a fourteen years long wait would have followed.

Check out this album.

3.5 points

Theorie Des Cordes. La - Premières Vibrations (2011)

The debut album from this band from France.

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

This band has so far released two albums. The last one earlier this year and I will review that one in some days time.

The band started out as a jazz trio and then expanded into more Canterbury prog and eclectic progressive rock. Even into metal. 

Premieres Vibrations gives us one hour of all this. 

There is a lot of guitars here. Both prog metal guitars and more jazzy guitars. The compositions ranges from metal to jazz. 

The sound is not particular great. But the band does their best and there is no doubts that the trio is both talented and good.

The compositions leaves something to be desired. They could have been better. Nevertheless, this is an acceptable debut album and one to check out.

2.5 points

Agusa - Prima Materia (2023)

The fifth album from this band from Sweden.

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

Since their debut album ten years ago, Agusa has been a band well worth following. Not as a fan but as a band who are very talented and delivers some unexpected music. This band is an exciting band, in other words. One of this planet's more interesting progressive rock bands.

Their basis is folk rock. Progressive folk rock. Their music has developed, album by album. What we have got is four pretty unique albums..... So far.

Prima Materia is another pretty unique album. An album with music somewhere between folk rock and psych rock. There are still some Swedish/Scandinavian symphonic prog influences here. But the band has moved more towards psych rock than on previous albums.

Four compositions. The average lenght of the compositions is ten minutes. 

The sound is pretty much in the Swedish/Scandinavian symphonic prog vein. Their sound is pretty similar to the like of Kaipa. The music though is different.

The result is another album who confirm their status as one of the most interesting bands in the scene. An album well worth checking out although it is not among their best albums.

3 points

Psicolorama - Dark II (2022)

The 21st album from this band from Spain.

The band is a one man band with Manuel Casado doing all guitars, synths, electronics and vocals himself.

Darkness is a theme on this four part series of Dark. A conceptual series of albums.

Darkness and gloom, that is.

We get some dark, dissonant guitars, a dark synth theme and a very dark song driven by some good, but still dark vocals. 

His vocals is used to good effects and that sets Psicolorama apart from most one man bands.

The album is three quarters of an hour long and it has some interesting details and themes.

It is a decent enough album and a worthy download from the Bandcamp site. 

2 points

Doors. The - Waiting for the Sun (1968)

The third album from this band from USA.

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

Three guests added bass.

The Doors debut album was a sensational album with three classic songs. The follow up was a good album. So it was with some trepidations I put their third album on....

Having read the Mick Wall bio of this band, it is remarkable that Jim Morrison managed to deliver some great vocals on this album. 

The music on this album is a mix of blues, psych rock and some rock. Most of it is psych rock.

The band members does a good job on some decent songs. A couple of the songs are even good. Some of the songs are also best forgotten. Jim Morrison is always at hand to save the worst songs and elevate them up a notch.

The result is a decent to good psych rock album but nothing more than that.

2.5 points

Mouth - Rhizome (2009)

The debut album from this band from Germany.

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

This band has to this date released five studio albums and I got three of them up for reviews in the next week or so.

Their music is a youthful, modern mix of hard rock, classic rock, glam, psych and krautrock. There is also some post-punk influences here. Some of the music is also dissonant.

The music is pretty hard and wild. Mostly hard and wild. It is also melodic at times and there are a lot of attractive themes along this three quarters of an hour long album.

The vocals is good and the guitars gives us a lot of interesting riffs. In the middle of some dissonant themes, some glam and commercial themes also shows up. There is a good blend of eclectic and commercial melodic stuff here.

Those creates an album full of contrasts who still works as a unity. 

The result is indeed a good album and one I wish I had discovered years ago. 

Check it out.

3 points

 

 

Pagan Harvest - Earth's Secret Engine (2023)

The third album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The first two albums are untraditional folk rock albums, to say at least. The "folk rock" concept, the genre, was twisted in all directions.

It is pretty obvious that this band has chosen to make their own roads in the music world.

On Earth's Secret Engine, we get folk rock with some classical music and progressive rock influences. 

Acoustic guitars and keyboards are still the basis here. But the light female vocals also drives the music forward. 

The mood is light and positive on this album. This compared to their second album, Sacred River from 2018. Some pretty good Fairport Convention references also sees the light of day here. Pagan Harvest is still very original and difficult to compare to any other bands.

The songs are really good here and Earth's Secret Engine will probably be their breakthrough album. And the band deserve a breakthrough. This is a band well worth keeping an eye on.

3 points

Giant The Vine - A Chair at the Backdoor (2023)

The second album from this band from Italy.

The band is a quartet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, lap steel guitars, keyboards and mellotron.

Three guests added saxophone and piano.

This band another discovery for me. I have yet to sample their 2019 debut album Music For Empty Places. 

The music is instrumental progressive rock. There are both symphonic prog and psych rock influences here. Both Camel and Pink Floyd. Add in some Genesis too.

The music is also pretty cinematic.

The music is decent enough throughout this fifty minutes long album. It is a bit too much run of a mill music, though.

If instrumental cinematic prog is your thing.....

2 points

Circa Survive - Two Dreams (2022)

The seventh album from this band from USA.

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

The band was back again after a five years long break. 

The band has found their shape, form and niche. That is art-rock with some indie, post-punk and neo-prog influences.

The vocals is light male vocals.

The music is a mix of hard and mellow. There are even a pastoral art-rock composition here.

The music is a bit on the unashamed brash and bold end of the spectrum. Something we more restrained Europeans have a bit problems with.  

This album is not as good as their previous two albums either. It slightly a let down and I am not won over.

Check out this album........ and most of all, check out this band. Their music is well off the mainstream progressive rock highway, but still worth checking out. Bands like this is like spice to meatballs. 

2.5 points

Edena Gardens - Agar (2023)

The second album from this band from Denmark.

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

Their 2022 self-titled debut was a good album. It was a good combination of jazz, psych and eclectic prog.

The band continues down the same alley on this, the follow up album.

There are some changes, though..... The music is a lot darker and a lot more eclectic. There is a lot more dissonance in their guitars and use of effects.

The music is not as elegant and melodic as the debut album. 

The compositions is not as good either.

This is barely a good album. Nevertheless, this is a good album and well worth checking out if eclectic prog and jazz is your thing.

3 points

 

 

 

35 Tapes - Fabric of Time (2023)

The third album from this band from Norway.

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

This band's first two albums was very good and I was hoping that their 2021 album Home would see a follow up album. It has and this is the album.

Symphonic prog is the genre here. There is some psych rock and neo-prog influences too but most of the music is symphonic prog.

The music is mid-tempo, melodic and mellow. 

All the instruments is involved throughout and the production is superb. The vocals is very good.

This album is still an album that never really fully blossom and opens up like a fully grown rose. The songs are good, but never great or even very good.

This album is not as good as their first two albums. It is still an album everyone into Norwegian symphonic prog and symphonic prog in general need to check out. 

3 points

 

 

Zappa. Frank - The Grand Wazoo (1972)

The 13th album from this artist from USA.

Frank Zappa did the guitars, tambourine and vocals.

He had help from an army of guests who contributed percussion, drums, bass, guitars, woodwinds, keyboards, minimoog and vocals.

You never know which version of Frank Zappa is turning up when you put on a Frank Zappa album. Is it this nonsense pop version or is it the far more serious jazz persona of him you will spend some time with ?

In this case, we are talking about a jazz/fusion album. 

There is a lot of Miles Davis in this album. Bitches Brew also influenced Frank Zappa. 

The thirty-six minutes long album is full of woodwinds and they dominates the album. There are also some guitars, keyboards and vocals here.

A lot of musicians is adding their instruments and voices on some pretty good compositons. Some of them sounds a bit too cinematic and too big band jazz for my liking. 

The result is still a good album. It is one of the more "safe" Frank Zappa albums.

3 points

Beggars Opera - Promise In Motion (2011)

The 12th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The band has been a dream and power pop band on their last albums. 

..And there is no changes on Promise In Motion.

We get some pretty good dream pop here with some good female vocals. Most of the power pop has been replaced with some mellow psych rock. 

The music is pretty mellow and dreamy.... but more progressive rock orientated than on the previous four albums.

There is also some melancholy in their music.

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

2.5 points

Alfa Serenar - O Sereno Da Noite (2023)

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

Rafael Senra did the drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals on this album.

Rafael's albums under the name of Alfa Serenar has had a positive progression. His 2022 albums Cobra Sofia E Outras Lendas Amazonicas is a good album.

That album is in the Brazil/South Americian symphonic prog genre. An album pointing back to the 1970s classic albums in this genre. 

I am pleased that O Sereno Da Noite is mostly in the same genre. 

Yes, there are some changes. The music is less complex and there is more great vocals here. One great thing replaces the other great thing.

The music is still Brazil/South Americian symphonic prog. But the vocals and the more classical music orientated music makes this album a lot more lush.

The result is a good album and one to check out if this genre is your thing and if you like the 1970s bands and albums in this genre.

I hope we will get more albums from this artist.

3 points

 

 

Pagan Harvest - Sacred River (2018)

The second album from this band from Great Britain.

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

Two guests added cymbals and female vocals.

This band has released three albums so far and I reviewed their debut album some days ago. I will get onto their so far last album next week.

The band plays folk rock with some strong medieval and classical music influences.

The songs are long. There are some angelic female vocals and a lot of classical music arrangements here. The good male vocals is weird. 

This is not run of the mill folk rock. This band creates some pretty unique music.

Music somewhere between decent and good. Music which is a bit love or hate kind of music. Music that will raise hell or heaven among those who takes time off to listen to this album.

Check out this album. 

2.5 points