Blacksmith Tales - Pathway to Hamlet's Mill (2024)

The second album from this band from Italy.

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

The band is back again after a three years long pause. 

I reviewed their 2021 debut album The Dark Presence back in 2021 for # 2 of this blog. That album had a mix of neo-prog, pomp rock and RPI.

The band continues down the same path on this, the follow up album. The music is again a mix of pomp rock, neo-prog and RPI.

Most of the music is bombastic pomp rock with some goth rock influences. There is also plenty of neo-prog here and one RPI song.

The vocals are both male and female. There is one Italian vocals song here and the rest are in English.

Some of the music sounds cheesy and a bit over the top. That RPI song is very good though. More of those on the third album, please..... 

The pomp rock bits are cheesy, bombastic and good. The songs on this forty-five minutes long album is indeed well crafted and therefore good. 

Beware of the cheese... but check out this good album.

3 points

 

 

Wilson. Steven - Grace for Drowning (2011)

The second album from this artist from Great Britain.

Steven Wilson did the gong, percussion, glockenspiel, autoharp, harmonium, bass, guitars, piano, keyboards, synths, programming and vocals.

Numerous guests added drums, bass, guitars, chapman sticks, strings, woodwinds and choir.

Steven Wilson is one of the leading lights in the progressive rocks in the last thirty years. So it did not come as a surprise that he went solo after finishing and closing down Porcupine Tree.

His debut album was pretty good. 

On the two discs, eighty-three minutes long On Grace For Drowning, the music is a mix of art-rock, cinematic rock and alternative rock. 

The music is softly spoken and gentle throughout. It is also elegant and at times beautiful. Melancholic, it is too.

The emphasis is feelings here and not so much technical brilliance. 

The result is a very good album indeed and well worth checking out.

3.5 points

 

 

Tangerine Dream - Phaedra (1974)

The fifth album from this band from Germany.

The band was a trio with a lineup of bass, guitar, mellotron, organ, electric piano, keyboards, synths, electronics and flute.

The band continued on with the late Edgar Froese on the helm.

The band is rightly regarded as the forefathers and originators of the electronic prog and electronica genres. Hence my reviews of some of their albums this autumn and winter. Not all of them, though..

We get forty minutes of electronics here where the title track takes half of the album, side A on the LP, I believe. 

The title track is a pretty dynamic piece of music with some mellotron and most of the instruments listed above in full action. 

The second piece of music has a lot of echoes and mellotron. That is bordering to a good piece of music.

The rest of the album is decent enough.

This is not an album that has converted me to become a fan of this electronic prog genre. Nevertheless, this is a decent enough album.

2 points

Needlepoint - Remnants of Light (2024)

The sixth album from this band from Norway.

The band is a quartet with a lineup of glockenspiel, drums, percussion, congas, bass, fiddle, hurdy-gurdy, guitars, clavinet, organ, piano, moog, keyboards, synths, flute and vocals.

Three guests added clarinet and vocals.

This band has got a very good reputation as the leading Canterbury scene band from Norway. 

Their first albums was indeed very influenced by the likes of Caravan etc etc. 

The band has been more on a journey on the last two albums.

There is still a lot of Caravan in their music. There is also some Egg and The Tangent (first albums) in their music. Nevertheless, there is also some more indie-rock and indie-pop here.

The music is still quirky and has got a lot of jazz influences. The music is also pretty naive in it's form and in the vocals.

The vocals is very good and the band does a good job on some not so complicated pieces of music.

The quality of the music is also good throughout these forty minute and the band has therefore lived up to the expectations from me and other admirers.

This is an album and a band well worth checking out.

3 points

 

 

Kanaan & Ævestaden - Langt, Langt Vekk (2024)

The debut album from this co-operation between these two bands from Norway.

This cooperation is a sextet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, kraviklyre, harp, fiddle, kantele, mouth harp, electronics and vocals.

Kanaan is a well known psych rock band who has released seven albums so far. All of them reviewed here. Ævestaden is a folk music trio who has released three albums so far.

So those two bands decided to merge for this album.

The result is........ Weird.

We get a mix of pastoral psalms, hard psych rock and basic folk music here. 

Thankfully, the music does not sound forced or comes across as a carcrash, a crash between widely diverse music styles and genres. Each genres get their space to breathe and where there is synergies, the music is merging the genres. 

There is a lot of musical synergies on this three quarters of an hour long album. 

There is also a lot of very good vocals, male and female, and guitars here. And the pieces of music is good too. So much that I have been turned around from being negative to this album after the first listening session to really liking this album some hours later.

There is something remarkable about this album.... how the two bands avoid stepping on each other toes and how they manages to create a coherent piece of music.... this album which really is one piece of music and not a collection of songs/pieces of music.

I am actually impressed. 

Not everything here is great. Nevertheless, this is a very good album and one to check out. It is probably the most eclectic and genre defying album from Norway this year.

3.5 points

 

Otrere - Odyssey of Agony (2024)

The debut album from this band from Germany.

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

This is a new band on the doom metal scene and they comes from the eastern parts of Germany. 

This is a Bandcamp album, also available on CD and LP.

The music here is doom metal with some goth and black metal influences.

The vocals is both clear and more raspy, black metal'ish vocals.

The music is medium slow without really becoming fast. There is a lot of goth metal here too. There is also some My Dying Bride and early Anathema influences.

The sound is good and the music is pretty decent.

There is a lot of bands now on this doom metal scene and only the future will tell if the band will survive and release any more albums.

2 points

Spidergawd - Spidergawd VI (2021)

The sixth album from this band from Norway.

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

Two guests added saxophone and vocals.

This band's first five albums were pretty varied. Pretty varied takes on the theme "hard rock", that is. From blues influenced hard rock to more psych and Motorpsycho influenced hard rock.

Their music has always been hard, though. So what would Spidergawd VI bring to the table ?

The band has gotten a second guitarist. The result is twin guitars in the vein of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. The vocals is decent although they are the weakest point of the band.

The music is indeed heavy metal influenced. Nevertheless, the music is not heavy metal although the music is at times a bit heavy. 

This is still a take on the good old 1970s genre "hard rock".

These forty minutes is still catchy and has a lot of groove.

The result is a reminder how good hard rock can sound and a good album in itself. 

I like this band.

3 points

Mangrove - Touch Wood (2004)

The debut album from this band from The Netherlands.

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

Two months ago, I reviewed their new album, the 2024 album Bridge To Fiction, and promised myself to review their first three albums too. This is what I will do this month.... Starting with their debut album, this album.

The music on this album is a mix of symphonic prog and neo-prog.

References are both Pendragon and mid-era Genesis.

The tempo is mid-paced. The music is leaning more towards neo-prog than symphonic prog as the sound is a bit thin and poppy. 

The music is very melodic but not so rich on details. The vocals is OK'ish. Ditto for the sound.

The quality of the music on this sixty-seven minutes long music is somewhere between decent and good. This is a more than acceptable debut album but nothing more than that.

2.5 points

Mindgames - Spirals in the Wider Space (2024)

The fifth album from this band from Belgium.

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

A guest provided piano on one track.

I have reviewed their third and fourth album for # 1 this blog and that back in 2014 and2016. I liked both albums. I should also get their debut and second album too. I will add that to my to-do list.

The music here, as on the previous two albums, is neo-prog.

There is a lot of Pendragon influences in their music. A lot of more poppy and not so complicated and complex neo-prog.

The music is really melodic throughout this one hour long album.

The vocals is really good and the guitars and guitar solos is also good. 

There is nothing here I would say is bad. It is a refreshing neo-prog album and a remainder how good this genre really is.

3 points

Amon Duul - Hawk Meets Penguin (1981)

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This band was a splinter group of both Amon Duul and Amon Duul II. For some (stupid) reason, they still chose to use the Amon Duul name although they strictly speaking did not have the right to do that. Hence the many confusions in the many record collections since the 1980s.....

This, the Great Britain (Wales, I have heard) version of this band, released four albums and I have them up for reviews this autumn.

This, their debut album, gives us thirty-six minutes of improvisations. The music is a mix of both the German bands called Amon Duul and Amon Duul II. 

The music here is also a return to the very first krautrock albums, which was all about improvisations with guitars and the first ever pieces of electronics on the scene. 

The music is pretty decent throughout this half an hour or so. There is some interesting details here and there is a surprising amount of organic guitars and voices here.

Check out this album if you like improvised music.... krautrock.

2 points

Sleeping Pandora - Lifting Water (2021)

The ninth album from this one-man-band from Germany.

Mathias Rosman does the guitars, keyboards and electronics here.

Mathias continued on with his ninth album. You will find the reviews of the first eight albums somewhere else in this blog. 

Ninety minutes is what we get here.... One and an half hour of music. 

The music is gentle space rock with some ambient soundscapes. 

The music is mostly performed with gentle guitar pickings with some echoes and a reverbs. There are some sporadic pianos too.

The melodies and the music is decent enough. Ninety minutes is a bit of an overkill but nevertheless.... This is a decent album.

2 points

Liquify - Hypnotic Magic Space Trip (2024)

The sixth album from this one-man-band from USA.

Tanner did the bass, guitars, synths, programmed drums and the vocals on this album.

Liquify was Tanner's space rock project and the first five albums is space rock albums. Primitive space rock as being the sole musician means lack of resources.... but still space rock.

There has been not so nice developments in his life, according to his Bandcamp page, and he felt he had to express himself and his experiences in the form of a musical expression. A good choice indeed and I applaud him for that.

Hence this album and a radical change of music.

Some of this album is very angry. Very angry in the form of black metal. Black metal with the usual rasping vocals and angry music.

There is also some more ambient music here and some dark psych rock.

This is an angry album. A kind of a self-medication without the chemicals. I therefore respect the sentiments here.  

The music is pretty poor as the black metal stuff comes across as poorly crafted. The rest of this album is not much better, but still marginally better. I am not impressed by the music here.

1.5 points

Kogaion - Kogaion (1999)

The one and only album from this band from Romania.

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

A female guest vocalist added some vocals too.

This album has got next to none reviews on the net and that is strange as the album is labeled as symphonic prog in ProgArchives and other places.

The music is a mix of folk rock, symphonic prog and neo-classical music. There are also some shades of goth rock here.  

There are some Jethro Tull and some Camel influences here. There is also a lot of Romanian folk music influences here.

There are two fifteen minutes long compositions here and three shorter one. That takes us to forty-seven minutes worth of music.

The music is not bad at all. Neither is it too weird and eclectic. There are some good pieces here and some more decent pieces. This is an album that deserve a wider audience and you should check it out on Youtube.

2.5 points

 

 

Frant1c - A Brand New World (2024)

The debut album from this band from France.

The band is an eight piece big band with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, violin, piano, keyboards, narrations and vocals.

Some guests added guitars, saxophone and vocals.

This album is the vision of Anne-Claire Rollo from Nine Skies and Solace Supplice. Some friends were invited in and the result is this concept album.

The concept is about two twinned souls who then are torn apart and then is trying to get reunited. The result is a good old concept album. Or you can also call it a rock opera. 

Yes, rock opera is the best label here as there is some narrations and musicals like music here too. But I have now forgotten to label the music on this album...

The music is a mix of art-rock, pomp rock and neo-prog. Marillion springs to mind here but so does Nine Skies too.

The vocals are both male and female. They are also telling the story of the pair in the story. The twinned souls.

There are a couple of great guitar solos here and they are the highlights of this album. An album a bit short on good songs but which is still a good album as there is plenty of good details here.

Check out this album on their Bandcamp site.

3 points

Værbitt - Svartediket (2022)

The second and final album from this band from Norway.

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

This album was recorded just after the release of their 2016 debut album Tid as the band wanted to do some more simplified, back to basic black metal songs. 

The result is this half an hour long album which was released on Bandcamp years after it's recording.

The music is indeed basic black metal with the black metal vocals and all that. It is about a small lake in Bergen called Svartediket.... a small lake who also was the subject for the first ever black metal opera. Or maybe this album is the soundtrack for that opera ? I do not know.

There are some melodic pieces here too and some of the music reminds me about the first Windir album. I am not a black metal expert as I am no fan of this genre.

The quality is half decent but nothing more than that. This is a black metal album and that is that.

1.5 points

 

 

The Samuel Jackson Five - Seasons In The Hum (2014)

The second EP from this band from Norway.

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

This thirty-five minutes long EP was the final sign of life from this band. A band I have become pretty fond of after listening to their four albums and this EP.

The music here is instrumental prog with a lot of Scandinavian folk music influences. 

Agusa springs to mind as a reference in that respect.

The music also got a lot of cinematic rock influences too.

The music is decent throughout this EP with some sporadic, but not many enough, good pieces. 

This is an EP well worth checking out.

2.5 points

 

 

Pure Reason Revolution - Coming Up to Consciousness (2024)

The sixth album from this band from Great Britain.

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

A handful of guests added bass, guitars, piano and organ.

This band has been around since the beginning of this millenium. I have reviewed most of their albums, if not all of them. The band is regarded as one of the bigger UK prog and art rock bands.

The music here is a mix of art rock and neo-prog. There are also some hints of psych rock here and some pop music sensibilities.

The sound is big and bold. The female and male vocals also gives this forty-three minutes long album a big sound.

There is still a lot of interesting details here and the music is good. This album is an improvement from the previous album and sees the band returning to form again.

3 points

Motorpsycho - Still Life With Eggplant (2013)

The 17th album from this band from Norway.

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

Two guests added guitars, keyboards and mellotron.

The band scaled back again after their 2012 album The Death Defying Unicorn. A big album with a big sound.

Still Life With Eggplant sees a more stripped down album. The music is psych rock and still very much with the Motorpsycho sound. No other band sounds like them, indeed.

The songs are well crafted with some visits into space rock territory now and then on this three quarters of an hour long album.

The vocals is good and there is a lot of interesting details here.

The result is a good album and one that is as intriguing as most of their albums. 

Check out this album.

3 points

Triumph - Progressions of Power (1980)

The fourth album from this band from Canada.

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

The band continued to tour and to record albums. 

This band was on the level just below the most selling bands in USA and Canada while they had a minor, almost cult like following in the rest of the world. They were pretty big in Japan, though.

Nine songs, forty two minutes. That is what we get here.

The music is a mix of catchy hard rockers, mid-tempo arena rockers and a couple of ballads.

There are some blues in their music but the music is most of all US hard rock.

The songs are decent enough without really impressing when it comes to musicianship and the art of song writing. There are some catchy songs here and this is not a bad album. 

2 points

Henrion. Luc - Galerie (1977)

The one and only album from this artist from Belgium.

Luc Henrion does all the piano, acoustic guitars and synths here.

This is another album that only loosely falls within the prog rock genre. I think it is not a progressive rock album at all despite of it's inclusion in ProgArchives. 

The music is neo-classical music performed by piano. The acoustic guitars and synths only acts a supporting role a couple of times throughout this album.

Keith Emerson solo is a good reference here. 

There is no rock here and no progressive rock either.

The music is borderline turkey standard. But some of it is rather decent so I will not include this album in my now too big collection of turkeys.

But beware, this is not a progressive rock records.

1.5 points

Half Hour Handshake - Love Is A Tree With Lions As Leaves (2012)

The one and only album from this band from Germany.

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

The band was a short lived band but they has still left a Bandcamp page where this album is streamed. I got a copy of the album from the band ten years ago and then promptly forgot about it.... 

The music is a mix of shoe-gaze, college rock and grunge.

The vocals is decent enough. The music is very poor though and this makes this forty minutes long album a turkey.

Turkey, it is.

1 point

Haven Of Echoes - Memento Vivere (2024)

The second album from this band from Germany.

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

This band is the cooperation between a member from the extreme metal band Spires and the neo-prog band Frequency Drift. I know Frequency Drift but not Spires.

I also have yet to get a copy of Haven of Echoes debut album from 2022 but I am working on the case.

The music here is totally different from Spires but still in the same area as Frequency Drift.

The music is a mix of melancholic neo-prog, the Polish band Believe is a good reference, and art-rock in the vein of Marillion. Take some Tears For Fears, first two albums, and some Pink Floyd.

The music is a mix of mid-tempo and slow pastoral. The vocals is great and is fitting this melancholic music.

The music is bordering to being too sweet at the times. But it never really crosses this border.

The music is very good throughout these fifty minutes and I am pretty sure this album will figure on a lot of best-album of the year lists. Check out this album.

3.5 points

Værbitt - Tid (2016)

The debut album from this band from Norway.

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

This band released two albums through Bandcamp. I will review the second album next week in this blog.

This album has three tracks. All three tracks are twenty minutes or more long. Altogether, we get sixty-six minutes of music.

The music is also post-black metal. Enslaved is a good reference although Enslaved was never really a black metal band. 

The tracks are epic and bold. The music is also very fast with a lot of blast beats. Some guitar harmonies are on the top of that again.... and then we get the normal black metal screams, also described as vocals.

The soundscape is more barren than flowering. It reminds me about the highlands in Norway. The cover art is therefore spot on and describes the music very good. 

There is not much variations here. It has some good details scattered around but the music tends to be very samey throughout this one hour and six minutes. 

This is a decent enough album but just that.

Check out their Bandcamp page if you like post-metal.

2 points

 

 

The Samuel Jackson Five - The Samuel Jackson Five (2012)

The fourth and so far final album from this band from Norway.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, glockenspiel, handclaps, percussion, bass, banjo, mandolin, guitars, bouzouki, theremin, pianos, organ, keyboards, synths, electronics and vocals.

Some guests added violin, theremin, woodwinds and vocals.

This is so far their final album and making it a self-titled album may have signaled a breakup of the band. However.... an half an hour long EP was released in 2014 and that will be reviewed next week in this blog.

This album also sees the band introducing vocals into their sound. Vocals works here more or less as instruments instead of pure vocals, although the lyrics makes sense.

The music on this forty minutes long album is post-rock and shoegazing. There are still some math-rock in their music but the cinematic rock parts of their music has gone.

There is some good bouzouki in their music and that is adding some more acoustic ambience to their normal fare of electric guitars, woodwinds and tangents.

Not all music here is good. Some of the stuff here is decent and some is good. 

This band and their albums is a colourful addition to the Norwegian scene. It is well worth checking them out.

2.5 points

 

 

Consider The Source - The Stare (2024)

The seventh album from this band from USA.

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

I have reviewed three of their albums, album 2, 3 and 4. Albums I gave good ratings. Somehow, their firstm fifth and sixth album has bypassed me. I will see what I do next years about that.

I have to admit that instrumental prog is no longer something that really excite me. Nevertheless, this band has always incorporated Middle-East and Turkish folk music into their brand of instrumental prog.

That is.... until this album.

The music on the forty-three minutes long The Stare has some Turkish folk music elements. But most of the music is straight instrumental prog with some djent and post-metal influences.

The band has lost a lot in stripping down their music and this album is not them at their finest. 

The music is not bad. With the exception of the Turkish ethno elements, this album is not really an album that sound interesting. It feels like the band has taken a break from their normal activities. Hence....

2 points

 

 

 

Spidergawd - Spidergawd V (2019)

The fifth album from this band from Norway.

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

A guest added saxophones to most of the songs.

This band continues on with their mix of psych rock and hard rock. 

The band shares the drummer with Motorpsycho and there are some similarities between these two bands. Spidergawd are a more hard rocking and straight rock cousin of Motorpsycho.

This is very much the case on this, their fifth album. 

The music is straight forward psych hard rock. Some saxophones is adding some extra colours and variations to the songs. Nevertheless, the music is still catchy and has lots of hooks. 

The vocals is a bit hoarse and raspy, just like the songs requires.

The result is a good hard rock album which gives the listener a forty minutes long kick up the backside. A kick any listener would appreciate.

3 points

Tusmørke - Fjernsyn i Farver (2018)

The sixth album from this band from Norway.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, glockenspiel, percussion, bass, guitars, harpsischord, piano, organ, clavinet, mellotron, keyboards, synths, flute and vocals.

A guest added congas on some tracks.

This band is a band at the more eclectic end of the Norwegian prog scene. Their albums, with the exception of their new album, has Norwegian vocals and lyrics. Most of them pretty silly and in the Daevid Allen mould. Their music is also pretty simple too.

On this album, the band has at least upped their game when it comes to music and not only concentrated on the vocals and lyrics as they did on the previous album Bydyra. An album which was pretty much a turkey.

The music here is a mix of folk music and psych rock. Acid folk is the right label here. There is even some Canterbury prog here and the album has a lot in common with Daevid Allen's solo albums.

Both the music and the lyrics is playful. Mostly Norwegian lyrics, that is. There is one song with English lyrics here too.

This album is an improvement on Bydyra but not by much. I am still to be won over by this band, I am afraid. If acid folk is your thing, though.....

2 points

 

 

Hashshashin - Badakhshan (2019)

The second album from this band from Australia.

The band was a trio with a lineup of didgeridoo, percussion, Morocco drums, drums, bass, sitar, bouzouki, guitars, rabab and setor.

A guest added violin on some tracks.

The band set out to do post-rock and instrumental prog far away from the US and UK tradition. That they tried, and a bit failed, to do on their decent enough 2016 debut album Ninshahshah. 

This time around, their take on their mix of post-rock and instrumental prog is very much coloured and driven by the sounds of Pakistan, Afghanistan (where music is now totally forbidden, btw), Pamir and Morocco. 

The result is both grim and colourful at the same time. The deserts meets a rose garden. 

It is fair to say that the music here is really exotic. Nevertheless, the music is still mostly post-rock and this is mainly a post-rock album. But with a twist and a lot of added quality.

The result is one of the better post-rock albums I have ever encountered in my life and up there with the Sigor Ros albums.

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

3 points

Hard Meat - Through A Window (1970)

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

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

The music on their self titled album from the same year, but in fact was recorded for a 1967 release, was pretty much a catchy mainstream psych rock album with some fine songs.

The band has gone a bit more out on a limb on this album, the follow up album. I suspect it was written and recorded closer to 1970.

The musicians sounds better on this album and the music is more jazzy too. 

The result is a psych rock records with a lot of jazz and folk rock influences.

The music is livelier and more expansive here than before. Then again, some of the charm and the art of good song writing has been lost between these two albums.

The result is still a decent album and one well worth checking out. Both albums are now available from Esoteric Records on CD and is well worth checking out. This band deserve some love and attention these days.

2 points

 

Deadpeach - The Cosmic Haze And The Human Race (2024)

The fourth album from this band from Italy.

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

I have to admit that I fell for the album art-work and put the album on the to-do-reviews list based on the art. It was also promoted as stoner rock to me.

And indeed it is a stoner rock band we are dealing with here. And their music here is stoner rock.... sort of.

There are also some psych rock and some more primitive punk on this thirty-seven minutes long album. The punk stuff is pretty poor. The psych rock is a bit better though.

The vocals are decent enough and that is what this album is. A barely decent album and I do not feel the urge to check out their first three albums. Hopefully, they are better than this album.

But if stoner rock is your thing......

2 points

Rien - 3 (2010)

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

Rien is on this album a one man band where the man in charge here does the guitars, electronics and vocals.

I loved the 2003 debut album Requiem Pour Des Baroqueux album, reviewed in May 2012 for # 1 of this blog. It then took me until earlier this week to review their second album and I am now reviewing their third and probably the final Rien album.

The music is again a mix of cinematic rock and some more instrumental eclectic prog. 

The music is decent enough without really being good. The music is more like drawings than fully developed pieces of music. 

This name-your-price Bandcamp album is an improvement on their previous album, but not by much. It is a half-decent album whose debut album is the one album you should get from this band.

1.5 points

Mamma Non Piangere - N.3 (2016)

The debut album from this band from Italy.

The band was a seven piece big band with a lineup of glockenspiel, percussion, drums, bass, guitars, mandolin, cello, violin, banjo, accordion, keyboards, electronics, saxophone and vocals.

Three guests added percussion, woodwinds and keyboards.

This rather semi-famous band released three albums between 1979 and 2016. Their second album released in 1980 is a live album and I have therefore bypassed that album as I do not review live albums.

The band returned again thirty-six years later for another album with RIO/avant-garde prog.

The music reminds me a lot about circus music. It also reminds me a lot about the cheeky, silly music you got in amusement parks who had no license to broadcast proper music. The type of amusement parks normal people would avoid back then but is now looking back at with a lot of nostalgia.

Chamber rock is what the band would call this music and that with good reasons. The concept is chamber music. Weird and eclectic avant-garde chamber music. 

We get fifty minutes of this. 

The vocals is good and the music is not too bad. It is an aqcuired taste and avant-garde fans would really like this album. On it's own right, this is a decent album and not bad at all. Check out this band.

2 points

 

Circe Link & Christian Nesmith - Arcana (2024)

The second album from this duo from USA.

Circe Link is doing the vocals here and Christian Nesmith is providing the bass, guitars, keyboards and synths.

The duo had help from a drummer throughout the album. An other guest did keyboards solos on one track.

Ms. Circe Link has from her base in Los Angeles, where also Chistian Nesmith is based, released numerous albums through Bandcamp. They first cooperated on their 2021 album Cosmologica. That is an album I will get hold of pretty quickly and then review it around the end of the year.

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

The album is one hour long and it has got five tracks. The closing track is fifteen minutes long while the four other tracks is around ten minutes long each.

It is fair to say that this duo has embraced the flowers of California. There is a lot of flower power here and the music is very colourful. There is also a lot of of Genesis and Yes references here... symphonic prog in other words. Epic and bold symphonic prog.

On the top of this, we get Circe Link's very flowery and dreamy vocals. These vocals are superb and is adding tonnes of quality here.

A couple of better songs and we would have had the best album of the year candidate here. Nevertheless, this is a great album.

4 points

 

 

Wilson. Steven - Insurgentes (2008)

The debut album from this artist from Great Britain.

Steven Wilson did the drums, bass, guitars, piano, percussion, glockenspiel, organ, synths, keyboards, electronics and vocals here.

He got help from numerous guests who added drums, bass, guitars, strings, woodwinds, spoken words and backing vocals.

Steven Wilson is arguably the most prolific person in the new wave of progressive rock and one of the most prolific artists this scene has ever seen. His work in Porcupine Tree is genre defining. His role as a producer is also prolific. In other words, he is a (modest) giant in this genre. 

He has released eight solo albums so far and they are all up for reviews in this blog this autumn and winter.

We get almost an hour worth of music here.

The music is a mix of indie rock and art rock. It is melancholic and a bit dominated by Steven's vocals.

The music is mid-tempo and pretty elegant... make that very elegant. 

The result is a more than acceptable solo debut album and a good album in it's own right. I think I will get a lot of joy out of his albums.

3 points

Tangerine Dream - Atem (1973)

The fourth album from this band from Germany.

The band was a trio with a lineup of percussion, guitar, piano, organ, mellotron, electronics and voice.

My exploration of electronic prog and the albums from this band continues.... 

Atem is a pretty short album, clocking in at forty-six minutes. It has four compositions and it opens with the twenty minutes long title track. The other compositions are far shorter.

That does not mean this is easy listening stuff. It is dark and moody stuff.

There is some sounds from the great nature here and that is the main difference from the previous album Zeit.

The quality is decent enough but this album has not really converted me into becoming a fan of this band and genre.

I am really struggling with their albums...

2 points

 

 

Hashshashin - nihsahshsaH (2016)

The debut album from this band from Australia.

The band was a trio with a lineup of percussion, didgeridoo, drums, bass, guitars and bouzouki.

A guest added violin on some tracks.

This band released two albums and one EP through Bandcamp before they split up. A review of their second and final album will follow later this week.

The band's stated intention was to release instrumental post-rock with more than just US/UK influences. Hence this album...

Post rock is a genre who has taken a lot of influences from most other places than USA and Great Britain. So I am not sure what they meant by that... 

The music on this three quarters of an hour long album is pretty colourful. It is instrumental post-rock and the band is using some untraditional instruments and is using them to great effect.

The result is something as unusual as a colourful post-rock album. 

The quality is decent enough and this album is well worth checking out if post-rock and Sigur Ros floats your boat.

2 points

Hard Meat - Hard Meat (1970)

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This band had a bit of a brutal experience with the music industry. This album was recorded in 1967, but their record label refused to release it. The band folded and then reformed. Warner, the record label, picked up this album and released it in 1970. Another album was then recorded and the band split after these two records.

Both albums was re-released in 2022 on CD by Esoteric Records. 

The second album will be reviewed later this week in this blog. 

The music here is a mix of beat, hard rock and psych rock. 

The music is most of all psych rock. The music has a good vibe and is pretty charming too. There are some good songs here too and the band knew how to write good songs. The final song is the best here. 

The vocals is good and the sound is pretty good. 

This album is indeed a positive surprise from a band I was not aware of before I got their two albums. This album is indeed a hidden gem and well worth checking out.

2.5 points

Nektar - Mission To Mars (2024)

The 16th album from this British band.

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

Their 2020 album The Other Side, reviewed in #2 of this blog back in March 2020, was a good album and a return to form. Hence, I had some pretty big expectations to this album.

The album starts as a good old 1970s hard rock album and that makes me wonder what the rest of this half an hour long album will bring me.

The opening track, the title track is indeed a good rocker in the 1970s spirit.

That is the only fairly good song on this album. 

The rest of the album is pretty decent middle of the road 1970s/80s rock. Some of the stuff here makes me cringe.

The vocals is good though and the best thing about this album. 

This is among the two worst albums this band has ever released and you really have to be a Nektar fan to purchase this album.

2 points

 

 

 

 

Rien - There Can't Be Any Prediction Without Future (2007)

The second album from this one-man-band from France.

Rien is on this album a one man band where the man in charge here does the guitars, electronics and vocals.

I really loved the 2003 debut album Requiem Pour Des Baroqueux album which I reviewed in May 2012 for # 1 of this blog....... and then I forgot about the band. I will now review the remaining two albums this month.

The music on this album is vastly different from the debut album. 

The music here is all over the place. Lots of weird vocals inbetween some pretty decent pieces of cinematic rock.

The result is a chaotic album and one that feels like a waste of time. Some decent melodies are the only saving grace here on this name-your-price Bandcamp album.

1.5 points

Mamma Non Piangere - N.1 (1979)

The debut album from this band from Italy.

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

This rather semi-famous band released three albums between 1979 and 2016. Their second album released in 1980 is a live album and I will therefore bypass that album and review their third album next week.

The music here is simply chamber rock in the RIO/avant-garde mould. This band was pretty active in the avant-garde/RIO scene when it first arrived in the 1970s and the result is this this studio album.

The melodies is weird and quirky. Most of them performed with mandolin, saxophone and male or female vocals. The music is too, far too weird to be folk rock or folk music. 

The vocals are good and the music is decent enough. This album is worth checking out for those who want to check out the avant-garde/RIO genre or are already a converted follower of that genre.

2 points

Optimæ. The - Galactic Regeneration (2024)

The debut album from this band from Norway.

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

This is a new band to me and they are coming from the Stavanger region of Norway, the oil and gas producing capitol of Norway.

Norway also produces a lot of math-rock bands, progressive rock bands, metal bands and jazz/fusion bands. This band is one of these products and it straddles all these four genres.

Technical metal is what they want to do. And yes, the main component here is instrumental progressive metal. The fusion, math and prog rock elements is also very much adding quality and lights to this one hour long album.

That is what is making this album so interesting. That and the good melodies and hooks. The band understand that to make instrumental metal/rock working, there has to be something extra that replaces the vocals. That something extra has been added by a lot of tasty keboards and guitar themes.

The result is a good album and one math rock, prog rock and metal fans should check out. I hope we will hear a lot more about and from this band in the future.

3 points

 

 

The Samuel Jackson Five - Goodbye Melody Mountain (2008)

The third album from this band from Norway.

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

A dozen guests added percussion, cello, theremin, violin, woodwinds, electronics and voice.

Their first two albums, reviewed by this blog earlier this year, was not particular impressive. The second album was an improvement on their debut album so I had hopes for this, their third album.

The band continues with their brand of instrumental math rock on their new album. But their take on math rock has become softer, more colourful. Which makes me think... 

Yes, this album is therefore more a cinematic rock album than a math rock album. The tasteful use of the cello, violin and the woodwinds has indeed given their music the colours it deserve.

The clarinets is adding lights to the music and the saxophones is adding darkness. This reminds me about King Crimson, those pieces of music here and there is indeed a lot of 'Crimson influences here.

The band has again improved their music writing skills and this album is the best of their first three albums.

This is indeed a good album and one to check out if instrumental eclectic cinematic rock is your thing.

3 points

 

 

Sleeping Pandora - Atmosphere (2021)

The eight album from this one-man-band from Germany.

Mathias Rosmann did the guitars, piano, synths and programming here.

This band is his solo project.

The music is space rock with a lot of electronica influences. This is his type of music and has been it since his first Sleeping Pandora album.

The music is performed with gentle guitar riffs, done by gently picking the guitar strings and some electronics and synths.

This album is more guitar riff based than most of his albums. The riffs are a bit more beefed up at times.

There is also a lot electronica here.

This eighty minutes long album has a couple of good tunes too inbetween some rather mediocre stuff. It makes me believe that Mathias one day may write an album worth of good tunes. This is not that album but there is hope here.

As a whole, this is a decent album but there are some good stuff here.... and some sub-standard stuff here.

2 points

Ira Del Baccano. L' - Cosmic Evoked Potentials (2023)

The third and so far latest album from this band from Italy.

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

I cannot really say I have been impressed by this band's mix of stoner rock and space rock on their first two albums. Too much run-of-the-mill stoner and space rock for my liking.

So I had no expectations for this album.

The band has spiced up their music with a lot of post-rock elements on this album. The keyboards has also added something to this album and that in a positive way.

The music is much more leaning towards space rock this time around. The music is also pretty groovy throughout this forty minutes long album.

The music sounds more compact this time around too.

Hence, the band has made some pretty big improvements on this album. The result is actually a good album and I did not expect this. 

If space rock with some stoner rock influences is your thing, this is an album well worth checking out.

3 points

Idee Confuse - Linea di Confine (2013)

The one and only album from this band from Italy.

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

This band started out in 2009 as a cover songs band before they started to write their own material. The band then won a talent competition and was signed for one album by a small label. In effect, this album was released by the band themselves. The band then split up and there is very few reviews of this album out on the internet and in the media.

And that is the story of this band. 

This one hour long album is a mix of a lot of genres. 

Take melancholic indie rock, add post-rock and some cinematic rock. Then add in some RPI and art-rock too.

The music is mid-tempo and melancholic throughout. There is a good Italian sound in their music. The mostly female vocals is in Italian, their mothertongue. There are some male vocals too and those are in English. Pretty poor vocals too.

The vocals is pretty good and I am pretty sure the vocalist is now active in other bands. She is that talented. The rest of the band does a good job too.

The music is too varied to really being a good album. Some of the music is sub-standard too. Nevertheless, this is a decent album.

This is an obscure album and for a good reason..... The quality of the music. 

2 points

Kornmo - Vårjevndøgnsnatt (2024)

The fourth album from this band from Norway.

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

I have reviewed their first two albums, but has forgotten to review their third album Vandring from 2023. I got that album and will review it at the end of this year.

Kornmo does a mix of symphonic prog, Scandinavian folk music, neo-classical music and cinematic rock. This is their music and their concept.

This concept and music is what we get on this album too. This seventy-four minutes long album, four pieces of music.

There is not much variations in their music and the music is a bit short on interesting details. Keyboards generating flutes and mellotron is the most interesting instruments here and they are driving this music forward in a pedestrian, pastoral tempo.

Pedestrian is a good word for this music. 

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. There is some good, enjoyable stuff here and there is some stuff that leaves me a bit cold.

Check out this album and their other albums too if pastoral cinematic symphonic prog is your thing.

2.5 points

Vino Del Mar - Bacò (2015)

The second and final album from this band from Italy.

The band was a seven piece big band with a lineup of percussions, drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, sax and trumpet.

I am by no means a fan of their self-titled 2014 album. A pretty dull run-of-the-mill jazz album, it was. 

So no expectations to Baco, then....

The music here is still jazz. But there is a lot of fusion here and some Latin jazz too. 

The music is more melodic and there are a couple of really tasty guitar and piano solos here too. This inbetween the mainly trumpet and saxophone dominated music. 

There is a lot of life in the music and some tasty details. The music is mid tempo but still lively and well crafted.

The result is a big improvement on the debut album and an almost good album.

This thirty-five minutes long album is a name-your-price Bandcamp album and it is a worthy download. 

2.5 points

 

 

Viima - Väistyy Mielen Yö (2024)

The third album from this band from Finland.

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

A guest added keyboards.

The band returned again after a fifteen years long break. 

This album still sounds like a natural progression from their 2009 album Kahden Kuun Sirpit. 

The music here is still a crossover between Scandinavian folk rock and Italian symphonic prog (RPI). This despite of the vocals/lyrics being in Finnish, the local language in Finland. But the music still has these strong RPI influences.

The music is still based on pastoral Scandinavian folk music and indeed..... the rich Scandinavian psalms tradition. Psalms you can hear in every church in the Polar Region, sung by fewer and fewer believers. That tradition can be found on this album, at least. 

The music is in short pastoral. There are some really good songs and pieces of music here, indeed. 

Viima has made a triumphant return and I hope they will soon follow up this album. I do not want any more long breaks between their albums.

3 points

 

 

 

Atila - Encarnació (2024)

The third album from this band from Spain.

The band is a trio with a lineup of drums, percussion, guitars, piano, organ, moog, mellotron and vocals.

A handful of guests added bass and vocals.

This band released their debut album Intencion in 1976 and the follow up album Reviure in 1978. Both re-released as a two-albums-on-one CD in 1999 and 2009. I reviewed both albums for ProgArchives in 2009 and liked them a lot.

The debut album was a symphonic prog album whilst the second album was more a space rock album. And that was the last tone I thought I would ever hear from this band.... But I got a big surprise when the band returned earlier this year with their new album.

The band is very much welcome back as their first two albums gave them a well deserved status as one of the best ever bands from Spain.

The music on their new fifty minutes long album is a mix of Latin rock, psych rock and a bit symphonic prog. There is even some space rock lurking around on this album too.

The good vocals is a mix of female and male vocals. They are all in their local language. The mix of guitars and tangents are good too.

The music is pretty unique and original. It is very much in the Spanish prog rock tradition and sound. References is.... the two first Atila albums. 

The band are sticking to their guns, to their sound on this good album. An album which both are looking back on their two first albums and is carving out a new soundscape too.

The result is a good album which should interest everyone into the European progressive rock scene. This band should get a lot more attention.

3 points

Motorpsycho - The Death Defying Unicorn (2012)

The 16th album from this band from Norway.

This album is a cooperation between Motorpsycho, Ståle Storløkken, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and Trondheimsolistene. This is altogether twenty-five musicians.

The lineup was drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, vocals plus woodwinds and strings. 

Motorpsycho has done some of these cooperations and this one is perhaps their most known one. Ståle Storløkken is a conductor and a keyboardist. This one and a half hour long album was his idea, as far as I remember. 

Most of the music here is orchestral and there is not much of Motorpsyho's music here. However.. their DNA is all over the album as it is in their DNA to break down barriers and create something new. And the result is this album.

The music is jazzy, orchestral, epic, bold, monumantal, larger than life and avant-garde. It also has some zeuhl influences. This is the closest I have ever heard a Norwegian album come to being a zeuhl album. There is also a lot of Richard Wagner over and in this music. 

There are some melodies here too although they are subtle.

There is a lot of madness and over-the-top stuff here. Nevertheless, this is also a good album. Make that a good album as it mixes various genres. A mix that makes sense although the result is not easy on the ear and nowhere near being easy listening. 

This is an album for those who likes to be challenged. Their award is a very good album indeed.

3.5 points