Sticks In The Casino - Powerkraut (2024)

The third album from this band from Berlin Germany.

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

The band returned again after first releasing a live album (in 2020) and then this album. 

Their second album, Progonia from 2018, was a pretty bad album. But six years has passed since then and the band has had time to reflect and mature. 

Powerkraut proves that this time was well spent.

This three quarters of an hour long album is instrumental with the exeption of some sampled narrations. 

The music is psych rock and Canterbury prog influenced krautrock. The band has moved on from their first two albums in other words.... but not by much. The band sounds positive refreshed on this album as the music has a lot of quirky details.

The sound is good and ditto for the music. Quirky is the keyword here as the band is being playful throughout this album. Some music is meant to be fun, very fun. The music on this album is that... without being silly and stupid. The music is anything but silly and stupid.

This is a good album and one you can get from Bandcamp. Get it.

3 points

Motorpsycho - The Tower (2017)

The 21st album from this band from Norway.

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

A guest added guitars, flute and vocals on a couple of tracks.

The band continued to release an album every year. Albums who found a lot of happy fans around the world, including Norway.

I am a bit of a late to this party, the Motorpsycho appreciation society.... if there is such a society. If there is, I am in.

This is a double album, clocking in at eighty-five minutes.

The music is psych rock with a lot of space rock influences. There is also some garage rock influences here. 

Some pieces of music is rather long, clocking in at around fifteen minutes. Those pieces feels a bit improvised although they are well structured. The shorter pieces are also a bit loose.

The music varies from some pretty pastoral, gentle pieces to some harder, harsher pieces. A lot of their music is pretty epic to fully blown out epics.

The vocals and the guitars are good. The overall quality is very good.

The music is really fascinating and this is one of the albums that those who are curious about this band. 

3.5 points

 

 

 

Triumph - The Sport of Kings (1986)

The eight studio album from this band from Canada.

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

A handful of guests added additional keyboards, synth, programming and backing vocals.

The band had by now been overtaken by the new heavy metal scene. Triumph was never a heavy metal band and they could not compete. Heavy metal was the king and traditional hard rock did not have that many fans. So they had three choices..... become a heavy metal band, stick to their guns or becoming a pop band. 

The result was that the band, something I admire them for, stucked to their gun. Alternative two in other words.

The band was always delivering hit singles and this album delivered one top 50 hit single. Besides of that, this album is a return to their hard rock roots. US hard rock, that is. There is a lot of stadium rock elements here although the band no longer did the stadiums, with a notable exception for the opening slot on the first edition of the first ever Monsters Of Rock festival at Donington in England.

The music here is decent.... more than decent. There are some really good stuff here too. This is a really enjoyable rock album, well worth checking out.

2.5 points

 

 

 

It's Birds - My Bloodless Wife (2010)

The one and only album from this band from USA.

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

This band comes from West Virginia in USA and this album was released as a free album through Bandcamp. You can still download this album for free. 

The music is a bit of a blend of post-punk and eclectic prog. 

King Crimson anno the Beat era springs to mind here. So does the punk band Green Day too.

The vocals and the guitars are pretty good on this thirty-six minutes long album. The tempo is fast to mid-tempo. The music is pretty heavy and screamy at times. The vocals takes not prisoners at times.

There are some weird melodies and time-shifts through this album. That does not make for a melodic album. Indeed... this is not a melodic album at all.

It still has some decent melodies and details.

This album is a worthy download and inclusion in a eclectic music collection. Check it out.

2 points

 

 

 

Igoagrio - La Coronación del Fracaso Terrestre (2017)

The one and only album from this band from Argentina.

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

This album was released on a local label in Argentina. It is available on Discogs and Amazon.

I got it some years ago and I was promised a progressive rock album.

A promise not delivered.

The music is a mix of folk rock and singer/songwriter pub rock. It is indeed some Bob Dylan and early Bruce Springsteen vibes here. There is not a single whiff/hint of progressive rock here.

The Spanish vocals is the only saving grace on this fifty minutes long album where the songs are substandard. The music is not particular hard.

The vocals is good. The music is substandard and this is not an album worthy your attention.

1.5 points

 

 

Herin. Chris - Hiding In Plain Sight (2024)

The debut album from this artist from USA.

Chris Herin did guitars, banjo, mandolin, piano, keyboards and backing vocals.

He got help from numerous guests who added drums, percussion, bass, guitars, violin, keyboards, programming, woodwinds and vocals.

Chris Herin played in Tiles and Discipline before they broke up. He recorded this album with the Rush producer Terry Brown and got help, guest appearances, from the likes of Martin Barre, Peter Frampton, Alex Lifeson and members of Tiles, Discipline, Saga, Porcupine Tree and Spock's Beard. A very impressive list of guests, indeed.

This album is a collection of songs about Alzheimer's, an illness I know too well from my nearest family. The album title is indeed a very good description of this disease. Chris father passed away after ten years with Alzheimer's. 

The music here is a mix of art-rock and classic rock. It is not particular technical or quirky. The songs are warm and melodic. The vocals, delivered by some of the greats in this scene, are very good.

The music is cosy and classic rock. It is not particular progressive and/or challenging. The songs varies between decent and good too. 

The money from the purchase of this album goes to Alzheimer's research and that is the reason why this album should be purchased.

2.5 points

 

 

Notturno Concertante - Let Them Say (2020)

The seventh album from this band from Italy.

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

They had help from some guests who added drums, bass, cello, violins and clarinet.

I have reviewed most of their albums, if not everyone of their albums in # 1 and # 2 of this blog. I believe I have also reviewed some of their albums for and in ProgArchives too.

The band has just released a new album and it is about time to review their last two albums... starting with this one. A review of their new album will be published before the end of this year.

The music on this three quarters of an hour long album is a blend of Italian folk music, cinematic rock, electronica and neo-classical music. 

This is more or less the same type of music we can find on the previous six albums. 

The music has a clear Italian identity and it is pretty obvious that this band is from Italy. 

To make an instrumental album like this to work, the melodies has to be good and memorable. There is nothing of this sort on this album.

The music is decent enough. This album is not their best album though and I can only hope the band has raised their game on their new album.

2 points

M'Z - L'Autopsie du Dogme (2020)

The second album from this band from France.

M'Z is a one-man-band with Mathieu Torres on guitars, computers, samples and vocals.

He got help from numerous guests who provided drums, bass, oud, guitars, pianos, woodwinds, rap and vocals.

M'Z debut album is Prisme from 2017. An album I have yet to find. As M'Z has just released the fourth album, I wanted to review these three albums before the end of the year.

This album consist of one fifty-six minutes long piece of music. 

This piece of music takes us from eclectic prog to grunge, classic rock, funk, rap music, jazz and neo-classical music.

It is a mish-mash of ideas and genres in other words.

This piece of music is well crafted though and it does not feel alien or even forced. The bits in this piece of music feels natural. 

The music, this album, is by no means easy listening. The music is very eclectic. It has some good pieces and some pieces which falls flat on it's face. It is not an interesting piece of music either.

This is a decent album indeed and that is it. Fans of eclectic prog should check out this album.

2 points

King Of Sweden - Out Of The Tunnel (2024)

The second album from this band from Finland.

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

I reviewed their 2021 debut album The Training three years ago and liked it pretty good. Hard rock with some post-metal.

Three years later and the band has returned again.

There is still some hard rock in their music. Music which is now more in tune with the 1970s hard rock and stadium rock scene.

But most of all.... The music is very much in tune with the hard rock and rock scene from Finland in the 1970s. That minus the woodwinds and brass parts of that scene.

The music is pretty much classic rock with some prog influences. 

There is a lot of good organs here and some good guitars. The organ sound is the best part of this fifty minutes long album.

The vocals leaves a lot to be desired, though. Some of the songs are not really up to a good standard either.

The result is a decent to good album. It is one album fans of classic rock and the Finnish scene should check out.

2.5 points

 

 

Asfalto - Déjalo Así (1981)

The fourth album from this band from Spain.

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

I have learnt on the the first two albums I have reviewed by them (I have not reviewed their The Beatles cover album, their debut album) that this band is a bit difficult to label. Hence the very few reviews of their albums on the internet.

Asfalto was a very Spanish band. That does not exlude them from being taken serious outside Spain too.

This album is a double album and eighty minutes long. It was re-released ten years ago on a single CD. 

The music is modern rock anno the eigthees. The music is influenced by pub rock, reggae, new wave, new romantics and hard rock. The Yes and other prog rock influences has completely gone on this album.

The Police is a good reference in many respect. So is Dr Feelgood, The Clash and early U2. Both U2 and The Police appeared in the scene after this double album was recorded and released. But you get my drift.

The sound is good and the Spanish vocals is decent enough.  

This is a decent enough album but nothing more than that. If this floats your boat.....

2 points

Drifting Sun - Drifting Sun (1996)

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

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

A guest did the vocals on one track.

I have reviewed half of their eight albums in # 1 and # 2 of this blog. I still have three old and their new album to review. I will publish these reviews in the next couple of weeks.

I am off course starting with their debut album. 

The band started out as a neo-prog band. 

The music here is indeed pretty primitive neo-prog with a lot of power pop and post-punk influences.

The music is fast at times and the band is hardly coherent on some of the faster pieces on this three quarters of an hour long album.

There is some cheap neo-classical pieces here too and those sounds pretty bad. The vocals too is pretty sub-standard.

There are some decent pieces here. And some pretty awful pieces. This is not an album I can recommend. Thankfully, the band has massive improved over the years. Thankfully.

1.5 points

 

 

Turbo Semelle - Stomp Them (2021)

The debut album from this band from France.

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

This is so far the only album from this band and it has been released through Bandcamp. Hopefully, this is not their one and only album.

The band has listed both metal and jazz as their music genres on their Bandcamp page. With good reason.... 

The rampant saxophone, who is the dominant instrument here, takes us into both the Frank Zappa and jazz territories. Add some zeuhl and Canterbury scene too and you get the picture.

The guitar riffs are most definate well into the prog metal territory.

Most of the music is jazz influenced though. The prog metal part is always there in the background.

The music is still pretty melodic and playful. Very playful most of the time and there is a great sense of humour throughout this album.

The music is decent enough and that makes this album well worth checking out if you are into something pretty weird and playful music. 

2 points

 

 

Troposphere - Troposphere (2017)

The one and only album from this band/project from USA.

The band was a duo with a lineup of drums and keyboards.

Various guests added bass, guitars, woodwinds and vocals to this album.

This is a sideproject from the very good US band Canvas. The album has been released through Canvas own record label as a CD and through their own Bandcamp page. 

The album has been in my collection for years, for the last six years to be more precise.

The music is indeed pretty lively US art-rock and neo-prog. A fine mix of those two genres plus some mainstream pop/rock too is what we get on this fifty minutes long album.

The music is indeed playful, very playful with some good vocals. 

The music is a mix of fast, mid-tempo and slower ballads like songs. The mood is very light and sunny. Optimism about life and music is what I get here and that is probably what the band want to communicate here.

The music is too much standard pop/rock for my liking. It is a bit of a Canvas-light in this respect. That said, this is an album all fans of Canvas should get. 

Check it out if this floats your boat.

2 points

 

 

Yenisei - Home (2024)

The debut album from this band from Poland.

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

This band is new to me as they have just released this album through their Bandcamp site.

I presume this band takes their name from the almighty impressive Yenisei river in Siberia, Russia. This is the fifth longest river on this planet and it starts on the border to Mongolia before it drains into the Arctic Sea in the far north. I have been looking at some pictures of the river and the landscape today and I am very impressed. Hardly anyone lives along the shores of this river and there is no chance I will ever visit this river. That is my loss.

The music also flows nicely. The music is post-rock, that is.

The band name is very fitting for the music on this thirty-five minutes long album. 

Most of the music is instrumental post-rock. There are one song here with vocals. Pretty good vocals. A bit of an oddity on this album with some pretty good instrumental post-rock. Hence, this song does no really work at all.

The result is a decent to good album with some good instrumental stuff and some not so good stuff where the band tries to be more of a progressive metal band. 

This is an acceptable debut album and I hope to hear more from this band in the future.

2.5 points

Tusmørke - Dawn of Oberon (2024)

The 11th album from this band from Norway.

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

You never know what you get from this band.... Children ditties or proper music. Thankfully, the last, their tenth album Hestehoven from last year, was a proper music album. An album with some flaws but still a proper music album.

Dawn Of Oberon is a good followup to the music on Hestehoven.

Take some Gong like Canterbury scene prog, add some acid-folk, Scandinavian folk rock and a lot of psych rock. The result is this three quarters of an hour long album.

There is even some good, solid Kaipa references in their music. 

The lyrics is both in English and Norwegian. The vocals are good. 

The flutes is the main instrument here in addition to some tasty keyboards. 

The music is pretty quirky and whimsical. The music is still pretty solid mid-tempo and the band knows what they are doing. 

The band is still a bit lacking in songs writing department. Nevertheless, this is their best album so far and one to check out.

3 points

 

 

Sticks In The Casino - Progonia (2018)

The second album from this band from Germany.

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

The band returned again after their pretty acceptable debut album. An album full of intricate, quirky instrumental pieces of hard psych rock.

The music is guitars based and has some hard rock influences. Most of the music is hard psych rock.

Their debut album had some quirky surprises. The follow up album, this one, does not have many surprises.

The surprise here, on this half an hour long album, is that the band has regressed back to some safer ground and the music feels like a bit run-of-the-mill instrumental music. 

The result is only a half decent album and nothing more than that. The band can and should have done better.

1.5 points

Strania - Acceptance (2024)

The debut album from this band from Italy.

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

Four vocals added their vocals on these five songs.

The band is from Tuscany in Italy and the album has just been released through Bandcamp. I believe it is also on CD too.

The album starts out as a post-rock album with the usual post-rock sound and this ebb and flow guitars. Then the album makes an interesting turn with the vocals. We are now in art-rock land.

There is indeed some early Pearl Jam in their music. There is still a lot of post-rock here with the ebb and flows.

The band has in short mixed grunge, art-rock and post rock on this forty minutes long album.

The four vocalists, one on each songs, does a good job and it will be interesting to see who get the job based on this album. The guitars are very good.

The music is a mix of mid-tempo and a bit more muscular music. 

The quality of the music is somewhere between decent and good. Their songwriting needs to be improved. Nevertheless, this is an acceptable album and one to check out.

2.5 points

Wilson. Steven - 4 ½ (2016)

The fifth album from this artist from Great Britain.

Steven Wilson did percussion, bass, guitars, piano, moog, mellotron, synths and vocals here.

He got help from some guests who added drums, bass, guitars, chapmann stick, minimoog, organ, piano, flute, saxophone and female vocals.

This album was a stop-gap album between the Hand Cannot Erase and To The Bone albums. It has some bits and pieces from other albums and gigs re-recorded again in the studio. This album is still regarded as a fully worthy Steven Wilson studio album, though.

And rightfully so in my opinion. Hence my review of this album. 

The music is very elegant and well crafted art-rock with a lot of Porcupine Tree influences..... Porcupine Tree being his previous band.

The sound is excellent and ditto for the vocals.

The quality of the songs are very good and this rather short album, clocking in at thirty-seven minutes, is a joy to listen to. 

Check it out.

3.5 points

Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer (1977)

The eight album from this band from Germany.

The band was a trio with a lineup of guitars, grand piano, organ, moog, mellotron, keyboards and synths.

This album is the soundtrack to a film released that year by William Friedkin. It is an action thriller movie which still has some fans. A lengthy Wikipedia story about the movie can be found here.

This is the first of the many movie soundtracks Tangerine Dream did during their career. Their music is generally well suited for movie soundtracks and it did not come as a surprise to me that they were a popular supplier of sounds and music to movie soundtracks.

This album is three quarters of an hour long and has some good mellotron based pieces and some other pieces which are not that good.

Edgar Froese and Peter Baumann was the two main men here and they deliver their pieces pretty well. 

The music is still pretty ambient and electronic. There is not much happening here but nevertheless... this is a decent enough album and should interest those into ambient electronic music and movie soundtracks.

I am yet to be converted to this band and genre. Something this album has failed to do.

2 points

 

 

 

Tucana - Legacy (2018)

The second and final album from this band from Sweden.

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

The 2012 self-titled debut album was a power metal album with some classical music and goth influences. It was not a particular good album. 

The band returned again six years later. This time around, we still get some power metal. But there is a lot more progressive metal influences here. The classical music elements has been retained while the goth elements has gone completely.

The music both has some metal elements and some more melodic elements.

The music has a good balance between the more melodic prog and the metal elements. That is also helped by the good vocals. The classical music also gives this fifty minutes long album some quality.

The songs itself is decent enough. But they are well developed and made into some more complex pieces of music than just being some songs.

The result is somewhere between a decent and a good album. I am still not won over but prog metal fans may want to check out this album.

2.5 points

Trk Project - Kay & Gerda (2020)

The fourth album from this band from Poland.

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

Two vocalists added their vocals.

This ninety-five minutes long album is one strange album. But it has a novel idea.

Kay & Gerda is based on the Hans Christian Andersen story The Snow Queen. Not a bad idea.... But it has been taken to a new level again.

We get exactly the music here performed twice over two CDs. The first CD, Gerda has the female vocals of Carolina Lezko, a regular lead vocalist on the Trk Project albums. The second CD has the male vocals of David Lewandowski.

We can then make up our own mind..... who is the best vocalist ? Carolina's vocals is just a millimeter better than David's vocals. 

The music is soft neo-prog and art rock with some musicals influences. The music is actually good and there is no problems with that. My only gripe is that is is a bit too soft and sugary sweet. I am not so sure if I like the concept here.... the music twice with two different vocalists. 

Nevertheless, this is an album well worth checking out. The band will release their new album early next year and I will come back to that with a review when I get it. All their albums is good albums and should be checked out.

3 points

 

Perfect Storm - Stairs (2024)

The second album from this band from The Netherlands.

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

This album is the follow up to their 2021 debut album No Air. A good album reviewed in # 2 of this blog some years ago.

The band has refined their sound and music on this album. Gone is the experiments. They have been replaced with a muscular blend of art-rock and neo-prog.

The vocals is both male and female vocals. They are all good. The vocals harmonies with male and female vocals is what really makes this album and gives it an identity. Ditto for the band as this is their identity.

The music is really muscular here with some good guitars and keyboards. 

The music is a bit workman like but still has some clever ideas scattered around these fifty minutes worth of music.

This is indeed a good album which will find a lot of fans. 

3 points

Tusmørke - Hestehoven (2023)

The tenth album from this band from Norway.

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

You never knows what you get from this band.... A serious music album or just a nonsense album. There has been too much of the latter ones. The previous album Intetnett was one of them.

It was with trepidation I started to listen to this album......

The music here is thankfully a mix of psych rock and acid folk rock. This is the serious side of this band, the band who sometimes release music albums.

The music is pretty quirky throughout. There is some Canterbury prog influences throughout this album due to some of the quirky melodies.

The vocals are OK and are in both English and their native language. There is a lot of flutes here, replacing guitars in their music.

Most of the album is good, with a couple of very good pieces. 

This is their so far best album and it is well worth checking out.

3 points

Sticks In The Casino - Walking with the King (2009)

The debut album from this band from Germany.

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

A guest added trumpet on one track.

This band has been flying a bit under the radar world wide but are pretty popular in the Berlin area of Germany. They have so far released three studio albums. The latest album was released last month and I will review all their albums before the end of the year.

The music here is heavy and hard psych rock.

The music is also instrumental and pretty quirky and intricate with some weird melody lines and rhythms. 

The playful music also has some surprises like this trumpet in the middle of one of the pieces.

This forty minutes long album gives us some decent music and is an acceptable debut album. This band deserve a lot more attention.

2 points

 

Sentiero di Taus. Il - Novilunio (2024)

The third album from this band from Italy.

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

The band released their debut album in 2013 and their second album in 2018. Both of them has been reviewed in # 2 of this series of blogs.

Their first two albums was very different from each other. The first one was more post-rock influenced. The second one was more in the RPI genre.

Their third album, this one, is barely half an hour long. It has a blend of both the above mentioned styles. 

Take indie rock, add some post-punk and some post-rock. Then add some RPI and Italian folk rock. Then you get this album.

The album has a nervous ambience and the tempo is rather speedy. 

The Italian vocals is rather good and the musical landscapes here are rather decent. There are a couple of good pieces of music here but those does not make this a good album from one of the most strange bands in the RPI scene.

This is a decent enough album. But don't expect a traditional RPI album. It is anything but a traditional RPI album.

2 points

 

 

Bodin. Tomas - Pinup Guru (2002)

The second album from this band from Sweden.

The band was a trio with a lineup of drums, bass, keyboards, organ, electric piano and samples.

Tomas Bodin returned again after his not so great debut album.

He got help from two other members of The Flower Kings on this album.... but not Roine Stolt this time. So this album has no guitars in other words.

Cinematic rock and movie soundtracks is the genre Tomas Bodin has chosen in his solo career and that is what we get on this eighty minutes long album.

The album starts with some sampled/keyboards generated church organs and a psalm sounding piece of music before it moves on to a more classical music influenced cinematic rock area.

Tomas Bodin is a great musician and so is the two others here. The music is more on the dull and pretty predictable end of the scale. The music is very cheesy at times. 

We are in December now and the festive season. The music here is for festive occasions, indeed. But it is still too cheesy.....

Nevertheless, this is a decent album and one to enjoy if cinematic rock is your thing.

2 points

 

 

Borknagar - The Olden Domain (1997)

The second album from this band from Norway.

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

This band was and still is a progressive black metal band and one of the biggest ones in this scene. 

I reviewed their 1996 self-titled debut album back in June 2009 for ProgArchives and you can read the review here. It was my plan then to review all their albums up to that date and continue to review Borknagar albums on their release. That did not happen and it is only now I will start to review the rest of their albums. Reviews will be published on a regular basis this winter and next spring.

The Olden Domain is still very much a black metal album. It is not as raw as old style black metal, though. There is a lot of viking metal influences here too. 

Their music has been described as a more black metal focused version of Enslaved's music and that is exactly what we get here.

The music is heavy and pretty raw. The rasping black metal vocals from Garm in Ulver is prominent here. The music is pretty epic but still true to the black metal formula.

The music is decent enough and it proved that the band has both talent and quality. This is an album well worth checking out.

2 points

 

 

 

Tucana - Tucana (2012)

The debut album from this band from Sweden.

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

This band released two albums before they gave up the ghost. Both albums has been hanging around in my office for the last five years and will now finally be reviewed this month.

The music here is power metal. Power metal with a lot of gothic classical music influences and some progressive metal influences.

The vocals is pretty muscular and so is the music too.

There is a lot of goth rock and goth classical music throughout these sixty-six minutes. The music is also pretty complex.

I am no fan of power metal. This album is not a standard power metal album as it incorporates so many other genres. 

The result is indeed a decent album and one I find a bit enjoyable. 

Check out this album if you want an unusual power and progressive metal album.

 2 points

 

 

Trk Project - Mr. Scrooge (2019)

The third album from this band from Poland.

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

This is the follow up to their rather good two first albums, reviewed earlier this year on this blog. I will also review their fourth album later this year.

Karolina Leszko is still on the vocals here and her vocals is very good. They are not as operatic as on the first two albums, though.

The music is a mix of neo-prog and art-rock. There are also some musicals influences in their music.

This time, Magenta from UK is a good reference. The type of vocals is pretty similar to Magenta on Home. 

The music is melodic and pretty epic. It has some good guitar solos too.

This is by far not their best album as parts of this three quarters of an hour long album is not up to this band's normal high standards. It is still an album well worth checking out if melodic progressive rock is your thing.

2.5 points

Actionfredag - Lys Fremtid I Morke (2024)

The second album from this band from Norway.

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

They got help from a dozen of guests who provided bass synths, glockenspiel, ebow guitars, slide guitars, violin, woodwinds and cymbals.

Last year's debut album Turist I Eget Liv was a good album in the Canterbury prog genre. It got the band a lot of attention too. 

So the band returned earlier this year for the follow up album.

The music is still playful and jazzy Canterbury prog. This time with a lot of female voices and vocals in addition to the male voices and vocals. 

The woodwinds is adding to the quirky jazzy prog on this album. Playful is indeed a good description of the music on this forty minutes long album.

Most of the music is instrumental with female and male voices who works as instruments.

The music is quirky throughout and good too.

This is indeed a good album and Canterbury prog fans should check out this album.

3 points

Kosmodome - Ad Undas (2024)

  

The second album from this band from Norway.

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

The debut album was a hard rocking psych rock album. It put the band firmly on the map. 

I also noted their Motorpsycho influences on the debut album. These are back again here, these influences.

The music is less hard and heavy this time around. They have been replaced with some Canterbury influenced psych rock. There is also a lot of Gentle Giant and some Yes influences on this album.

The vocals is good and their guitars are quirky and good. The music is indeed quirky and eclectic. 

The music on this forty minutes long album is also nerdy and weird. There is still some melodies here.

The result is a good album indeed. The band is following an interesting path and I hope we will hear a lot more from them in the future.

3 points

Aurora Clara - IV (2024)

The fourth album from this band from Spain.

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

Three guests added percussion, keyboards and clarinet.

I have really enjoyed this band's first three albums and I regard this band as one of this year's best finds.

It seems like I am not the only one who has fallen for their Mahavishnu Orchestra like fusion. They have gotten some followers around the world.

Their first three albums are all very good and the band was under pressure, or perhaps not, to follow up with the same quality.

Their third album, Dreams from 2023, saw the band incorporate a lot of Spanish folk music into their fusion. A diffferent album but still a very good album.

The band has retreated a bit back from the Spanish folk music scene and gone a bit more back to the fusion on the first two albums. There is still some flamenco and folk here. But not so much as there are fusion.

There is a lot of flutes and flutes solos on this three quarters of an hour long album. There are also some very tasty guitars and keyboards here.

The tempo is a mix of fast and mid-tempo. 

The result is a groovy fusion album and another very good album from this band. This is an album well worth checking out and a gift to all fusion fans. Of the new fusion bands, this band can become the best, if they not already are the best current generation of fusion bands.

3.5 points

 

 

Morse. Neal - No Hill for a Climber (2024)

The 33rd album from this artist from USA.

Neal Morse did percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals here. 

He had help from around ten musicians, which I guess is The Resonance, who added drums, bass, guitars, cello, viola, violin, keyboards, woodwinds and vocals.

This is his third album this year. The first one, The Restoration Joseph # 2 got a very good rating in this blog back in January this year. The second album is a singer/songwriter album and therefore bypassed and not reviewed in this blog. 

No Hill For A Climber is his first without Mike Portney who has returned to Dream Theater.

Neal Morse is still giving us sixty-eight minutes of US symphonic prog with his new musicians. This genre, this type of music is what very few, if any, does better than him. Both as a solo artist and in his two previous bands Spock's Beard and Transatlantic.

We get soaring, high epic symphonic prog inbetween some more down to earth progressive rock. It feels a bit predictable and his latest symphonic prog rock albums has been pretty predictable. It is still very good music and I should not be complaining as this is what I really want from Neal Morse. Be careful what you wish for......

OK, some of the music is a bit cheesy. Nevertheless, there are some great stuff here too.

The overall quality is therefore very good and this is another output from Neal Morse I really find hugely enjoyable.

Check it out.

3.5 points

 

 

Motorpsycho - Begynnelser (2017)

The 20th album from this band from Norway.

The band was a quartet here with a lineup of percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards and samples.

This is the soundtrack for a theatre production for Trondelag Theater in Trondheim, Norway. It had a seven week long run and the band was playing the music live every night. This album also comes with a DVD with the full production and some background scenes.

The music is very different from the normal fare from this band. It is still well within the DNA profile of this band as it explores the more experimental part of this band.

The label "chamber RIO/avant-garde music" is the best label here. 

The music is very minimalistic and does indeed sounds like a soundtrack. 

This album is a weird album in the Motorpsycho discography and totally different from the rest of their albums. The music on this forty-five minutes long album is weirdly enough pretty melodic and engaging.

This is indeed a decent album but not the first Motorpsycho album I would get if I did not know this band. Still... it is well worth checking out.

2 points

Triumph - Thunder Seven (1984)

The seventh album from this band from Canada.

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

A handful of guests added keyboards, synths, programming and backing vocals.

The band returned to a scene where the NWOBHM scene had taken over the hard rock scene and they had got some good company from the hairspray scene in Los Angeles too. So Triumph and the hard rock bands from the 1970s were under heavy (metal) attack from all directions.

But Triumph played on.

The sound has been modernised and the band now sounds like a 1980s band..... Nevertheless...... The band has also incorporated some very notable Led Zeppelin influences in their music.

I am not a fan of the 1980s sound. Nevertheless, the band has actually managed to come up with some improvements to their music. The Led Zeppelin influences has added some real value to the songs where the band has plundered Led Zeppelin. 

The vocals is as always good and the band does a good job. There are some cringeworthy castrato vocals here though and some heavy metal stuff we could have been without. Still.... this is a decent to good album. Check it out.

2.5 points

Trefle - Reflet (1978)

The one and only album from this band from France.

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

This band only released this album and they released it on a very obscure record label. The LP is very difficult to find and it has yet to be re-released on CD. Something this album deserve. 

The music on this half an hour long album is French symphonic prog. The vocals is in French and they are very good.

The most obvious, and indeed correct, reference here is Ange. Add Mona Lisa and Atoll too and you get the picture. Of the newer bands.... Magnesis is an even better reference. 

There is also some Eloy in their sound too and their take on symphonic prog has some psych rock influences.

The sound is a bit flat... Nevertheless, the music here is really good and a reminder how good the French symphonic prog scene is. 

This good album deserve a lot more attention and indeed a re-release. Check it out.

3 points

 

 

Tirith. The - Return of the Lydia (2022)

The third album from this band from Great Britain.

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

Two guests added piano and backing vocals.

The band returned after three years and some concerts around Great Britain. I have reviewed theirf first two albums in # 1 and # 2 of this blog. They are decent enough albums but not particular impressive albums.

The music on this sixty-seven minutes long album is a crossover between psych rock, modern neo-prog and heavy prog. 

The music is pretty melodic and is influenced by both Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree. There is also some Rush influences here.

The sound has this post millenium modern prog sound. A good sound and the same can be said about the vocals.

The art of great song writing has eluded this band though. The album is pleasent enough but not all songs are good and up to a respectable standard. I have yet to be impressed by this band, I am afraid.

2.5 points

 

 

 

Red Sand - Pain't Box (2024)

The eleventh album from this band from Canada.

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

This is a band I have been following for the last ten-fifteen years. The quality has not always been good but most of their albums has made me a bit of a fan of this band.

We get four short tracks and one half an hour long suite on this album. That takes us up to almost fifty minutes worth of music.

The music is complex at times. It is still laidback and can be best described as a blend of the more melodic end of Pink Floyd meets some more complex symphonic prog and neo-prog.

The tempo is middle-tempo and slower.

The vocals are pretty good but still the weakest link on this album.

The music is a mix of good pieces and decent pieces. This is not their finest fifty minutes, this album. Nevetheless, this is still not a bad album and it is well worth checking out.

2.5 points

 

 

Kosmodome - Kosmodome (2021)

The debut album from this band from Norway.

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

Three guests added bass, guitars, keyboards and effects.

This duo is the brothers Severin and Sturla Sandvik. They have so far released two albums and the second album, this year's album, is up for review later this week.

The two brothers are evidently influenced by Motorpsycho. That is.... Motorpsycho at their most psych rock and hard rocking phase.

The music on this three quarters of an hour long album is indeed hard psych rock. It has some weird and quirky details throughout. It also got some weird rhythms and melody pieces.

The music is at times very hard. Hard but not heavy. 

The vocals is good and the music is compact without any long solos.

The music is also good throughout and this is a weird, quirky piece of music. Check it out if hard psych rock is your thing.

3 points

Aurora Clara - Dreams (2023)

The third album from this band from Spain.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of handclapping, drums, bass, guitars, piano, keyboards, flute and saxophone.

The band returned again for their third album after releasing two very good albums. 

The first two albums gave us some fusion in the vein of Mahavishnu Orchestra. The music was very fast at times.

One year has gone and there has been some changes when it comes to the music.

The tempo has been slowed down and the band has incorporated some flamenco and other Spanish folk music into their brand of fusion.

There is still some Mahavishnu Orchestra influences here and fans of that band will also really enjoy this album. It can be argued that Aurora Clara has inherited Mahavishnu Orchestra's land and sound.

There is still a lot of very good solos here. Flutes, saxophones, guitars and keyboards solos. 

 This album also showcases another side of this hugely impressive band. The band can slow down, incorporate Spanish music and still be as good as they were on the first two albums. That is pretty impressive.

Dreams is indeed a very good album and one to check out if fusion and Spanish folk is your thing. I am again pretty impressed by this band.

3.5 points

 

 

 

Circuline - C.O.R.E (2024)

The third album from this band from USA.

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

Three guests added guitars, violins and vocals.

This is their comeback album after a far too long break.... eight years or so. This band now has members from some well known bands. It is indeed some sort of a supergroup.

The music here is a blend of progressive folk rock and symphonic prog. There are also some psych rock influences in their music.

The vocals is a mix of female and male vocals. There is a lot of vocals on this album. The mix between the keyboards and the guitars are very good.

The music is both warm and organic too. 

The overall quality of the music on this one hour long album is very good with a lot of very good details. It is obvious that the members and the writers of the songs here are vastly experienced. The music still sounds fresh and very much modern. 

Check out this album if both folk and symphonic prog is your thing.

3.5 points

Asfalto - ¡¡Ahora!! (1979)

The fourth album from this band from Spain.

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

The previous album, the 1978 album Al Otro Lado was a very prog rock influenced album. Yes is a good reference here.

How to follow up that album ?

The band retreated back to a much more hard rock territory on Ahora, this album. 

The music is pretty hard and has some catchy tunes. The Canadian band Triumph is a good reference here. 

The Spanish vocals and some Latin folk rock influences makes it clear that both the band and this album comes from Spain and not from an English speaking area. 

The music is clever and rather quirky throughout this album. A forty minutes long album who also includes some good vocals.

The result is somewhere between decent and good. There is some good songs here and some decent songs here. This is still an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points

Tusmørke - Intetnett (2022)

The ninth album from this band from Norway.

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

A children choir also added their voices.

The band returned after the good Nordisk Krim album from 2021. An album that gave me hope after a couple of turkeys and substandard albums.

This band has a sense of humour which can be compared to Daevid Allen in Gong and solo-albums. In the case of this band, that includes the use of children choirs.

The songs on this one hour long album is the children ditties and some acid folk pieces of music.

The songs here, the twenty-one songs here are mostly dire. There are some decent acid folk pieces here and that is the only saving grace here. 

This is another failure, a half-decent album from this band.

1.5 points

Tellus Requiem - Invictus (2013)

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.

The band is a power metal band and one of the first big power metal bands from Norway. Their albums sold reasonably well and they were soon followed by some other other power metal bands in Norway.

I was not impressed by their self-titled 2010 debut album. I am not a fan of power metal at all. 

The band continues down the same path as they wandered on during their debut album.

This seventy minutes long album is full of fast and powerful power metal songs. There are a couple of ballads interrupting this flow of power metal.

The guitar solos are chaotic and fast. The vocals are a bit castrato.

The result is a half decent album who are too true to the genre and is not offering much of a personality.

Power metal fans should check out this album.

1.5 points

Telegraph Avenue - Vol 2 (1975)

The second and final album from this band from Peru.

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

This is the final sign of life from this band before the military junta took over Peru and banned rock music for a while. It was recorded despite of numerous problems during the recording session.

It is hard to really publish an honest review in 2024 as I have all the sympathies in the world for the musicians in this band. Musicians who experienced some pretty extreme hardship before, under and after the recording of this album.

The music is a mix of rock and psych rock. It is pretty hard rocking too.

The music was pretty obsolete anno 1975 and 2024. The music is basically late 1960s with a poor sound.

There is still a lot of evidence here that the band were a good band. Some of the songs are pretty decent.

This is still not an album I would recommend. It is what it is.... a snapshot of Peru from those days.

1.5 points

 

 

Beardfish - Songs for Beating Hearts (2024)

The ninth album from this band from Sweden.

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

A female vocalist delivered vocals on one track.

This band is back after a nine years long break. They have really been missed as they are regarded as one of the better prog bands in Europe.

I have reviewed their albums in # 1 and # 2 of this blog and rated them highly.

The music here is an eclectic prog take on Scandinavian symphonic prog. You will find a lot of The Flower Kings in their music. Ditto for Gentle Giant too. There is also some The Tangent here (the band + Andy Tillison was once this band). 

The music is very complex and not so melodic. It still has some great melodic pieces.

The vocals is very good and the organ sound is great. Not all music here is great but there is a lot of great music here.

This is another must-have album from this band who never really disappoint the prog rock fans. Get this album.

3.5 points

Unit Of Inheritance - Reckoning (2024)

The second album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The band is following up their The Impossible album from last year with this album.

The music is again heavy prog with some neo-prog influences. References are the likes of Rush, Porcupine Tree, Frost* and Dream Theater.

The music is both complex and bold. It is also pretty melodic too.

It is also catchy and quirky. It also got a lot of interesting details.

The vocals is good and so is the music. The sound has a contemporary feel and it feels compact and epic.

This album is an improvement on the debut album and one to check out if heavy prog and/or neo-prog is your thing.

3 points