Year of No Light - Ausserwelt (2010)

The second album from this band from France.

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

I reviewed their 2006 debut album Nord for ProgArchives back in June 2011. One album I liked and I cannot understand why this album I am now reviewing has been in my archive, awaiting a review, since 2011. The band has in the meantime released three more albums. Albums I should review.

I will see what I do here.

The music on this album is heavy and doomy post-metal. Gloomy too and there is a lot of post-rock on this album too.

The music is bold and epic. The music is like a big wall of sound. But there is still melodies and subtle details here.

The result is a good album and a reminder that this French band is well worth checking out.

3 points

 

Vitamin String Quartet - Exit Stage Left (2002)

The one and only album from this band from USA.

The string quartet was an eight piece band with a lineup of bass, cello, viola and violin.

Yes, this is a string quartet playing some good old songs/compositions from Rush, my alltime favourite band. 

This album and band was compiled by the normally quite sober and commercially driven record label Vitamin. My guess is that the owner is a huge Rush fan too. Me too was working on a Rush tribute album when I ran my own record label. That was long time ago.

The songs/compositions here is a mix of the obvious ones.... Tom Sawyer, Closer To The Heart and Spirit Of The Radio + some lesser known compositions like Broons Bane, Jacob's Ladder and A Passage To Bangkok. 

Most of the album is a true replicate of Rush's live album Exit Stage Left. There is some omissions here like my favourite composition from that album, La Villa Strangiato.

That aside, these string versions proves how great Rush and their compositions was. It is a timely reminder to put the original Rush albums on again and just join these masterclasses in music. 

The strings versions is decent enough but nowhere near as great as the originals. It is still an album all Rush fans should have in their collection. That is why I got this album.

2 points

Tars - Per Aspera (2024)

The debut album from this band from Belgium.

The band is a one-man-band with Damien Polfliet doing the drums, bass, guitars, electronix and vocals.

How many of the instruments are computer generated is something I do not know. But the instruments sounds legitimate to me.

One man bands tends to deliver undercooked and underdeveloped albums. Hence, I now tend to avoid albums from those. Listening to this album before finding out that this was a one man band album, I thought this was an album from a band. 

And with good reasons.... It feels like a trio or even a quartet band album. 

The most important here is the music. 

The music is a dark and heavy mix of post rock and space rock. There is also some ambient music and some psych rock here too. 

The music is indeed heavy and the guitars has a very nice sound and identity. It is not the usual bland riffs and themes the guitars are churning out.

The music is very groovy too and has some nice themes and time-changes. The ambience is good and the melodies good.

And then we get some minutes of vocals on this one hour long album. That towards the end and as a final surprise on a good album.

This is indeed a good album and a big surprise too. More albums, Damien. More albums, please.....

3 points

White Bone Rattle - Earwig (2013)

The second album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This band released two name-your-price albums through Bandcamp before they disbanded. 

I got both albums up for review now and reviewed their 2012 debut album Creature Of Curiosity some days ago.

Their music is a mix of 1970s psych rock and hard rock. Add some blues and arena rock too and you get a bit of an indie rock feel and ambience.

The vocals and guitars are good. The sound is good.

The music is again decent. There are some drop of quality from their first album though.

This album only gives us twenty minutes of music and it is the last sign of life from them. Both albums are worthy downloads. 

2 points

 

 

Mythic Sunship - Light/Flux (2022)

The sixth album from this band from Denmark.

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

The band started out as a drums/bass/guitars space rock band before the saxophone was introduced on their fourth album.

The saxophones was too dominant on their fourth album. It was a bit more in the background on their fifth album and....we are now on the sixth album.

This album is loud and bold. There is a lot of saxophones on the top of the guitar riffs here. It is like adding some avant-garde jazz on the top of some space rock grooves.

And that is what this album is. Take some guitar driven space rock grooves and add some saxophone driven avant-garde jazz on the top of that. 

The result is not as chaotic as it sounds. There is a pattern in this madness. It is very far from easy listening and some of the music is jarring in the listener's ears and brain. But the music works.

Mythic Sunship creates very original music, far from the beaten paths. But their music works and this is a good album.

Check it out if you are not faint hearted.

3 points

Self Portrait - Fishes were Everywhere (2024)

The debut album from this band from Italy.

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

This is a new band from Parma in Italy. 

Their band name and their choice of language, which is not Italian, gives us the impression that they are not an RPI band. That is partly a wrong impression.

The music on this almost fifty minutes long album is a mix of psyc rock and RPI - Rock Progressive Italiano.

The sound and their take on both psych rock and RPI is rooted in the 1970s scene. The sound is pretty contemporary....but the music is rooted in the early 1970s Italian scene.

The music is light and fluffy. The songs are not particular long. The vocals are good and ditto for the organs.

The quality is pretty good and this album is an album psych rock fans should check out. I hope we will hear a lot more from this band in the future.

3 points

Abacus - Just A Day's Journey Away (1972)

The third album from this band from Germany.

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

This band continued on after a not so impressive second album. The band did not have much commercial success either.

But the band played on.

The band's music is still early days symphonic prog. This time, there is a lot of krautrock and some funk and space rock in their music too.

This is a borderline krautrock album, indeed.

The band has packed in a lot of various ideas throughout these thirty-seven minutes. None of the ideas are particular good.

The vocals are decent. The music is guitars driven and there are some weird themes and solos here. 

The music is only half decent. Ditto for the sound.

This is an album well worth bypassing.

1.5 points

My Dying Bride - A Map of All Our Failures (2012)

The 12th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

A guest added drums and percussion.

The band returns again from the disappointing experiment that was the 2011 album Evinta. 

Evinta was a one-off album.... thankfully.

A Map Of All Our Failures is a return to the good old gloomy My Dying Bride. 

The band has found their formula and it is a formula that works. It has given them many followers and a lot of admirers. 

The music here is dark, doomy, gloomy and slightly gothic. 

There is no great pieces of music here. Nevertheless, the music is always good. It is also engaging. 

This is indeed a good album and a return to form.

3 points

Young Scamels. The - Tempest (2010)

The one and only album from this band from USA.

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

Two guests added male and female vocals.

I have no idea where I got this album from. Discogs has labeled this album as a classical music album. Their record label has labeled this as dreamy pop and art rock.

I would label the music here as ambient art rock with a lot of dream pop and classical music integrated. 

The music is indeed art music and it feels eclectic. The female vocals is dream and opera like. The viola is at times a bit dissonant. The music is a bit too pedestrian ambient at times.

The quality of the music on this three quarters of an hour long album is decent enough. This is an album well worth exploring.

2 points

Zerynthia - Zerynthia (2014)

The one and only album from this band from Germany.

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

This is another name-your-price album released through Bandcamp.

This is also another trio playing space rock. Another German trio playing space rock, I should have explained.

The music is pretty hard. There is also some slow pieces here which adds some breaks on this thirty-five minutes long album.

The space rock here is clearly influenced by both krautrock and in particular..... punk. There are indeed some wild, unhinged guitar solos here.

The quality is not the best and this is one of the lesser interesting space rock albums out there. As a name-your-price album, this half-decent album is still a worthwhile download.

1.5 points

 

 

Letters Of Vakāra - Call It A Day (2024)

The debut album from this band from Germany.

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

This album is another Bandcamp released album. A very good idea and I am a big fan of Bandcamp. It is a great idea to first release an album as a Bandcamp digital download and then perhaps crowdfund or create enough interest in LP or CD releases to not end up with hundreds of unsold items. Which is exactly what happened to me a quarter of a century ago. 

Back to this German band..... Their music is pretty commercial though.

Take psych rock and add some laidback jazz and world music. World music with influences between Cairo and Madrid. We are talking about the countries around the Mediterranean Ocean.

The music is a mix of pastoral and mid-tempo. It is pretty jazzy throughout. 

The female and the light vocals is pretty weird but still very good. Very artistic too and the vocals also function as an instrument in it's own right.

The music is also pretty progressive and this album should be lapped up and devoured by prog rock fans. A bit unusual music, but still progressive.

The quality is good throughout these forty-five minutes. I hope that we will hear a lot more from this band in the future.

3 points

White Bone Rattle - Creature of Curiosity (2012)

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This band released two name-your-price albums through Bandcamp before they disbanded. 

I got both albums up for review now and will review their second one this weekend.

Their music is psych rock with a 1970s sound and theme. There are some hard rock and blues in their take on psych rock too. There is an indie rock feel over their music too.

The vocals is good and the music is pretty melodic. The guitars, both half-acoustic and full on electric guitars are cool.

Most of the music is decent to good. This is at least a very promising debut album and it saddens me that the band is no long around.

2.5 points

 

 

Mythic Sunship - Wildfire (2021)

The fifth album from this band from Denmark.

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

Mythic Sunship returns with another album full of pretty far out there space rock. 

The band follows up the rather confusing and overwhelming 2018 album Another Shape Of Psychedelic Music. An album where they introduced cascades of saxophones on the top of cascades of guitars and bass. The result was an overkill. 

Three years later and I wondered if the band had learnt the lessons. 

We still get a big, big sound filled with guitars and saxophones. The difference is that the band now let the guitars breathe on themselves and then uses the saxophones to add extra textures when needed.

There is a still a lot of saxophones here. Especially in the beginning where I wondered if the album would be the same overkill as the above mentioned album. But the guitars then takes over and we get a lot of really groovy space rock.

The band and this album is then at it's best. 

This forty-four minutes long album is also so far their best album and it is indeed a very good album. The band has come of age and space rock fans should check out this band and album.

3.5 points

 

 

 

Quantum - Down the Mountainside (2024)

The debut album from this band from Sweden.

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

Two guests added guitar solos.

This album and band has been hyped by their record label this year. So I wanted to check out what this band and album was all about.

We are in the middle of the heavy prog genre here. References are the likes of Rush and Porcupine Tree. 

The music is pretty progressive and has some good Yes influences too. There is a lot of good details here on this rather heavy and hard rocking album.

The vocals is good and the sound is beefy and full fat. 

The music is very good throughout these forty-five minutes of music. The music justifies the hype, indeed. I hope we will hear a lot more from this band in the future.

3.5 points

Runemagick - Ressurection In Blood (2000)

The third album from this band from Sweden.

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

Back in 2012, I wanted to help out a friend of mine by reviewing all the albums from one of the bands on his record label. The record label being Aftermath Records and the band is this band. The band was also, when on his label, I have been told playing funeral doom. That is a genre I wanted and still want to feature on this blog.

Reviews of the first two Runemagick albums was therefore posted in July and August 2012 in # 1 of this blog. Then I forgot about this reviewing project.... until now when I am now going to review the remaining eleven albums.

Ressurection in Blood is their third album and it was released through Century Media. That record label was pretty small compared to the giant it is today. Hence, they signed minor bands like Runemagick, a band with a very limited scope for commercial growth. 

The music on this album is mid-brutal and mid-tempo death metal. You get the death metal growls and all that. Their music has some pretty normal song structures and is not particular brutal compared to today's standards. I would put their brand of death metal in the Florida death metal sub-genre. 

The quality is pretty decent throughout and it serves as a reminder how good and enduring this sub-genre really is. 

2 points

After Crying - Overground Music (1990)

The debut album from this band from Hungary.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of viola, cello, flute, synths, piano and vocals.

The band had help from some guests who provided oboe, trombone, trumpet, bassoon and vocals.

This band from Hungary, influential band from Hungary, released seven studio albums between 1990 and 2011. I reviewed their 2011 and final album Creatura for # 1 of this blog back in November 2012. I was not impressed by the album. 

I have now decided to review their remaining six studio albums and I am off course starting with their debut album.

The band is regarded as a symphonic prog band. But it is more to them than just that. They are for a start from Hungary, a culturally rich country. They and their music is indeed embedded in this culture although their music has got a modern pop/rock music expression.

The music here is baroque pop highly influenced by symphonic prog, the likes of ELP and the Magyar classical music and folk music.

There is no bass and drums here. The music is more melodic orientated than rhythms orientated. The piano is acting like both bass and drums here. 

Very strange but it works. The oboe solos is very good and both the male and female vocals is good. Ditto for the melodies.

This is an untraditional album and one of a kind. I am really, really looking forward to dive deeper into this band's music.

Check out this album.

3 points

 

Yowie - Synchromysticism (2017)

The fourth album from this band from Australia and USA.

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

This is their fourth album and I have not had the chance to sample their first three albums. As I write these lines/this review, the trio are now mixing and preparing the world for the release of a new album. 

A forewarning may be needed as their music is very eclectic and fiendish.

Take hyper fast math-rock and add a lot of jazz to it. The result is this album.

This half an hour long album is not for the faint hearted either as the music is very extreme and eclectic. That may explain why it has taken me many years to review this album...... It is not often I review math-rock albums.

Parts of this album is good though and I can understand why their music has a lot of fans. The quality is a mixture of decent and good throughout this half an hour long album.

Those of you who are into jazzy math-rock should ckeck out this album. Those of you who are faint hearted may give this album a miss. 

2.5 points

Zophim Override - Rotator (2016)

The one and only album from this band from USA.

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

This band released this album through Bandcamp and then disappeared. I somehow got a copy of this album and it has been in my archive for some years. 

My guess is the lack of commercial success for the breakup of the band.... 

The music on this one hour long album, whose the final part is some avant-garde ambient noise, is a dark and gloomy blend of art-rock, neo-prog and psych rock. The music is dark and melodic at the same time.

The music and the lyrics is dark. The vocals is good and the music is fairly decent.

The final part of the album, the avant-garde pieces, is tarnishing a rather acceptable album. The result is a decent album and well worth checking out.

2 points

 

 

Gjenferd - Gjenferd (2024)

The debut album from this band from Norway.

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

This is a new band from Norway..... ANOTHER new band from Norway. It seems like this country is now spawning new prog and hard rock bands more than the local salmons are spawning in the Norwegian rivers. I still think there is just about more wild salmons in Norway than hard rocking bands..... Just about but that will probably change in the next thirty years.

Gjenferd gives us solid, hard rock from the 1970s with plenty of Hammond organs and wild guitars. There is some progressive rock here too although the band is a hard rock band.

The sound is great. The vocals is very good.

This album is a bit short, clocking in at thirty-three minutes. But the music is very good throughout. The songs are really good and the sound is even better.

This album is both a nostalgia trip and a contemporary very good album. Hence my happiness.....

3.5 points

 

 

Grand Funk Railroad - What's Funk? (1983)

The 13th and final album from this band from USA.

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

The second album from this reformed band. A band who are still alive and touring. That is what I have been told in Wikipedia.

This forty minutes long album has seven original tracks and three cover versions of some golden oldies tracks. Soul and funk tracks, that is.

The original material, the songs the band has written, is in the hard rock genre. They are trying to tag onto the emerging heavy metal scene on this album, but is failing a bit as their music is not that heavy.

The music is pretty bad throughout. This is by far their worst album and it made sense to give recording studios a wide berth after this album. It is better to tour and play the good old songs.

A handful of decent songs is the only saviour on this album. At their best, this band was a good band and they are a typical US hard rock band. I have a bit of a soft spot for Grand Funk Railroad. 

1.5 points

 

 

Wyatt. Robert - '68 (2013)

The 11th album from this artist from Great Britain.

Robert Wyatt did the percussion, piano, organ, piano, electric piano, bass and vocals on this album.

He got help from three guests, Mike Ratledge (organ), Jimi Hendrix and Hugh Hopper (both bass). 

This is an album with archive material, an album he recorded before the release of the very first Soft Machine album. The band had been on tour with Jimi Hendrix, as a support act for Jimi, in USA and Robert took the chance to record this album in a studio in USA before he returned to Great Britain and his daytime job as a drummer in Soft Machine again.  

We get four whimsical psych rock tracks here. Two long ones and two short ones. This includes the long, wild version of Moon In June. A song later sanitised and restructured for Soft Machine's legendary classic Third album.

Before this song, which ends this album, we get three improvised songs. Three decent songs. Moon In June is the reason why anyone would get this album, though. That and Robert's vocals. Jimi Hendrix does a decent, yet unremarkable job on bass on one of the songs. 

The result is a decent to goo album. I am afraid this is the final album in Robert's discography. A discography which includes the classic album Rock Bottom. An album everyone should have. '68 is a rather forgetable album compared to his first albums. Nevertheless...

2.5 points

Blue Öyster Cult - Ghost Stories (2024)

The 17th album from this band from USA.

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

Two guests added drums, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

This is not really a new studio album, I discovered far too late... that is after two listening sessions. This is archive material from the 1970s 1980s plus a couple of cover versions. Kick Out The Jams by MC5 and We Gotta Get Out Of This Place by The Animals is those two golden oldies covered here.

The rest of the songs are songs who were deemed not good enough for the studio albums. That include a couple of dreadful studio albums. 

The eleven original songs are pretty dreadful. Nevertheless, you can still hear the typical Blue Oyster Cult sound on these tracks and that is mostly a good sound.

The result is a fairly decent album clocking in at forty minutes. It is not an album I will ever play again. The band is so much, much better than this album.

1.5 points

Motorpsycho - Blissard (1996)

The fifth album from this band from Norway.

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

The band had some help from numerous guests who added vibraphone, theremin, pandeiro, guitars, violin, mellotron, clavinet, organ, piano, keyboards, narration and vocals.

When I decided to review all the Motorpsycho albums, I was aware of that this ride/task was going to be a difficult one. Something they proved with the imposible-to-review fourth album The Tussler.

Blissard takes us at least back to more familiar psych rock terrain again. 

Take some psych rock and add both garage rock and indie rock. The add some electronica at the end of the album.

The music is slightly light and fluffy. The psych rock here has this garage rock feel too.

The vocals is good and the band does a good job on some not so good stuff. The quality is somewhere between decent and good. I am not won over but I am still looking forward to continue this journey.

2.5 points

Mythic Sunship - Another Shape of Psychedelic Music (2018)

The fourth album from this band from Denmark.

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

Two guests added guitars, electronics and saxophone.

This ship returned again with their fourth album.

A seventy-five minutes long album is what we are being treated to here. The music is still space rock from outer space. But there is a difference here... a big one from their previous albums.

The saxophone.

In the bottom of the sound, we get the bass, drums and guitars. On the top of that, and pretty dominating too, is the saxophone which is dancing and twisting along with the music. That gives the space rock a jazzy feel. It is like avant-garde jazz meets space rock.

The result is overwhelming over seventy-five minutes. The saxophone solos is unrelenting and the music is pretty hard.

The quality of the compositions here is somewhere between decent and good. The saxophones adds a huge amount of originality to the music. It is like the music is it's own genre. This album is indeed pushing the envelope of both avant-garde jazz and space rock.

The music is a heck of a rackett. Play this on load speakers in public and the general public, even the more tolerant ones, will run away in panic.

It is still a good album though. Barely good, but still a good album. I wonder what the next album will bring....

3 points

Yobrepus - Mycelium Days (2020)

The second album from this band from Norway.

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

I was quite impressed by their new album A Rhizome Revolution Part 1, released and reviewed one month ago. Hence, I wanted to check out their first two albums too. I only found Mycelium Days, though.

Their music is a mix of Radiohead, Marillion and Airbag. There is also some hints of A-ha and King Crimson too.

The music is pretty melancholic and softly spoken throughout. 

The twenty-two minutes long title track is pretty progressive before the remaining tracks takes us down and into solid art-rock territory.

The music is good throughout this three quarters of an hour long album. The band is talented and they proved that on their new album, reviewed last month. 

Check out this band and album.

3 points

 

Cosmograf - Rattrapante (2021)

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

Robin Armstrong did the bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

He got help from a trio of guests who provided drums, narration, female and male vocals.

This album was the reason Robin Armstrong left the live band version of Big Big Train. He rather wanted to write and record new music, which ended up as this album, instead of touring with Big Big Train. This in addition to his daytime job.

Rattrapante clocks out at fifty minutes. The music is a mix of art-rock and symphonic prog. There is a lot of Middle-East ambience and influences on this album.

The music is at times very bombastic. It is muscular throughout. It is also full of intricate details.

Robin's vocals is good. The music is well crafted.

This is not the best of the many Cosmograf albums. Nevertheless, this is a good album.

 3 points

 

 

Dialeto - Pandelirium (2024)

The fifth album from this band from Brazil.

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

This band was formed in 1984 and album debuted in 1991. 

I have reviewed a couple of their albums and have not been too impressed. But I had forgotten those reviews when I agreed to review this album. 

The music is a mix of heavy progressive rock and fusion. No less and no more. All this delivered through the power-trio format.

The music on this forty minutes are decent enough. This genre, instrumental prog, is a very difficult genre. It is also over-populated. 

There is not much good stuff here. Hardly any good stuff. This is a decent album in a very difficult genre, though. 

If instrumental heavy prog is your thing........

2 points

 

 

Grand Funk Railroad - Grand Funk Lives (1981)

The 12th studio album from this band from USA.

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

The band split up after the previous album and then re-united again on this album. This with a new keyboard player and bassist.

The return of the band saw the band a bit lighter and not so hard rocking as before. The vocals are good and the new members does an acceptable job.

The music is middle of the road US pop/rock.

A cover version of a well known song as We Gotta Get Out Of This Place feels a bit out of place here. 

The songs are all fairly decent. This though is their worst album of these twelve albums and you can feel the end is near. The next album is the end. This is not an album doing the band's good name and reputation any service.

1.5 points

 

 

 

 

Wyatt. Robert - For the Ghosts Within (2010)

The tenth album from this artist from Great Britain.

Robert Wyatt did the vocals and a bit of trumpet, whistling and percussion.

He had help from numerous guests who added percussion, bass, accordion, strings, woodwinds, keyboards and vocals.

Robert Wyatt gave some of his songs the world music treatment on this one hour long album. Mostly Middle-East and Arabic arrangements of his songs. Arabic and Middle-East music dressed up in a classical music setting. Confusing ?

Robert Wyatt's vocals is still here. But they are not so dominating as on most of his releases. 

The music has an old age 1930 classical music sound. Still in some Middle-East and Arabic clothing.

The music is not particular interesting and it fails to resonate with the listener. His version of Lous Armstrong's Beutiful World is rather beautiful. That is the best song here on a rather uninteresting album.

1.5 points

 

ViaMedia - Bridge of Sighs (2024)

The debut album from this band from Norway.

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

A handful of guests, including Jacob Lupo-Holm, John Mitchell and Craig Blundell, added drums, percussion, guitars, synths, flugelhorn, tarogate, saxophones, bagpipes, male and female vocals.

This is another prog rock act from Norway with their debut album this decade, the 2020s.. The Norwegian (prog rock) fauna is richer and more varied than the fauna on the wild prairie in USA or Mongolia. 

ViaMedia's debut album, this one, takes us through a melancholic landscape somewhere between art-rock and neo-prog. The music is also flowery at times. The sporadic vocal harmonies are very good.

The music is melodic with some good vocals and musicianship. The music is also quirky with some Gentle Giant and Genesis vibes throughout this forty minutes long album.

The quality is good throughout this album. 

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

Check out this album.

3 points

 

 

 

Roxy Music - Siren (1975)

The fifth album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The band returned again after the success with their fourth album Country Life.

Siren is the final album of the classic Roxy Music setup. The band was breaking up and Bryan Ferry was taking full control.

The opening song Love Is The Drug became a hit single. Quite a good song with some reggae influences. 

That song is the only one with overly reggae influences. The band had been pickpocketing other trends and styles for this album. Disco is one of the genres being pickpocketed.

Most of the music is quirky art-pop/rock though.

The quality and standards has unfortunate taken a dive after Country Life. But not by much. The quality is still somewhere between decent and good. It is therefore an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points

King's X - Tape Head (1998)

The seventh album from this band from USA.

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

The band was now signed on Metal Blade, a label with extreme metal bands like for example Cannibal Corpse. Nobody had yet managed to figure out how to handle King's X and their music. Hence the meagre album sales.

I have never really understood why this band never converted their big status to selling millions of albums. There is something fundamental wrong with this world, this planet. 

The opening track says it all..... Groove Machine. It is a statement of intent for the rest of the album.

The music is groovy with some soul, funk, grunge, prog, blues and hard rock. It has strong Led Zeppelin and The Beatles influences.

The songs are all good here. This album is not as good as their first albums. But it still deliver the goods.

Check out this album if intelligent, groovy hard rock is your thing.

3 points

Løvetann - En Duft Av Roser (2002)

The second album from this band from Norway.

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

Fezza Ellingsen was the main man and guitarist on Høst's legendary Hardt Mot Hardt album. An album with classic status in Norwegian rock.

Løvetann is a project/band he has been running and releasing strictly limited CD-R albums with since 1998. Discocs is a bit confusing here but we are talking about nine or so albums. All of them almost impossible to find... at the moment. 

This is the only one of their CD-R albums I could find.

The music is a mix of art-rock and good old progressive rock from the 1970s. Van Der Graaf Generator and Peter Hammill mostly springs to mind.

The vocals is operatic. Both the male and the sporadic female vocals. The music is not particular epic or operatic. The contrasts between the pretty basic melodies and the opera vocals is interesting and the main takeaway from this album and band.

The music is good throughout and we are really, really talking about a well hidden gem here. This album and band really deserve proper releases or at least a Bandcamp page.

3 points

 

 

East of Lyra - East of Lyra (2019)

The one and only album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This band released their CD and then disappeared without a trace. The CD is almost impossible to get hold of too, btw.

The music on this forty-five minutes long album is a mix of heavy metal and progressive rock. 

The heavy metal is pretty dramatic and bold. A comparison with Iron Maiden is in order. The progressive rock here can be compared to Rush. A mix of Rush and Iron Maiden is a good reference for this album.

The vocals is decent enough. The rest of the band does a good job. The bass is pretty similar to what Steve Harris does in Iron Maiden. It is in the foreground of the sound.

The quality of the music is decent enough. 

Iron Maiden fans should check out this album if they can find it. 

2 points

 

 

Stain Monsters - Still In Love (2024)

The second album from this band from Norway.

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

This band album debuted decades ago. It is also regarded as some sort of a supergroup. This band also got Cecilie Leganger on keyboards. In her earlier life, she was a world champ winning handball keeper and widely regarded as the best handball keeper of all time. She was huge in my youth and I was among her fans. On this album, she is not one of the best keyboards players in the world.... But she still does a good job.

Handbal greats and idols aside...

The music on this album is a mix of 1960s pop, indie pop, psych rock and the likes of Traveling Wilburys and Electric Light Orchestra. Jeff Lynne's name is written pretty large on this album, music wise.

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

This is not music I am particular interested in. Nevertheless, the music is somewhere between decent and good. ELO fans may lend this album their ears.

2.5 points

 

 

Zoltan. Eddy - Be My Guest (1983)

The second and final album from this artist from Norway. 

Eddy Zoltan did the guitars, piano and keyboards here.

He got help from some guests who added percusion, drums, bass, guitars and vocals.

His debut album Spelemann was a decent 1970s rock album. That and this album has just been re-released through the NAK series and that has given them and Eddy Zoltan's reputation a new life. 

Be My Guest is a mix of jazz, rock and pop. Most of the music is big and bold. 

The music is also well delivered with a lot of intricate details. The vocals is pretty good.

The music feels slightly dated. This is still a decent album.

Fans of Norwegian rock should check out this album.

2 points

 

 

Zappa. Frank - Dance Me This (2015)

The 43rd and final album from this artist from USA.

Frank Zappa did the guitar and synclavier.

He had help from three Siberian throat singers.

Frank Zappa had passed on in 1993. The years that followed witnessed a flood of albums with archive material. 

The quality control was very poor at the end and Dance Me This is taken from the bottom of the barrel. 

The only news here is the Siberian throat singers and they and the music around them is half-decent. The rest of these thirty odd minutes is very poor.

.... And so ends my reviews of his albums. Albums who includes some good stuff inbetween some pretty poor efforts. I think I will conlude by saying that Frank Zappa had a big personality but whose discography were not living up to his personality. I am not one of his millions of fans. Nevertheless, he has my respect.

1.5 points

Confirmation Bias - Century Mornings (2024)

The debut album from this band from Norway.

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

This is a new band in the Norwegian progressive rock scene. 

The band sprung out of the Rush tribute band Rusj. The band members has also played in bands like Misplaced Childhood, Millenya and Magic Pie. That and some local bands. The average age of the band members must be around fifty years old, I guess.

That is reflected in the music on this one hour long album. Music thoroughly rooted in the 1970s prog, psych and art rock scene. There are some hints of Dream Theater and hard rock too.

The music is very muscular and melodic. The vocals is beefy.... and good. 

The result is a pretty impressive album. My only gripe is the missing great song or piece of music. Nevertheless, this is a good album.

3 points

 

Abacus - Everything You Need (1972)

The second album from this band from Germany.

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

I reviewed their debut album back in September 2012 and liked it a lot. 

For some reasons, I did not continue to review the rest of their albums. I will this spring review their remaining five albums.

The music on this forty minutes long album is mostly pop and rock. Vaudeville and a bit quirky pop and rock, but still in that genre.

There is very little prog here. There is some early symphonic prog here and that is all. The music is to a large extent poppy krautrock, though. The band comes from the krautrock scene.

The songs are catchy despite of being a bit quirky.

The quality is still pretty decent. I was so looking forward to sinking my teeth into this album.... Nevertheless, it is still a decent album. The title track is the highlight here and it is a good song.

2 points

 

 

My Dying Bride - Evinta (2011)

The 11th album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a duo with a lineup of electronics and vocals.

A handful of guests added cello, viola, piano, keyboards and female vocals.

I am always looking forward to reviewing EPs or albums from this band as it is one of my alltime favourite bands. So I started to listen to this album...#

... An album that felt a bit odd.

This is not really a proper studio album. It is re-worked for cello, viola, piano, vocals and keyboards old pieces of music. Pieces from their long career.

This album is also long and comes as a double CD.  

Some of the pieces is some I recognise from previous albums. Other pieces are so re-worked that I am not able to recognise them.

All of this also has a lot of electronica and some male and female vocals.

This is really an avant-garde rock album and much more avant-garde than a normal album from this band.

Some of the stuff is good and some of it is decent. I am not won over but this album still deserve some attention.

2.5 points

 

 

Hawk On Flight - Hawk On Flight (1980)

The second album from this band from Sweden and Norway.

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

I was pretty impressed with their 1979 debut album In Time For Hawk On Flight. A good fusion album.

The band continued on their second album with their take on fusion.

References are Return To Forever and Weather Report. This on their debut album as on their second album.

The music on this forty-five minutes long album is playful with a lot of solos and quirky melodies. Those who are into Return To Forever will really enjoy this album. The difference is that the musicians in RTF was the best ones in the world at that time. The musicians in HOF was "only" the best ones in Scandinavia at that time. That is the only major difference. That and the music on this album is slightly more laidback.

The result is a really good album.

The band continued to release some more albums. Albums I have yet to find so I will leave the band at this stage.

3 points

 

 

Earthshine - Symbiosis (1985)

The second and final album from this band from USA.

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

This band is very obscure and their two albums were both self-released. They are both available through Ebay. 

I have not checked out their first album and I have no intentions to do so either. 

The band's music on this forty minutes long album is a mix of mainstream rock, art-rock and AOR. 

The band's musical standards is OK. There are some good guitar riffs and themes here. The vocals are barely acceptable. Hence, the guitars are their main positive feature. 

The music is half-decent to decent. The good guitars elevates this album a bit and up to a decent standard. I still have problems recommending this very obscure album. Nevertheless....

2 points

 

 

Leviathan - Heartquake / Redux (2024)

The fourth album from this band from Italy.

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

This album is a re-recorded and redone version of their 1988 debut album Heartquake. Hence the album title.

Two of the original members did the re-recording with the help of three guests and now permanent members of this band.

This is another band flying well under my radar and I should therefore check out their second and third album. Both of them was released in the 1990s.

The music is neo-prog anno the 1980s. The style is the British neo-prog style and references are both Marillion and Pallas.

The music is both muscular and elegant. The six songs are medium long. They are pretty punchy too and has got some really good vocals, guitars and keyboards.

This is a good album and one neo-prog fans will cherish and really enjoy.

Check out this album.

3 points

 

 

 

Zoltan. Eddy - Spelemann (1974)

The debut album from this artist from Norway.

Eddy Zoltan Kiss played the organ, piano and mellotron.

He got help from some guests who provided drums, bass, guitars and vocals.

Eddy Zoltan was a Hungarian artist who had fled the oppressive regime in then the Sovietunion occupied Hungary and settled in Norway. One of pretty many Hungarian refugees who made Norway into their homeland. That to the benefit of Norway and the Norwegian society as a lot of these regugees was both smart and artistic.

Eddy Zoltan released two albums and I got both of them for reviews. The second one will follow in some days time.

This album was pretty heavy promoted but still did not sell well. It has just been re-released through the NAK series with the hope that it will sell some more copies and get the attention it deserves.

The music is a mix of Norwegian folk music, 1970s rock, musicals like pop and progressive rock. Procol Harum and Traffic is a good reference. 

The vocals are in Norwegian and pretty good. Ditto for the organs and the mellotrons. 

I had no expectations whatsoever to this album and became pretty positive surprised. The quality is actually decent and there are some good instrumental parts here. 

This is a very obscure band but well worth checking out.

2 points

Zappa. Frank - Feeding The Monkies At Ma Maison (2011)

The 41st album from this artist from USA.

Frank Zappa does the synclavier on this album.

This album was dug out from some leftover material from the Jazz From Hell recording session. A record released long after Frank Zappa's passing and a record who was itself based on leftover materials.

I am debating with myself if this album is a gift to the really diehard fans or just a ripoff. 

Even the diehard fans will have problems enjoying these forty minutes of mindless synclavier noises. 

That is what it is... some samples and mindless notes spliced together to make pointless pieces of noise.

In short, this album is a turkey.

1 point

Big Big Train - The Likes of Us (2024)

The 17th album from this band from Great Britain.

The band is a seven piece big band with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, violin, mellotron, synths, piano, organ and vocals.

A handful of guests added woodwinds.

The sad passing of the lead vocalist and leading light David Longdon was a big blow to this band and the progressive rock scene. There was threrefore some questions being asked about this band.

The ex PFM vocalist Alberto Bravin stepped in as the new vocalist and the band pulled together and pooled their very considerable resources to replace David Longdon. An almost impossible task, but the band has done their best. Not at least to honour his memory.

The music is a mix of symphonic prog and neo-prog with some art-rock incorporated.

The music is lush with both male and female vocals. Alberto Bravin has done a great job here. Just as he did when he revitalised PFM again.

The music is very good with some great guitars and vocal harmonies. The mellotron is great too.

This album is again a proof that this band is the best progressive rock act on these islands and a very good album in it's own right. 

3.5 points

Grand Funk Railroad - Good Singin', Good Playin' (1976)

The eleventh album from this band from USA.

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

A guest added guitars.

The band continues with their mix of hard rock, arena rock and americana. 

The songs are pretty catchy on this album. But there is nothing much going on than workman like hard arena rock.

The vocals is good and the band does their best on some decent songs. 

This album, and indeed the band, is something fans of US rock from the 1970s should check out.

2 points

Wyatt. Robert - Radio Experiment Rome... (2009)

The ninth album from this artist from Great Britain.

Robert Wyatt did all instruments here. That is percussion, harp, piano, keyboards and vocals.

This album was recorded for and by a radio station in Rome, Italy back in 1981. It was an experiment, indeed. 

The music is ambient and improvised. The lyrics are left-wing and some praise for the communists in China. Very naive, taking into account how murderous that regime was back then. Not that they have improved a lot in that respect these days....

A lot of things are being used/misused as percussion and Robert uses his voice both as vocals and as an instrument.

On paper, this sounds horrible. But actually, it is not that horrible. Yes, this is an album I will never ever play again. Nevertheless, some parts of this album is pretty engaging and charming.

The result is a half-decent album but nothing more than that. 

1.5 points

Golden Core - Kosmos Brenner (2024)

The third album from this band from Norway.

The band is a duo with a lineup of theremin, percussion, drums, bass, guitars, organ, piano, synths and vocals.

Some guests added woodwinds, organ and vocals.

This is another Norwegian band who has been flying below my radar for the last five years. It is my understanding that their first two albums were stoner rock albums. 

Kosmos Brenner is something altogether different...

Take black and viking metal, add industrial metal, a bit punk and some stoner rock. Then add some heavy metal.

The music on this forty minutes long album is very brutal throughout. It also has a great avant-garde feel. It is indeed avant-garde metal, the genre we can put this album in.

Some brutal vocals also adds brutality. 

The quality is decent to good throughout. This is one of the better new brutal metal albums I have encountered this year. Check it out.

2.5 points

 

 

Earthmark - Megafauna (2022)

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

This is another album given to me as a progressive rock album....

Another well meant gesture. Nevertheless, the music here is not particular progressive.

Take blues and blend it with psych rock. Add a bit americana rock and you get the drift.

The music is melodic too. It is still pretty traditional and americana.

It is not particular interesting if progressive rock floats your boat. There is not many really good songs here either. Songs who would appeal to anyone but those who are into the americana genre.

This is a decent album. 

2 points