Aliante - Forme Libere (2017)

The debut album from this Italian band.

Aliante is a trio with a lineup of organ, moog, mellotron, e-piano, bass and drums.
A female vocalist contributes with spoken words during the first few seconds of this album.

This is one of the albums that slip through my fingers in 2017. As it is an album from Italy, that is not good.

It is also an RPI album of some sort.... Rock Progressivo Italiano.

So it is my favourite music, then.... the RPI genre, that is.

I am no big fan of instrumental progressive rock. In particular synths and keyboards driven instrumental progressive rock. The albums that really interest me in this sub-genre of progressive rock must have some really remarkable music.

Forme Libere has not.

The music is clearly drawing inspirations from the 1970s RPI scene. The music is mostly floating around and offer up some dynamic pieces of music. There are some dissonant synths now and then.

The music is good without really being impressive. I am struggling and failing to find anything greatness on this forty-seven minutes long album.

It is a good album and just that. Good enough to check it out.

3 points

Tangent. The - Proxy (2018)

The tenth album from this British band.

The Tangent is a sextet with a lineup of guitars, keyboards, saxophone, flutes, Hammond organ, synths, bass, drums, backing vocals and vocals.

Andy Tillison is the main man in The Tangent and he has been present from day one of this band, twenty years ago. The first nine albums has been interesting, to say at least.

Interesting and challenging. Dull and boring is words not associated with The Tangent and Andy Tillison.

The music and the niche The Tangent has chosen is a blend of symph prog and Canterbury prog.

That is again what we get on the seventy minutes long Proxy. An album about these times where we are ruled by a proxy for most things.

The lyrics are very important on this album and in the forefront of the sound and the music. Andy Tillison has something to say and it is not something I can disagree with. That message is floating on the top of some music which sometimes moves into jazz and a bit avant-garde Canterbury prog.

The music is by all means good. Proxy is not the best ever The Tangent album though. It is still a good album from a band of whom I buy everything as it is a very relevant band and whose albums and music is always in the forefront of the progressive rock world.

3 points

Marble House - Embers (2018)

The debut album from this Italian band.

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

There is a lot of new bands from Italy who plays progressive rock, but not necessary RPI - Rock Progressive Italiano.

These bands chooses a more contemporary British sound than the old 1970s sound. Neo- prog in other words.

OK, there is some Genesis here in their sound and music. The music are rather pastoral and pedestrian instead of hard and fast. There is also some Radiohead and Gazpacho influences. The same goes for Marillion influences.

There is a lot of guitars and vocal harmonies in their music. A lot of soulful music. A lot of good details.

The end result is an acceptable album. It is a good album without the big faults or great songs. It is an album well worth checking out.

3 points

Electric Eye - Pick Up Lift Off Space Time (2013)

The debut album from this Norwegian band.

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

I reviewed their 2017 album some time ago and decided on the back of that to get their first two albums too. In short, I like their 2017 album From The Poisonous Tree and you can read my review somewhere else in this blog.

The band is one of the bands in the Norwegian prog rock scene. One of the best one in the world. If not the best one at this very moment.

Their music is a mix of space rock, psych rock and krautrock. There is a lot of floating sounds here with some really cool vocals. The earliest incarnation of Pink Floyd is a huge influence on their music and sound. There is also some blues here, but not much. There is a lot more electronica, though.

There are some really good guitar solos and harmonies on this album too.

This album has both this early 1970s feel and the neo-psychedelia feel. There is even some Happy Mondays feel over the vocals.

This album is forty-five minutes long and it does not overstay it's welcome during these minutes. This is indeed a good to very good album and I get the feeling that this is a band well worth following in the future.

3 points

Presto Ballet - The Days Between (2018)

The fifth album from this US band.

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

This band had taken a six years long break and I did not expect to see another Presto Ballet album again. Metal Church, the main band of the founder of Presto Ballet, was releasing albums too... so I thought that was that when I reviewed their first albums. Reviews you will find somewhere else in this blog.

A really good cover art-work herald the new album and I dig into the music.

There is a lot of Kansas in their music. A lot of Americana and some prog metal influences.

There is also a lot of fresh heavy and neo-prog like music here too.

The vocals are really good and ditto for the sound. This is an unashamed US album who draws a lot on the US scene from the 1970s. The stadium rock bands from that era.

The music sounds really fresh and new too despite of the 1970s influences.

I have my gripes about the quality of the music. But I cannot deny that this forty minutes long album plays on a lot of my heart strings. Maybe more on those strings than my brain cells.

Check out this good album.

3 points

 

Tryo - Viajes (2005)

The fifth album from this band from Chile.

The band were a trio with a lineup of cello, acoustic guitars, marima, vibraphone, udu, cymbals, toms, crotalos, indian drum, xaxixi, darabuka, choir and vocals.

Tryo started out as more or less a metal band on their first albums. They soon changed style though and became unpredictable.

But even I did not expect Viajes.

The music has been stripped of most instruments. There are no electricity here and everything is acoustic..... and barely that.

The music here is by all means avant garde/RIO. That is the only genre who fits the description.

The music is pretty melodic at the end and has some vocals then. Before that, the music is pretty dense with details and not so melodic.

The quality is pretty good throughout. Even the melodic and vocals parts at the end.

I fear the avant-garde/RIO fans is missing out on an album they will really like because this band is labeled as a fusion/jazz band in most archives. This though is not anywhere near this genre.

This is a decent to good album which will positive surprise a lot of people.

2.5 points

All Traps On Earth - A Drop Of Light (2018)

The debut album from this Swedish band.

The band is a quartet with a lineup of bass, drums, mellotron, moog, keyboards, synths, fender rhodes, organ, clavinet, grand piano, tubular bells and female vocals.
The band had help from guest musicians who provided guitars, woodwinds and bass.

This album was THE sensation of last year. An album voted the best album of the year if I am not totally wrong.

No wonder when you know that the band is three member of Anglagard and the daughter of one of them. That is this band.

The music on this album is not Anglagard copycat. It is Anglagard taken some steps towards the left and genres like zeuhl and avant-garde.

The music is instrumental with the female vocals used as an instrument. The voices are in the zeuhl genre, indeed.

The mix of Swedish symphonic prog, zeuhl and avant-garde makes this a massive gigantic album. It also adds a lot of dark, bleak soundscapes to this album.

The music is still pretty melodic though.... but not for the faint-hearted.

Every piece of music here is pieces of art. And this album of art-pieces are a great album. It is an album which may set a trend this year and in the future.

It is indeed a great album.

4 points

 

Nektar - Down To Earth (1974)

The fifth album from this British band.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of bass, drums, keyboards, guitars and vocals.
The band had help from numerous other musicians who provided woodwinds, backing vocals and choirs.

Nektar was a British band who played krautrock.

That is their reputation, at least. And that goes for this album, at least.

The band had arrived at their fifth album after four up and down albums.... quality wise.

The music on Down To Earth is a mix of US stadium rock, krautrock and psych rock. Add some symphonic prog and beat too and you get this album.

There is some woodwinds here and a lot of Roy Albrighton's vocals and guitars. It is one of the better combinations from those 1970s.

The music is both mainstream and not mainstream. Yes, because of the music is straight forward on the surface. No, because it is pretty quirky at times with lots of interesting details. It is at least confirming that listening to their albums and not at least; reviewing them, are not dull at all.

Down To Earth a decent to good album. It is not a dull album though.

2.5 points

Stolt. Roine - Manifesto Of An Alchemist (2018)

The eight solo-album from this Swedish artist.

Roine Stolt did the guitars, synths, keyboards, ukulele and vocals on this album.
He got help from numerous stars from the scene who provided hammond organ, moog, mellotron, basses, sax, flutes and additional vocals.

As the readers can see on the art-work, Roine Stolt has named this album project as Roine Stolt's The Flower King. It is not The Flower Kings though although he is now touring with The Flower Kings.

I am not sure why, but the music makes me guess the reason. The music is not really fully fledged The Flower Kings take on Swedish symphonic prog. It is though not too dissimilar to Roine Stolt's previous solo albums.

So we get Swedish symphonic prog, but not as symphonic as The Flower Kings does this genre.

The music is pretty complex though.

It is also a bit eclectic too. And it is very representative for what Roine Stolt has done during the last fifteen years.

I am not really as impressed by this album as I am with all the other albums Roine Stolt has done in the last fifteen years. This is by all means a good to very good album. But it lack some sparks and great stuff.

It is still a very good album and well worth checking out. But it still leaves me wanting more.

3.5 points

Agincourt - Fly Away (1970)

The one and only album from this British band.

The band was a trio with a lineup of guitars, bass, mandolin, organ, piano, percussion, auto harp and vocals. Both male and female vocals.
Two guest musicians provided drums and flute.

This is another very obscure British folk rock band who released one album and then disappeared again.

The obscurity is also revealed by the cover-art work which is very cheap looking. Even in 1970, that art-work is primitive.

The music too is pretty primitive folk rock.

There is plenty of good melodies here though and most of the songs has some acid-folk influences. This album is bordering to being an acid-folk album.

The vocals are angelic and really good. The music is not too bad. The album has a short life before the listener get a bit fed up. The music is immediate with a short life-span.

Those into folk rock will really like this album. It is a decent enough album.

2 points

Kanaan - Windborne (2018)

The debut album from this Norwegian band.

The band is a trio with a lineup of bass, drums and guitars.
A guest musician is helping them out with a Rhodes epiano on the opening track.

The last years has given us some new Norwegian bands who operates somewhere between fusion, jazz and eclectic prog. Most of these bands are really exciting and adds a lot of value and new interest to both the Norwegian and the world wide prog scene.

Kanaan is one of these bands. The band comes with university level educated musicians and a lot of new ideas. Ideas from the likes of King Crimson and Soft Machine, that is.

The eight minutes long opening track A. Hausenbacken is very exciting with the Rhodes piano. And then....

....We get the trio format of bass, drums and guitars.

And we also get some very eclectic jazz-prog too. The rest of the album is not for the faint hearted prog rock fan. It is some pretty hard music to digest as it is so eclectic.

The end result, after the very promising opening track, is a good album and a band I want to hear a lot more from.

3 points

Bony. Fabrice - Inner Lands (2013)

The second album from this French artist.

Fabrice Bony does everything himself on this album. Drums, piano, computer, keyboards, bass and guitars.

Originally a drummer, he took up the guitar too and started to record albums. So far, four albums.

I got this album and his fourth album up for review.

This album is one album that brings me to adopt the label "world prog music" on the music here.

There is a lot of Native American, Chinese and Japanese folk sounds, world music on this album. On the top of that, you have progressive rock of some sort.

Neo-prog with world music is perhaps the right label. That is what we get on this one hour long album.

The music is instrumental and got a lot of guitars. Both harmonies and long solos. All of them are pretty good.

The end result is a good album which stands out for it's originality and the use of world music. It is an album well worth checking out.

3 points

 

Galahad - Year Zero (2002)

The seventh album from this British band.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of guitars, bass, drums, programming, mellotron, mini moog, electronic drums, synths, keyboards and vocals.
Numerous other musicians added their woodwinds and vocals to this album.

It is fair to say that Galahad's output so far has been a very mixed bag. Not at least genre wise. They have gone acoustic and they have gone electronica. Hence I am not even bothered reviewing their sixth album, the electronica album De-Constructing Ghosts.

Galahad is a neo-prog band though. But not often enough, so far.

Year Zero sees the band give us a sprinkling of neo-prog, electronica and symphonic prog. There are even some jazz here.

I am not really sure what the band was doing or trying to achieving. Being regarded as a run of the mill neo-prog band was probably what they were trying to avoid and they worked hard to escape that label.

Too hard in my opinion.

At best, this album is really good. Then we get some nodding off electronica stuff which simply does not work at all.

The result is a mixed bag and an album who fall somewhere between decent and good. It is frustrating album for neo-prog fans like myself.

2.5 points

Drowning Steps - The Comfort of an Endless Pain (2017)

The debut album from this Brazilian band.

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

This is to me another unknown band and I got this album from their Bandcamp page. It seems like they are still alive and well.

The cover art-work speaks about some pastoral music. And that is true.

Take some Steven Wilson, add Sigur Ros and lots and lots of Pink Floyd.... and some ambient music.

Less-Is-More is the agenda here and that shines through. The music is pastoral with some guitars, bass, drums, vocals and keyboards over some pretty ambient psych rock pieces.

There is still some interesting details in the music on this three quarters of an hour long album. The vocals are really good and so is some of the guitar solos.

My only gripe is the lack of some really good songs here. If the band get some really good songs on their next album, this band will get far.

Nevertheless, check out this album.

2.5 points

Poldur's Gate Project - Human Nature (2018)

The debut album from this Italian one-man project.

Poldur's Gate Project is the project of Luca Bussolini. He does everything here besides of the female vocals. The instruments is guitars, bass, synths and drums.

This is a project about the insensitive humans. That is what I have heard.

The vocals is distorted and driven through a computer which has made them inhuman. That according to what Luca has written himself. And this is indeed correct.

The music is a mix of symphonic metal, speed metal, prog metal, goth rock and a couple of ounces of progressive rock.

The music on this forty minutes long album is as original as the wheel itself. It is fifty shades of a wheel..... or worse.

All riffs and most minutes here sounds familiar as they have been through my speakers before. The music is also pretty horrible too.

This album is a turkey and one I am glad I will never have to listen to again. Avoid.

1 point

Dust - Hard Attack (1972)

The second and final album from this US band.

The band was a trio on this album with a lineup of guitars, bass, drums and vocals.
A guest musician provided organ and piano.

Marky Ramone (Marc Bell), who later joined The Ramones, were still the drummer on this album.

The band were short-lived and only released two albums. I have earlier this month reviewed their debut album and you can find the review somewhere else in this blog.

As I said, they were a short-lived band. But they have got a semi-classic band status well after their demise.

Hard Attack is the band delivering some pretty potent hard rock... with some nuances.

There are some tear dripping ballads here too. But most of the album is hard rocking and almost proto-punk at times.

There are still some psych rock here too and that adds some interesting details to this album.

The quality of the music on this forty minutes long album is pretty decent. This album is still stuck in a time-warp... in 1972. It does not translate well into 2019, though.

Hard rock fans may find a good album here. I am not won over.

2 points

Riven Earth - Project One (2018)

The debut album from this band from Germany.

The band is a trio with a lineup of bass, guitars, drums, keyboards and vocals.
Two female vocalists are also adding their voices to this project.

The German neo-prog scene has always been very strong and good. It has unleashed a lot of bands and albums on the rest of us. Something that makes me grateful as I am quite a big fan of this genre.

The basis on this album is neo-prog. There are also some symphonic prog here.There are also some pretty commercial songs here which is in the pop/rock vein.

The vocals are really good and the musicians does their best on this album. The music is not particular hard. The guitars and keyboards are pretty restrained. There is not many guitar solos.

Most of the stuff is really catchy and light on the ear. This album also have some good details too.

Those who want a lot of food for thought will leave this album disappointed. And I am indeed a bit disappointed by this album. It is not really offering me much after a couple of listening sessions. It goes downhill after the first hooray.

This is a decent to good album. It is well worth checking out though if German neo-prog floats your boat.

2.5 points

Rishloo - Terras Fames (2004)

The debut album from this US band.

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

This album were their self-released debut album and it caused quite a furore......

I have their four albums and will review them asap this year. This as a part of the full discos reviews I do.

The band's music is not easy to pinpoint. Take a lot of grunge, add some psych and a lot of post-metal too. Then add a lot of Radiohead too. Then you get a lot of what is going on here.

The music is by no means easy-listening. Most of the music is pretty jarring and dissonant. We are talking a new form of progressive rock here.

This is indeed progressive rock who is looking forward and not back to the past, the 1970s.

This fifty minutes long album is not offering up much good music. There are some bits here and there with good music.

This is a decent album though but nothing more than that.

2 points

Tubo Elástico. El - Impala (2018)

The second album from this Spanish band.

The band is a quartet with a lineup of guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, percussion and programming.
A guest musician contributes with Chapman stick on one track.

This is their second album and both were released through Bandcamp.

Their music is among the least commercial and financial rewarding genres you can think off. Instrumental prog.

Take some post-metal, post rock, fusion and prog metal. That is when you get this album.

An album among very many in this genre and with the same type of music and vision. It is hard to come up with something really good in this genre.

The post rock influences are the best here and by a country mile. It is when the music becomes a bit pastoral post rock it really shines.

That is not often enough and this album is not really offering anything new.

Nevertheless, this fifty minutes long album is a decent one and will give fans of this genre what they want. I am not won over.

2 points

Walfad - Colloids (2018)

The fourth album from this band from Poland.

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

I have reviewed two for their first three albums in # 1 of this blog. You can find these reviews there.

I cannot say I was particular impressed by their neo-prog back then. But I am giving them another chance.... Mainly because I like to find out if the band is more to my taste now than on previous occasions.

The music is still neo-prog. Neo-prog in the Polish vein of neo-prog.

The sound is really warm with some AOR and folk influences. Not to mention symphonic prog influences. There is also a lot of German neo-prog influences in this music too.

The vocals are really good here with a raspy, americana feel. There are also some very sporadic female vocals here who adds value to this album.

The seven songs on this forty minutes long album has indeed some very good details and stuff. This is indeed a charming, good album which has brought a lot of good out of this band.

It is perhaps not a clean shaven neo-prog album. It is still a good album, though. Check it out.

3 points

Drosselbart - Drosselbart (1970)

The one and only album from this German band.

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

This band came, released one album (+ two singles from the album) and then disappeared again. They left us with an extreme obscure album.

Krautrock is the genre here and nobody would be surprised by that.

Their version of krautrock is a mix of beat music, some psych and some blues. That and some pretty standard rock'n'roll too.

There are a couple of halfway good songs here. Jemima is not surprisingly the first single from this album and a song which reminds me about Italian pop music.

The rest of the album has some decent stuff and charm.

This is indeed a charming album with a limited scope and appeal. The quality is simply not here.

Krautrock fans with lap up this album, I guess. It is an obscure album  and that for a good reason.

2 points

Ellesmere - II From Sea And Beyond (2018)

The second album from this one-man Italian band.

Roberto Vitelli on bass and all kinds of keyboards and synths is Ellesmere now.

He has got help from various guest musicians on drums, percussion, sax, piano, hammond organ, guitars and vocals.
Among the famous names helping out is Alan Benjamin, Robert Berry, Brett Kull, Trey Gunn and David Jackson.

I really liked their very good 2015 debut album Les Chateaux De La Loire and you can find my review here. It was a very good Anthony Phillips influenced album.

So I expected more of the same.

Did I get it ? No.

Roberto Vitelli has moved to a new musical sphere and that sphere is bombastic prog somewhere between symphonic prog and neo-prog.

There is plenty of both genres here. There is even some vocals from Robert Berry. There is even a couple of songs here.

There is a lot of really good keyboards and synths here  too and the music is big and bold. It is also very good with lots of very good melodies.

Roberto Vitelli has again delivered the goods and put Ellesmere up among the more interesting prog combos out there.

3.5 points




 

Dragon - Kalahen (1977)

The second and final album from this band from Belgium.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of flutes, drums, string machine, bass, guitars, sax, keyboards, mellotron, claviolin and vocals.

I reviewed their debut album on the second to final days of last year and I quite liked that album. 

It now seems like that was their own album as Kalahen is a cobbled and spliced together album from demo tracks never released before.

The music is a mix of heavy prog with some Black Sabbath and Black Widow inspirations to some more bluesy stuff. Add a lot of krautrock and psyck rock to this album too and you get what you get here.

The sound is not good. It acceptable though, but nothing more than that.

This album is interesting because it has so much variety and different styles. And the songs are done quite well. That also include the eighteen minutes long title track.

It is a decent album but nothing more than that. It is well worth checking out, though.

2 points

Saluki - Amazing Games (2018)

The second album from this Norwegian band.

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

I thought this was a brand new album and the follow up to their 1977 self-titled debut album. That was the impression I got before this album was released. The band is still gigging and has got second wind in their sails.

Well, this album is their lost 1978 album. It was released in 2018 and has got that as the official release year. Please be aware of this.

I have reviewed their debut album somewhere else in this blog. You can read my review here.

The band was a mix of fusion and progressive rock back then and did not change much during that year. We are still talking a mix of fusion and progressive rock.

There is a lot of vocal laidback jazz here though. Almost lounge at times. Add a lot of funk... and may I dare to utter this word in public....... disco.

The vocals are good and the band does a good job too. There are a lot of very good guitars throughout this album. The songs are barely good and just that. This is not as good as the debut album. But the guitar solos wins the day and elevate this album up to a good status.

3 points

Quidam - Sny Aniołów (1998)

The second album from this band from Poland.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of cello, flute, guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, percussion and female vocals.
The band also had some help from strings and woodwinds players.

I believe this and the next album also came in an English version as the lyrics and vocals here are in their native language. I have decided to ignore these two English versions and rather review the Polish versions as they feel more natural.

I was impressed by their 1996 self-titled debut album and you can read my review somewhere else in this blog. Good female vocals dominated art/neo-prog.

Emila Derkowska is again at the microphone and does a superb job. The style is very much neo-prog with a nod towards Pendragon and the 1990s British neo-prog rock scene.

The difference is the added Polish influence. Influence in both the vocals and in the music which is pretty emotional at times.

This fifty minutes long album has no real great tracks. Nevertheless, this is a very elegant album with good tracks throughout.

This is very much an album worthy an investigation. I am starting to really like this band and more reviews are to follow.

3 points

Larsson. Lalle - Ashen Lights (2018)

The seventh album from this Swedish artist.

Lalle Larsson plays all keyboards here and has got help from Jonas Reingold on bass and Walle Wahlgren on drums.

These musicians has wide experiences from The Tangent, The Flower Kings, Agent Of Mercy and Karmakanic.

So the end result is a Scandinavian symphonic prog album, then.

Nope.

What we get here is a classic jazz trio.

You got Lalle's keyboards and his solos on the top of the bass and drums. The bass and drums is also doing their own things, call them solos or not.

The music sounds modern too.

The music on this one hour long album is really intense too with some stellar keyboards work.

I am not a big fan of jazz.... well, I am a newbie in jazz and will probably move into jazz before my time is up on this planet.

Nevertheless, this is an album I really find rewarding. There is no really great pieces of music here and that is my gripe with this album. It is a very good album though and one to check out.

3.5 points

  

Dreamworld - On Flight To The Light (1980)

The debut album from this band from Germany.

The band is a duo of Klaus and Ralf Fichter. They do vocals, bass, flute, mellotron, organ, synths, drums, congas, vibraphone and percussion.

The Fichter brothers were involved in another German band called Yatha Sidhra whose album I have reviewed here for # 1 of this blog.

We are again being treated to a krautrock album.

This time to a more traditional krautrock album which comes across as a blend of space, rock and jazz album.

The music is pretty pastoral with lots of rhythms on congas, bass and on tangents. There are some guitar solos and vocals on the top of that. Add some synths too and we are on our way out into the space.

There is also some pretty early Pink Floyd like stuff here too.

The album is forty minutes long and the sound is really good. Although released in the 1980s, it does not suffer from that horrible sound. The sound is the nice and organic 1970s.

This is in short a good album well worth checking out. Krautrock fans must lap this one up.

3 points

Flamencs - Doll Ashes (2018)

The debut album from this Argentine band.

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

I have never heard about this band before. Argentina has a very lively music scene. Argentina is also a very big country and the cities and towns are also big. Bueno Aires is a massive city in itself.

Flamencs is one of these new bands operating between alternate rock, prog metal and progressive rock.

The vocals are in their native language, Spanish. The music is a mix of prog metal and neo-prog with a lot of alternative and college rock influences.

There is also very much a local flavour to their music, a Latin-American flavour. And that is a positive on this album.

The prog metal here falls a bit flat on it's face. This three quarter of an hour long album is so much better when it becomes more pastoral.

There are no real good songs here. But this album is nevertheless a decent enough album although it does not really enthuses me in any form or shape.

2 points

 

Kaleidoreal - A Life Wasted (2018)

The debut album from this Swedish band.

The band is a trio with a lineup of guitars, bass, drums, keyboards and vocals.
They had help from another trio who provided nose flute, percussion and keyboards.

This band is totally new to me and I guess so goes for the musicians involved too. I cannot say I am familiar with any of these musicians names.

There is a lot of new bands from Sweden, taking over from the older generation. Kaleidoreal is one of these bands.

Take some neo-prog and some heavy prog. Add in some Swedish and Scandinavian symphonic prog too and you get this album.

There is a great Kaipa feel over their music although Kaleidoreal's music is far, far harder. But the sound is more or less the same.

On this one hour long album, Kaleidoreal deliver some very good vocal harmonies and guitar solos. The songs are slightly anonyme, but still good enough to make this album an eyebrow opener.

I really like what I hear from this band and hope that we will hear a lot more from them in the future. Fans of Swedish prog should and must get this album.

3 points

Keor - Petrichor (2018)

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

Keor is the project of Victor Miranda-Martin. He does the guitars, vocals, Mellotron, synths and programming here.
He has got help from three guests who does mandolin, clarinet, piano and orchestral percussion.

I have not had the chance to hear the 2016 debut album Hive Mind. But I have heard I should get this album and I may do so too.

Keor gives us a wide variety of music. From post rock to djent to prog metal to symphonic and neo prog.

The music is very modern progressive rock and it may be in the direction of forward looking progressive rock is heading. It probably is.

The sound is very big and ditto for the music which is pretty bombastic throughout. It is also very hard at most times.

There is also a lot of moods and emotions in this music.

The result is a fifty minutes long album who sometimes feels like an opera. It is also a good album which deserves a lot more attention. Maybe I should get the first album too.....

3 points

Korb - Korb (2018)

The debut album from this British band.

Korb is a duo of Jonathan Parkes and Alec Woods. The lineup is synths, guitars and bass.

This duo has released one album under the name Mutante before they re-named their cooperation to Korb.

The band is one of very many new space-rock bands these days. This genre has a massive growth of bands and that is a very good thing.

I noted space-rock here. But there is also a lot of krautrock here too. This album is fifty/fifty of both as there is also some rock riffs on this albums. The type of rock riffs also used in the krautrock scene.

This album is not an all out trip to the outer space. But there is a lot of that stuff here.

The balance between the bass, guitar and synths is also really good.

The quality too is really good and makes for some really enjoyable hours in the company of this album. I will keep an eye on this band.

3 points


 

Tryo - Dos Mundos (2002)

The fourth album from this band from Chile.

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

The band continued on from their previous albums and in the same genre.

That means a mix of heavy prog and fusion.

There is not much Latin-American rhythms this time around. The music is more straight forwards power prog and fusion.

This means guitars, bass and drums dominating this album. Totally dominating it.

The music is also very naked and very much set up for gigs and live performances. That does not necessary make it good on an album.

The music is bereft of any really good melodies too and the forty-five minutes here makes for some good technical stuff, but not a good experience.

It is a decent enough album and just that.

2 points

Progeland - Harmony Of The Universe (2018)

The second album from this band from Finland.

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

I really liked their 2014 debut album Gate To Fulfilled Fantasy a lot. Really good crossover between heavy and symphonic prog.

So I was looking forward to another helping of their music. It has arrived in the form of this album.

We are again being treated to a mix of Finnish heavy prog, symphonic prog and some neo-prog too. There are also some Finnish folk rock influences on this album.

The keyboards/organs are really good here. The vocals are superb and the guitars are good.

What is missing on this forty-four minutes long album is some really great songs. There is none of them. The band and indeed this album has it's own style. But the quality is sorely missing....

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

3 points

Progatom - Spiral (2018)

The second album from this Norwegian band.

The band is a quintet with a lineup of organ, guitars, keyboards, bass, drums and keyboards.
The band had some help from a female vocalist too.

This band is totally new to me although they have released an album called Sagittarius A some time ago. When reading their biography, it now turns out that their guitarist and main man Mattis Sorum was the guy who released the Pictorial Wand albums many years ago.

Pictorial Wand was a very good band and ProgAtom follows in it's footsteps.

Spiral gives us some good old and still modern progressive rock. The likes of Yes and The Flower Kings springs to mind here.

The Flower Kings is a very good reference here. Spiral is very much a Scandinavian progressive rock album. A Scandinavian symphonic prog album, no less.

There is a lot of really good songs on this album. The Norwegian vocals, the Bergens dialect, is unusual on a progressive rock album. The vocals are really good though.

The music is epic and full of soul and feelings. There is still a lot of interesting technical details here. But the Scandinavian sound still dominates this album.

This is indeed a very good album and ProgAtom has put themselves on the map and in my good books with this album. It is highly recommended.

3.5 points

Dust - Dust (1971)

The debut album from this US band.

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

The band had members from the likes of Ramones and The Yardbirds. Quite a strong band in other words. Unfortunate, they only released two albums.

The band were short-lived but still got a legendary reputation. Not only because Marky Ramone later joined The Ramones. The music too gave this band a lot of attention.

That goes in particular from the heavy rock scene who has now adopted this band as one of their own. 

The music is pretty hard and heavy on this album. Proto heavy metal, no less. There is a lot of blues and some psych rock here too. Some Led Zeppelin comparisons is in order here.

The cover is pretty gruesome but it also gives notice that this is not an album for the faint hearted. Those would be scared away by the guitar riffs anyway. Those are very hard indeed.

This forty minutes long album is a decent enough album when you see behind the cover art-work and it's shock effect. It is an album well worth checking out.

2 points

Seldon - Per Quale Sentiero (2018)

The second album from this Italian band.

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

I very much liked their 2013 debut album Tutto A Memoria and you can find my review of that album somewhere else in this blog.

The band is very much an RPI band and follows in the footstep of the great other RPI bands from the 1970s.

That said.... The band very much sounds contemporary. They have also a bit of their own style.

Take RPI and add some playful jazz. This is where you find this band. This album almost sounds like a Canterbury scene album. Early Caravan is not a bad comparison. Seldon does Caravan in the RPI vein.

The vocals is very good and the songs on this fifty minutes long album is all very good. So is the vibe too.

The end result is a very good album which will appeal to all RPI fans and fans of more funky, jazzy progressive rock.

3.5 points

Overhead - Haydenspark (2018)

The fifth album from this band from Finland.

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

I was dealing a lot with this band ten years ago when I was involved in ProgArchives. I was also dead sure that I had reviewed at least their first two albums. A quick fact-check revealed that I have got their first album, but I have not reviewed it. I did interview them for ProgArchives, though.

The band's debut album is from 2002 and they are listed as a heavy prog band in ProgArchives. Something which is a good platform for this album.....

The band gives us almost an hour of modern crossover/heavy prog on this album.

The sound is very much 2018 and there are some synths generated strings on the ballads on this album.

And there is some hard songs too... This album reminds me about the heavy metal album formula from the 1980s with some heavy metal songs and at least one ballad thrown into the mix.

And to be frank, that is all I can really say about this album. There is some hard songs and some more ballads songs. The music is hardly prog rock at all. The musicians does a good job but that is about it.

There is no good songs here and this album is merely a decent album. I am not won over at all.

2 points

Black Oak Arkansas - Black Oak Arkansas (1971)

The debut album from this US band.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of bass, drums, washboard, organ, banjo, piano, steel guitar, guitars and vocals.

I have got seven of their albums after a lifelong curiosity about them. So I decided to get their albums a couple of years ago.

This blog is also about reviewing 1970s southern rock albums too so I decided to review their albums this winter.

Their albums sold reasonably well and they were a very popular live band. They were just a notch below the likes of Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd in the southern rock pecking order.

The music is southern rock with some blues and country. There is a lot of wildness in their music and some hard rock.

The music is not as hard as I thought though. But their music has an edge.

I am not very impressed by this album and I do not think this band will become a band I will rate highly. This album is a decent album though.

2 points

Pavlov's Dog - Prodigal Dreamer (2018)

The eight album from this US band.

The band is a seven piece big band with a lineup of violin, grand piano, Hammond organ, synths, bass, drums, guitars and vocals.
The band had help from some female vocals and a trumpet.

Pavlov's Dog is one of those classic bands from USA in the prog genre. OK, there is not many of them. But Pavlov's Dog is one of them. So when they release a new album, 43 years after the semi-classical debut album Pampered Menial, I and the rest of the scene takes notice.

David Surkamp's vocals still with us and they are very good. There is also a lot of violins and piano here. Some distorted guitars and organs adds a lot of value to the eclectic songs here.

The music is a mix of US folk rock and eclectic prog. And from what I remember, so was the music on Pampered Menial, 43 years ago.

Nothing new in other words. But there is a lot for the fans of this band to enjoy. This album is not letting them down. It is actually a good present to them. Or us if you wish....

This one hour long album offers up only good songs. Each of them are as good as the others. And it is indeed a very nice album which brings the heat back into my frozen body and soul.

Pavlov's Dog is still alive and well. That is good news, indeed.

3 points