Stray - Stand Up And Be Counted (1975)

 

The sixth album from this British band.

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

I have told the Stray story in my five previous reviews of their albums. Basically, the band was a hard rock band who started at the same time as Led Zeppelin started. The difference was that Stray was not that good, their management was incompetent and they made some very strange choices in their career.

Thanx to a couple of CD boxes and Classic Rock magazine, Stray has now got a bit of a recognition. Deserved recognition.

They released a couple of good albums in the hard rock genre among three not so good albums.

The music on this album is not that hard and it is more in the laddish soft rock football chants genre. 

There are some hard rock here. But most of it is soft and not particular interesting.

This is not an album showcasing Stray at their best.

2 points

 

Arco Iris - Tiempo De Resurrección (1972)

The second album from this band from Argentina.

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

The band returned again after their pretty good self titled debut album from 1970. An album I reviewed earlier this month and an album I pretty much liked.

Two years has gone and not much has happened here in the term of changes.

The music is a mix of Latin pop, fusion and folk. The music is indeed progressive rock with a lot of timeshifts and themes changes.

The music is indeed pretty complex. 

The sound is good and the band sounds very focused this time around. 

The music has this old Latin-America symphonic prog vibe and sound.

The vocals is really good and the guitar changes between acoustic and electric. The saxophones are pretty dominant too and takes the place normally reserved for keyboards.

I get the feeling that this band is a bit of gem when I am listening to their first two albums. I think me and the rest of their albums will get on well.

I rate this as a good album and one well worth checking out. 

3 points

 

Magnésis - La Bête du Gévaudan (2020)

The 11th album from this French band.

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

The band debuted in 1992 as a French neo-prog band and had always been hovering in and around the neo-prog genre.

Some of their albums was a detour into orchestral symphonic prog. They have always had three-four toes in the symphonic prog scene.

Ange, Mona Lisa and Jaqcues Brel is proper influences on this band. Magnesis are indeed the child of the French symphonic prog scene from the 1970s.

And what a child..... 

The music on this album, forty minutes long album, starts with some neo-prog before we are taken through a nice French symphonic prog landscape. Ange springs to mind again.

The vocals are in the front of the mix and it is very good. The rest of the band also deliver the good on some very good songs.

Magnesis has again delivered a very good album and is one of the better neo/symphonic prog bands in today's prog scene.

3.5 points

Pineapple Thief. The - Dissolution (2018)

The 13th album from this British band.

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

A guest musician provided extra guitars on one track.

The band was now a well established and much loved band in the scene and they are releasing albums on a regular basis.

They started out as a neo-prog band but then moved more into the direction of the likes of Porcupine Tree and more heavy prog.

There is also a lot of post rock in their music too.

This album is following their formula set out many albums ago and it is a good album. This band has found their niche and their fanbase. And that is a good thing.

I am not a big fan of the music they are playing. But bands like The Pineapple Thief always release good albums and this album is one of them.

My only gripe is that the songs could had been a lot better. Nevertheless.......

3 points

Mad Crayon - Ultimo Miraggio (1994)

The debut album from this Italian band.

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

This band released their fourth album a few months ago and I reviewed that album. I have also reviewed their two other albums.

A review of Ultimo Miraggio was missing and overdue. Hence this review.

The band is from Italy and some of the songs are also sung in Italian. There is also songs here with English vocals.

The music is mix of neo-prog and RPI - Rock Progressive Italiano.

There is a lot of Genesis in their music. There is also some electronics and some classic RPI here. Even some Italian pop from the 1970s.

The sound is OK and the band delivers a more than acceptable debut album.

Most of the songs are really good and there is even some very good details here.

The end result in one hour with good melodic progressive rock and a debut album well worth checking out.

3 points

Live - Live (1974)

The one and only album from this German band.

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

Live was one of those hard rock kraut rock band from Germany who pressed their own LP as a home pressing and then disappeared without a trace........ just to be dug up again by Youtube, Discocs, ProgArchives and blogs like I run.

The band members is surely amused by these events. Internet ? Self published blogs ? Youtube with distro to all countries in the world ? Utopia !! Madness !!

There is some of the home pressings who does not deserve that much attention. Then again, there is some jewels hidden among the home pressings....

The sound on this album is not the best. I still cannot understand why no labels picked up this band and launched their career. The band themselves must have put their feet down and chosen to do something else than music.

The music on this album is a mix of hard rock, kraut and ELP like symphonic prog. Eloy is a band and a sound that springs to mind. All Eloy fans must pick up this album.. hint hint.... Youtube.

The music is both muscular and melodic. It also has some good details.

I really rate this album despite of the poor sound. It is indeed a good album.

3 points

 

 

 

Ragnarök - Fjärilar I Magen (1979)

The second album from this Swedish band.

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

This band, not to be confused with numerous other bands with the same name, released two progressive rock sounding albums and then some pop albums before they split up a couple of years ago. 

Their career had been stuttering from day one and there is several long gaps in their career.

I liked their 1976 self-titled debut album a lot. It is a legendary album, but I did not rate it as such.

Fjalirar In Magen, which means butterflies in the stomach, is also regarded as a classic album.

Clocking in at thirty-six minutes, the album takes us through a Swedish forest filled landscape full of flutes and saxophones.

The music has a mix of symphonic prog and folk music. There is no doubts where the likes of Anglagard and The Flower Kings got their inspirations from. Kaipa was a band in the same scene as Ragnarok too.

But Fjarilar I Magan is entirely instrumental and it has some very good stuff and some not so good stuff. It is an an important album in the scene and a good album in it's own right.

3 points

 

 

  

Lucifer Was - Blues from Hellah (2004)

The third album from this Norwegian band.

Thore Engen on guitars is the main man in Lucifer Was and had a lot of guest musicians on woodwinds, drums, percussion, mellotron, keyboards, bass, strings and vocals.

This band has always been flying under the radar in Norway. Not heavy enough to attract the heavy metal fans and too heavy to attract the prog rock and rock fans.

Their first two albums was somewhere in the borderlands between Jethro Tull and Black Sabbath.

There is a lot of instruments on this album and a lot of noise. 

And the music is hard, hard rock. Not heavy, but hard.

There is also a lot of progressive folk rock here. And some symphonic prog.

The sound is like a 1970s hard rock band with prog rock influences. And there was some bands in that vein both in Norway and in particular England and Wales during the 1970s.

The music on Blues From Hellah is also melodic with a some good hooks and ideas. Lots of them, in my view.

The music is also full of good guitars and the vocals, although with a heavy accent, is also very good. 

It is the type of music who brings on the smile on the face of those who likes the 1970s. This is a retro-fest, yes. It is also a good album from a good band. 

This band deserve a lot more fans.

3 points

Anathema - Alternative 4 (1998)

The fourth album from this UK band.

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

Two guest musicians added violin and drums loops.

The band started out as a death doom metal band and quickly went on a gliding path towards Pink Floyd and more progressive rock. 

This is their fourth album and the gliding path has found the first really sign of life. The type of life a musician and a band can thrive on.

There is still some doom metal in their music. The band has also adopted a bit of a neo-prog sound too. This in addition to the Pink Floyd influences.

The music is pretty muscular with some muscular vocals. 

The music is also good to very good and the band has found a formula that really works. 

This is indeed a very good album and I am curious to know what follows this album as I am reviewing them all.

3.5 points

Kalugin. Antony - Marshmallow Moondust (2020)

The fourth studio album from this artist from Ukraine.

Antony Kalugin plays all instruments on this album. I guess all of them keyboards and computer programmed. Thee is also some vocals used as an instrument on this album.

Covid 19 isolation has meant a very extended stay in a studio'ish like building and room in the case of Antony Kalugin. 

This is the third or fourth album from him during the Covid 19 pandemic. 

And none of them has been bad either. None of these albums has been a punishment for the rest of us. 2020 will very probably go down as his best ever year, quality albums wise.

This album consist of two tracks. Marshmallow and Moondust. The digital versions also gives you medley versions of these two tracks.

Both Marshmallow and Moondust hits the twenty minutes and twenty seconds mark exactly. 20.20 in other words.

The music is lush instrumental symphonic prog with some Eastern European folk rock influences.

All of this is instrumental and all of it is slightly a-mad-professor-and-his-keyboards stuff as in some of the stuff that arrived from the Eastern Bloc and Russia after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

There is some eccentric madness in the music on Marshmallow Moondust. A lot of it, in fact. Nevertheless, the music is good though.

Check out this album.

3 points

Ligro - Dictionary 3 (2015)

The third album from this band from Indonesia.

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

A guest artist, ads piano and keyboards on the first composition.

Ligro is one of the Asian jazz bands signed on the highly influential MoonJune Records. A label who has been giving us lots of jazz, ethno and fusion albums during the last twenty years.

I reviewed their second album Dictionary 2 many years ago and very much liked that album.

Ligro deliver up a harsh, dystopian blend of fusion and jazz on this album. Just as they did on their first albums too. 

The music is pretty fast and pretty hard. Very hard at times.

There is a lot of avant-garde references here and the power trio also shows a more pastoral side of themselves now and then.

The result is a good album which makes me wonder if this band is still around. I hope they are as their three albums has been good to great.

This scene benefits from the presence of bands like Ligro.

3 points

 

 

Light Coorporation - Aliens From Planet Earth (2012)

The second album from this band from Poland.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, violin, guitars, tape recorders, saxophone and cello.

This band is mostly unknown although they have released five albums. The last one back in 2017. 

The music on Aliens From Planet Earth is rio/avant-garde.

Although the saxophone is the major instrument here, there is not much happening on this one hour long album.

The soundscape is sparse populated and full of silence.

This album is more on the extreme avant-garde side of the avant-garde genre. 

I am not particular impressed by the quality as there is hardly any decent pieces of music here. The final piece of music, Aquarium Of The Universe is bordering to good though and the band may have some quality. I do not know as this is the only album I have with them.

This album is only for diehard avant-garde fans only.

1.5 points

 

  

Preacher - Aftermath (2016)

The second album from this band from Ayr, Scotland, UK.

The band was an eight man big band with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

This is my second meeting with this band and their music after reviewing their 2014 debut album Signals. An album in the commercial Pink Floyd style.

The band must have hit something they liked on Signals as the band is continuing in the same vein on Aftermath.

The music is a mix of commercial Pink Floyd, a bit neo-prog and a lot of big sound rock. Even David Bowie has sneaked in here as the band has taken a lot from his most commercial moments.

Preacher plays in short commercial rock with some progressive rock elements. Let's not beat around the bush here and label it as something else or more arty than that.

This is for the most of us good music. It is music that deserve millions of more listeners than they get through the likes of this blog and being associated with progressive rock. But that is today's music scene.

There is some meaty guitar solos here and that brings the album up a notch in my view. An album which is OK at times but which bores me a bit after the fifth time on the speakers.

Nevertheless, this is a good album and one to check out.

3 points

Zuffanti. Fabio - La Foce Del Ladrone (2011)

 

The fourth album from this Italian artist.

Fabio Zuffanti did the synths, bass, guitars, loops and vocals on this album.

He had help from numerous guest musicians who provided violin, viola, cello, percussion, drums, bass, guitars and backing vocals.

I cannot really say his previous solo albums has impressed me at all. His band efforts are great or superb. On his own..... he is not down my alley.

La Foce Del Ladrone sees Fabio Zuffanti embracing Italian pop and rock. There are even some attempts on Europop here.

This album is forty minutes long and the songs are all short and pretty punchy and melodic.

Half of the songs are rather good too and that is a positive development. I am not a fan of the Europop here and does not rate these songs particular high.

This album is still an album somewhere between decent and good. It is an album well worth a listen or two.

2.5 points

 

 

 

 

Marillion - Marillion.com (1999)

The 11th album from this English band.

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

The band had help from two guest musicians who provided saxophone and trumpet.

The band were still a going project, operating on their own after EMI went under. And so did the rest of the music business too. It went under and new structures were established.

Marillion is both pioneers and survivors in the new world of music.

Something this album alludes to. This is a new world indeed.

The music this time is a mix of neo-prog and rock. There is some indie rock here too.

There are a couple of good songs here and some not so good songs on this one hour long album. It is not one of their strongest albums. It is indeed one album on the bottom half of their discography. 

The quality is simply not here and the music is too wishy washy at times.

The end result is an album somewhere between decent and good. It is still well worth checking out.

2.5 points

 

 

 

Pohjola. Pekka - Harakka Bialoipokku (1974)

The second album from this Finnish artist.

Pekka Pohjola does the bass, piano and electric piano himself here.

He had got help from six guest musicians who provided percussion, drums, trumpet, piccolo flute, saxophones, saxes and guitars.

Pekka Pohjola started out as the bassist in the excellent Finnish band Wigwam before striking out on himself with around ten solo albums before he sadly passed away in 2008.

This is my second album from him. I was not particular impressed by his 1972 debut album Pihkasilma Kaarnakorva. 

Pekke Pohjola has spent the two years changing around his sound and style.

So much that he has introduced a lot of Canterbury prog into his music. Most of the music here is indeed in that genre.

The music is very quirky with a lot of saxophones. There is indeed a lot of fusion and jazz here. Quirky fusion and jazz. 

Pekka was associated with Frank Zappa and I can understand why when I am listening to this album. There is some Zappa lurking around here.

Most of all, this album is a good album in it's own right. It is an album well worth checking out.

3 points

 

 

 

 

Leoni. I - La Foresta (1971)

The one and only album from this Italian band.

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

This album is quite an interesting visit into a more forgotten part of the RPI scene. Yes, that is Rock Progressive Italiano.

The music on this half an hour long album, the only sign of life from this band, is a mix of occult rock, beat and Italian pop music.

There is also a lot of ELP in their music and the album is touching symphonic prog during most of the half an hour. Though with the influences mentioned above.

The music is very harsh at times. There is a lot of aggression here.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good too. 

It is still a bit of a gem as it is a rare album and therefore well worth checking out.

2.5 points

 

 

 

 

Lickerish. Francis - Far And Forgot From The Lost Lands (2012)

The one and only album from this British artist.

Francis Lickerish did the guitars, keyboards and lute himself.

He had help from other musicians who did the cor anglais, oboe, trumpet, flute, lap steel guitars, guitars, cello, bass, drums, percussion and female vocals. The full symphony orchestra was created by computers and keyboards.

Francis Lickerish is a member of The Enid. A band whose full discography I intend to review, starting from this summer onwards. 

This album is very much in the Enid landscape and a bit of a shock therapy for me. 

The music is more or less classical music with some electric guitars and female vocals sporadic involved on this seventy minutes long album.

I am by no means a fan of the classical music genre although I love symphonic prog. This album is too classical music and it is too ambitious too. It is great to have ambitions and it is fantastic when projects like this album also includes some great or even some good music.

This album falls a bit flat on it's face, though.

The music is decent enough and this album has grown on me. Nevertheless, this is just a decent album in my estimations. 

The Enid fans should check out this album.

2 points

Ragnarök - Ragnarök (1976)

The debut album from this Swedish band.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, flute, saxophone, recorder and piano.

This band, not to be confused with numerous other bands with the same name, released two progressive rock sounding albums and then some pop albums before they split up a couple of years ago. 

Their career had been stuttering from day one and there is several long gaps in their career.

I got their first two albums and will review them.... starting with this one.

This album is entirely instrumental and performed with mostly acoustic instruments.

The music is a mix of folk rock and symphonic prog. There is some fusion elements here too.

The album is forty minutes long and it is mostly very laid back and does not have many hard rocking pieces. Hardly anyone at all.

The emphasis is on mood and ambience. 

The result is decent enough but nothing more than that. Taking into the account the massive reputation of this album, the music is rather disappointing and nowhere near as good as expected.

3 points

 

 

Karfagen - Principles and Theory of Spektra (2020)

The twelfth album from this band from Ukraine.

Anthony Kalugin does keyboards, percussion and vocals here.

He has got help from numerous guest musicians who has added drums, bass, guitars, knob accordion, oboe, flute, bassoon and violin.

This is the second 2020 Karfagen album. I guess the maestro Kalugin became bored of the Covid 19 pandemic and isolation. Studio, it was, then. He also released an album under his own name too and I will review that album pretty shortly.

Quantity does not mean sloppiness and lack of quality. Not from the maestro Kalugin's hands and studio. 

The music here is mostly instrumental and keyboards based. You also finds a lot of guitars here too. But the keyboards does most of the job here.

There is an Asian feel over a lot of the material here. The countries and territories along the Silk Road plays a vital part on this album.

The album is fifty-five minutes long and not everything here passes muster. But most of it does and this is an interesting oriental sounding album.

It is also a good album and one well worth checking out.

3 points

 

  

Three - Revisions (2009)

The fifth album from this US band.

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

A guest artist supplemented chapman stick on one of the songs.

I was not pleased about their previous album The End Has Begun. An album with too much teenybopper and indie rock.

My hope for Revisions was that the band started to compose some more worthy pieces of music.

The band is signed by Metal Blade of all labels although their music is nowhere near being metal. Odd. Very odd.

What jumps out of the speakers is that the band has taken one too many steps towards teenybopper, power pop and the indie rock genre. 

Although there are some more interesting stuff here inbetween the rather soppy teenybopper vocals, the band has again moved in the wrong direction.

A couple of decent songs saves this album from the turkey status. Besides of that, this album is pretty much a disaster and a non-event. Avoid.

1.5 points

Yob - Atma (2011)

The sixth album from this US band.

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

Scott Kelly from Neurosis appeared on two tracks.

The band is back again with some distorted post-metal and post-punk.

The band is very much a sludge band and that is what we get here on this almost one hour long album. 

The album has a dirty sound, befitting the music on this album.

The music is also really primitive and slow. A wall of bass and guitars hits the listener from the first tone.

That actually makes this a pretty interesting album. It's primitive soundscape means the vocalist and guitarist has to work a bit harder. 

Not with great success, but they manages to make a pretty decent album. The guitar solos is a bit better this time around and that with help from this Neurosis contributor. 

The album is only a decent album as the sound levels are a bit up and down. There are a lot better Yob albums out there and I would recommend checking them out first.

2 points

Apogee - The Garden Of Delights (2003)

 

The fourth album from this German one man band.

Apogee is Arne Schaefer on guitars, bass, keyboards and vocals. He has got help from Uwe Vollmar on drums and percussion and a guitarist on one tracks.

I have reviewed a couple of his albums and has so far liked what I have heard.

Arne Schaefer does neo-prog in the German vein.

There is a lot of Van Der Graaf Generator and Peter Hammil in the music on this five tracks and seventy minutes long album.

There is also this German melancholy take on neo-prog too. Add some Marillion too and you get this album.

The vocals is really good and Arne uses the sparse resources offered to him in a very effective way. The music is pretty complex and technical.

The longest song is well over twenty minutes long and the shortest around five minutes long.

The music is good throughout although I would not brand the music here ground breaking. 

This is a solid, good neo-prog album in the German tradition and will find a lot of fans.

3 points

Lef - Hypersomniac (2016)

The debut album from this world wide project.

Lef is Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari on vocals. He got an all star team on drums, guitars, synths, saxophones, trumpet, bass and vocals.

The guys involved is Bill Laswell, Eivind Aarseth, Kenneth Kapstad, Rebecca Sneddon, Stale Storlokken and Nils Petter Molvaer.

These guys comes from an experimental jazz and rock background. Some of them also has played in Motorpsycho.

This very much tells the listener where this album is heading.

Dystopian heavy music somewhere between jazz and rock. Include a lot of King Crimson psych too and you get this album.

There is a lot of dissonance on this album and the music is mostly painting a bleak landscape. Or a bleak soundscape if you want.

This is by no means easy on the ears. Nevertheless, the musicians knows what they are doing and they have had free hands to create this universe... a bleak universe.

Fans of these musicians and King Crimson will love this album and I am pretty much won over myself. Lef is a mix of the beauty and the beast.... and a very good album too.

3.5 points

 

Aragon - Mr. Angel (1997)

The fifth album from this Australian band.

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

The band has lately re-released their album as Name Your Price album through Bandcamp and this album is one of them. 

I have earlier reviewed two of these re-released albums and I have quite liked them.

Aragon does pure, melodic neo-prog. Their take on neo-prog is neo-prog in it's purest form.

This means a mix of melodic symphonic prog and melodic rock.

The mood and music is upbeat and positive. The music reflect the cover art-work. It is a smiley form of prog in other words.

The vocals too is really positive and bright.

There is not many intricate details here. The music still works and this is an album somewhere between decent and good.

Check out this album from the link above.

2.5 points

LamaGlama - Tierra Del Sur (2017)

The one and only album from this band from Chile.

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

This band is new to me. They are from the capitol of Chile, Santiago, and released this album through Bandcamp.

The music here is a mix of art rock and neo-prog.

The vocals are in Spanish and the music has also some folk rock and fusion influences.

The music is mostly cool and laidback with some good guitars and keyboards. The vocals are good too.

The whole package with the cover art-work and the music gives this album a very arty flavour and this is what the music is. Arty.

The music is really melodic too.

The band has come up with a forty-two minutes long album and it is a good album too. 

Check out this album.

3 points

 

 

Preacher - Signals (2014)

 

The debut album from this band from Scotland.

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

I guess the band were a project at this stage as the cover art-work only shows three persons. 

The band, who has so far released two albums, comes from Ayr just down the road from me. They are/was more a live band than a studio band. Their live shows was something special and full of lights.

Their music on this one hour long album is a mix of Pallas and Pink Floyd. They are more leaning towards Pink Floyd than neo-prog, though.

The band's take on the commercial psych rock/pop music comes with a big sound in the vein of A Momentary Lapse Of Reason. The vocals are both male and female.

The music still got some edges and the song writing is good.

There is not much excitement around here and not so much spice. Nevertheless, this is a good but barely a good album. Check it out. 

3 points

 

 

Sintonia Distorta - A Piedi Nudi Sull' Arcobaleno (2020)

The second album from this Italian band.

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

I was not particular impressed by their 2015 debut album Frammenti D'Incanto. Too much power pop and not good enough songs.

There are still some power pop here. But not much. It has been largely been replaced by RPI. Some of the RPI - Rock Progressive Italiano - also has this lush 1970s sound. 

Some of the RPI is more contemporary, though. That is a good thing as this is a modern band.

The Italian vocals are very good and the band has a winner here.

The flutes also gives the pastoral music some extra smell of flowers. Banco is therefore a very good reference here.

There is some more hard rocking pieces here. Most of this album is pretty pastoral though.

The band has pulled it of and the result is a very good album. 

This album is well worth checking out.

3.5 points

 

Stray - Move It (1974)

The fifth album from this British band.

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

Stray, due to some dubious managers who then ripped them off and did not fulfilled the promises they gave the band, was a band very much flying under the radar during their career.

That is a shame as this band has released some decent albums.

Move It is a rock album.

Stray has put the brakes on a bit from their earlier albums. The music on Move It is a fresh breeze compared to their socalled prog rock album Mudanzas.

There is a lot of 1960s in their music and some really good harmonies. The music sounds actually pretty much like an indie band in today's day and age.

The songs are also good and this album, which I did not have any hopes for whatsoever, did make me sit up and really take notice. 

This is an album worth checking out. 

3 points

 

 

 

 

 

Arco Iris - Arco Iris (1970)

The debut album from Argentina.

The band was a trio with a lineup of maracas, timpale, bass, cello, guitars, flute, saxophone, claves, citarina, piano, organ, guiro and Spanish vocals.

The band also had help from some female vocals.

I got their albums and I will be reviewing them this year. 

....Starting with this one. I am here reviewing the original 1970 album and not the 2004 version.

The band is a fusion band and that kind of shines through too at this album. 

Most of the album is a mix of psych rock, progressive rock and folk rock. Yes, there is some fusion here too but not that much.

The album is forty minutes long and the sound is not that good. It has a very lush, pastoral sound with some good vocals too.

The music is not bad at all and this band sounds like a band I should get interested in. This debut album has made me curious about them.

Check out this album.

2.5 points 

Ring Van Möbius - The 3rd Majesty (2020)

The second album from this Norwegian band.

The band is a trio with a lineup of timpani, percussion, drums, bass, tubular bells, organ, keyboards, effects, moog, clavinet, theremin and vocals.

I really loved their 2018 album Past The Evening Sun. It was a great album in the Van Der Graaf Generator vein.

Van Der Graaf Generator is still very much present in their soundscape.

This album starts out much more in the vein of ELP and continues like that for a long time before the Van Der Graaf Generator elements also kicks in and merges with the ELP influences.

Add some psych and a lot of Yes influences too and you get this album.

The music is pretty playful and the songs are long. 

The music has this 1970s sound, upgraded to our this day and time ears.

The band has again delivered a great album and one to really enjoy

4 points

Lamagaia - Lamagaia (2017)

 

The debut album from this Swedish band.

The band is a quintet with a lineup of effects, drums, bass, synths, guitars and organs.

A guest musician added his saxophone.

This album is thirty-five minutes long and it is divided into two pieces of music. 

And yes, this is space rock. Very spaced out space rock. 

The two pieces of music sounds like a jam too.

I like dirty sound space rock. The saxophone sounds like it has been recorded at the bottom of an ocean and falls a bit flat on it's face.

The music is interesting enough. It is still a halfway house between dirty sounding space rock and much more clear sounding space rock. The sound is not right.

This is still a decent to good album and one to check out.

2.5 points

Laktating Yak - Origin Of The Yak (2018)

 

The first album from this US based band.

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

Two guest musicians helped out with didgeridoo and vocals.

The art-work and band name tells the listener that this is not a run-of-the-mill melodic prog band.

This is indeed a more avant garde prog band. Actually, this band plays zeuhl.

Zeuhl is one of the smallest music genres in the world, if not THE smallest music genre in the world.

The didgeridoo opens this half an hour short album and it takes us straight into a King Crimons, Frank Zappa and Magma dominated landscape.

The rhythm section is taken from the likes of Magma while the saxophones and violins is a bit more in the King Crimson vein.

The music is quirky and has some chamber rock feel to it. 

The quality is good though and all zeuhl fans and those more into King Crimson and Magma.

This is a good album indeed.

3 points

 

 

 

 

 

 

Knight Area - D Day (2019)

The seventh album from this Dutch band.

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

A guest musician added grand piano to the sound on one track.

This album is a concept album about WW2 as far as I gather. An interesting subject indeed.

The band started out as a neo-prog band and that is how they came to my attention.

Unfortunate for me, the band moved to progressive metal and that's where we find the band on this album.

D-Day is essentially a progressive heavy metal album. Well, forget the progressive tag here. Heavy metal is what this album is.

There is a lot of the normal heavy metal cliches here, starting with the normal heavy metal vocals. Then you got the guitar shredding too. 

The songs are not really that good either. The quality of the songs are decent and just that.

Heavy metal fans will like this album a lot, I guess. Fans of neo-prog can bypass this album and band now.

2 points

Minasian. David - The Sound of Dreams (2020)

The fourth album from this UK artist.

David Minasian does some of the keyboards, guitars, percussion and vocals himself. 

He has got help of around ten other musicians who has provided drums, bass, flute, guitars, keyboards, percussion and vocals.

The list of the most known guests can be found on the cover art-work above. But for those who cannot find it, the likes of Annie Haslam, Billy Sherwood, Justin Hayward and Steve Hackett makes some very good contributions to this album.

The music is a bit of a middle of the road symphonic prog. It is also bordering to rock, the music on this album. 

This well over one hour long album has a lot of good music and it is indeed a good album. There is no outstanding pieces of music here or even a killer track. But it is always nice to hear Annie Haslam again and her vocals is the best thing on this album.

This is an album symph prog fans must check out.

3 points

 

 

Lucifer Was - In Anadi's Bower (2000)

The second album from this Norwegian band.

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

Their debut album was a wild album with obvious Black Sabbath and Jethro Tull influences. But it was a likeable album.

In Anadi's Bower sees the band widen their horizons a bit.

There is still plenty of hard rock here and this album is indeed in the hard prog genre. There is also a lot of Jethro Tull and Prudence influences here. The symphonic prog band The Moody Blues has also left their marks on this album.

The vocals is a bit heavy accented but that is pretty charming. The vocals are also good. 

Some Norwegian folk rock also springs to life on this album, although this is a pretty hard rocking album with a great 1970s sound. I believe the songs on this album was written in the 1970s.

The quality is good throughout this album and it is an album well worth checking out.

3 points

Anathema - Eternity (1996)

The third album from this British band.

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

The band was helped out by some guest musicians who provided keyboards, female vocals and spoken words.

Anathema was in the good old days one of the best new bands in the new wave of British doom metal. They were in the scene together with My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost. 

Anathema soon left that scene after one album and one EP. 

Eternity gives us a mix of doom metal and Pink Floyd'ish psych rock.

The music is pretty good throughout the one hour. There are some pieces of music which falls a bit flat on it's face too.

The band is still in a bit of transition and this album is well worth checking out.

2.5 points

White Willow - Future Hopes (2017)

The seventh album from this Norwegian band.

The band is a sextet with a lineup of drums, bass, percussion, guitars, e-bow, flute, mellotron, keyboards, organ, piano, programming, vocoder and vocals.

The band was supported by a handful of guest musicians who provided guitars, clarinet and trumpet.

This is as I am writing these lines their latest album. But I guess we will see this band return again. They are simply too good to go away.

The band had gone more dream-pop and electronica by now and that is reflected by this album. A fifty minutes long album.

There is not much symphonic prog left here. Well.... traditional symphonic prog. 

The vocals is a mix of some male and mostly female vocals. There are more and better guitars here than on others White Willow albums thanx to Hedvik Mollestad's involvement. 

The overall quality is good throughout. This album is their most esoteric album to date but it is still worth checking out.

3 points

 

 

Magnesis - Alice au Pays des Délires (2019)

The tenth album from this French band.

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

I have followed this band with great interest since I started out reviewing prog rock. I got their albums, but missed out on their last two albums after a stressful last year. Yes, the dreaded 2020.

I got this album for review now and their 2020 album for review later this month.

Magnesis is a band with strong influences from Ange and the 1970s French symphonic prog scene. But the band is still something pretty original. If not mistaken, they are from a part of the France with a strong self-contained identity and music scene.

This album is a double CD. The first CD has a lot of very good French symphonic prog which reminds the listener how good this band is. The music is epic with a lot of great vocals. It is also pretty pastoral and the French vocals really brings the best out of the music.

The second CD, a forty-two minutes long concept piece of music, has it's moments. It is not as good as CD 1 and falls a bit flat on it's face at times.

The overall quality is therefore good and just that. 

I am still an admirer of this band.

3 points

Logos - Sadako E Le Mille Gru Di Carta (2020)

The fourth album from this Italian band.

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

A further quartet of musicians added saxophone, guitars, drums and vocals.

The band is one of the better new RPI - Rock Progressive Italiano bands. 

Their self-titled debut album was released back in 1999 and got a great welcome. It is one of those albums all RPI fans must check out.

The two following albums cemented their position as one of the progressive rock bands to keep an eye on.

The band returned again in July 2020 with this album.

The music is lush and pastoral RPI with a lot of ELP like pieces of melodies inbetween cascades of classic RPI with a great 1970s sound.

The vocals are great and there is a lot of interesting pieces of music here. 

The album is over an hour long and offers up some very good music.

This is an album everyone into RPI and symphonic prog should check out. 

3.5 points

Pineapple Thief. The - Your Wilderness (2016)

The 12th album from this English band.

The band was a quartet on this album with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, mellotron, organ, keyboards, piano, synths and vocals.

They had help from some guests who provided viola, violin, guitars, clarinet and choir.

The band returns again with this album.

The music is the usual mix of indie rock, djent, Radiohead and Marillion.

This mix and Bruce Soord's great vocals has established The Pineapple Thief as one of the biggest names in the progressive rock scene.

The music is pretty pastoral and vocals dominated on this album. It also pretty moody with a great ambience.

The band has again delivered a good album and one I will revisit in my old age. I really like this band.

Check out this album.

3 points

LaHost - Erotic Antiques (1992)

The one and only album from this English band.

The band had nine members during their life and the instruments here is drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

This is, as I found out after starting listening to this album, a compilation album of every song this band ever recorded. That include live songs from the Marquee club in London.

For some reasons, they played the Marquee club and that shows that someone has a different view on their songs than I have got.

LaHost played pure neo-prog in the vein of IQ and Pendragon. 

Their standards was miles away from the high standards set by Pendragon and IQ. The songs on this almost one hour long album is of a poor quality.

A couple of half decent songs saves this album from being a turkey. Only diehard neo-prog fans should check out this album, just to get their collection of neo-prog bands and albums complete.

The rest of us will survive without this album.

1.5 points

 

 

Marillion - Radiation (1998)

The tenth album from this British band.

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

They had help from guest musicians providing backing vocals.

The band was very much active and alive those days as they are today too. 

Their output had been good after the split with Fish and there had even been some great pieces of music albums along the way.

The band went a bit half-acoustic on Radiation and went for minimalism. 

The Radiohead influences is very much present here and the music does not give their excellent guitarist Steve Rothery a lot to do. This is Steve Hogarth's album.

The album is too silent for my liking.

The quality of the songs on this fifty minutes long album is a mix of good and decent. There are some really good songs here and they makes this album well worth checking out.

Radiation is one of the weakest Marillion albums but still well worth a purchase.

2.5 points

Pohjola. Pekka - Pihkasilmä Kaarnakorva (1972)

The debut album from this artist from Finland.

Pekka Pohjola did the organ, bass, piano and violin on this album.

He got help from guest musicians providing drums, organ, piano, saxophone, flute and clarinet.

Pekka Pohjola started out as the bassist in the excellent Finnish band Wigwam before striking out on himself with around ten solo albums before he sadly passed away in 2008.

I got all his albums and will review them in this blog.

This album takes us through a landscape with some Finnish folk rock, fusion, jazz and some avant-garde bass noodling.

There is a good balance of bass, clarinet, piano and keyboards here.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. More decent than good, though. The musicians tries their best on some pieces of music which is not particular great.

It is well worth checking out this album if 1970s Scandinavian prog is your thing and you want to check out this artist from Finland.  

2.5 points

 

Sintonia Distorta - Frammenti D'Incanto (2015)

The debut album from this Italian band.

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

The band is new to me but they have released two albums so far. The last one was released a few months a ago and will be reviewed later this month.

Frammenti D'Incanto gives us a mix of hard rock, some progressive metal and some Rock Progressive Italiano. 

There are also some power pop and some goth in their music on this album.

The vocals are in Italian and the vocals are good throughout. 

The music is pretty heavy and epic. There is also some more pastoral pieces of music here.

The quality is a mix of decent and good. It is good enough to make the band try again and that is what they have done. Check out this album.

2.5 points