Arco Iris - Peace Will Save The Rainbow (1998)

The twelfth album from this band from Argentina.

The band is a sextet with a lineup of percussion, acoustic guitars, bass, various woodwinds, flutes, pan flutes, synth and vocals.

The band was still going pretty strong so many decades after their album debut in 1970.

Their music still had some relevance too.

The music is a mix of local folk music, pop and fusion.

There is still a lot of pan flutes here in addition to local percussion and guitars. 

The music is rather jazzy on most of the songs and that is a good thing. 

There are some vocals here too and they are pretty good.

The music is somewhere between decent and good when it comes to quality. The band still gave us some good music here and this album has by no means disgraced the band's good name and reputation. Check it out.

2.5 points

 

 

Cast - Vigesimus (2021)

 

The 20th album from this band from Mexico.

The band was a seven piece big band on this album with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, violin, keyboards and vocals.

Let me first of all congratulate this band with their 20th album. Cast is one of those underrated and underappreciated bands who continues to release albums. 

I rate Cast as one of the best progressive rock bands in the world. That also mainly based on a lot of their previous albums.

Cast offers up eighty minutes of a kind of a concept album. The first five minutes long track is clearly an intro before the band starts with a combination of male and female vocals.

The music is pretty big and bold throughout. The outro, a ten minutes long piece, is pretty dark. The final half of this album is pretty dark. The first half is a bit lighter.

This is indeed symphonic prog and Yes is a good reference.

The music is very good throughout and this album has a lot to offer everyone into progressive rock. It is about time Cast gets the attention they deserve.

3.5 points

 

 

Museo Rosenbach - Exit (2000)

 

The second album from this Italian band.

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

A guest vocals did the vocals on the final track.

This is the second studio album of in total three albums this semi-legendary Italian band has released. They have also released three live albums. 

This is also the follow up to the legendary classic album Zarathustra from 1973.

The legend Stefano "Lupo" Galifi does the vocals on the two other albums. His vocals on Zarathustra made that album. So did their take on RPI - Rock Progressive Italiano too. 

The vocals on Exit is nowhere near as good as on that album and on their 2013 album Barbarica. The vocals on Exit from both lead vocals leaves a lot to be desired.

Ditto for the music.

Poppy and fluffy pop/RPI with some folk rock is what we get here.

The music is not particular good either. It does not really deserve this band name tag as this album is pretty much a sidetrack from the two other Museo Rosenbach albums.

Not all is bad here but this is still only a decent album and just that. 

2 points

 

 

Loonypark - The 7th Dew (2021)

The sixth album from this band from Poland.

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

A guest guitarist added a guitar solo on one of the tracks.

I have to admit that I have not been really singing this band's praises in my reviews of their previous two albums. But I am giving them another chance.

Loonypark gives us forty-seven minutes of Polish neo-prog on this album. 

They use female vocals and Sabina Sajac's vocals are very good. They are also full of muscle. Muscle that suits the music perfectly.

The music is melodic, melancholic neo-prog with a few prog metal influences. 

There is a lot of intricate, interesting details on this album. An album with some really good melodic neo-prog.

This is indeed a good album and one I really enjoy. Some better songs is the only thing missing here. Check out this album and indeed.... this band.

3 points

Bringolf. Serge - Vision (1981)

The second album from this French drummer.

Serge Bringolf had with him an eight piece big band with a lineup of woodwinds, bass, guitars, marimba, vibraphone and vocals.

Serge Bringolf was playing with Art Zoyd, Jaques Thollot and Zao before and during his release of his only three albums. These three albums were all released in the 1980s. A live album was also released.

We are again in the zeuhl genre.

This album is very much in the Magma zeuhl tradition. But there is some significant differences.

The music on Vision is much more jazz based than the usual fare from Magma. The zeuhl here is also a bit understated and laid back. 

The drums is very tight though. Serge Bringolf's drums.

There are some nice vocals here too in addition to a lot of vibraphone and woodwinds.

The music is somewhere between decent and good. I am not entirely sold on this album.

2.5 points

Murphy Blend - First Loss (1971)

The one and only album from this German band.

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

This band came and went again during a short period of time. They left this album behind them. It is quite a popular album too, forty years later.

The music is pretty heavy with some classical music pieces. It is kind of a bluesy, heavy ELP with a lot of krautrock influences.

The music is pretty much krautrock. 

There are some pretty heavy use of organs here and the band is clearly obsessed by classical music. 

The vocals are pretty good and bluesy. The band rocks hard at times.

The songs are decent to good. Their forays into classical music gives this album it's own identity. It is a pity that this band did not release more albums.

This is a decent to good album.

2.5 points

Blackfoot - Strikes (1979)

The third studio album from this US band.

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

The band had some help from harmonica, keyboards and guest vocalists.

This band continued on their southern rock path towards a respectable position in the US musical landscape. Their image as native americans played a role in promoting this band.

This album sold reasonable well and has reached more than one million sold copies as we speak. 

That is not undeserved at all.

This album offers up some medium hard rocking southern rock with some arena rock influences. There are also some good vocals here and some good details.

The emphasis is on pretty commercial southern rock. But the band also delivered good rock which has survived the test of time.

It is not a good album but some of the songs are somewhere just below that area.

Check out this album if authentic southern rock and US rock is your thing.

2.5 points

 

Arco Iris - Pipas De La Paz (1987)

The eleventh album from this band from Argentina.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, charango, woodwinds, flute, pan pipes, synths and vocals.

The album was also released as Peace Pipes.

The first  thing that hits me on this album is the pan pipes. And there is a lot of pan pipes muzak albums out on the market so pan pipes has got a bit of a cheezy reputation these days.

Arco Iris is a band far above the level of cheezy and cheap. So there is no reason to worry.

The music is fusion with a lot of local folk music incorporated. And most of it with pan pipes as the major instruments. The pan pipes is played here with a lot of technical prowess.

The music is rather eclectic and quirky. Even the pan pipes are that on this album.An album that proves that not all pan pipes music is cheezy. It more than proves that.

Not all music is good here. But there is a lot of good music on this album. It is an album well worth checking out and it will change the listeners views on pan pipes. 

Check out this album.

3 points

Lifesigns - Altitude (2021)

The third album from this English band.

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

The band was supported by a quartet of guests who provided acoustic guitar, violin, cello and female vocals.

This band had a big breakthrough with their debut album around eight years ago and followed that up with their second album back in 2017.

Both albums got very positive reviews in this blog. 

I was therefore looking forward to this album.

The band delivers neo-prog with some folk rock and classic rock influences. 

The vocals is very good and these fifty-five minutes is full of very interesting details. Details that makes this album a lot better than it could have been.

This is another very good album from this band. I still feel a bit let down as I had hoped for a better album than this one from one of the leading bands in the British prog rock scene. Nevertheless, check out this album.

3.5 points

 

Sonic Desolution - Explorer (2021)

The debut album from this Swedish band.

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

This band is new but the members has been around and in the Swedish prog and metal prog scene for a long time. 

What we get is also a mix of Swedish symphonic prog and Swedish progressive metal.

There is a lot of Kaipa, the last albums, references on this album. In particular in the female vocals and some of the music.

There is also some pretty light progressive metal here with references to the bigger Swedish bands in that scene.

The music is melodic and full of interesting details. Details with some hints of folk rock too.

This is an album which will spread joy and happiness among those who like the special Swedish symphonic prog sound and music. That is what this album basically is. And we get an hour of this music too.

It is a very good album in it's own right and one to really check out. 

3.5 points

Murderbait - We Hold Nothing in Our Hands (2016)

The debut album from this US band.

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

This and their following album was released through their Bandcamp page.

I fell for their art-work and got this album. 

The music is a mix of post-punk, Depeche Mode, post-metal and post-rock.

There is a lot of samples here and the music is rather harsh and hard.

There is not much to be happy about here and I am not really enjoying this album at all.

A few decent melodies and details saves this album from being labeled as a turkey. Just about...

1.5 points

Moonrise - Stopover Life (2012)

 

The third album from this band from Poland.

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

Moonrise is back again with their third album after their very good first two albums. 

My expectations to this album were high in other words.

A lot of more softer Pink Floyd like rock has been introduced here and the music is much more ambient and pastoral than before. There are still some neo-prog here.

The music is more mood based than based on technical details and skills. The music is really laid back.

It is also based on some very good vocals and guitar solos. 

The quality is really good throughout this album and this album does not change my views on this band. It is one of the better prog bands from Poland. Put Moonrise among the three best prog bands from Poland.

Check out this album and find out why.

3 points

Brimstone Solar Radiation Band. The - Smorgasbord (2009)

The third album from this Norwegian band.

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

I reviewed their fourth album, the 2014 album Mannsverk, back in October 2014 but never came around to review Smorgasbord before now although I have had this album for the last eight years.

That has been my mistake.

The band is regarded as a space and psych rock band. I would rather say psych rock and that too is the case for the Mannsverk album.

Melodic psych rock with a lot of The Beatles and 1960s beat is what we get here. There is also a lot modern psych rock on this album.

It is interesting to see that many Norwegian prog bands from the same city as this band has adopted their sound and music too. As far as I know, this band is no longer around but this genre is very much around in Norway.

This one hour long album has some good vocals and a lot of quirky details. This is indeed a good album and one to check out. 

3 points

Murky Red - No Pocus Without Hocus (2015)

The second album from this band from Belgium.

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

This band is lead by Mr and Mrs Fleming. The late Colin Tench was the producer and contributed with a guitar solo on one of the tracks.

I reviewed their 2012 debut album Time Doesn't Matter for # 1 of this blog back in December 2012. An album I really liked.

The band moved on and got a slightly different sound and music on this album.

I would label this album as dark rock. 

Take Nick Cave, Peter Hammill and Van Der Graaf Generator, add some King Crimson and add some neo-prog. That is is more or less what you get here.

The album is songs orientated and the vocals are pretty dark. 

The music is decent to good throughout. There are some flashes of good music throughout. But not many enough.

This album is a pretty unique album and is well worth checking out.

2.5 points

 

 

Mekong Delta - Lurking Fear (2007)

The eight album from this German band.

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

The band had taken an eleven years long break after the ambitious Pictures At An Exhibition in 1996. A take on this classical music piece I really liked.

The band is back again, very much stripped down.

The music is some sort of progressive technical thrash metal.

The music is very fast and it has some really intricate parts.

It is still German thrash metal and a bit throw back to the 1980s. It is also pretty obvious that this is a Mekong Delta album as they are the only one with this sound. That is a good and a bad thing.

This is a decent enough album and really the only type of thrash metal I can listen to. I am no fan of that genre. It is still a decent album.

2 points

Anathema - Falling Deeper (2011)

The tenth album from this band from England.

Anathema was a sextet on this album with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

The band had help from a strings ensemble and a female vocalist. That vocalist is Anneke Van Giersbergen.

This is not really a studio album with new songs.

This is old songs in strings arrangements and with some female vocals. That on the top of the normal rock instruments and male vocals.

I should therefore not have reviewed this album but I have included it as these versions is substantial different from the original versions of the songs.

The music is laid back and sombre. Melancholic in fact and the Anathema trade mark is very much in force on this album.  

A couple of their songs is from their doom metal era too and these new versions are good. The rest is decent to good.

I prefer new studio albums to this one. But it is not a bad album at all and defends it's position in the Anathema discography.

2.5 points

 

Shiva The Destructor - Find the Others (2021)

The debut album from this band from Ukraine.

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

A guest musician added his dutar to one of the tracks.

This band is a new band and one of the new talents in psych and prog rock scene.

I was expecting an all out outer space rock attack when I put this album on for the first time. I got a surprise.

I really like outer space rock... do not misunderstand me.... but the surprise I got was a positive one.

Yes, there is some space rock here. There is also a lot of psych rock here and some progressive rock and post rock. 

The sound and music on this three quarters of an hour long album is actually gentle and melodic. The vocals is really good too. The second song Hydronaut has a mix of prog, psych and space rock during it's nine minutes. It is a great song too and the great vocals really adds quality to this song.

Hydronaut is the signature song on this album and the band's signature song too. 

This is indeed a very good album and a very, very promising debut album. It is an album well worth checking out.

3.5 points

Multifuse - Harmony of Opposites (2014)

The second and so far last album from this band from UK.

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

The band released their debut album Journey To The Nesting Place back in 2008 before they returned with this album. Maybe they will return again with their third album......

The music on this album is a mix of Alan Parsons Project, Supertramp and neo-prog. There is also some hints of folk rock and AOR here.

The music is pretty melodic and based on vocals. It is songs orientated throughout.

The vocals are good. There are not that many interesting details here.

This album is not really that interesting overall. The band goes for safety in the melodies and does not rock the boat with intricate details and spices.

The end result is a decent enough album and just that.

Check it out if this floats your boat.

2 points

Pleximents - The Maze Within (2021)

The debut album from this Russian band.

I am not sure how many members this band has. But the main man here is Evgen Tsibulin. The instruments is keyboards, drums, bass, guitars and vocals. The vocals is both clear and death growl male vocals.

The band is from Tomsk, a town in Siberia. The town, which is one of the oldest town in Siberia is in the middle of nowhere and is as landlocked as it is possible to come. I love the sea so Tomsk should be my ultimate nightmare. 

The music is a bit of technical thrash metal blended with death metal and a lot of melodic progressive rock. 

Confused ? Yes, this album is a bit all over the place. There is a lot of the Mekong Delta attitude and music here.

There is a lot of very good acoustic and electric guitars here.

The music is rather decent to good throughout these very colourful forty minutes. I guess fans of thrash metal will find this album both bewildering and good. 

Check out this album, even if thrash metal is not your thing.

2.5 points

Cast - Infinity (2002)

The tenth album from this band from Mexico.

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

The band had help from a couple of guest musicians who provided guitars and vocals.

I have often compared Cast to the Swedish band The Flower Kings and labeled them as the Americas answer to this Swedish band.

This album goes down that path too.

Cast is really one of the better symphonic prog bands in the world and I will later this summer review their new album. You will find a lot of Cast album reviews in # 1 of this blog too.

The band has gone a bit native, a bit South and Latin-American on this seventy minutes long album. The music is very much symphonic prog with a lot of Genesis references throughout. 

There are some really cool Latin-American details here too.

The music is good throughout and pretty much the usual Cast standard. This is another good album from them and this band is highly recommended.

3 points

 

 

 

 

Brain Connect - Think Different (2015)

The one and only album from this band from Poland.

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

This band released one album and then disappeared again. 

The music on this album is a mix of fusion, progressive rock and.... movie soundtrack. 

It is though a mix of fusion and progressive rock.

There is a lot of synths and guitars here. There are only sporadic vocals here and most of the album is instrumental.

The music is also dynamic and pretty lively without being heavy. The ambience is positive with some melancholic undertones.

The music on this one hour long album is also good and the listening sessions has been a positive experience.

This is an album well worth checking out.

3 points

 

Emerald Dawn. The - To Touch the Sky (2021)

The fourth album from this English band.

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

This band has over the last years emerged as one of the best and most exciting bands in the English scene. 

A lot was expected from this album based on their last two albums.

What we get here is forty-eight minutes divided on three compositions. 

I get this Ashes You Feel (a band from Croatia) feel again in their music. The music is really, really dark.

It is also gothic without being gothic. It has this goth feel but it is instead very dark. The bleak female vocals gives the compositions this goth feel.

The music is still pretty melodic too although this album is their least melodic and least accessible album. The music requires a lot of attention and concentration from the listener.

This album is without a doubt an album which will feature high on most prog fans best album of the year list and I understand that. It will also be on my list. 

This is indeed a great album and one to really enjoy. Check out all their albums and this album.

4 points

 

 

 

Moonrise - Soul's Inner Pendulum (2009)

The second album from this band from Poland.

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

The band was helped by a pair of guests who contributed vocals and bass to this album.

This band is Kamil Konieczniak's band and he does most instruments here. 

The band's 2008 debut album The Light Of A Distant Bay was a very good debut album. So I had hopes for this album. High hopes.

The band plays neo-prog.

That is Polish neo-prog with a lot of flowery symphonic prog influences. The songs, although vocals focused, is pretty long and full of intricate details.

The music on this album is colourful and flowery. The music is not as melancholic as most albums from Poland. It still have a lot of soul. 

The music is really melodic and with a lot of guitar solos and harmonies. 

Moonrise has again given us a very good album and I have really taken notice of this band. Moonrise is one of the best neo-prog band from Poland and that says a lot.

Check out this album.

3.5 points

Pohjola. Pekka - Space Waltz (1985)

 

The eight album from this Finnish artist.

Pekka Pohjola did the bass and keyboards here.

He got help from ten guest musicians who contributed with drums, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

His career has so far had some great albums and some not so good albums. He has done movie soundtracks and more jazzy albums.

This time, he visits a more jazzy area. There are still some rock here and the genre is therefore fusion.

There are some hints of Focus and Return To Forever here. There are also a lot of TV friendly light music here. 

The outstanding instrument here is guitars and we get a lot of guitar solos here. Those are saving this album from being just too light-weight. They adds a lot of substance to the album.

The synths are also good.

The music is bordering to muzak throughout this album. But they are saved by the guitars.

This is a good album though and Pekka knows what he is doing. That is to record and  release good albums. Like this one.

3 points

Blacksmith Tales - The Dark Presence (2021)

The debut album from this Italian band.

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

Another year, another batch of debut albums from new bands. And the world moves forward and we should all be grateful for that.

We should all be grateful for the Italian scene who still comes up with some new bands and albums. It is a gift that keeps on giving.

This band gives is well over seventy minutes worth of a mix of RPI, symphonic prog and neo-prog. 

The vocals are both male and female. And they are really good. 

The music is both melodic and epic. There is a lot of very intricate details in their music too.

The music sometimes crosses into musical territory and that is one of my gripes with this album. My other gripe is the lack of more great songs. 

On the plus side, all songs are very good and this album is very much hitting the right tones. This is indeed a very good album and one well worth checking out.

3.5 points

 

 

Kalugin. Antony - Stellar Gardener (2021)

The fifth album from this maestro from Ukraine.

Antony Kalugin does all the instruments, guitars, drums programming, keyboards and bass on this album.

He got help from a female vocalist on one song.

Antony Kalugin is what I would call a maestro in the progressive rock scene. He is one of the most prolific artists in the scene. 

His main band Karfagen is a great band and one of the better ones in the scene.

His main music is symphonic prog with a lot of influences from eclectic prog and classical music. That is also the case on this one hour long album.

That is a one hour long composition where his keyboards and his creativity get free reign. Just as on last year's solo album Marshmallow Moondust. That was a good album.

There is a lot of interesting melody ideas here. Mostly when Antony Kalugin visits the territory occupied by The Flower Kings and other Scandinavian symphonic prog bands. He is very good at implementing small pieces like this in his music.

An hour full of instrumental music can be a bit dull. But Antony implements a lot of quirky details in his music. Although this is not great music, the music still keeps the listener interested and it maintains a good standard.

This is another good album from the maestro. Check it out.

3 points

Multi Story - CBF10 (2020)

The fourth album from this British band.

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

This band released two albums in the mid-1980s, took a thirty years long sabbatical and then returned in 2016 with their third album Crimson Stone. I have reviewed that album and their debut album for # 1 of this blog.

Their music is neo-prog. 

Melodic neo-prog, that is.

The vocals are good and the band does their best on this one hour long. They still stick pretty close to the neo-prog formula and does not deviate from this narrow path of classic British neo-prog.

The songs are medium long and on average six minutes long.

The quality are again somewhere between decent and good. The sound is very good and the album has some intricate details too. That elevates the status of this album with half a point.

This is a good album from one of the lesser neo-prog bands in the scene. A band who never really made it but are still around. Neo-prog fans will really enjoy this band and this album.

3 points

Taskaha - Taskaha (2020)

The debut album from this Norwegian band.

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

There is a lot of new progressive  rock coming from Norway these days. This small country has become one of the bigger territories when it comes to progressive rock. That is; when it comes to bands. The media and the general public could not care less. The Norwegian progressive rock bands never ever get any media coverage in Norway.

And that makes me flipping angry.

This album was released by the band themselves last year. Digitally released.

The music is a mix of neo-prog, rock and progressive metal. There are also some hints of AOR here.

The sound is slick and the band does all the right things.The vocals too is really good.

My main gripe is the art of songwriting. The art of writing good songs. That is the one thing missing here.

This is a promising debut album but the next album must be better and it must include a lot of better songs.

2.5 point

Blackbirds - Touch Of Music (1971)

 

 

The second album from this German band.

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

Their 1968 album No Destination was a pretty poor album. Basic beat music and psych pop. 

The band returned again three years later and had added some more strings to their bow.

The Nice is a band that pops out of the speakers as an obvious reference on the first couple of tracks.... and throughout the rest of this three quarters of an hour long album.

Add in some psych rock and some blues too. 

Essentially, the music on this album is krautrock. The music is pretty primitive and very much left behind in the 1960s. It is still krautrock.

The music is pretty decent. In particular when they uses the organ and sounds like a second rate The Nice. The vocals are good and the guitarist gets space enough on a bluesy song where he dominates the song.

This is a decent album and well worth checking out. It is said that the band was active until five years ago. But no new album has seen the light of day. 

2 points

Loonypark - Perpetual (2016)

The fourth album from this band from Poland.

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

I did review the follow up album to Perpetual, the 2019 album Deep Space Eight, a couple of years ago.

I noted their mix of neo-prog, americana and goth.

Perpetual was released three years before that album.

The music here is darkened neo-prog. It is not so much clearly expressed goth in their music. It is much more melancholic than gothic.

The mood is dark indeed and the band gives us a full compliment of guitars and keyboards. There is a nice balance between the guitars and the keyboards. The music is pretty much vocals focused.

The quality is a mix if decent and good. I am not totally convinced about the quality here. The sound is good but the album is sorely missing some more good songs.

The band has just released a new album and I hope that one is better than this album. Just like Deep Space Eight was an improvement on this album.

2.5 points

 

Clepsydra - More Grains Of Sand (1994)

The second album from this band from Switzerland.

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

Their 1991 debut album Hologram was a decent album. But I knew/know that the band could do a lot better than that.

The band plays neo-prog in the British tradition and sound. Pendragon is a big reference here.

If the songs and sound is good, this is a very good genre.

The band gives us an hour of smart, intelligent and melodic neo-prog on this album. The vocals are really good and their song writing has improved a lot since their debut album.

The songs are pretty long, around seven to eight minutes long. The balance between vocals, keyboards and guitars are good.

This is a pretty big improvement on their debut album and an album well worth checking out for those into neo-prog. It is also a good album and well worth checking out.

3 points

Beardfish - Destined Solitaire (2009)

The fifth album from this Swedish band.

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

Beardfish is without any doubts one of the more original bands to come from Sweden. Well, within the progressive rock scene, that is.

Take Swedish folk rock, add symphonic prog in the vein of Kaipa, add Canterbury prog and lots of Frank Zappa. That is more or less this band.

That is also more or less this album too.

This album is very long.... Seventy-seven minutes long, no less.

The quirky music flows nicely and the vocals are good. Really good. The 1970s organ sound is really cool. Most of this album is a throwback to the 1970s.

The music is really playful too and works on so many different levels. 

This is a good album indeed and well worth checking out.

3 points

Hillward - Alternate Timelines (2021)

The third album from this band from Canada.

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

I have not heard their previous two albums so this band is new to me. They are from the French speaking part of Canada; Quebec. 

The Quebec scene has given us a lot of great bands and albums. Hillward's vocals are in English though and they are more set on world wide success than just local success.

The music is a mix of hard prog and neo-prog.

The vocals are good and so is the musicians. 

The album is forty minutes long and it is a good album. The band is doing everything right. It may be a bit of run-of-the-mill album who offers no surprises. Nevertheless, the music is solid and good.

Check out this band and album if the mix of hard prog and neo-prog sounds good to you.

3 points

Kerrs Pink - Presence of Life (2021)

The eight album from this Norwegian band.

The band is a seven piece big band with a lineup of drums, accordion, bass, guitars, mini-moog, mellotron, keyboards, organ, piano and vocals.

This album is their comeback album after an eight years long break.

The band continues on from their previous seven albums.

That means symphonic prog with a lot of folk rock references. The Flower Kings and Kaipa springs to mind here. There is also some good references to the old Norwegian prog and folk rock scene on this album.

The Icelandic vocalist Eirikur Hauksson is on the vocals here. He has done vocals for a lot of Norwegian bands, starting in the speed-metal band Artch almost thirty years ago. He is also vocalist in a couple of prog rock bands too.

His vocals is really good, btw.

The music is really good too. I have some issues with the choir and pretty bad closing parts of the closing composition In Discipline And With Love which removes parts of my positive impressions of this album.

This is still a good album which could had been a lot better with some better songs. 

Check it out.

3 points

 

 

Tiles - Pretending 2 Run (2016)

The sixth album from this US band.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of glockenspiel, maracas, percussion, drums, bass, guitars, mandolin, tambura, mellotron, keyboards, organ, piano, harp, trumpet and vocals.

The band had support from a symphonic orchestra full of instruments, a choir, moog, hammond organ, guitarist, bass and guest vocals.

The band had taken an eight years long sabbatical since their 2008 album Fly Paper. I have reviewed their five first albums for # 1 of this blog and you can find them there. 

Sheer laziness means I did not review this album before now. The reason is the length of this album and me getting a bit more interested in other bands and prog rock genres.

This album is over one and a half hour long. It is a double album, a 2 CDs album. That is probably 4 LPs if the band did some vinyl pressings of this album. It seems like the band is on another sabbatical or they have broken up.

That is a shame as Tiles is a good band indeed.

The band gives us one and a half hour of mostly catchy hard progressive rock here, bordering to progressive metal. The band is not really crossing over to metal. They are more like Rush hard progressive rock. 

There is some instrumental pieces of music at the end of this album which works really well. Yes, Rush is a good reference.

The vocals is really good and the band varies their music and introduces some The Beatles and Led Zeppelin harmonies too on this album.

This is indeed a good album from a good band. I hope the band is still around or they will reform. Tiles is one of the better prog rock bands from USA.

Check out this album.

3 points

  

Ambigram - Ambigram (2021)

The debut album from this Italian band.

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

They were helped out by some guest musicians who provided oboe, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

This band is a new band. But the members has had and have solo-careers and long careers in other bands. It is a kind of a RPI super-group.

Italian progressive rock, it is. But not particular symphonic Italian progressive rock.

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

The music is a bit heavy at times and is touching hard rock territory.

The musicians is doing a good job throughout these fifty-three minutes. The vocals are good too.

The songs are not very convincing and leaves a lot to be desired. The songs are pretty standard and a bit on the dull side too.

This is another album somewhere between decent and good. I am not won over by this album. But check it out if you can.

2.5 points

Bondar & Wise - A Live Legacy (1994)

The one and only album from this US band.

The band is a duo of Bob Wise on drums and Allen Bondar on keyboard and bass pedals.

This band toured parts of USA back in the 1970s but did not release any studio albums. A live recording was made in the 1970s at one of their gigs and the result is this album. 

This album released long after the duo had split up and the sound is the typical 1970s sound.

The music sounds like an imitation of ELP minus the vocals and the more fuller sound ELP had.

This album is basically tonnes of keyboards supported by drums. It is not a very original combination.

The sound is pretty good and you can hear the audience clapping and all that.

The music is pretty poor and their song writing does not offer up any good songs. 

This album is a borderline turkey. There is a couple of decent compositions here and that saves this album's dignity. It is not an album worthy of your attention.

1.5 points

 

Emerald Dawn. The - Nocturne (2019)

The third album from this band from England.

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

Their previous album, the 2017 album Visions, changed my mind on this band after a not so impressive debut album. 

After hearing their first album, I thought this band was a poppy neo-prog band. I was wrong. Very wrong.

Visions was a rather dark and gloomy album. Nocturne continues down the same road.

There is a lot of similarities between Visions and Nocturne. The female vocals are dark and gloomy. So is the music too. The vocals reminds me a lot about a band I was involved with as a record label owner twenty-five years ago..... The Croatian band Ashes You Leave. 

Nocturne is not as gothic as their albums. But the music is dark and the guitar solos is shrieking and wailing. 

And the music is working very fine, thank you. 

This is indeed a very good album from a band which rightly is becoming one of the finest UK prog rock bands around these days. 

Check out this album.

3.5 points

 

Blackfoot - Flyin' High (1976)

The second album from this US band.

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

Two female backing vocalists added their vocals to  a couple of tracks.

This US band is widely labeled as a southern rock band.

The band is also very much associated with Lynyrd Skynyrd these days as Rick Medlocke, the vocalist on this album, now does the same job for Lynyrd Skynyrd.

This is their second album and it did not do that well on the charts.

The reason is the not so good songs here. This album gives is some pretty mediocre hard rocking southern rock with some OK vocals.

The saving grace on this album is the rather ballad'ish final track Mother which elevates this album up to a decent album status. Besides of that, this is not an album those interested in finding out what Blackfoot did should put their money into.

2 points

Arco Iris - Faisán Azul (1983)

The tenth album from this band from Argentina.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of percussion of all sorts, drums, bass, guitars, melodica, flute, saxophone, pan flutes and vocals.

The band had taken a small sabbatical before they returned with this album. A well deserved one too.

The band returns with a three quarters of an album worth of music full of jazz and fusion. That is jazz and fusion very much inspired by and infused with the local folk music. Native folk music.

There is a lot of pan flutes here. But not soppy pan flutes as in the numerous commercial muzak albums with pan flutes which has littered the music scene for the last thirty years. 

The pan flutes on this album is played with lots of soul and great skills. The other flutes and guitars are also delivered with great gusto and adds a lot to this album.

The music is pretty intense and with lots of voices used as instruments. There is a some avant-garde prog on this album because of that. 

The music here is exotic and pretty unusual to say at least. Western ears and cultural identities may have some problems getting used to this music. The music is really good though and well worth checking out... and enjoying.

Check out this album.

3 points