tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70499388941357560122024-03-13T00:09:27.123-07:00The Sound Of Fighting Cats # 2Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.comBlogger2709125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-84001394157212823162021-07-31T10:27:00.004-07:002021-07-31T10:59:52.649-07:00... This blog is now full of reviews.... The blog continues as # 3 on a new link<p> I hope you still enjoy the 3000 reviews in this blog.<br />
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The blog is now an archive.</p><p>It is an archive as # 1 became <a href="http://thesoundoffightingcats.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">an archive in 2016.</a><br />
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The new and very active blog, The Sound Of Fighting Cats # 3 is available at<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><h3>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif""><b><a href="http://thesoundoffightingcatsthree.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">http://thesoundoffightingcatsthree.blogspot.co.uk/</a></b></span></span></h3></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif""><b> </b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif""><b>That blog will serve us until 2025'ish when # 4 takes over.</b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif""><b> </b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif""><b>The Sound Of Fighting Cats blog will live on. <br /></b></span></span></div>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-88890243755661871162021-07-31T09:04:00.002-07:002021-07-31T09:04:42.978-07:00Azure - Of Brine and Angels Beaks (2021)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/11824/cover_254031662021_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/11824/cover_254031662021_r.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The second album from this UK band.</p><p>The band is a quintet with a lineup of percussion, drums, bass, synth, guitars and vocals.</p><p>I very much liked their 2017 debut album Wish For Spring. A good album indeed from this Brighton band.</p><p>The band continues to play heavy prog. This time much more harder, bolder and complex than before.</p><p>The music is bordering to symphonic prog at times. It is also bordering to neo-prog.</p><p>There are also some djent here and harsh vocals too.</p><p>The music is very complex and still melodic at the same time. I guess this is called modern progressive rock.</p><p>It is also guitars based with some synths in between just to fill in the empty spaces in the sound. There is also a lot of good vocals here.</p><p>I prefer the debut album to this one. But just marginally as this album is a good album too. </p><p>This band deserve a lot more attention and should get it through this album.</p><p>3 points </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> <br /></p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-74614726384587400382021-07-30T11:21:00.003-07:002021-07-30T11:21:43.624-07:00Neurosenblüte - Hallo Frühling (2021) <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1451517719_16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="700" height="320" src="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1451517719_16.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The third album from this band from Germany.</p><p>The band is a trio with a lineup of drums, guitars, bass and synths.</p><p>I am not familiar with this band's previous two albums as this is not really my type of music.</p><p>The music is stripped down psych rock with a lot of post-metal influences.</p><p>The music is in trio format and very simple. </p><p>There is not much going on during these forty minutes and this album is not really anything for a progressive rock fan.</p><p>Half a point for some half decent details and that is it.</p><p>1.5 points</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-81578048692303660602021-07-29T11:45:00.001-07:002021-07-29T11:45:14.434-07:00Clepsydra - The Gap (2019)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/361/cover_421317782019_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="787" height="320" src="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/361/cover_421317782019_r.jpg" width="315" /></a></div><p></p><p>The fifth and so far latest album from this band from Switzerland.</p><p>The band is a quintet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards, synths and vocals.</p><p>This band has developed a lot since their debut album. <br /></p><p>The band started out as a clean sounding neo-prog band with the English sound. Then they developed and they have also ended up with this one hour long album.</p><p>The music is a mix of neo-prog and art rock. There is also a lot of symphonic prog in their music.</p><p>The music is pretty complex and bold. </p><p>It is also pretty melodic with some great vocals.</p><p>The end result is a good album from a good band. It is well worth checking out.</p><p>3 points</p><p> <br /></p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-53052991422658574452021-07-28T11:06:00.001-07:002021-07-28T11:06:08.246-07:00Dead Letter Circus - This Is The Warning (2010)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/5561/cover_483352972018_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/5561/cover_483352972018_r.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The debut album from this Australian band.</p><p>The band is a quartet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, programming and vocals.</p><p>I have recently got three of their albums and will review these albums this summer.</p><p>... Starting with this album.</p><p>The first that hit me is a wall of sound. On the top of that wall, we get some really powerful and melodic female vocals.</p><p>There is some post-rock in their music. The main part of the music is a mix of hard prog and neo-prog. Both Marillion and Porcupine Tree has been pretty influential on this band and their music.</p><p>The sound is both big and bold.</p><p>The quality of the music is a mix of good and decent. </p><p>I like this album and is looking forward to reviewing the two remaining albums of them I have got. I may even get the two albums I am missing.</p><p>This band sounds like they know what they are doing.</p><p>2.5 points</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-91586683038389464842021-07-27T12:44:00.002-07:002021-07-27T12:44:58.022-07:00Consider The Source - Are You Watching Closely ? (2009) <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/5264/cover_2717162222019_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="779" data-original-width="800" height="312" src="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/5264/cover_2717162222019_r.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The second album from this US band.</p><p>The band is a trio with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars and guitar synths.</p><p>I got three albums with this US band out of in total five albums they have released. I will probably get the two remaining albums too. The three albums I have got is now up for review this summer. </p><p>This band delivers some strange music, indeed.</p><p>The basis is very rhythm based rock/jazz/fusion. There is a lot of Indian and Balkan influences in their music. </p><p>Flairck seems like a good reference here. So does many of the jazz/fusion albums released through MoonJune Records. </p><p>This is indeed a weird album and not the typical progressive rock album. It is too rhythm based to really be melodic.</p><p>The album has a lot of good things going for it. But the quality is not always good.</p><p>This is a decent to good album from one of the more original and eclectic bands in the scene.</p><p>2.5 points</p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-11213976460737127302021-07-26T12:22:00.003-07:002021-07-28T11:15:44.924-07:00Evership - The Uncrowned King Act 1 (2021)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/9901/cover_311392342021_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/9901/cover_311392342021_r.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The third album from this US band.</p><p>The band is a sextet with a lineup of drums, percussion, theremin, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.</p><p>They were helped by some guest musicians who added sea organ (?), choir and backing vocals.</p><p>I really liked their debut album but has lost out on their second album. An album I will soon get. So I was looking forward to review this album.</p><p>The band is clearly a symphonic prog band on this album. US symphonic prog, that is.</p><p>There is lots of references to Genesis, Kansas, The Flower Kings and Yes here. There is also a lot of Supertramp, Styx and Trans-Siberian Orchestra references here.</p><p>The music is big and bold. Very big and bold.</p><p>The music is complex too and offers up a good ride during this one hour long album. </p><p>It is a very good album indeed and one to cherish.</p><p>Check it out.</p><p>3.5 points</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-74608769466239189142021-07-26T10:08:00.001-07:002021-07-26T10:08:34.335-07:00Anathema - Distant Satellites (2014)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/1038/cover_22091342014_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/1038/cover_22091342014_r.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The 12th album from this British band.</p><p>The band was a sextet on this album with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards, synths, programming and vocals.</p><p>The band had help from three guests who did strings, drums, percussion, programming and bass.</p><p>The band was well established and safe in their new environment. Which is.... ?</p><p>Well, the band's music is a mix of post rock, ambient, Marillion like art-rock, metal and a lot of Pink Floyd'ish psych rock.</p><p>The music is really emotive and melodic on this album. There is lots of female and male vocals here.</p><p>The quality is good throughout. This is not one of their most interesting albums though.</p><p>Nevertheless, this album is another reason to really like this band. A band I have grown to get very fond of.</p><p>3 points</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-17049533773639368992021-07-25T06:58:00.001-07:002021-07-25T06:58:14.550-07:00Maneskjold - Sølvhjerneskaller (2021)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3436807389_16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="700" height="320" src="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3436807389_16.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The second album from this band from Denmark.</p><p>The band is a quartet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, synths, flute and vocals.</p><p>I very much liked their 2016 debut album Kometen Kommer and was looking forward to review this album.</p><p>The name of the album means Silverbrains in English. </p><p>The music is fittingly enough space rock with some psychedelia and hard rock included. </p><p>The flute gives me a lot of 1970s vibes and this album has indeed at least half a leg in the 1970s.</p><p>The guitars and bass is everywhere. The music is pretty melodic as it has a lot of hard rock and psych incorporated. </p><p>There is no great songs here. But the album is nicely working out fine during the forty-five minutes it's last. </p><p>It is good to see so many new space rock bands these days. Maneskjold is one of the better ones from Scandinavia.</p><p>3 points</p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-88886652273957864372021-07-25T01:15:00.001-07:002021-07-25T01:15:09.206-07:00Dancer - Tales of the Riverbank (2001)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/3783/cover_1845201662008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="198" height="320" src="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/3783/cover_1845201662008.JPG" width="317" /></a></div><p></p><p>The one and only album from this British band.</p><p>The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, flute, percussion, mellotron, keyboards and vocals.</p><p>It is my understanding from their discography that this album was recorded in 1972 and was then quickly forgotten before an obscure label released it in 2001. </p><p>I am glad they did that.</p><p>The music is a mix of folk rock and progressive rock. Progressive folk rock, it is called.</p><p>The mellotron sound is good and ditto for the vocals.</p><p>The music is pretty complex, yet melodic with a clear folk rock sound.</p><p>The sound is also the typical 1970s sound. <br /></p><p>The music is at times good. This is indeed a good album and a forgotten gem well worth checking out.</p><p>3 points</p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-74075943555131387982021-07-24T11:06:00.004-07:002021-07-24T11:06:56.317-07:00Beardfish - +4626 Comfortzone (2015)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/2808/cover_22155772016_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/2808/cover_22155772016_r.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The eight and final album from this Swedish band.</p><p>The band was a quartet on this album with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.</p><p>The band quit the scene after eight albums and minimal success. The truth is that the music was too complex and too eclectic for even the progressive rock scene. The split up of this band is one of the greatest tragedies in this scene.</p><p>The band gives us an hour of eclectic progressive rock. The music is a mix of Scandinavian symphonic prog, folk rock and eclectic prog in the King Crimson and Gentle Giant mould.</p><p>The vocals are really great and the music is pretty melodic too.</p><p>This album also has some majestic pieces of music and showcases a band who are sorely missed.</p><p>This is their swansong but all their last six albums is albums all prog rock fans should own. </p><p>This is indeed a very good album.</p><p>3.5 points</p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-14360491721988423442021-07-23T09:59:00.002-07:002021-07-23T09:59:42.657-07:00 Syrinx - Kaleidoscope Of Symphonic Rock (1994)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://img.discogs.com/h567qnbZ3gzOWDCIBmu5gUTqni4=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-5031881-1528735391-2595.jpeg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="298" data-original-width="300" height="318" src="https://img.discogs.com/h567qnbZ3gzOWDCIBmu5gUTqni4=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-5031881-1528735391-2595.jpeg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The one and only album from this Dutch band.</p><p>The band was a trio with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, synths and vocals.</p><p>Me and this album goes back a long time. I got a cassette promo of it from the Dutch death metal/grindcore label Cyber Music. Their albums so far had been of the more ultra-brutal metal sort.</p><p>I really liked this album back then and compared the band to Rush. I also regarded this album as a progressive rock album. <br /></p><p>I had been looking for this album again for the last ten years before it popped up on Youtube. That made me happy. </p><p>The music has some Yes and Rush influences. It also got some Pearl Jam and grunge influences. Not to forget the frequent neo-prog influences.</p><p>The vocals sounds strained and the musicians does not really do a good job. The music is pretty simplistic and not so developed. <br /></p><p>The album is not as good as I thought it would be, 27 years after I started to listen to it.</p><p>This album is a pretty decent albums but nothing more than that. </p><p>2 points</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-74210450190303609982021-07-23T00:54:00.002-07:002021-07-23T00:55:26.677-07:00Blackfoot - Tomcattin (1980)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/78/Tomcattin'.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="316" data-original-width="316" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/78/Tomcattin'.jpg" /></a></div><p></p><p>The fourth album from this US band.</p><p>The band was a quartet on this album with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, keyboards, guitars and vocals.</p><p>The band had help from some guest musicians who provided saxophones, harmonica, electric harmonica, percussion, keyboards and vocals.</p><p>The band was by now pretty established and their frontman Rickey Medlocke, who today plays in Lynyrd Skynyrd, had got a semi-god status in the scene.</p><p>The band was by now pursuing a career in the heavy metal and hard rock genre. That is where we find this album.</p><p>The music is somewhere in the crossroads between US hard rock and heavy metal. The music is hard throughout.</p><p>There are also some southern rock and stadium rock here. But not as much on previous albums.</p><p>The result is a decent enough album. It is not particular interesting and it feels like the band was by now overtaken by the new young guns in the scene.</p><p>Those into hard rock should check out this album. <br /></p><p>2 points</p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-71268082706245841992021-07-23T00:46:00.000-07:002021-07-23T00:46:14.767-07:00Congreso - El Congreso (1971)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/3251/cover_28407422019_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="769" data-original-width="800" height="308" src="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/3251/cover_28407422019_r.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The debut album from this band from Chile.</p><p>The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, piano, recorder and vocals.</p><p>A guest contributed with flute on some tracks.</p><p>I got most if not all albums of this band and will do a review of them during the rest of the year. Or even into the new year. I will see how this pans out.</p><p>The band is quite important in the South American scene and well worth a series of reviews.</p><p>Their debut album is a folk rock infused rock/pop album. </p><p>It is more or less a folk rock album but with some sparse instruments. The flutes are the ones that shines through as the most folk orientated sound.</p><p>The vocals are really good and this forty five minutes long album is quite good. There is no real good songs here but the sound and ambience is good. </p><p>Check out this album. The album is a positive surprise.</p><p>2.5 points</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-88859256916232179042021-07-21T13:04:00.001-07:002021-07-21T13:04:12.705-07:00Needlepoint - The Diary Of Robert Reverie (2018)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/10962/cover_2914181482019_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/10962/cover_2914181482019_r.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The fourth album from this Norwegian band.</p><p>The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, clavinet, keyboards, synths and vocals.</p><p>The band impressed me with their third album, my first ever meeting with them, Aimless Mary from 2015. </p><p>I was looking forward to this album. </p><p>The music is art pop and art rock. There is also some progressive rock here.</p><p>The music is not as immediate accessible as on their debut album. </p><p>This album contains melodic, arty rock/pop and the music is really good.</p><p>There is no real outstanding killer track here. But the music is really good.</p><p>This album is well worth checking out.</p><p>3 points</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-12512172613889908062021-07-20T10:57:00.002-07:002021-07-20T10:57:39.109-07:00Astrakhan - A Slow Ride Towards Death (2021)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1040350692_16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="700" height="320" src="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1040350692_16.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The third album from this Swedish band.</p><p>The band is a quartet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars and vocals.</p><p>Two guests added keyboards and female vocals.</p><p>I really liked their debut album a lot and voiced my opinions in <a href="http://thesoundoffightingcats.blogspot.com/2013/12/astrakhan-retrospective-2013.html" target="_blank">this review</a>. I have bypassed their second album before this album showed up in my inbox.</p><p>Their debut album was indeed a very good album.</p><p>The band continues in the pure heavy metal genre with some hard rock incorporated in their sound.</p><p>The heavy metal cliches comes fast and is pretty overwhelming. Traditional heavy metal, with the exception of Iron Maiden, is a genre I am not fond of.</p><p>This album falls a bit flat on it's face as the songs are not good either.</p><p>Some of the songs dives down towards turkey status. But some other more decent songs saves this album from my turkey yard. </p><p>Fans of heavy metal should check out this album.</p><p>1.5 points</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-36360943714906969982021-07-19T09:06:00.001-07:002021-07-19T09:06:32.379-07:00Helium Station - Sanctuary (2021)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2749552111_16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="700" height="320" src="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2749552111_16.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The second album from this French band.</p><p>I believe this band is a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.</p><p>This band is unknown to most of you. Their music is a bit borderline progressive rock without really being fully progressive rock.</p><p>Take some neo-prog, some heavy prog from the 1970s, stadium rock, soul and funk. That is when you get this band and album.</p><p>The vocals is a mix of female and male vocals.</p><p>The music is pretty good throughout these seventy minutes.</p><p>The sound is good but the songs are a bit lacking in quality.</p><p>It still makes this a pretty good classic rock album well worth checking out.</p><p>2.5 points</p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-40814111544947467812021-07-18T11:15:00.003-07:002021-07-18T11:15:44.531-07:00Azure - Wish for Spring (2017)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/11824/cover_265831662021_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/11824/cover_265831662021_r.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The debut album from this English band.</p><p>The band was a quintet with a lineup of drum programming, percussion, bass, guitars, mandolin, oboe, synths and vocals.</p><p>This band is a new band to me. They have just released their second album and I will review it later this summer. </p><p>The music is a bit flowery progressive rock. There is a mix of progressive metal here and neo-prog. There is also some symphonic prog on this album.</p><p>The music is pretty quirky and also pretty melodic.</p><p>The music is pretty hard and the label heavy prog suits this music best.</p><p>The music is good throughout and England, the city/town of Brighton has got a new good band in Azure.</p><p>Check out this album.</p><p>3 points</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-45494092542252339532021-07-17T03:13:00.001-07:002021-07-17T03:13:23.187-07:00Clepsydra - Alone (2001)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/361/cover_28716752017_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="787" data-original-width="800" height="315" src="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/361/cover_28716752017_r.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The fourth album from this band from Switzerland.</p><p>The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.</p><p>The band was back again with their fourth album.</p><p>We are again being treated to some neo-prog.</p><p>This time, the band has moved away from the more simplistic neo-prog from the 1980s/early 1990s to a more art rock style. Steve Hogarth's era Marillion springs to mind here.</p><p>The vocals are good and the album is really long. </p><p>The musicians also do a good job.</p><p>There are some good songs here. But the overall impression is not that good. There is too much sub-standard material here to make this a good album.</p><p>It is an album somewhere between decent and good. It is not their best album.</p><p>2.5 points</p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-4740627434667436482021-07-17T01:34:00.002-07:002021-07-17T01:34:38.607-07:00Maneskjold - Kometen Kommer (2016)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2094279111_16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="700" height="320" src="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2094279111_16.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <p></p><p>The debut album from this Danish band.</p><p>The band is a quartet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars and vocals.</p><p>I am pretty fond of the space rock genre. There is a lot of Scandinavian bands who agree with me and who does some very good space rock.</p><p>This band is new to me and they released a new album this year. I will review that album too in the coming weeks. </p><p>Kometen Kommer was released through <a href="https://maneskjold.bandcamp.com/album/kometen-kommer">Bandcamp</a> and is just under forty minutes long.</p><p>These forty minutes consist of dirty space rock in the vein of good old Hawkwind. Fans of that band will love Maneskjold. </p><p>The songs or make it compositions are all good with some good guitars and guitar solos. The vocals too is good. </p><p>It is a really good space rock album and fans of that genre should pick up this album. But I guess most fans of this genre already knows about this band and album. The rest of us too should now rate this band pretty highly.</p><p>3 points</p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-90920022730101769702021-07-15T03:21:00.001-07:002021-07-15T03:21:11.743-07:00Mekong Delta - Wanderer On The Edge Of Time (2010)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/1846/cover_154615232019_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="793" data-original-width="800" height="317" src="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/1846/cover_154615232019_r.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The ninth album from this German band.</p><p>The band is a quintet on this album with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, percussion and vocals.</p><p>A guest guitarist did a guitar solo on track 7.</p><p>I have never ever been a big fan of speed and thrash metal. German speed and thrash metal is one of the least interesting genres I know about. But Mekong Delta has always fascinated me....... from afar.</p><p>Coming a bit closer to their music, I have found an interesting band with some interesting albums. Their music is indeed progressive thrash metal. </p><p>The band take a stab at some classical music pieces and make them into some power, heavy and in particular thrash metal pieces. </p><p>The result is not bad at all. There are some good pieces here and some rather mediocre pieces here. This album still cement the band's status as one of the more interesting and challenging bands out there.</p><p>Check out this album.</p><p>2.5 points</p><p> </p><p> <br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-71427041409163138142021-07-14T02:17:00.001-07:002021-07-14T02:17:25.195-07:00Anathema - Weather Systems (2012)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/1038/cover_4349513112016_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/1038/cover_4349513112016_r.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The eleventh album from this English band.</p><p>The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, synths, programming, keyboards, piano and vocals.</p><p>The band was supported by a string orchestra and some other guests who provided strings, bass, drums, piano, narration and backing vocals.</p><p>I was not a big fan of their previous album Falling Deeper as it was a re-recording of their earlier works. It is not my thing, these re-recordings.</p><p>So I was looking forward to give Weather Systems my attention.</p><p>The band plays on their strengths on this album.</p><p>That means post-rock and post-metal with a lot of ambience and soul. The music is far from pedestrian... There is actually a lot going on here. Proper melodies but not in the traditional songs settings. </p><p>The main theme here is bordering to being great and it is repeated throughout this almost one hour long album. The vocals and the whole instrumentation is very good and so is the average quality of the music.</p><p>This is a very good album from Anathema and one I will play over and over again when I get time.</p><p>3.5 points</p><p> <br /></p><p> <br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-9346583681474559772021-07-13T11:20:00.001-07:002021-07-13T11:20:21.242-07:00Beardfish - The Void (2012)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/2808/cover_36494772016_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/2808/cover_36494772016_r.jpg" width="320" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The seventh album from this Swedish band.</div><p></p><p>The band was a quartet on this album with a lineup of percussion, drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.</p><p>I was really impressed by their previous album Mammoth and was looking forward to this album.</p><p>This sixty-six minutes long album starts out with a lot of progressive metal with some growl vocals too. </p><p>The album gets back to a more safe Swedish progressive rock area after that. But the progressive metal is comes back on this album on an irregular basis throughout the album.</p><p>The music is pretty quirky too and there is some folk rock influences here. Yes, this is a Swedish progressive rock album.</p><p>The quality is good throughout. It is still a bit of a backwards step from Mammoth. </p><p>Nevertheless, this album is well worth checking out from one of the more interesting bands in the progressive rock scene.</p><p>3 points</p><p> <br /></p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-36625149732696660092021-07-13T01:10:00.001-07:002021-07-13T01:10:03.712-07:00Artnat - The Mirror Effect (2021)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/11684/cover_5452112822021_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/11684/cover_5452112822021_r.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The debut album from this band from Portugal.</p><p>The band is a sextet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, synths, keyboards and vocals.</p><p>Artnat = Tantra spelled backwards. And by that, the band is referring to the Portoguese band Tantra from where this band comes from. </p><p>Tantra was a really good symphonic prog band from Portugal who released five albums. </p><p>The music we get from Artnat is more or less in the same vein.</p><p>That means symphonic prog in the Yes vein with a lot of jazz too. And there is some goth rock here too.</p><p>The female vocals reminds me a lot about The Third And The Mortal and there is some of their debut album here.</p><p>There is no real killer tracks on The Mirror Effect. But the overall quality is really good and this album and band is bound to get a lot of fans. This is a band I have included in my top talents list for this year.</p><p>3 points</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049938894135756012.post-11505284872738052272021-07-11T00:29:00.000-07:002021-07-11T00:29:00.180-07:00Gassin. Roland - Born In The Seventies (2021) <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhACTImhJLi-nKwd9d68Hqd70O5nnyPbLJ6miD154Ieotse7OBlysws1KgS8yydCbDywBreHEXaNAcw49TjeG96Ir5IWNxwDdsNv4JvwBgWm8xXOk_PYBSGdz_bHcW8IN_-KNdrnYeCd2xl/s300/Roland+Gassin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhACTImhJLi-nKwd9d68Hqd70O5nnyPbLJ6miD154Ieotse7OBlysws1KgS8yydCbDywBreHEXaNAcw49TjeG96Ir5IWNxwDdsNv4JvwBgWm8xXOk_PYBSGdz_bHcW8IN_-KNdrnYeCd2xl/w320-h320/Roland+Gassin.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The debut album from this French artist.</p><p>Roland Gassin does the drums, bass, guitars, banjo, synths, keyboards and vocals on this album.</p><p>He is helped by a quartet of musicians from the band Spin'X who adds drums, bass, keyboards and voice over.</p><p>This album came out of the blue to me and it very much reflects the retro-rock movement we witness these days.</p><p>I guess we can label this album as a progressive rock album. In that case, in the heavy rock genre.</p><p>The music is a throw back to the arena rock genre we saw in the 1970s. Lots of Deep Purple and Free references here with a rampant organ and some good guitars. The vocals too are good.</p><p>The sound too is very much retro.</p><p>The music is good although not that exciting. This album breaks no new ground but it is still a good album and a very useful party album during warm summer days........ or cold winter days.</p><p>Check out this album.</p><p>3 points</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Torodd Fuglesteghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092286386335442052noreply@blogger.com0