Sorgente. La - Trasparente (1981)

The only album from this Italian band.

The Catholic church in Italy were pretty cued into the Italian prog rock scene and wanted to contribute with their own scene and Christian lyrics. This mirrored every other scene in the world. We even have Christian black metal these days. Nothing wrong with that at all. As long as the music is good and it does not promote genocides, violence and racism, I am all up for it.

I would though argue that Italian and symphonic prog rock in itself is pretty much Christian in any case. It is after all based on church hymns and the likes of Johan Sebastian Bach. The Catholic end of the prog rock scene was like buttered up bacon pieces. Something not everyone agrees with. Hence this album and band.

The opening songs reminds me a bit about Celtic folk music. Then the band fall into line again, adopting a much more Italian prog rock sound and music. They use keyboards, violins, flutes, guitars, bass, drums and plenty of vocal harmonies. Italian vocal harmonies, it has to be said. The music is very, very poppy and sweet. Very angelic at times.

The opening minutes, some terrible opening minutes, does not do the rest of the album any justice. The rest of this forty-five minutes long album is pretty good. The sound is decent too. The end result is a decent to good album with some good melody lines and some pretty dire stuff. Check out this album if you are a fan of this scene and you like sweet music.

2.5 points

Maze Of Time - Masquerade Show (2012)

The third album from this Swedish symp prog band.

Their first two albums Tales From The Maze (2006) and Lullaby For Heroes (2008) established their formula. The formula is melodic symphonic prog with strong influences from both The Flower Kings and Genesis. Four years later, they have moved on a bit.

Their music and sound still takes a lot from The Flower Kings and has also got this Swedish symph prog sound. They have though added prog metal to the mix with a lot of typical genre defining power metal guitar riffs. They have kept on the typical symph prog keyboards sound. Bass and drums complete the picture in addition to male English vocals.

The result is a pretty heavy album with some melodic stuff inbetween. The band has ditched their 1970s affiliations and gone for this day and age.

The overall quality is good throughout. The music also sounds a bit too generic. The title track is a great track with a great melody and harmony. There are also a couple of tracks here which is barely decent. So the law of average is a good album.

3 points

Gaa - Alraunes Alptraum (1975)

The second album from this German krautrock band.

Their first album Auf Der Bahn Zum Uranus from the previous year was a very good krautrock album and one the band could build on. Which they duly did.

The music on Alraunes Alptraum is a mix of German pop rock and some instrumental rock. The sound is pretty bad on my copy where the vocals is pretty well hidden in the back of the mix. The guitars and the keyboards are more in the forefront. The German vocals is not bad though. Drums and bass completes their lineup.

The music is, to say at least, pretty dull throughout this forty minutes long album. There is no good songs and no bite other than slightly pointless noodling around in the instrumentals. There is no denying that this is a rather dull, weak album. It is a turkey and nothing more than that.

1 point

Doracor - Lady Roma (2008)

The seventh album from this Italian symph prog band.

Doracor has had a very fine development from the rather paltry one-man band album The Long Pathway to this album, a full band album with a lush sound. Doracor has been a full band now for a long time. The difference in quality is huge.

Lady Roma gives us fifty minutes of lush, elegant symphonic prog with Italian vocals. The sound is a mix of the English and US symphonic prog sound. Mostly the US sound, in fact. That means monumental elegance takes the front seat here. Monumental elegance produced with plenty of keyboards, guitars, bass, woodwinds, drums and very elegant male vocals. A bit sweet, perhaps too sweet, but still with a lot of substance. On this album, Corrado Sardella, the mainman in Doracor, has also included some influences from the likes of Rush, lounge jazz and soul. Yes, there is a big thick well known Rush riff in one of the songs here our friends has "borrowed" from our Canadian friends. I guess with tongue in cheek. It is fun listening to it, anyway.

There is no real great tracks here and that is my main gripe with this fifty minutes long album. It is still a very good album well worth checking out. Fans of symphonic prog should have this album in their collection.

3.5 points

Asgard - L'Hirondelle (1976)

The debut album from this French band whose second album is a great album. I reviewed it in January this year.

L'Hirondelle is a folk rock album as Asgard started out as a folk rock band. That means plenty of flutes, violins, acoustic guitars, bass, drums and French vocals. Style wise, they can be compared to the English band Magna Carta. The music is pedestrian and filled with male vocal harmonies.

The band was as trio back then and that shows. Their brand of folk rock is pretty basic with a few exceptions. These exceptions is the occasional foray into a more eclectic music. The guitars are good here though and the band sometimes let rip on some more instrumental, jazz inspired melody lines.

That aside, there are also some not so decent stuff here which equally annoys and bores me. The end result is a decent album which is no match for their second album. Get that one and ignore this one.

2 points

Agitation Free - Shibuya Nights (2011)

The fourth live album from this excellent German krautrock band. One of the best krautrock bands in the scene.

The band had their best period in 1972-73 with their excellent two albums Malesch and Second. Both are classic, essential albums. Their two other albums was not that great. I fell in love with them and krautrock after hearing their live album At The Cliffs Of River Rheine back in 2009. A kind of a life changer. Well, at least an album that expanded my musical horizons a great deal.

Enough about that...

Agitation Free were invited to play Japan in 2007 by a rich Japanese fan and they went over there for a mini tour. Agitation Free has a deserved big name in Japan and the gigs was a success. This seventy-five minutes long live album documents their gig(s) in Tokyo. Most of the music is taken from their first three albums. The music from Malesch and Second is off course the best and most interesting pieces. And they shines like diamonds. Great music which proves how great this band was.

To a large extent, this album is their greatest hits as you get all their best stuff here. It still retains the krautrock feel and vibe. The music, all of it instrumental, is introvert and mystic. The band has not lost their edge and the sound is great. The guitars are excellent and the live feel is great too.

This is a truly great live album and a good documentation of how great this band was. Enough said.

4 points

Fromuz - Sodom & Gomorrah (2013)

The fourth album from this Uzbek band and another album I have found difficult writing anything about.

Fromuz continues in the same genre as they have always released their albums in. Instrumental rock which implement a lot of genres and influences. From symphonic prog to fusion, neo prog, eclectic prog, funk rock and prog metal. The guitars and keyboards are central here. A lot of guitar and keyboards solos is what we get here on this fifty minutes long concept album about these two cities God terminated as a reaction against sins and disobedience. A concept album with only sparse vocals.

The album is divided into fourteen tracks. Each of them with interesting titles not reflected in the music. It is incredible difficult to make great albums in the instrumental prog genre. Very few has managed to do this and Fromuz is not one of these bands.

The music here is good and also has some great melody lines too. It also has it's fair share of not so interesting music too. The law of the average says a good album. An album which is not a grower in my view and has lost at least half a point after repeated spins in my CD player. What this band needs is great tracks. No less and no more. Keep on trying, guys.

3 points

Giro Strano. Il - La Divina Commedia (1973)

One of the many one shot Italian bands from the 1970s.

Il Giro Strano's only album was released in 1992 by Mellow Records and is now out of stock. I believe the album will be re-released on Mellow Records own Bandcamp page in due time. Keep an eye out for that.

This very rare album is pretty traditional heavy Italian prog with saxophone, flutes, keyboards, guitars, bass, drums and Italian vocals. The sound is OK on this one hour long album. The album got five songs and the longest one is over fifteen minutes long. The vocals are good and the album got a Jethro Tull feel. That and a heavy blues feel with strong Italian prog rock influences.

The quality of the music is not particular good. The band is missing the art of song writing and the longer songs does not really comes across as having an overriding idea or indeed purpose. Melody lines is clashing with each others and the songs are a bit messy. The positive thing here is the keyboards sound which is great.

The end result is a decent to good album which does not really impresses me. But I hope Mellow Records will make this album available on their Bandcamp page.

2.5 points

Memoriance - Et Après (1976)

The debut album from this French band who released two albums and a '7 single before they disappeared again.

The band comes from the same scene who gave us Ange, Atoll, Mona Lisa and some other symphonic prog bands. You can add Memoriance to the list of fine French symphonic prog bands.

Et Apres is an half an hour long album. It is slightly more influenced by the likes of Pink Floyd and Steve Hackett than Ange. The sound and music is much more open and melodic than theatrical. The music reminds me more about the open French rural landscape than the theaters in Paris where you will find Ange.

The music on Et Apres is unashamed melodic, created by guitars, keyboards, bass, drums and the occasional great French vocals. The instrumental parts here, the interplays between the guitars and keyboards is truly great and symphonic prog nirvana. The vocals parts is also by all means great.

The stars here are the four songs. Three long ones and one shorter one. Brilliant songwriting and dynamics. The keyboards sends cold shivers down my spine. My only gripe is the lack of a truly brilliant song. That aside; this is a great album and I am adding Memoriance to my list of great French symph prog bands.

4 points

Killed On X Mas - The Second Wonder (1997)

An EP from this German krautrock band.

Their three albums was not too bad. A mix of decent to very good stuff. Their music is apocalyptic space rock with death growls and very dirty guitars and bass.

The Second Wonder is everything above with some added guitar harmonies on the top of some growling dirty guitars and vocals. The music is pretty metallic and claustrophobic too. Very much garage space rock.

The four compositions, twenty minutes long EP does not pretend to reinvent the wheel. It is twenty minutes of good, dirty krautrock in the space rock vein. It is also a free download from the link below. It is also their best effort in my view and well worth checking out for all krautrock fans. The quality is as good as those albums you pay hard earned money for.

3 points

The EP

Labirinto Di Specchi - Hanblecheya (2011)

The debut album from this Italian band. The band was formed by the former frontman of the rather obscure band Pholas Dactylus who released an album in 1973. I am not sure if I have got it and/or if I have reviewed it. That band was rumored to be something special, an oddity in the scene.

I think that also goes for Labirinto Di Specchi. The seventy minutes long Hanblecheya is indeed an oddity. The music is indeed eclectic too with a lot of King Crimson elements and jazz elements. But most of all; the sound and music is a mix of post rock and Italian prog rock with classical music thrown into the mix too. The music is instrumental throughout.

The music is performed with spoken Italian words, post rock like guitars, bass, drums, keyboards and cello. The music is very dynamics and follows the ebb and flow pattern with full aural assaults from the band combined with a more pastoral parts. Some of the music is also very much post metal too.

The end result is a pretty unique Italian band with a very good album. This is a very dynamic album with a lot of very interesting details and guitar harmonies. Seventy minutes with this music is a bit of a mouthful. But this album still comes across as one well worth spending time on. I recommend it.

3.5 points

Guinness. Id - Soul Envy (2010)

The second album from this Canadian solo artist.

His first album, reviewed a couple of weeks ago, did not remotely impress me. Pop rock with a slick production and commercial attributes. Unfortunate; without any good songs.

Style wise, he has used the three years wisely and broadened his horizon a lot. We get country and prog rock influenced pop rock here. Still with a great deal of commercial appeal. Still with the eye to radio airplay. Still not particular interesting details filled music. There is a wide variety of influences here too. Particular David Bowie influences.

Mr. Guinness sings very well and the band cannot be faulted. I am not a fan of pop rock. Far from it. This one hour long album has it's good moments. But not enough for me to really like it. It is a decent to good album and progress from the debut album.

2.5 points

Gaa - Auf Der Bahn Zum Uranus (1974)

The debut album from this German band who released two albums in two years before they were disbanded.

Gaa was a krautrock band on the more rock end of the spectrum. Psychedelic rock in other words. The sound is typical gritty krautrock. Ditto for the music which is dominated by fuzzy electric guitars, piano, Hammond organs and German vocals. Add bass and drums too and you get this album.

Uranus is a very strong opening track. A rather spaced out track too with some great Hammond organs. The best track on the album. The other tracks are more songs orientated, verse-chorus-verse. There are a lot of very interesting small Hammond organs and guitars details here. Fans of early Deep Purple will find a lot of great stuff on this album. Ditto for krautrock fans for whom this album is close to being an essential purchase.

I really like krautrock as much as I like most other prog rock associated music styles. Well, krautrock is progressive rock. My main gripes against this album is the lack of any great songs and the too much songs focused music here. I like my krautrock spaced out into outer space. This is still a good album well worth checking out.

3 points

Electric Light Orchestra - Zoom (2001)

Their fifteenth and final album. Although this was in reality a Jeff Lynne solo album with 2/4 of The Beatles helping out. That means Ringo Starr and the much missed George Harrison.

Gone has also their beloved sound. The sound based on the dynamics between the cello and the guitars. The elegant pop rock. The great sound based on a development of the The Beatles. The music that got this band so many fans. Zoom is a return to simple, easy accessible pop rock in the mid-era The Beatles vein. The recruitment of 2/4 of The Beatles was no coincidence.

The difference was that The Beatles at that time released some magic songs and that they were breaking new ground. Zoom is failing in both respect. The songs here are dull and without much substance. The sound is still good and I like Jeff Lynne's vocals. Besides of sometimes giving us a glimpse of what this band was all about during this one forty-five minutes long album, there is not much to enjoy here.

Zoom is a decent pop rock album with some great musicians and Jeff Lynne's great vocals. Nothing more and nothing less.

2 points

Randone - Hybla Act 1 (2005)

The fourth album from this Italian band.

Randone is Nicola Randone's project and band. He has played with other well known Italian artists in the Italian prog rock scene. Randone is his visions and labor of love.

In this case; that is a rock opera. You get operatic male and female vocals here on the top of guitars, flutes, keyboards, drums and bass. There is plenty of power metal guitars here and goth vocals. Which makes me think about goth metal and the many rock operas from that scene. Not a pretty thought.

The sound is very thin on this album. Hybla Act 1 does not have the thick and full cream sound I had expected from a rock opera like this. The guitars has a pretty bad sound in my view. The keyboards and flutes has a great sound though. The music is good to very good throughout.

This is a good album with some good songs. But nothing more than that. Check it out if this is your cup of tea.

3 points

Lost Kite - Two (2013)

The second album from this Swedish duo. A Swedish father and son duo, Stefan and David.

We are deep into prog rock here. The father and son brands it symphonic prog. Well, take a big chunk from Anglagard and Anekdoten, take a lot of Camel and add Van Der Graaf Generator and Mr Anthony Phillips to the mix.

You get a lot of Swedish melancholy with the Moog and Melotrons used here. Add some Spanish guitars too and some vocals. The music is very cinematic and would suit a Swedish movie shot in the forest and on the coast outside Stockholm. A Swedish love story/tragedy in other words. The music is that cinematic and very pastoral. It is also mostly instrumental.

The end result is a very good to great album. I think it lacks some dynamics and a couple of great tracks to elevate it to a great status. It is no doubts this band should be added to the new talents list and it is more likely than not that this family band will deliver a killer album sometimes soon. Fans of Anglagard and Anekdoten should flash their credit card at this Bandcamp album and CD. Check it out at the link below.

3.5 points

The album

Flor De Loto - Madre Tierra (2007)

The second album from this Peruvian band. I got this band recommended by a friend of mine and purchased three albums by them just to get a feel for them.

Flor De Loto plays a form of heavy folk rock. Or folk prog if you want. Yes, the music is very proggy. The band use a lot of flutes in their music. Flutes is their main instrument. I suspect the flutes is pan-flutes. But I may be wrong here. The flutes has different voices and sounds. They are not the same flutes as Jethro Tull use. Anyway; the flutes sound is distinctive South-American. In addition to flutes; we also get guitars, bass and drums. This in addition to a couple of vocals tracks.

Most of the music here is instrumental and with a distinctive South-American sound. That said, this sound also sounds very Celtic folk rock too at times. The similarities are pretty obvious on this album. The music is also very heavy at times and there are strong folk metal influences here. The music is bordering to folk metal and this band would fit in well on one of the many folk metal festivals this summer if they played the music on this album. There are also a couple of more pastoral pieces here those are the ones I like best.

The end result is a good album which both sounds original and refreshing. There is no really great tracks here and I am not too impressed with the folk metal stuff. I genre I don't like. It is well worth checking out this band and I thank Sonia Mota for her tip off. I do agree with her.

3 points

Unified Past - Spots (2013)

I think this is my fourth attempt in trying to review this album after giving up on the three previous occasions. I am now biting the bullet and will get a review completed and published.

Spots is the fourth album from this US band. They also released two albums under the Labyrinth name. A name used by zillions of other bands.

We are in the middle of the prog metal scene here. Well, not in the middle of it. The music on Spots is not that hard really. It is close to be a crossover between prog metal and neo prog. That and some eclectic prog and fusion influences. Not to mention; symphonic prog. This album is very much a crossover album.

The music is produced with the usual setup; keyboards, guitars, bass, drums and vocals. The vocals are great and the rest of the musicians does a great job too.

The music is very varied and offers up a lot of good melody lines and details. This throughout the one hour long album. It is an album that should unify a lot of prog rock fans. This is a very good album which should be checked out too. It may become one of your favorite albums. It even become one of my favorite albums in some years too.

3.5 points

Bondage Fruit - VI (2005)

The sixth and so far final album from this Japanese band.

Bondage Fruit started out as a great zeuhl & avant garde band before they lost their way with two dubious albums. VI sees them back in the saddle again with a fusion album in the Mahavishnu Orchestra vein. Add a great deal of blues and the Moerlin percussions from Gong and you to a large extent has got this album.

The band use a great deal of guitars, violins, percussions, bass and drums here. The music is at times pretty intense too. The guitars are very blues orientated on this album. Far more than the guitars in Mahavishnu Orchestra. Bondage Fruit has carved out their own niche with this album. There is also some folk rock here too. Subtle, but still present. The violins adds a Jean Luc Ponty feel to it all too.

The end result is a good album which does not have any great tracks, but still restore their reputation a great deal in my view. I wish they could had continued what they did on II, but that was not to be. Check out this album.

3 points

Bautista. Daniel - Eurotrip (2012)

The ninth album from this Spanish guitarist.

Daniel Bautista releases his albums for free through Jamendo (see link below). After having visited Ludwig Van Beethoven's legacy on his first album, he is now on a journey around Europe on this album. That means forty-five minutes with some pieces from most European countries. Folk music pieces with his own metal guitars playing homage to each country. Nice thought....

Daniel is a guitar shredder. No less and not much else. Some of the songs also have keyboards, bass and drums too. Most songs are in the metal guitar shredder tradition. Daniel does not offer anything new or unique to this scene. Or for that matter; the metal scene. This album has a great deal of folk and prog rock too.

As you may have discovered by now, I am not a fan of this music. This is a decent album though and worth checking out from the link below.

2 points

The album

Barclay James Harvest - Gone To Earth (1977)

The eight album from this British prog rock band.

Barclay James Harvest was a band who in 1977 still had a pretty good 1960s sound. Their music is very much still stucked in 1967 or there about. It is rock with some references to symphonic prog. One of the funnier and better songs here is "Poor Man's Moody Blues" which is exactly what this band has been labeled. A label they will never get rid of. The song is pretty similar to Moody Blues most known song and a spoof song. Still a very good song which brings out the symph prog side of this band.
Personally, I no longer regard BJH as a poor man's Moody Blues. I think BJH has their own style and character.

Taking about labels and comparisons, on other songs again on this album, the band sounds a bit like The Beatles. This is why I rather regard the likes of BJH and Electric Light Orchestra as The Beatles illegitimate children.

Back to this album.... The sound and music on Gone To Earth is good. I am missing some great tracks here. This is still an enjoyable listen and one album I will listen a lot more to in the future. This is a good album.

3 points

Asia Minor - Between Flesh And Divine (1980)

The second out of total three albums from this Turkish symphonic prog band.

Their debut album was a good album in the Camel and Genesis vein. One year later, they returned with another album in the same vein. This album, that is.

The vocalist sounds like Andrew Latimer. Ditto for the guitars too. The flutes and keyboards also adds to the Camel like pastoral music throughout most of this half an hour long album. The melodies is really lush in addition to being pastoral. On the more heavier stuff here, the band sometimes sounds like Jethro Tull too.

The end result is a very good album which was released a couple of years too late to really make this band a big name. They are undeserved forgotten in my view. Anyway; check this one out.

3.5 points

Taproban - Strigma (2013)

The fifth album from this Italian band.

Taproban has always been associated with ELP like symphonic prog. And they will remain so after this album too. Although that is slightly misleading. But only slightly misleading. Taproban is a three piece band with keyboards, guitars, bass and drums. Lots of keyboards, I have to add. This is indeed a keyboards album where the other instruments are only playing a supporting role.

The music is not particular in the ELP vein either. The first of three compositions are a Genesis homage, no doubts. Genesis anno Foxtrot. Sixteen minutes of it too. The two other compositions on this forty five minutes long album is more a mixed bag to say at least. Although instrumental, there is a lot of avant-garde and zeuhl melody lines here too. Some vocals pops up on the final part of the final minutes here. A pretty pastoral composition too.

The first composition is almost a great composition. That if you love Genesis. The final two compositions is decent to good compositions and a bit of a let down. The end result is a good album which should appeal to anyone into symphonic prog. Get all five Taproban albums if  that is your cup of tea. Strigma is not their best album.

3 points

Divae - Determinazione (1995)

The one and only album from this Italian prog rock band.

We are in the middle of classic Italian symph prog land here. The instruments are Mellotron, flute, keyboards, guitars, bass and other instruments. The vocals, very good vocals, are in Italian. The sound is great on this forty-five minutes long album.

The music is mostly on the more mellow side with a lot of diversions into ELP like symphonic prog. The vocals are at times operatic. Ditto for the keyboards and guitars too. Well, majestic is the phrase I should use instead. They are aiming for the skies and succeeds in that. The melodies also has a lot of Italian rock and folk rock in them. The sound and music is very much in the vein of Banco from the glorious 1970s. There is also a lot of references to classical music on this album.

The result is a great Italian symphonic prog album. A debut album which should had heralded the beginning of something great. But that was not to be. This is in any case one of the hidden gems in the scene. One of those I do this blog for.

4 points

Athanor - Vos Cités Sont Des Tombeaux (2013)

The the second album from this French avant-garde band. The first album Vulv'Air from 2008 is available as a free download from here from where you can also purchase this album from. I will review Vulv'Air in due time too.

Athanor gives us one hour with chamber orchestra avant-garde music of the more extreme kind. The band uses saxophones, female soprano vocals, cello, clarinet and numerous other instruments. They also list Univers Zero, Present and Magma as their main inspirations too.

Well, so far so great. I don't find much influences of the above mentioned bands in their music. That was the reason why I bought this album, btw. I had expected a very claustrophobic dark avant-garde album. This album is surprisingly light and airy. If the band has tried to capture the darkness of the likes of Present, they have failed. There is not much unity in this album either. The concept is more dissonant than the music. That is not a good idea when it comes to avant-garde music. Some sporadic pianos scattered around the soundscape with female vocals, sampled voices and various other instruments in a disorderly fashion is what we get here.

Maybe this album is too avant-garde for me who likes Present's music. I am a bit lost on this album. I just don't think it is anything more than a decent album. Sorry !

2 points

Iona - Another Realm (2011)

The seventh album from this British band. A band who has taken their name from the small Scottish island just off Isle Of Mull, an important place of Christian pilgrimage even these days.

Iona's music is a more Celtic folk music influenced prog rock than the likes of Mostly Autumn. In this respect, they are slightly more leftfield folk rock than the other Celtic folk rock inspired female fronted bands. Iona's music is also leaning more towards Enya too than rock and metal. Well, the music is very soft here. But not as commercial and sickening sweet as The Corrs. Far from it. The music here has a solid symph prog foundation although I don't think the band see it that way. Or maybe they do.

The album's focal point is Joanne Hogg's excellent vocals. There is also uillean pipes, tin whistles and all sorts of Celtic folk music instruments here in addition to bass, keyboards, guitars and drums. The list of instruments here are too long to include here. This is a double album, lasting for almost one hundred minutes. Good value for money.

Some of the music here is pretty complex in a symph prog vein. Other parts are more dreamy as in Enya'ish. Some songs are more melodic again. Another Realm caters for a lot of tastes and musical preferences.

My main gripe, my only gripe is the lack of any really great songs here. There are none. I really like the sound though although this album gives me a slight Celtic folk music overdose. This album has grown a lot on me though. But not enough. I award it a weak very good award as I am sure I will like it even more in the years to come.

3.5 points  

Maneige - Images (1983)

The sixth and final album from one of the best ever Canadian bands.

This band has released some stunning albums. Their sound and music was pretty unique on so many different levels. Their combination of flute in a symphonic fusion setting was a joy to behold. Ditto for their majestic compositions.

The flute is still present here to a lesser degree. This half an hour long album contains ten compositions where only the final part of Solitaire is of the good old Maneige standard. The rest of the album is instrumental fusion, bordering to shopping mall music. There is not much dynamics here and their trademark majestic compositions has been dropped.

This album is a pretty bleak end to their career and not worth pursuing. It is nevertheless a decent album.

2 points

Guinness. Id - Cure for the Common Crush (2007)

The debut album from this Canadian solo artist. An artist with background from some other bands.

Pop rock is what we get here. Pop rock with a slick production and radio friendly hooks and riffs. The music is performed with keyboards, guitars, bass and drums. That and vocals.

There are some references to both Electric Light Orchestra and in particular The Beatles here. The music also has some interesting details. But it goes mostly in verse-chorus-verse without deviating from this formula.

The music is well enough performed. A couple of country'n'western like melodies and a couple of ballads with female and male vocals is making this a pretty varied one hour long album. The vocals is good. The music itself is only decent as it has no good songs and not much to keeping my attention focused on the music. A decent album but nothing more.

2 points

Medina Azahara - XX (2000)

The tenth album from this Spanish band. The kings of Spanish rock if I am not much mistaken. A band who released their debut album back in 1979.

Having dabbled in prog rock and ethno rock on previous albums, the band is now firmly back in the hard rock fold. There is even metal here. The music is produced by the usual guitars, Spanish vocals, bass, drums and keyboards.

The music is pretty hard and commercial. It still have this big Spanish flavour this band made their trademark. This makes this one hour long album pretty lush. Manuel Martinez proves again that he is one of the better vocalists in the hard rock genre.

XX is a typical traditional hard rock album. There is no really good songs here though and this type of music is no longer my cup of tea. It is still a decent to good album though. More hard rock fans should check out this band.

2.5 points

Twenty Four Hours - The Sleepseller (2004)

The fourth album from this Italian band.

Having started out as decent neo prog and art rock band, the band did not really get a breakthrough. Which may explore why they have put all their albums as free downloads.

This album will disappoint those who liked their three previous albums. And there was some of them. The band has made a total U-turn here and gone for a musical landscape somewhere between indie rock and electronica. That means some distorted vocals over electronica induced indie-rock in a cold sterile soundscape. In the middle of this album, we also get some minutes of distorted white noise too.

The first half an hour of this one hour long album is not bad at all. Some pretty good indie with electronica is OK fare. The last half an hour is running out of steam and the band is falling into the white noise trap.

This album is not a turkey. It is totally different from the rest of their albums and will lose the band fans from those albums. I don't see the point of releasing under this moniker either. It is close to being a turkey, but not quite a turkey. Download link below.

1.5 stars

Album 

Fluttr Effect - Trithemis Festiva (2004)

The debut album from this US art rock band.

It is not often I get to hear a different take on the neo prog and art rock genres. The wheel has largely been invented and explored to the full in those genres. Then again; this female vocals fronted band brings something new to the table.

We are in art rock territory again. Art rock with a chamber rock feel. The chugging guitars more than hints about prog metal too. The cello brings us back to chamber rock again. There is a constant dynamics between chamber rock and prog metal here. Add percussion and Kara Trott's pretty theatrical and broad range vocals here and the album also takes on an ethno jazz feel too. The keyboards, bass and drums complements the sound.

The result is a very modern art rock album which also takes in some electronica too. An album that surprises a lot. It even have a great, epic song in the thirteen minutes long Detrimentalisman. This album is a very good album which I am sure will surprise a lot of people and therefore deserves a lot more attention.

3.5 points

Seven That Spells - Superautobahn (2012)

The tenth album from this Croatian space rock band.

Three compositions, one hour long album. That is what we get here. When listening to this album before reading the credits, I thought this music sounded like if Mr. Kawabata Makoto from Acid Mothers Temple had worked with the band on this album. Guess what ? He is the guitar player here ! That explain why this album is such a racket, such an hour full of distorted space rock.

The first song The Wall is a pretty chaotic songs which leads nowhere. The second song The Pyramid is a pretty melodic, slightly distorted three bars bass line with tonnes of distorted guitars and saxophones on the top of that. For twenty-two minutes, that is. The best song here by miles. The final song The Colossus is a more heavy song again where chaos reigns and there is a bit more melodies in swing.

The end result is a very heavy, a times very chaotic space rock album which have a pretty basic rhythm structure upon where our Japanese friend Kawabata Makoto uses to unleash terror with his distorted guitars. For some reason, this album actually work. This is actually a good album and I like it a lot. Check it out if you can.

3 points

Goblin - Zombi (1978)

The sixth album from this Italian movie soundtrack band and the fourth movie soundtrack from them. This is the soundtrack to the classic horror movie Zombie Dawn Of The Dead. A movie still selling well on both DVD and Blue-Ray. You get various versions of this movie on Amazon. I don't have it and I have no plans of buying it either as I am no fan of horror and zombie movies.

Goblin's soundtrack is what it is, a soundtrack which feels a bit isolated from the movie. I am in doubt if I should even review them for this blog as I find it a bit pointless. I am not a fan of soundtracks at all.

OK, here I go though. The first track, Dawn Of The Dead is a very good track with a horror ambience. The second track, Zombi sounds like one of the songs from Osibisa's debut album and I am pretty sure Goblin has "loaned" it from that band too. Then we get a ragtime number and some more typical soundtracks.

The music is pretty electronic and with no vocals. There are some guitars here too and plenty of keyboards. The sound and music is not far away from Italian prog rock.

Well, how do I rate this album ? I don't like soundtracks. But this is a good one and one I am happy with. So I award it a good rating.

3 points

Skeem - ...Just Suggesting (2013)

The second album from this French neo prog band and their follow up to their self titled album from 2001.

The long break may explain why this is a 2 CD album, 102 minutes long. 12 years of saved up material, that is. Good value for money, in short. That is if you like their music.

Their music here is commercial neo prog. That is middle of the road neo prog with guitars, keyboards, bass, drums and English vocals. The music is unusually gentle with no detours into prog metal which is now the rule in neo prog. Their sound is therefore a bit oldies and stuck in the 1980s/1990s. The sound is rather dry too.

This album is an old style neo prog album in the vein of the English neo prog scene anno 1990. It is not symphonic either despite of the long songs.

My gripes is as in the paragraph above. No symphonic melody lines despite of long songs. No epic songs. Just songs lasting up to ten minutes. Just simplicity filled with the occasional guitar solo and keyboards run. My other gripe is the lack of any great songs here. There is none and neither is there any good songs here either.

The end result is a decent album which does not have much personality or any bite which sets it apart from the many albums in this genre. Hence my shortage of points.

2 points

Giardino Onirico. Il - Complesso K MMXIII (2013)

The third album from this Italian band and the follow up to their Perigio album from 2012. An album I thought I had reviewed, but I cannot find the review anywhere so I have to go back and see if I got the album. I believe I got it. Their new album is loosely based on their first album Complesso K from 2010 and cannot really be described as an entirely new piece of music. I have yet to hear their 2010 album too.

This album is also based on prog rock. But with a modern twist. The music is mainly instrumental with some very sporadic vocals. Style wise, this is post-metal, post-rock. Somewhere in the borderline between those two genres. You get the whole post-metal spectrum here with some chugging guitars and keyboards on the top of bass and drums. Then you also get some typical post-rock ebbs and flows genre signatures. The music is pretty experimental too. The final minutes have some traditional prog metal stuff with vocals and it all.

There are five songs on this forty minutes long album plus an intro. The songs are called Parte I-IV where Parte IV is the best song here and the one with the most traditional prog metal structures.

The end result is a pretty good album which fails when it comes to good songs. Call me old fashioned (I am), but this album is not for me. It is a decent to good album. It is one to check out if you are more into post-metal or post-rock than I am.

2.5 points

 

Mo.Do - La Scimmia Sulla Schiena Del Re (1980)

The only album so far from this Italian band. With all these bands from that age reforming, I would not bet against this band suddenly reforming and releasing their second album sometimes soon.

Italian prog rock is what we get here. That means flute, vintage keyboards, guitars, bass, drums and Italian vocals. That also means Italian prog rock with a lot of influences from the likes of Genesis and in particular; Gentle Giant. That makes this band a bit more untraditional than the rest of the Italian prog rock scene. This half an hour long album mixes up symphonic prog and eclectic prog.

The vocals is very good. The sound is good. The guitars and keyboards is very good. The music is full of interesting details. The songs are good. My gripe is the lack of any really great songs.

The result is a good album, well worth checking out. This album is an eclectic twist on the term "Italian progressive rock" and a good one.

3 points

Dr No - Guerrers de Mitjanit (2009)

The second and so far last album from this Spanish neo prog band.

Their debut album was a pretty good foray into middle of the road neo prog. Neo prog with a lot of associations to Marillion and Pendragon. Their new album, released by Musea, follows in the same path.

The music is created with a lot of keyboards, guitars, bass and drums. That and some pretty good Spanish vocals. The album is seventy minutes long, divided on nine songs.

The songs has a slight Spanish sound with a lot of Spanish pop music vibes and melodies too. The music is therefore not that particular technical and does not have any intricate details to speak of.

The end result is a pretty good album, a decent to good album which does not bring much news to the scene. I like the Spanish flavour and nothing much else on this album. Some good melody lines also makes this a pretty interesting album. Besides of that, there is not much else worth mentioning here.

2.5 points

Ange - Le Bois Travaille, Même Le Dimanche (2010)

Their twenty-first studio album.

Ange released some great albums in the 1970s and only a few sporadic good/great albums for the next three decades. I had heard a lot of positive things about this album and went for it. I was in for a big surprise.

First of all; neither their sound or music is a copycat of their previous albums. On the surface, that is. Rhythms has got a bigger role to play on this album. There is also a lot of electronica here. When I scratched the surface after the first listening sessions, I still found the good old Ange. But new times = a refreshed sound.

I guess Christian has got new inputs from his son Tristan too (on keyboards) and that may have inspired him a bit. The good old theatrical vocals and music is still very much present, indeed the dominant factor on this album. It is a theatrical album in the good old Ange vein. Christian sings beautifully again. The rest of the band also does a great job.

The songs are also great here. From the shock opener Des Papillons which made me wonder what Ange were up to this time and on the rest of this seventy minutes long album. This is indeed French symphonic prog, but with a big twist. The music is still grandeur and majestic as heck with long instrumental runs which makes me a happy man. The guitars still plays a vital part here. But with a twist...

This is a great album and an essential album for those into Ange. I highly recommend this album.

4 points  

Efterklang - Piramida (2012)

The fourth album from this Danish post rock band.

This album is inspired by a visit two of the three members in the band made to the ghost town Pyramiden on Spitsbergen, Svalbard. A town pretty close to the North Pole. It was run by the Russians from 1927 to 1998 when it was abandoned. In other words; a pretty perfect theme for an Efterklang album.

The music is pretty cold too. Take Coldplay, strip off all the melodies and organic warm material from their sound and add a lot of electronica. The end result is more or less this forty-five minutes long album. The instruments here are keyboards and electronic instruments in addition to the very good vocals and piano.

The end result is a musical landscape I am not familiar with and feel home in. The landscape is too electronica for my liking. It strangely enough have the type of symphonic instrumental sound The Beatles used in their masterpiece A Day In Life.

The end result is a good album though which I guess fans of electronica will love more than I do. This is not my cup of tea though and it is not traditional prog rock, let alone cat music.

3 points

Vortex - Les Cycles De Thanatos (1977)

The second and final studio album from this French avant-garde band.

Vortex may be an unknown band. Both their albums warrants a lot more recognition for these French guys. At least in the avant-garde and jazz scene. And that is where we find this album. Somewhere between Univers Zero and Soft Machine.

The band was an eight piece band on this album. That means a lot of woodwinds, Rhodes organ, bass, drums and percussion. Oboe, saxophone and bassoon springs to mind among the woodwinds. The end result is eclectic and a lot of noise.

The music is very much RIO, avant-garde with a lot of jazz too. It not an all out crossover between jazz and avant-garde though. There is also some clean chamber rock avant-garde pieces here. The jazz stuff has some great melodies. The avant-garde stuff is pretty dark and haunting. Still great though.

The end result is forty minutes with great music. I really like this album a great deal. A hidden gem in the scene and one that deserves a lot more attention.

4 points

Timeline - New Dreams, New Hopes (2013)

A new Italian band with their debut album. I know next to nothing about them. But I am sure we will hear a lot more about them, those of us into Italian prog rock.

Yes, we are in Italy again. In an Italian prog rock landscape. Somewhat, that is. The male vocalist is using both English and Italian vocals. The setup is the usual keyboards, guitars, bass and drums in addition to the vocals.
The music is based on Italian gprog rock, but they also makes detours into a much more prog/goth metal landscape now and then. They also visits commercial, bland rock too. This is in short almost an hour with a band who are not sure where they want to go. That is not unusual on a debut album.

The overall quality is good. That is the median on the fifty-five minutes. Some of the songs is great. The ones where they stick to the traditional Italian prog is great. These songs is more a heavy Italian prog rock songs than a more poppy, folk rock influenced Italian prog rock songs. And they work because the vocalist sings in Italian and within himself. Therefore; the vocals is very good.

The songs that does not work is the more goth songs and the more heavy prog metal songs. The vocalist is over straining himself and the English vocals is not good. Take my advice and stick to the Italian vocals. Drop songs where the vocalist is over straining himself. I was sorely tempted to call out an ambulance during those songs to fetch the vocalist. Painful is the word. Besides of the vocals, these songs are good enough. But not great.

The median quality is good to very good. I give it a good rating and recommend everyone to check out this album.

3 points

Aaron Clift Experiment. The - Lonely Hills (2012)

The debut album from this US band.

The band is a totally new name to me and most of you guys too, I guess. The band is already working on their second album which will see the light of day later this year.

Their music is somewhere between prog folk, pop rock and symphonic prog. Lonely Hills offers up fifty minutes of middle of the road music. The music still have a great deal to offer a proghead too. The male vocals is very good. The music sometimes strays into symphonic prog (Read: Genesis) although it is firmly rooted in folk and pop rock. The melodies are actually pretty complex although the bass and drums does not really strays away from the pop rock formula. A bit boring. The flutes, keyboards and guitars are bit more exciting though.

The end result is a good, honest album who does what it says on the tin. A couple of great tracks would had made this even a better album. I still think we should look forward to their second album. I am.

3 points

High Wheel - There (1996)

The third album from this German symphonic prog band.

I have to admit that this band has really never impressed me. Their debut album 1910 was weak and I have bypassed their 1994 album Remembering The Colours.

High Wheel is one of those bands who balanced on the edge between neo and symphonic prog. Which they still do on this album. They are more symphonic on this album, though. A lot more original too. The basis is symphonic prog with a big chamber rock influence too. The setup is the usual keyboards, guitars, bass, drums, vocals + accordian and flute. They still sounds like a crossover between Marillion and Yes though. The difference here is that they have at least tried to clear their own path.

The attempt is not a success though. There are some sporadic very good material here. But not really enough to declare this ambitious album a success. It is by far their best album though and that counts for something. It is a good album.

3 points

Fromuz - Quartus Artifactus (2011)

The third album from this Uzbekistan band. A country with a great scene.

Fromuz has established themselves as one of the better bands from the ex USSR countries. Their music is a mix of all the prog rock genres, with the exceptions of zeuhl. The band label themselves as chamber prog.

Their music is created by keyboards, guitars, bass, drums and flute. That and some sporadic vocals. Quartus Artifactus is a one hundred minutes long album of various genres and ideas. Which makes a rather bewildered listener. Most of the stuff here is good and some is very good. There is also some rather ambient and cinematic stuff here which makes me a bit cold.

What this album is lacking is great tunes and a lot of teeth. This album is a good background noise and a relaxing listening experience. There is not many melody lines which wakes me up though. Everything here is peace and love. The musicians is doing a great job. But the dot over the i is missing here. Hence my verdict on this album.

3 points

Eloy - Silent Cries And Mighty Echoes (1979)

The seventh album from this German band.

...And they are really on the roll now. They have been on the roll for the last three albums. The music is spaced out krautrock with a lot of melody and ambience. The music is created with keyboards, guitars, bass and drums. The music is pretty symphonic. Ditto for the sound. This album cannot escape the comparisons with Pink Floyd, the Dark Side Of The Moon era. I much prefer Eloy and this album to any Pink Floyd albums though. OK, maybe not. They are pretty equal in my estimation. But I really like Eloy and rate them as perhaps the best ever band from Germany.

This album is a joy to behold throughout. My only gripe is the lack of a killer track. Besides of that, this album offers up three quarter of an hour with great krautrock. Enough said.

4 points

Present - Barbaro (2009)

The seventh album from this Belgium based RIO band.

Present was a Univers Zero spin-off and one of the founders of the RIO genre. I regard them as one of the masters of sinister, dark avant-garde music. This very much applies to this album too.

Barbaro offers up three compositions, forty-five minutes of dark, sinister cinematic RIO where each melody lines gets plenty of breathing space. The piano throws daggers at the listener. The keyboards, guitars, tuba, saxophone and cello lays down a sinister sound. The drums and bass adds darkness to the sound too.

There is also plenty of beautiful, melancholic rays of sunlight in these three compositions. Not to mention majestic soundscapes. So much that the listener feels enthralled by this album and feels this album is something special.

The overall quality of this album is great and I rate this as the best album they have ever come up with. I rate it as one of the best ever RIO albums. It is an album everyone should have a copy of.

4.5 points

Asgard - Tradition & Renouveau (1978)

The second album from this French folk prog band. One of many bands with the same name.

French symphonic prog and neo prog is largely based on folk music and theater music. This folk and theater music goes back at least two hundred years. Bands like Ange and Mona Lisa distilled this tradition into their, the French highly original form for symphonic prog.
Asgard again did not go that extra mile towards symphonic prog. Nevertheless, those who love Ange and Mona Lisa will find a new friend in this thirty minutes long album. Those who love Harmonium's albums will love this album too.

This album is full of superb (French) vocals, piano, flute, violin, guitars, bass and percussion. Patric Grandpierre's vocals is superb and can be compared to the vocalist in Harmonium. The music is melodic, very melodic and epic folk rock. It reminds me about Jaques Brel and those greats from the French culture. There is a lot of keyboards in the sound and this album is by no means an acoustic album. It is fully electric. It also have a great ambience and sound.

My only gripe is the lack of a killer track or two. Hence my very good rating. Fans of French symphonic prog and the Canadian band Harmonium can safely purchase this album.

3.5 points

Efterklang - Under Giant Trees (2007)

The second EP from this Danish post rock band and their fourth release altogether.

Clocking in at half an hour, this strictly limited EP offers up good value for money. That is, for those into this kind of music. A type of music that I find a bit difficult to explain. I will give it my best....

Cinematic pastoral post rock is perhaps not such a bad label on this music. The band's approach is like the zeuhl bands approach to jazz. Fill the sound with woodwinds, violins, cello, keyboards, choirs, guitars, bass and drums. Let the music float instead of create clearly defined song structures. That is their sound and music.

The result is music which approaches both ambient music and classical music. It floats and floats around. It is also a good EP despite of being untraditional and is breaking a lot of conventions. If this sounds tempting; check out their albums as it contains more of the same. A weak good is awarded.

3 points

Phaedra - Beyond the Storm (2013)

The second album from this Italian band after their rather promising Ptah album from 2010. An album who showcased a band who had yet to find their style and their comfort zone.

They have settled down a great deal on Beyond The Storm though. This one hour long album has been made with the help of keyboards, guitars, bass, drums and English vocals. All of them competently done and the very good vocals are in the Peter Gabriel vein.

The music is still a bit all over the place on this, concept album kind of an album. The music is in the Genesis vein. That is the basis for this album. They have expanded a lot into neo prog too and some instrumental prog. The music is pretty light and flowery. It is not as lush as I expect from an Italian band. A couple of great songs is also missing. There are a couple of great melody lines on this album who proves that the band are talented, but has not yet to get into full bloom.

The end result is very good album who only sporadic showcases what this band is able to do. It is an improvement from their Ptah album. But they are not yet there. Their next album will be a killer album and a classic album in this genre.

3.5 points

Twenty Four Hours - Oval Dreams (1999)

The third album from this Italian band.

It is far from easy to get under the skin of an album from this band. Their mix of psychedelic, neo prog and indie rock is not something I am used to. On this album, they also sounds like Caravan on a couple of songs.

Their music is created with a lot of guitars, some keyboards, bass, drums and English vocals. The sound is light and flowery. Very indie rock, in fact. Their mix of Caravan like prog rock and clean all out indie rock is pretty effective too. Add some symphonic prog and ambient music into this mix too and we get a pretty unusual mix.

The end result is a decent album with no good songs. An album which still have some good elements and the ability to surprise a great deal. Positive surprises is a bit thin on the ground. This album and their other albums can be downloaded from the link below so check it out for yourself.

2 points

The album