Endlich Allein - Le Voci Del Mondo (1996)

The one and only album from this Italian band.

Nothing is known about this band. No lineup and no names. Even their page at Mellow Records bandcamp page is bare and has no information except from the information their record label Mellow Records has copied from ProgArchives (!!).

From what I hear, we are getting guitars, keyboards, bass, drums and Italian vocals here. 

Their name sounds a bit German to me. I first thought this was a krautrock album as it was included in a krautrock box I bought years ago. Well, the seller was wrong.

What we get here is mellow neo-prog from the 1990s.

All songs are well below the five minutes mark and they are all connected with some short acoustic guitars interludes. Just like the black metal bands did at that time..... I guess this was something "clever" bands did in the 1990s.

The vocals are pretty good. The electric guitars are pretty poor with a bad sound which adds aggression to melodies who are not aggressive or hard at all. Not a good idea.

The songs are all decent enough. Ditto for the sound. It is fair to say that these forty-five minutes is not particular interesting or exciting. Nothing here really strikes me and I can understand why the life went out of this band after this album. There is not much quality here.

Those who collect Italian progressive rock, like myself, would like a copy of this album. But just under the understanding that not everything that comes from Italy is great.

2 points

Frost - Experiments in Mass Appeal (2008)

The second album from this British band.

Frost, who calls themselves Frost*, was a five piece band with a lineup of guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, violin and vocals.

The band is more or less a supergroup and is a very popular progressive rock band. Highly respected too and I am more than happy to give them my respect. 

I reviewed their first album, the 2006 album Milliontown back in October 2008. I was planning to review this album too at the same time. But that never happened. I cannot remember why. 

The band is continuing on the path chosen on Milliontown. That means commercial neo-prog with a big production and a lot of catchy choruses. A lot of noise and a lot of good feelings all around.

The music is indeed catchy on this one hour long album. And it is not bad at all. There is a lot of guitar walls and other things that reminds me about the likes of Muse. 

I am not so sure if this is neo-prog at all. Stadium rock is perhaps the right label. With two live albums under their belt, I am sure they are a great live band. On an album....

Well, this is a good album. But there is no great songs here and the album is lacking in substance. Nice as this album is, it is "only" a good album in my estimation. I am still a happy owner of this album and have no plans to sell my copy. That too speaks volumes.

3 points

Toundra - Toundra II (2010)

The second album from this Spanish band.

Toundra was a fourpiece band on this album with a lineup of guitars, bass and drums.

I reviewed their debut album last November (2016), some weeks ago and quite liked it. This despite of not being a big fan of their genre.

We are again in the middle of experimental metal and/or post-rock. The music is instrumental too. The music is pretty hard and overstepping the border into metal with some miles. But the metal always has this post-rock feel with a lot of ebbs and flows.

The guitars, electric and half-acoustic, is pretty hard with some more roots and folky interludes between the walls of sound they are putting up.

There is a lot of light and shades here. More shades than light as this is a pretty hard album. But there are also some Arabic folk music and rhythms here too.

I have to admit that this is not the most interesting music around. Their music is a bit lacking in quality too. Nevertheless, this is a decent to good album. I am not entirely won over by Toundra. But check them out yourself from this link.

2.5 points

Anaid - Libertad (2016)

The third album from this French band.

Wow !! I did not expect the return of this band after the sad passing of Hugh Hopper, the bassist and one of the founding members of this band. Yes, this legende also did zeuhl in his time. The previous two Anaid albums proves that. I have reviewed their second album, the 1989's Belladonna album here. And that was the last time I thought about this band.

But Anaid has returned with a new lineup, 27 years later. Emmanuelle Lionet is still the vocalist here. She has got help from three other musicians who provide vibraphone, drums, percussions, keyboards, piano and bass.

We get over forty minutes of music here, including a tribute to Hugh Hopper at the end of this album. A moving tribute.

The rest of the music reminds me a bit about both Zao and Cos. Also a bit about Gong again.

Emmanuelle Lionet's vocals and her use of it reminds me a lot about Kari Rueslaatten from The Third And The Mortal album back in 1994. A bit over the top throughout this album.

The vibraphone is really good and there are a lot of good guitars here. The second song La Louve is very operatic and dark. Very zeuhl. And that is what this album is. A dark zeuhl album. An album with a lot of influences from opera music.

This album is good throughout. There is no great tracks here. But Anaid is more than welcome back again and I hope we will hear a lot more from them in the future.

3 points

Friedhof - Friedhof (1971)

The one and only album from this German band.

Friedhof was a trio with a lineup of guitars, percussions, bass and drums. No vocals in other words.

This is one of many bands who came, released an LP and then disappeared again..... only to show up on Youtube 40 years later. Hence, I am very happy about Youtube and the MP3 converters which makes it possible to review albums like this without an LP player and a second mortgage to pay for this extreme rare LP.

I think there is a CD version of this album too out somewhere. Bootleg or not.

This album is listed as a krautrock album in ProgArchives and the CD is listed as a psych prog album on Amazon. Both listings are to a certain degree right.

What we get here is forty-three minutes of hard blues. There are no vocals and most of the music here sounds like a jam. Hence the krautrock and psych prog references. There are also a long drum solo here which does not sound that interesting.

There are more than one references to Black Sabbath. The guitar solos comes thick and fast. Most of the stuff is guitar solos here. If you want guitar solos, this is your album.

The sound is not that good and the melodies is left wanting. This is still pretty much a charming album as I like my guitar solos. But not all the time. Not forty minutes with guitar solos. Hence my rating.

1.5 points

Ping Pong - About Time (1971)

The debut album from this Italian band.

This band is a totally new band to me. This band and their two albums. But I found their name and listings in ProgArchives and their two albums on Youtube a couple of years ago. So I decided to give them a try.

The band was a five piece with a lineup of clarinet, saxophone, bass, drums, keyboards, guitars and English vocals.

The band is not listed as an Italian progressive rock band in ProgArchives. I can understand why although the band was Italian and a bit progressive. On this album, at least.

Take good old beat music, add some pop music. Mould that with some psych, funk, fusion and progressive rock in the Caravan vein. That is when you get this album. An album where the artwork is pretty much spot on when describing these thirty-four minutes of music.

The sound and music was pretty much outdated already in 1971 and sounds very odd in 2016 too. The music does not drive me to bouts of exctasy either.

Some of the music is driving and pretty dynamic. There is one ballad here and some hard rocking flutes too. Somehow, I don't really think this album was a multi-million selling hit. The reason is the lack of quality and a hit-song. There is no good songs here. There is barely any decent songs here.

This album has it's charms and I have heard some worse beat music albums than this from Italy. But there is not much joy to get from this album. Hence my rating.

1.5 points

Cast - Imaginary Window (1999)

The eight album from this Mexican band.

The band was a five piece band on this album with a lineup of flutes, keyboards, piano, guitars, bass, drums, percussion and vocals.

Their output so far had been dominated by their overflow of material going back to the 1970s when the band was formed. 1994 saw three albums from them and 1995 had two albums. One album in 1996 and one in 1997 followed before the flow of material and albums ended with no albums in 1998. All the albums was around 70 minutes long too.

Reviewing Cast album means a lot of listening as their albums is so long and complex.

Cast is without any doubts one of the best symphonic prog bands in the world post the 1970. I have previously compared them to The Flower Kings and wondered why they are not as big as them. I guess Mexico sounds less great than Sweden. Mexico has been bullied and unpopular long before Donald Trump arrived. Just ask Cast and those of us who rate this band very highly.

Cast is again giving us highly complex symphonic prog with some pretty strong neo-prog influences. The band has not yet shaken of their neo-prog sound on this album.

There are a lot of pastoral pieces here in addition to the symphonic prog the band is giving us on this sixty-seven minutes long album. Lots of piano and thankfully; lots of flutes too.

The end result is a very good album where the synergy between the vocals and all instruments works really well. The lack of a killer track is my only gripe with this album. Besides of that, get this album.

3.5 points

Edition Spéciale - Horizon Digital (1978)

The third and final album from this French band.

Please note that this is a review of the original thirty-seven minutes long album where the five bonus tracks on the Musea CD album has been omitted from the review.

The band was a five piece band on this album with a lineup of vibraphone, bass, drums, marimba, percussions, keyboards, guitars and vocals. Both male and female French vocals.

The band returned again with the follow up to the rather good Aliquante album. The band had again moved on from that album again and had embraced a music where half of the tracks was instrumental and the other half was vocals driven music.

We are still in the middle of French fusion land. Most of the music is fusion and they are sailing pretty close to Weather Report at times. The music is full of colours and life. Very dynamic too.

The vocals, and Ann Ballester had taken aboard the criticism from their first album and learn from it, is now very good at times. Excellent comeback by Ann Ballester. It warm my heart.

The vocals tracks are still in the fusion tradition with some xtra heavy influences from the likes of Gong and Gentle Giant. These tracks are also very funky and a bit dadaism is running through them... and the fusion tracks.

This album is very much a playful album which really needs some more attention. Attention hereby given as this is a good album which will find a lot of loving owners and fans if given the chance.

3 points

Food Brain - Bansan Social Gathering (1970)

The one and only album from this Japanese band.

The band was a five piece band with a lineup of clarinet, drums, bass, keyboards, organ, percussions and guitars.

From what I gather, this band was put together by Polydor in Japan to get this label a local progressive rock act they could promote and sell to the Japanese youth. Remember, the world was so much bigger in 1970 than today, in 2016. Travelling between Japan and Europe was not that easy. Getting albums from Europe was not easy either. Remember this when reading my reviews and this review. The world has really deflated over the last 50 years. Our world is now a village. Thankfully !

So the Japanese youth got this band and album. A one of album as the band was not that coherent. And neither is this album. An album which was pretty big back then and influenced a lot of people, as Polydor indeed had intended. But these days, this album is regarded at the enfant terrible among Japanese prog and psych albums.

Not without good reasons.

This is a some sort of a psych album with some progressive rock influences and a lot of krautrock influences. There is also a lot of avant-garde on this album. Even some Deep Purple heavy rock.

This album is forty minutes long and it ends with some meaningless pling-plong avant-garde doodling. Up to then, we have been entertained by music who does not sit well together. It is a mish mash album who gave the Japanese youth a glimpse into the future of music. And let us remember this album for that.

2 points

Free Wave System - Nonostante Tutto (1981)

The one and only album from this Italian band.

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

Free Wave System was one of many Italian jazz and fusion bands who operated side by side with the Italian progressive rock scene (RPI). There was a lot of crossover between the two genres. Still is !

It is fair to say that this album has been a bit influenced by the RPI scene too. But most of it is pure fusion jazz. The saxophone is the dominating instruments here. I have lately heard that the band regretted that. But done is done and the record is here. Noone from the band continued as musicians after the release of this album either. One of them is a leading business man, according to ProgArchives.

There is a lot on this forty minutes long album which reminds me about Soft Machine. The intensity of some of the tracks here. The melodic nature of the music. Most of all, this album reminds me a about their countrymen Perigeo. If you like them, you will like this album.

I wish we had heard a lot more from the keyboards here which tends to be shouted down by the saxophone when they keyboards is onto something interesting. I agree with the band. There is too much saxophone on this album.

The result is a decent to good album which does not really hits home. It is still worthy an investigation.

2.5 points

Napier's Bones - The Wistman Tales (2014)

The debut album from this British duo.

Napier's Bones is Nathan Tillet on vocals and Gordon Midgley on all instruments. We can hear sounds of guitars, keyboards, Moog, Melloron, drums and bass here. Most of it computer generated, is my guess.

Napier's Bones was touted as the great white hope in prog rock when this album was out. There was some hype around them. Their so far three albums is also free downloads from here.

The artwork looks great. All their artworks is great.

ProgArchives has listed them as a crossover band. I don't disagree with that.

The Wistman Tales is a sort of a concept album and it is in this respect very much in the classic prog rock tradition. And the band is very much trying to put their own stamp on classical progressive rock on their albums. At least on this album. Thumbs up !

Some of the music has this Moog and Mellotron in the background with some long and lingering guitar solos. Classic prog rock.

The opening track A.D 1069 has a great prog folk feel to it too with a story about the long gone past of England. The rest of the album has a much more symphonic prog feel.

The sound of this album is contemporary. But this is still classic prog rock with great influences from prog folk and symphonic prog.

I rate this as a good album and one well worth checking out. It is a most definate a obligatory download. Give the band some money too when downloading.

3 points

Gryphon - Midnight Mushrumps (1974)

The second album from this British band.

Gryphon was a five piece band with a lineup of mediavel instruments. Electric guitars and organs is the only electric instruments here in a lineup full of woodwinds and strings. The also includes some ancient type of keyboards.

I pretty much liked their debut album. This despite of their music being a bit alien to me.

And there is no denying that Gryphon carved out their own style and scene. They are still doing the occasional gig so I guess their fans are fanatical about them. But others should also see them because Gryphon is an unique band.

I am not sure if we can even label this album as a folk rock album. There is not much vocals here and only some occasional electric guitar. The electric organ is much more in the front. But the mediavel times instruments are far more in the front here.

The sound is like from 200 - 300 years back. And the music is a bit like chamber orchestra. But just a bit. Chamber rock is the label I think fits this forty-three minutes long album best.

The nineteen minutes long title track is very good. The rest of the album not so good. Gryphon feels a bit strange to me and I am not entirely a fan of them. This is really really radical music.

Still......... There is no denying that this is a good album and one that everyone should check out to make up their own mind. I may well be in a small minority when I deem this only as a very good album. So check it out for yourself.

3.5 points

Goblin Rebirth - Goblin Rebirth (2015)

The debut album from this Italian band.

As you may have noticed, this is a kind of a rebirth of Goblin. One of four constellations named after or named Goblin at the moment. Then you have other bands who operates more or less as Goblin copycats.... I think it is fair to say that Goblin is very popular these days. And why not ? They deserve it. But perhaps as a less fragmented band as they are now.

Goblin Rebirth is the rhythm section of Goblin going on their own with three other members. Yes, that is Agostino Marangolo and Fabio Pignatelli with a guitarist and two keyboards players.

The music is instrumental throughout with a couple of pastoral voice parts with no spoken vocals. And yes, this music is somewhere near Goblin territory.

Somewhere near because the music is more majestic and more symphonic than the usual Goblin soundtrack. In this respect, this album reminds me a lot about the last album with the Goblin name, the Four Of A Kind album from 2015, the same year as this album was released. Both albums included Agostino Marangolo and Fabio Pignatelli too... No, I don't understand.

This album is not a soundtrack album. It is a forty-four minutes long album who stands on it's own two feet. Both feet are firmly planted in the Goblin tradition and fans of this band will love this album. And with good reasons.

There are a lot of dark and brooding music here. But not as dark and brooding as expected. This album is the more lighter and positive feelings Goblin associated albums I have ever heard. The emphasis is on symphonic and majestic music. Not so much as frightening the life of the listener.
It is dark enough to nicely fall into the Goblin tradition.

There are some really very good stuff here and some good stuff here. I regard this as a very good album and wonder if this band will return again with another rebirth album.

3.5 points 

Fourteen Twentysix - In Halflight Our Soul Glows (2012)

The second album from this Dutch band.

The band was formed by Chris Van Der Linden back in 2009'ish. He is doing vocals and guitars on this album. He has got help from four other musicians here. All four plays keyboards, but also supplements that with drums, bass, vocals and xtra guitars.

I have yet to listen to their 2010 debut album Lighttown Closure. I have heard good things about that album, though.

Dark and brooding neo-prog, ProgArchives is labelling this band as. They are again spot on here, in my view.

The neo-prog here is not run of the mill neo-prog. Or is this neo-prog at all ? Well, there are strong elements of neo-prog on this album. The basis here is neo-prog. But there is also very strong elements of post-rock here.

This is a forty-five minutes long album of shoegazing neo-prog with very strong post-rock influences. There are some samples and a lot of electronica here too. The music is a bit ambient. But the vocals is clear and the music is pretty dynamic.

This is indeed a new breed of progressive music and a welcome one too. My gripe, and it is a substantial one, is the lack of any great or even good songs here. The music is decent enough and it has some good moments. But it is lacking in quality, I am afraid. Check it out as you may find this a good or even a great album. I don't.

2.5 points

Frozen Geese - Disclaimer (2011)

The second album from this English band.

Frozen Geese is a duo of Dave Lazonby and Graham Baily. They play multiple instruments. All of them digital and computer run. There are some vocals here though....

This forty minutes long album is divided into two tracks. Disclaimer part 1 and Disclaimer part 2.

Part 1 is just electronica with repetetive sounds which may be good for those stoned or transferred to outer space by a spaceship or illegal drugs. Being a sober reviewer, I am in doubt that this track should be reviewed at all. This track is slightly dynamic though. But not dynamic enough for sober persons like this reviewer.

Part 2 comes up with some more guitars, bass and some vocals. This track is actually reasonable good. It is also a dark track with a lot of dynamic melodies although it is clearly pretty ambient.

I am probably far too old for this kind of albums. Frozen Geese probably appeals to trendy people more than it does to a foghorn like myself. A proper multicolour show with lasers and exploding lights is also required to enjoy this album.

So this is not an album I really enjoy. On it's own, it is barely a decent album. It is not a turkey though as the Part 2 is a rather good track. Fans of krautrock will like this album.

2 points


 

Focus - Focus 8.5 Beyond The Horizon (2016)

The thirteenth album from this Dutch band.

Pierre Van Der Linden (drums) and Thijs Van Leer (flutes, vocals and organ) gets help from their other tour members Jan Dumee (guitars) and Bobby Jacobs (bass) on their South American tour where they also get substantial assistance from the ..And Friends element of this album title. Three friends on female vocals, saxophone and drums.

This album was recorded in South America inbetween the gigs on that continent. No sightseening and no treks up the Amazon forests, then....... Maybe next time, guys ?

No cuddly-cuddlies with the piranhas in the Amazon river means forty-six minutes off music. It is pretty obvious that their friends down there were jazz and latin rock musicians.

This album is good old Focus meets Latin-American jazz. The first ten minutes of this album is Focus rehashing Hocus Pocus again with the song Focus Zero. Please leave Hocus Pocus alone, guys. It is never good when you try to lure in potential record buyers with cheap tricks like this one.

Thijs shows up with a lot of flutes on the following tracks and this is good. A couple of tracks has been taken over by their friends as there is no Focus magic or even music here.

This album is a strange album by all means. Something the band, honest as they are, has alluded to by renaming themselves Focus And Friends. And this is good and all that. I do not doubt that the band has had a great deal of fun and satisfaction on this album. A new spring in your steps does not harm.

... Again, this is both a Focus album and not a Focus album. The music is not bad at all though. The fusion and jazz sounds a bit tired. But it is not bad at all.

I am landing somewhere between decent and good here. I still like this band a lot, though. Hamburger Concertos is still one of my alltime favourite albums. I owe Focus a lot of gratitude and love. That said.....

2.5 points


  

Edition Spéciale - Aliquante (1977)

The second album from this French band.

The band is a six piece band with a lineup of drums, percussions, keyboards, guitars, marimba, vibraphone, piano and some French vocals.

I had my big reservations about their debut album Allee Des Tilleuls from 1976. The review is here. 
That album included a lot of female vocals. The vocals was dubious to say at least. That vocalist is still in the band. But she is not particular dominating here and only do a few vocal lines. Some really good and cool vocal lines too. A good reputation restored, in other words.

The main fare here is fusion jazz. Fusion in the same vein as Weather Report and Return To Forever. US fusion in other words. But add Gong from the Shamal album too.

There is also a lot of their own personalities here too. This is indeed a fusion album from a French band. A French band in the 1970s would never ever have copied US bands without adding a large chunk of themselves, Europe and France to the mix too.

They have done that with success here.

The music here is a mix of instrumental fusion where the guitarist Marius Lorenzini and the keyboardist Ann Ballester is doing most of the best work on some really dynamic and good pieces of music.

Another big part of this album is the funky vocal parts of those two above where female and male vocals are duetting over some really funky and at times, poppy music. But the fusion element is always there.

I am not entirely won over by this album. There is no great pieces of music here. Some of the music is a bit too dull for my liking. But this is still a good album well worth checking out. Fusion fans will love this album.

3 points


  

Fatal Fusion - Total Absence (2016)

The third album from this Norwegian band.

The band is a five piece band with a lineup of guitars, bass, keyboards, drums and vocals. English male vocals.

I have reviewed their previous two albums here and here. These album are good to very good. But never really great. So I had my hopes about Total Absence.....

The band is still giving us a mix of symphonic prog and arena rock. OK, the music is probably too eclectic for the big arenas. This band will never play these arenas unless some big band (Dream Theater ?) put them up as an early day warm up act. But that too will never happend. But who cares ? I don't care and neither does those who loves good prog rock.

This album is one hour with prog rock. No less and no more. The band is also pretty much in the middle of the road prog rock terrain too.

Their sound is a bit old style and a lot Norwegian. Yes, Norway has got their own symphonic progressive rock sound which is a bit more open than the Swedish one. This album is very much in that mould.

The music here is also bordering to heavy prog at times. But never prog metal. But there is a lot of hard granite throughout this album. There are also a lot of symphonic pastoral pieces too.

The songs are all good to very good. There are no really weak songs here. The main gripe is the lack of a great song. But the title track and Endless Ocean Blue and the guitar solos is making this a very good album indeed.

This is a band and an album we Norwegians really can be satisfied with. Are they the Kings Of Norway ? I am not sure about that. But they are pretty close to the throne with this album. Get royally entertained by this album.

3.5 points

Flamingo Rock - Atlantes de Tula (1982)

The one and only album from this Mexican band.

I know next to nothing about this band. But the lineup sounds like guitars, harmonicas, bass, drums, flutes, sax, keyboards and Spanish vocals. Both male and female vocals.

The album was released in 1982. The music says 1966-70 to me.

The reason is that this thirty-five minutes long album sounds like a 1980s or late 1970s album at all. The music is totally different.

Take a big slize of hippie flower power, add some California dreaming kind of music, Beach Boys and Jefferson Airplane. Also add some krautrock and middle of the road pop music from the early 1970s. You also need to add Latin America and it's culture. On the top of that, add some sparse sprinklings of symphonic prog. And some James Last too.

This album remains undiscovered and very obscure for a good reason. Most of this album is keyboards driven muzak. And it is mostly sickly sweet music too.

I am not big fan of overdosing on sugar. I am not a big fan of sugar at all. Neither do I like mountains of sweets. That is what I get here. The sweets is not that good either so I am not won over.

This album is simply a turkey as good as you get a turkey from Mexico. And this album is best kept obscure.

1 point

Krokodil - Sweat And Swim (1973)

The fifth and final album from this Swiss band.

The band was a seven piece big band on this album with a lineup of guitars, sitar, harmonica, flutes, bass, percussions, drums, violins, keyboards and vocals.

The previous four albums from this band had been a mixed bag. The band never really let loose of their blues and hard rock roots. The blues was always there. But they became a bit more spacy after a couple of albums.

But their music was never really an adventure. A bit workman like, their music.

The band bows out with this album which is a return to blues and hard rock again. There is some space rock pieces here too. But all the music here is standard and pretty flat.

A couple of tracks where the band is using sitar and more indian asian chord structures is the only saving grace on this album. A pretty miserable and too long album.

The sitar and these Indian influences is saving this album from ending up in my turkey yard. It is not an album worth checking out.

1.5 points

Kaipa Da Capo - Dårskapens Monotoni (2016)

The debut album from this Swedish band.......... or perhaps not.

Kaipa Da Capo is a five piece band with a lineup of guitars, bass, drums, keyboards and Swedish vocals.

An explanation is in order here........ Kaipa Da Capo is not the Kaipa run by Hans Lundin. Hans Lundin is not involved here at all. Kaipa Da Capo has nothing to do with mark 2 of Kaipa, the band who made a comback with their Notes From The Past album in 2002.

Kaipa Da Capo is three members from the 1970s setup of Kaipa which also included Hans Lundin. But the Kaipa members in Kaipa Da Capo is Tomas Eriksson, Ingemar Bergman and the king of Swedish prog......... Roine Stolt. They have got help from Mikael Stolt and Max Lorentz.

Kaipa Da Capo was formed to tour and play the 1970s Kaipa songs. I did not even know there was a market for these songs. But they have gigged them and with success. A new album with brand new stuff.. this one... was then recorded.

My memories are a bit weak. But I am pretty certain that Kaipa Da Capo sounds a lot more like the 1970s Kaipa than the post millenium Kaipa. A band I also really like/love. Now, I have got two x Kaipa bands I love.... lucky me !

The music here is also pretty similar to The Flower Kings too. It has this warm Swedish symphonic prog sound. The Swedish vocals from Mikael Stolt is a great addition too.

The songs on this seventy minutes long album is great altogether. There is not a bad song here at all. It is really a great gift to anyone into Swedish symphonic prog and one you need to get. It is indeed a great album.

4 points

Flora - Traiettorie di Volano (2009)

The second album from this Italian band.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of saxophone, keyboards, guitars, glockenspiel, bass, drums and Italian male and female vocals.

This is the only album I got from this band. A band who released three albums. Their last one in 2012. I am not sure if the band is still alive.

Listed as a crossover prog band in ProgArchives, the band is really living up to that label on this album. They are indeed crossing over most genres.

Take a good slab of jazz, add a lot of pop and Italian progressive rock too. This is where you will find this band. They are skirting around the borders of Rock Progressive Italiano (RPI) on this album.

There is also some subtle post rock to this album too. The album sounds very fresh and contemporary. Not to mention; very dense sounding too.

The feel here is also of some strong Jefferson Airplane influences. Which is not a bad thing.

The half acoustic guitars, the saxophone and the manic keyboards induces a slightly desperate feel to this album. Italian youth in other words. The jazz influences is also adding a lot of texture to this album. And so does the great female vocals.

The overall quality of this fifty minutes long album is good. This album has a lot to offer to those into the sounds and sights post 2000. Check it out.

3 points

Toundra - Toundra (2008)

The debut album from this Spanish band.

Toundra was a four piece band with a lineup of two guitars, one bass and one drummer.

Icebergs is not what I associate with Spain. Spain is a warm country and one country I, as I am freezing here in Scotland even indoors, would have liked to be writing these lines from now. But cold and windy Scotland it is.

Toundra too is frostbitten earth. Most of it in Siberia. It is the trademark, if you like, of Russia and Siberia. All around hard as concrete soil and earth.

Toundra is also this Spanish band. A band in the post metal and post rock genre. A band whose albums I have planned to review for many years. Actually, since their second album was released. They have now four albums out. Reviews to follow.

The music is instrumental and very post rock with a mix of harsh metal and more ambient soundscapes. All of it instrumental.

I cannot really say Toundra brings anything new to this table and genre. But this is a solid debut who is only lacking from a lack of a few good tunes. But I like a bit what I hear on this album.

A decent to good album it is and I guess it is easy available from their Bandcamp site.

2.5 points

Opeth - Morningrise (1996)

The second album from this Swedish band.

Opeth was a quartet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, percussions and vocals. 

I have finally decided to review all the rest of the Opeth albums after starting on this task with this review back in October 2011. The band has developed a lot since their 1995 debut album Orchid. An album I liked as you can see in my review in the link above.

1994- 99 was an era where you got a lot of death/black metal albums with a lot of acoustic and clear vocals interludes inbetween the death and black metal blastbeats and songs.

Morningrise is one of those albums. I was not that fond of those kinds of albums back then. 20 years later, I cannot fail to note that I have not changed my views. I very much preferred those albums where the bands kept to the death/black metal formula throughout the whole album.

I remember Opeth as a band who arrived in the scene with a Dissection sound. The good old band Dissection where the mainman became a right wing extremist, got jailed for a murder and then commited suicide in a bizzarre satanic ritual. A very tragic person.

Opeth had the same sound. But they also had and still have this very sane and highly intelligent frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt. A man I really respect.

The death/black metal here has a distinct Swedish folk music sound and feel. It is very much the same fountain of Swedish folk music the likes of Kaipa and The Flower Kings has been drinking from. All similarities ends at this fountain where Opeth and The Flower Kings has taken the totally opposite journeys and approach from each other.

I find this combo of clear and screamo vocals not particular interesting in 2016. What was then groundbreaking does not sound clever today. Neither does these acoustic and melodic interludes. The black/death metal does not hold any appeal to me.

The end result is sixty-six minutes of dull but still decent music. It is nothing to be desired here. Hence my rating.

2 points

Firehorse - On The Wind (1980)

The one and only album from this German band.

I am not sure if this was a band or a project. ProgArchives came up short in their research into this very obscure band. But they have listed twelve musicians and a lineup of guitars, bass, drums, saxophones, congas, timbales, keyboards and male English vocals. Some female vocals too chimes in on some songs.

1980 was a year of turmoil everywhere. Not at least in the music scene where punk and heavy metal ruled and where prog was as popular as rabies and pestilence.

So Firehorse released this forty minutes long album.

There is not so much progressive rock here. I first thought this album was from 1969 or thereabouts. It is not. The sound does not feel like 1980 at all. This is proto-prog before Yes, The Moody Blues, ELP and Genesis turned progressive rock on it's head.

The basis here is blues and hard rock. The album is hard rocking with some progressive rock stuff thrown into the mix too. The keyboards is very much progressive rock with some forays into Genesis.  There are also some early 1970s pop here too.

The result is not a good result. These forty minutes is not particular interesting. The music is too light weight on substance and not that interesting.

The result is a decent album and nothing more than that. Firehorse is a very obscure band for a good reason. They did not have many qualities to bring to the scene.

2 points

Fluido Rosa - Le Vie Dei Sogni (2016)

The debut album from this Italian band.

This band is a seven piece big band with a lineup of sax, keyboards, bass, drums, guitars and a lot of Italian vocals. Both male and female.

The band started out as a Pink Floyd tribute band twenty years ago. They got a record deal with the highly respectable Ma.Ra.Cash Records and the result is this album.

The very beautiful album artwork is actually very misleading. There is no barren landscapes or deserts in the music of this band. The music here is actually very lush and colourful.

RPI is a very good start and end when describing the music on this fifty-three minutes long album. Yes, there is some Pink Floyd here too. But not from their psychedelic era. More from The Wall to their final album. David Gilmour's Pink Floyd in other words.

But Rock Progressive Italiano (RPI) is the label I would put on this album. And pretty much middle of the road RPI too. There is a lot of very lush Italian vocals on the top of some lush melodies. Yes, this album is a bit close to Italian pop and Pink Floyd at times. But this is RPI through and through.

What is really missing here is a great song. But fans of RPI, and I am one of them, will welcome this band as a grizzly bear will welcome a trailer full of honey. And oh my beaver is there a lot of honey on this album !!

This is a very good album and I would love to hear more, far more, from this band. Let's hope other RPI fans also fully embrace this band and album too.

3.5 points


   

Edhels - Astro Logical (1991)

The fourth album from this Monaco band.

Edhels was a quartet with a lineup of guitars, synths, drums, percussions, bass and keyboards.

I was no fan of their previous album, the 1988 album Still Dreams.  I have always been of the impression that this band was a neo-prog band.

Two albums not a tone of neo-prog has been heard from this band. And this is not why I decided to review four of their six albums.

The guitarist Marc Ceccotto is still here. But he is being held back by a lot of electronica and avant-garde prog. That and some avant-garde jazz.

I love my fair share of avant-garde when it really works. But I am not entirely sure why Edhels is spewing out the music on this one hour long album.

Everything is unhinged and random here. It is throwing colours at a wall without having a clearly defined idea behind the whole project. Not even when executing it. Shall we build a house, a boat or a bridge here ? Let's decide in the final moment of this work.

The result is this unhinged album. A turkey. Something I find extreme boring and pointless. If you have got insomnia and the drugs don't work, this is the album for you. Or you can get one of those deep sleep albums.

This album has been dispatched to my turkey yard where it is now running around with the other turkeys. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

1 point

Farinella. Alessandro - Momo (2007)

The debut album from this Italian artist.

Alessandro Farinella is doing the vocals and keyboards here. He has got help from the two PFM members Roberto Gualdi on drums and Silvio Masanotti on guitars.

Alessandro Farinella is an ex member of the Italian band Brainstorm and Theatre whose only album was released without Alessandro Farinella. He is also a classicly trained pianist.

He is also known in the universities for some highly praised academic work.

Momo is the first of his two albums... so far. I very much liked his second album, the 2012 album Road To Damascus. So I got Momo too.

Momo is almost one hour of art rock. Art rock leaning a lot on neo-prog throughout most of this album. Most of this album is very much song structured. There are some more symphonic ambient pieces here too. And some fusion too. But most of this is neo-prog.

The music is very melodic and a bit on the ambient side of the musical spectrum.

There is no great pieces of music here. But most of the album gives me a lot of pleasure and quality. There are also a few pieces here which does not work out at all.

But my overall impression is that this is a good album from an undervalued and overlooked artist. Give his music a chance. Lend it your ears.

3 points

Evership - Evership (2016)

The debut album from this US band.

Evership is really the musician, keyboardist and composer Shane Atkinson with vocalist Beau West. They have got help from seven other musicians who helps with bass, violin, guitars, drums and e-bow.

The songs are eight years old and has matured nicely. The full Evership story can be read on their ProgArchives page. Read it !

It is fair to say that this album has caused a sensation this year. It is probably the most sensational debut album this year if we go by the reactions in ProgArchives and other places. The hype is justified.

This one hour long album has been labeled as neo-prog. That is just half of the story here.

I call this album and the music on it very elegant progressive rock who takes a lot from the likes of Queen, Yes, Mystery and Big Big Train. Yes, the music is a lot polished and does not have many edges. It also has this musical feel you sometimes get from US neo-prog.

The vocalist Beau West is a very very welcome to the progressive rock scene. His vocals is superb and some of the best male vocals I have heard for a long time. Long long time, in fact !!

The music is also very flowing and symphonic throughout. The great melodies and vocals comes inbetween these floating very good symphonic rock pieces

The emphasis has been put on elegance and on the good melody. And the band supplies plenty of great melodies too.

Yes, the hype is justified and it will be difficult to top this album as the best debut album of the year. It is also a very good candidate for the album of the year title too. Check it out !!

4 points

Frozen Geese - The Starseed (2010)

The debut album from this English band.

Frozen Geese was a two man combo with Graham Baily and Dave Lazonby sharing the instruments. Their ProgArchives profile can be found here.

I got two of their three albums. This one and the 2011 follow up album Disclamer. Review to follow at the end of this month.

Frozen Geese is a space rock band. There is no denying that. Their music is also at the electronica end of the space rock scene.

That means sparsely orchestrated and pretty minimalistic music. A pulsating beat with drums and bass upon some layers of electronica, sound samples and guitars is added.

This album is seventy-five minutes long and was originally released as a cassette before it was made digital and somehow found it's way to my computer. I cannot remember how that happened.

Seventy-five minutes with minimalistic space rock is one heck of a trial for most of us. And this is not a good album either. It has it's qualities scattered around this album. Fans of Klaus Schulze must check out this band and album. I am no fan of him.

This is a decent album and I have not been listening to it with displeasure. But seventy-five minutes is too long and too much of a test of nerves for me. Nevertheless, check it out.

2 points

Edition Spéciale - Allée des Tilleuls (1976)

The debut album from this French band.

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

Edition Speciale was a short lived band with their roots in another French band called Triangle. That band was a Canterbury prog band.

Listed as a Jazz/Fusion band in ProgArchives, I got a bit surprise when listening to this album. An odd one album from this band as their two other albums is what ProgArchives has listed the band as.

Allee Des Tilleuls is a vocals dominated slighty jazzy and fusion like album. Jazzy and fusion like as there are some good jazz and fusion behind Ann Ballester's much disputed vocals. Some call her vocals as horrible. Some call it good or even great. 

Her vocals divided the critics and record buyers. And I am falling down on the side of those who does not rate her vocals as great. They are not even particular good and I am even in my more evil moments suspecting that some of the vocals here are a duet between her and the vocals of the dog in the picture above. But the driving guitars from Martial Lorenzini is still very much loud and clear on this album.

Inbetween the jazz and fusion, there are also some very French pop music here. Most of all, this album and the more pop music pieces reminds me about Harmonium from Quebec, Canada.

I find some good and some barely decent stuff on this rather long album. An album re-released by Musea on CD some years ago. I am more looking forward to sink my teeth into their two other albums. But give this album a chance if you can.

2.5 points

Circulus - Thought Becomes Reality (2009)

The third and so far final album from this English band.

The band was an eight pieces big band on this album. Eight members plus an own female choir too. The lineup was flutes, bass, drums, guitars, crumhorn, synths and plenty of vocals.

I very much liked their two first albums. The Lick On An Envelope Yet To Be Sent album from 2005 and the Clocks Are Like People album from 2006. Very good psychedelic folk prog.

The band is still walking down the same path on this album.

Lots of folk rock with a psychedelic twist. That is what we get here.

Thirty-six minutes of this type of music is what we get here.

There are a slight change of direction, though. The band has gone a lot more back to simple folk rock on this album. They have lost their edge on this album

More traditional folk rock and not so much pixies, hippies and magic is what we get here.

The songs are pretty good throughout with a lot of flutes involved. The link to Fairport Convention has been strenghtened on this album.

The end result is a good album which does not dazzle and is not casting magic spells over me. I hope the band will return one day and that in the incarnation of their first two albums.

3 points


 

Hackett. Steve - Highly Strung (1982)

The sixth album from this British artist.

Steve Hackett had some help from four other musicians here, including Nick Magnus on keyboards. Steve did all vocals and guitars. The other helped out with keyboards, synths, cello, drums and bass.

I have not bothered to get hold of the rather lacklustre Cured album from 1981. It was not included in the two Steve Hackett boxes I bought. I have been told Cured is a horrible album.

It must have been a horrible album as ProgArchives and their many reviewers claims Highly Strung is a substantial improvement from Cured. That says it all....

Highly Strung sees Steve Hackett trying to become relevant and producing and releasing an album for the early 1980s. There is a lot of sights and sounds from this era. This is also very probably the worst era in the history of music..... actually, the early 1960s before The Beatles exploded into our world was worse, far worse than the early 1980s.

But what we get on this thirty-five minutes long album is not particular good either. A lot of pop-rock from that era with some bad synths and good guitars is what we get here. Steve's vocals is not top notch either.

The songs are a mix of what Steve can do with his guitars and some pretty poor songs and melodies. There are a few good things about this album. The music is not horrible. But the sound kills it all.

The end result is a good to decent album. One I will not rate as his finest moment.

2.5 points

Goblin - Four Of A Kind (2015)

The 23rd album from this Italian band.

Goblin was a four man's band on this album with a lineup of drums, keyboards, bass, synths and guitars. They are Fabio Pignatelli, Maurizio Guerini, Agostini Marangolo and Massimo Morante. Antonio Marangolo does saxophone on the first track.

In other words; Claudio Simonetti is not involved in this incarnation of Goblin.

Neither is this a movie soundtrack either. And when I write these lines, nobody has even reviewed this album in ProgArchives. Which is a great, great shame as ProgArchives is a far better prog rock place than this blog, my own blog. So go forth and review this album for ProgArchives !

This forty-four minutes long album is not a movie soundtrack. But we are still very much in the land of the cinematic progressive rock. Symphonic prog, no less. This album sounds like the best of their movie soundtracks.

It is also a great example of what you can do if you add a sinister sound to an instrumental progressive rock album. It feels like a murdererer is lurking somewhere in my room when listening to this album (it is not me). The combo of synths and guitars is great. A lot of instrumental prog rock bands has a lot to learn from this album and Goblin in general.

The music is very good throughout. My only gripe is the lack of a great song on this album. There are a lot of hints of greatness throughout this album. An album I would rate among their best albums. It among the better instrumental prog albums I have ever heard too. Check it out !

3.5 points

Farflung - 5 (2016)

The seventh album from this US band.

The band is a five piece band with a lineup of oscilator, synths, guitars, bass, drums and vocals. Nik Turner from Hawkwind and his own band is a guest musician together with two other musicians.

I very much liked their previous album, the 2008 album A Wound In Eternity. A great slab of psychedelic space rock. I was therefore eager to get this album when it was released.

Farflung is very much a part of the classic psychedelic space rock scene. Their sound is dirty and muddy. It is also pretty melodic and full of interesting details. There is melodies and beauty in their muddy space rock. Indeed, it is.

The album is forty-four minutes long and contains nine songs. The references to Hawkwind comes thick and fast here. But they still got their own style.

The vocals are very good, the synths good and the band has a very good sound.

There is a lot to really like on this album. And most of it is very good. There are also a couple of substandard songs.

The end of the story is that this is a good album which space rock fans will love more than I do. I will make an effort to get their first five albums. I think I will enjoy them a great deal.

3 points


  

Cromwell - Black Chapter Red (2016)

The second album from this German band.

Cromwell is a four piece band with a lineup of guitars, bass, drums, keyboards and English vocals. Male vocals.

Black Chapter Red is the follow up to the 1997 debut album Burning Banners. An album I quite liked. An album very different to this one.

We are again in the middle of the German neo-prog scene. References are the English bands IQ and Galahad.

Cromwell is perhaps the most English neo-prog sounding bands of all the German neo-prog bands. The music is surprisingly light and airy compared to Burning Banners, 19 years ago. The change of personell is perhaps the reasons behind this.

Fifty-six minutes and nine songs. The longest one is clocking in at eight minutes and twenty seconds. The shortest one is clocking in at three minutes and twenty-four seconds. Most songs are clocking in at the six minutes mark. Medium epic songs in other words.

The music is also leaning a bit towards symphonic prog. The sound is clear and there is some really good keyboards and guitars here. The vocals are very good.

The album is not spectacular in any means. But it is a solid album and a very nice listen who is not that challenging on the brain. It is also a good album and a more than welcome return from this band. It is also their best album too. Check it out !!

3 points

Gryphon - Gryphon (1973)

The debut album from this British band.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of bass, percussions, woodwinds of all sorts, flutes, harpischord, organ, guitars, drums, mandolin, glockenspiel and vocals.

I have heard about this band for the last ten years and I am very excited about this start of a series of reviews of their five albums in the next month or two. The band is still gigging and I hope I do them justice with my honest reviews.

There are some bands who plays folk rock as folk music from 100 years ago. Gryphon is not one of those bands. They have gone back at least 500 years, to the mediavel times.

The band's folk part of the folk rock is baroque and olde folk music. The rock part is early 1970s.

The band hits the world with the opening three minutes long track Kemp's Jig and you know you are really in for something here. Something special on this thirty-seven minutes long album.

The music here is a mix of baroque classical music, olde folk music and rock. The rock has a bit of a psych edge. But it is still pretty much straight forward.

Flutes, acoustic guitars, harpischord, woodwinds and the very good vocals is doing most of the work here and is leading me into Gryphon's world. A pretty interesting world it is, too.

The music is both interesting and good. It is not light hearted music. This album demand the full attention from the listener. But the rewards are here and I feel rewarded.

3 points


    

Krokodil - Getting Up For The Morning (1972)

The fourth album from this Swiss band.

The band was a four piece band on this album with a lineup of flutes, harp, bass, drums, guitars, keyboards, klavino, sitar and vocals.

Their first three albums had been reasonably good albums. Three albums in the Krautrock vein. Not as in spaced out space rock. But more based on blues and very much song based albums.

Krokodil was never a space rock band. They kept themselves pretty near the muddy river banks of blues and rock.

That is where we again find this band. That is where we find this album. Forty minutes, seven songs.

The basis is blues based krautrock. The band has taken the German krautrock sound and adopted it to their own needs. But there is also a lot of flower power here. Jefferson Airplane springs to mind.

This mix of blues and flower power is pretty heady........ and good.

The harp and the flute is giving the album an extra dimention and an extra boost. They makes this album a bit better.

This is a good album and one to check out from a long forgotten band. I quite like this band and their music.

3 points 
 

Facedancers. The - The Facedancers (1972)

The one and only album from this US band.

The Facedancers was a five piece band with a lineup of guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, harmonica, percussions, flutes and vocals. Both male and female vocals.

Nothing else is known about this band. The album was released on the major label Paramount and it has not seen a CD release yet. My guess is that a CD or digital release would be highly desired as this LP is very expensive now on the second hand market. Expensive and much sought after. I got my copy from Youtube.

The album is forty minutes long and the songs are medium long. Just around the five minutes mark.

This album is very much a mixed bag, genre wise.

Take a lot of Jefferson Airplane, add a lot of hard rock too and some US symphonic prog and avant-garde prog rock. Add some funk too and you get this album.

The music is pretty wild and untamed throughout. It is like a riot at times. There are also one ballad here which showcase the band from a more soft and reflective side.

The vocals are pretty good throughout. And so is the other musicians. The end result is a good album which I think would sell pretty well if someone released it on a CD/digital release. The Youtube version is well worth the download or a listen. Check it out.

3 points


 

Circulus - The Lick On The Tip Of An Envelope Yet To Be Sent (2005)

The debut album from this English band.

The band was a six piece band on this album with a lineup of moog, keyboards, bass, drums, saxophone, harmonium, bongo, crumhorn, flutes and vocals. Both male and female vocals.

I very much liked their second album Clocks Are Like People from 2006. See my review from October 2016. Both albums was released on the metal label Rise Above Records (run by Lee Dorian, ex Napalm Death and Cathedral) and now obviously a folk rock label. Circulus is not the only folk rock act in their roster.

Circulus is their most commercial and "soft" band. The band delivers unmistaken folk rock on this album. There is a very strong psych rock presence here too. Psych rock from the late 1960s. I suspect that this band is hippies and alternative lifestyler's. Which is not a bad thing !

The music is rather groovy and melody focused on this album. Most of the album, though. The opening song Miri It Is is a short, but very catchy song. That and the following four tracks brings a grin to my face. Good stuff.

There are also some spaced out Gong like trips here too with pixies and green spaces. That towards the end of this album. That too is great stuff.

The vocals, both male and female, are really great here. They are not as good as Sandy Denny and Tim Hart (both R.I.P). But they are good enough for this album and generally very good.  

This album is forty minutes long divided on nine songs. The artwork is rather great and I like what I hear. If there is a new folk rock scene in England with bands in the vein of Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span, this band is most certainly one of the better ones. There is no celtic rock here. Just pure English folk rock. They are therefore not in the same vein as Mostly Autumn and those bands.

This album is just purebred English folk rock and it is a very good album too.
Get it !!

3.5 points 

Ceyleib People. The - Tanyet (1968)

The one and only album from this US band.

The band was a four piece band with a lineup of sitar, guitar, bass, keyboards, drums and some vocals. This band is mostly known as a band which also included Ry Cooder. Which is wrong because he was only a guest musician here while the band was a seperate entity altogether. He guests on guitars, btw.

The music here is what is called raga-rock. Which is ethnic mix of krautrock, space rock and folk music. It is also very much associated with music from India. Ravi Shankar is the most known artist in this genre.

And it is indeed a lot of Indian sounding music here. Both type of Indian music. Music from both India and music from the Indian tribes in USA.

The sitar is everywhere here on this forty-two minutes long album. There are also a lot of sound effects. Which was pretty difficult to do in 1968. And revolutionary. This album is pretty much in the forefront of the recording engineering from 1968.

Besides of the Indian music, this album also dips into classical music and country music. The music is spaced out and very much krautrock.

The music is also pretty dense and one dimentional. It feels a bit like a jam of some sort with lots of engineering wizards thrown into the mix.

This is by no means easy listening, this album. But it has some good stuff inbetween the pretty dull rhythms and melody lines. I am not won over, but still rates it somewhere between decent and good. It is very much well worth checking out this album as it is pretty original and one of it's kind.

2.5 points

Crystal Breed - Barriers (2016)

The second album from this German band.

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

Their 2011 debut album The Place Unknown has bypassed me so this years Barriers album is my first meeting with this band.

The band is more known for their gigs and touring with big names like Uli Roth and Gamma Ray than their albums. At least that is how I learned about them.

The band has been labeled as a heavy prog band in ProgArchives. Which is correct. But this is not heavy prog as in Rush and the 1970s bands. Their style and sound is nowhere near those bands.

What we get here is a mix of Enchant, Porcupine Tree and Dream Theater. They have mixed this with college rock, U2 and some teenybopper rock too. The opening minute of this album starts of with German tech thrash metal from the late 1980s. All this on one hour of music divided on eight songs.

The vocals are a bit strained to say at least. The music sounds very youthful and full of enthusiasm. The sound is also in that vein.

There is also some references to the final years of those dreadful 1980s in their sound. The band is more or less copying Dream Theater during some of the opening minutes of this album.

What is missing here is quality. I am not really finding any good songs. There is a lot of good melody lined scattered around this album. There are also things here which makes me cringe. This is not a good album. It is not a bad album either. Hence my verdict.

2.5 points

Cast - Angels and Demons (1997)

The seventh album from this Mexican band.

Cast is a five piece band on this album with a lineup of guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, percussion and vocals. English vocals.

I have always been a bit of an admirer of this band. The band has developed a lot on their albums. From simplistic neo-prog to what they are today. A complex music making prog band.

On this, their seventh album, the neo-prog from their first albums has gone. Instead, we get some really complex symphonic prog here. Symphonic prog with a lot of mediavel classical music influences and some shades of fusion and jazz too.

There is a lot of ELP, Yes and Genesis in their music. Ditto for Ange and some Italian symphonic prog bands too. But the band has got their own identity too. You will recognice a Cast album when listening to it.

This album is seventy-five minutes long and it weaves itself through some highly complex landscapes and pieces of music. There are even some Latin-American folk music influenced symphonic prog here too.

The music is really great throughout. I have always rated Cast as the prog rock scene's biggest secret. This album more than proves my point. It is to a large extent a prog rock lover's heaven, these seventy-five minutes. Check out this album.

4 points

Eden - Heimkehr (1980)

The third and final album from this German band.

Eden was a ten piece large musical collective on this album with three guest musicians also helping out. The main instruments are keyboards, drums, bass, guitars, violin, flute, lots of female vocals and some male vocals. There are also some narrations here. Everything is in German.

Eden was one of those bands in the Christian folk/prog rock movement who spread the gospel through music. This scene was pretty big in Italy, Switzerland and in Germany.

Their previous two albums Erwartung ('78) and Perelandra ('80) was indeed spreading the gospel. But not as openly as this album.

Heimkehr is unmistakenly going all out, spreading the gospel. There are psalms here and lots of angelic female choirs. Some electric guitars are sometimes putting some salt inbetween this very sugary music. All the forty-six minutes of it.

The music is therefore folk rock with angelic choirs and heavy symphonic prog influences. The musis is pretty melodic all the way. This sugary angelic female choir is well over the top anno 2016.... and 1980. It must have caused some red faces and blushing even back then. Play this album in a record shop and it would empty as fast as if you had turned on the fire alarm.

The music is pretty good though and I can (barely.....) live with the female choirs. There are a couple of tasty guitar solos here which freshens up things a lot. Hence.....

2.5 points 

Edhels - Still Dream (1988)

The third album from this band from Monaco.

Edhels was a four piece band on this album with a lineup of guitars, synths, keyboards, bass and drums. 

I have never heard about this band before. But ProgArchives has labeled them as a neo-prog band and I happens to like neo-prog. So I got some of their albums. Unfortunate, not their first two albums.

So I was pretty surprised when I put on this album and discovered an entirely instrumental album.

This album is almost forty-eight minutes long and it changes between symphonic prog, goth and some fusion. There is also some ambient stuff here.

The mood and sound is a bit dramatic with some soaring guitars inbetween cascades of keyboards and synths. The pieces of music is pretty short. Twelve pieces, forty-eight minutes. Not particular interesting.

This album sounds like a left over dinner from someone's party...... or recording session. It is really hard to find something positive to write about this album.

It is not entirely a turkey as there is a couple of half decent songs here. But this is not a good first meeting with this band. Hopefully, the three other albums I have got with them are far better than this one.

1.5 points

Cromwell - Burning Banners (1997)

The debut album from this German band.

The band is a five piece band with a lineup of guitars, bass, keyboards, drums and female vocals. The vocals are in English.

By using female vocals, the band is a bit unusual. The music is not that unusual. Neo-prog in the German and Dutch vein.

That means a lot darker music than the British strand of neo-prog. And the music is pretty dark here. Something the art-work also alludes to.

Anke Taeffner's vocals is a bit special. Not particular melodic and not great. But her vocals suits this music well.

The music is dark and has a lot of references to English history. It is more or less a themed album with songs about this theme. And it is the mediavel end of the English history the lyrics is about.

The music is very well done neo-prog. Pretty standard. But the music is dark and the vocals are also dragging the music towards that direction. There are also a lot of prog metal here too. Prog metal fans will probably also like this album.

The end result is a good album with no really blemishes and good music throughout. It sounds a bit dated anno 2016. But fans of neo-prog should check out this band who released their second album earlier this year (2016). I rate this album.

3 points

Dream The Electric Sleep - Beneath the Dark Wide Sky (2016)

The third album from this US band.

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

I very much liked their first two albums. See reviews somewhere else in this blog (the alphabetical list to the right is a good start point....). Dream The Electric Sleep is a breath of fresh air in the progressive rock scene.

Hence, I was looking forward to this album.

One hour, eleven songs. That is this album.

The band is still mixing in symphonic prog with post rock and some neo-prog. There was also some space rock and hard rock on their first two albums. Albums who mixed everything onto a plate and told us listeners to "EAT !!". Which we did.

The band is still mixing up things a lot. Post rock with a lot of neo-prog and rock. The rock element has taken over a lot of this album. The raw edges, which made their first albums both fresh and difficult to get into, has been removed a bit. There is still some raw edges here. But most of them has gone.

What we get here is still a good album which brings promises about more great stuff to come from this band. But the band has relaxed a bit and taken a breather on this album. This album is bordering to a very good album. But I am missing some of the raw edges. Hence my verdict.

3 points  

Mytho - Earthrise (2015)

The second album from this Italian band.

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

I thought I had reviewed their 2010 debut album In The Abstract. But I was wrong. I don't even own a copy of it.

I guess that album was a very progressive rock sounding album. Their inclusion in ProgArchives is not based on Earthrise, the album I am reviewing here.

Earthrise is anything but progressive rock.

The band is giving us forty minutes of pop rock here. College pop rock, that is. The music is very youthful and lively. It is at times bordering to teenybopper rock.

The choruses and melody lines are pretty much devoid of any maturity and subtlety. The songs are pretty short and is not much worth writing home about.

The sound and the freshness is adding half a point to the score. Besides of that, this album is a turkey. There are also some decent songs here too. But there are also some, make that a lot of, facepalm moments on this album. Hence my verdict.

1.5 points

Caja De Pandora - Caja De Pandora (1981)

The one and only album from this Mexican band.

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

The Mexican prog rock scene has got a lot of good bands and releases. Caja De Pandora was a very short-lived band.

Their music is not particular commercial either. Instrumental prog rock. You did not win any friends and fans with that type of music back in 1981. Even today, it is difficult to get any friends and fans with that type of music.

Their music was not in the Camel vein either. So no friends and fans. But there are some ELP references here.

This fifty minutes long album contains a mix of mediavel music, symphonic prog and fusion. Their music has been compared a lot to Italian symphonic prog in ProgArchives.  I agree with that. There is a lot of Banco and PFM in their music. There is no mellotrons here though.

There is a lot of piano though and some driving guitars and bass. The music is pretty jazzy throughout. It is also very lively.

There is no really good songs/pieces of music here though. The music is decent though and that is my verdict. Fans of instrumental music should really get this album.

2 points

Anderson. Ian - Homo Erraticus (2014)

The sixth album from this British icon.

Ian Anderson does the flutes, acoustic guitar and vocals. He got help from five other musicians who offered up vocals, bass, drums, percussions, organs, piano, keyboards and guitars.

This must be around the thirteeth studio album Ian Anderson has been involved in. Most of them with Jethro Tull. But he has also done six albums under his own name. All these albums has included his very distinct vocals and flutes.

This and the Thick As A Brick 2 album is basically Ian Anderson without the rocking out stuff Jethro Tull always did. It is a much more folk rock version of Jethro Tull with a nod to their 1970s albums. That was before the rot set in.

This album is both melodic and reasonable hard. The folk rock feel is still here and this is indeed a folk rock album with flutes and fully focused on Ian's vocals. But it is still as close Ian has ever come to doing a classic Jethro Tull album. Martin Barre is not involved here so it is not a Jethro Tull album.

Ian's vocals and flutes is a big plus. But the songs are also really good. Very good in fact. It is also a concept album with three parts. It is about the mankind of some sorts.

This is in my humble opinion his best ever solo album. It is only a bit better than the Thick As A Brick 2 album. There are no real weak song here. This fifty minutes long album is one feast who unfortunate is lacking in great songs. But you really need to get this album.

3.5 points