Hypothetical is the best Threshold album overall in my opinion. followed by Subsurface and March Of Progress. :love:

Hey Ant. Glad you're following the thread.
I think it's always going to be Subsurface for me, as it was my first Threshold album, but yes, Hypothetical for "Narcissus" alone. I'm not sure how I'd rate them, in fact choosing only six to feature was pretty traumatic for me. :eek:

Originally Posted in Trollheart's Listening List, December 15 2015 (Some slight edits)

http://www.progarchives.com/progress...27102015_r.jpg
Title: Transitions
Artist: Time Horizon
Year 2015
Nationality:
Familiarity: 0%

Expectations: Ant has already declared this a “meh” album, so I may not have too high expectations of it, but then, I'm never led by anyone else's opinion of an album, so I'll make my own mind up. I do however wonder at the wisdom of having three tracks opening the album that all have the word “only” beginning their title, though I do note Yes's Tony Kaye and Fleetwood Mac's Billy Sherwood are involved, so perhaps it won't be that bad.

1. Only One Way: Get very much more an AOR feel from this from the beginning. Vocal is excellent, but I'm hearing Asia so much in this, particularly in the chorus, and now we have trumpeting Downes-like keys. Hmm. Great vocal harmonies certainly. A little derivative? Let's reserve judgement at this early stage, but hold that thought.
2. Only Through Faith: Very nice soft synth line with twinkly effects, choral vocals, very short so I'm going to assume it's an instrumental. Sort of church organ coming in now, to tie in perhaps with the title and yes, it gives off quite a spiritual ambience.
3. Only Today: Ah no, again I hear the ghost of Asia so clearly in this. It's like something off Astra, and that's thirty years old. Vocalist though is emulating John Payne. Some good guitar work from Dave Miller, but now we're getting a very Yes-style keyboard from Ralph Otteson, who's also responsible for the vocals, or most of them at least (seems they have something of an Alan Parsons Project thing going on, and the first track was sung by drummer Bruce Gaetke).
4. Prisoner: There's nothing wrong with these songs, it's just they don't sound anything original and there are so many bands I can compare the musical style to it makes it a little boring. This even has the basic melody of a Yes song, just can't recall which one. Something off Big Generator I think. Or maybe Union. Nice work by Tony Kaye, guesting on the Hammond. Which I guess reinforces the Yes comparisons.
5. The Moment is Here: We're back with the drummer singing, but despite the somewhat portentous announcement in the title I don't quite feel the excit --- oh wait a minute. This is rather nice. The first song of theirs I've heard that sounds like maybe they actually turned off Asia: the Complete Box Set while writing it, and paused the Yes documentary. I must admit I don't see a huge difference in the vocals, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, ie they can both sing well. Great hook here, first I've been able to grasp. Much of this is down to the superb work from Sherwood.
6. About Time: This is a very impressive instrumental, quite appropriate in title to the rest of the album, the previous track excepted.
7. You're All I Need: I'm not quite sure if this is getting better as it goes along, or I'm just getting more tolerant. This is still very Asia/Yes hybrid, but there's something intriguing about the tune. Chorus ruins it totally though. Pity. Damn crappy formulaic chorus! Couldn't they come up with anything better? Not even that smoking guitar outro can lift this above the level of mediocre. Boo.
8. River of Sorrows: I think everyone would expect this to be a ballad. And it is. Sort of a vaguely oriental feel merges with blues, with the very slightest whisper of eighties Dio.
9. Water Girl: Seemed like it slipped directly in from the last track, and may very well be another instrumental, with some lovely piano from Otteson and some very expressive guitar from Miller. Another one where they throw off the shackles of Asia comparisons. Nice.
10. Love is Here: Gorgeous violin thanks to Mike Mullen, and it would seem we have one more vocalist, though Jake Livgren (nephew of Kansas' famous Kerry) sounds again quite similar to the other two, making me wonder if where “vocals” are credited on the album they mean backing vocals? Anyhow, this is a lovely ballad, a strong ending to a not overall strong album, but one that may reward repeated listenings.

Final result: I certainly wouldn't go so far as to call this a meh album, as Ant did, but the overreliance on tropes used by the bands mentioned, and others, is a little unsettling. Nevertheless, while this is by no means an amazing album, when Time Horizon settle down and stop just copying their heroes they can write and play some pretty fine music. Maybe they'll get it right on their third album, which I wouldn't be averse to listening to.


(Sorry; not a single YouTube exists.) :(

"Ant has already declared this a “meh” album"


King Ping Meh????

Originally Posted in The Playlist of Life, November 25 2012 (Some slight edits)

On the Thirteenth Day --- Magnum --- 2012 (SPV/Steamhammer)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

What a joy it is to hear an album like this! Yeah, so prepare for a real nasty review, picking apart this sub-par load of ... no, seriously, this is one excellent album. I can't pick out a single track I don't like, and even then it's hard to tie down just one standout. It's a real triumph, and shows that the boys from Brum are still going as strong as ever, almost thirty-five years later. How bands who have been in the business that long can still manage to churn out releases of this quality is both amazing and uplifting. There's no sign of weariness, tension or even complacency as Magnum launch into what is now their sixteenth album, and their sixth since the reformation of the band in 2002.

It opens with the sound of synth and thunder, building slowly under the familiar humming vocal of Bob Catley until it all explodes into life and “All the Dreamers” gets us underway with the screaming guitar of Tony Clarkin and the pounding drumbeats of Harry James, augmented by the instantly recognisable keys of Mark Stanway. I hear elements of the title track to Brand New Morning in parts of the melody, and it strides along on cocky, confident lines showing a band with nothing to prove, just in it for the pure joy of making music. A great guitar section by Clarkin in the final minute really ramps up the power and tension before the end, then “Blood Red Laughter” is a punch to the face with a big churning guitar opening but dropping back quickly into an AOR-style melody, Catley's vocals less raw and gruff and Stanway's piano keeping a nice line behind him, the whole song possessing that progressive rock vibe.

A violin-like keyboard melody opens “Didn't Like You Anyway”, stop-start with guitar backing it up, and it rides along a bouncing beat with Catley's vocals again dark and rough, the song ending as it began on those stabbing strings keyboards of Stanway's and then segueing directly into the title track, a big heavy AOR monster with driving guitar and that familiar Magnum sound, some great vocal harmonies between Catley and Clarkin, and a great guitar solo from the latter which shows he is certainly one of the most underappreciated guitarists in rock today. Nice piano intro into “So Let it Rain”, then it becomes a real anthemic pounder with a great hook and surely must be a contender for one of the singles from the album?

Much heavier, with grinding guitar and bassy piano, almost metal is “Dance of the Black Tattoo”, with another excellent hook delivered by Bob Catley's powerful drawl alongside Tony Clarkin's machine-gun guitar attack. This is a song that sticks in your head long after it's over, with elements of Ten and Dio in it, and a heavy enough effect to satisfy even the most discerning of headbangers. A rippling, jaunty piano line drives “Shadow Town” in the finest of AOR melodies, with Catley's vocal pulled right back in just the way he knows how to do, toning down the growl but without losing the passion and power that characterises his singing. There are enough hooks in this album to outfit a tackle shop, and “Shadow Town” is no exception as it drives along on a rollicking drumbeat and the bright, happy piano of Mark Stanway.

A big strings-heavy synth opens “Putting Things in Place”, the ballad on the album and again Catley is able to reduce the power in his voice to deliver a tender, passionate vocal as Stanway's piano takes the lead, some more great vocal harmonies courtesy of Clarkin and indeed Al Barrow on bass. It's another of Magnum's special power ballads, and really would be worth the price of purchase on its own, but there's so much on this album that you almost feel like you should be paying more for it. If you paid for it, that is. Quite country-influenced piano, reminds me of the best of Bob Seger, very emotional and very dramatic, then we're into “Broken Promises”, with a big expansive guitar opening, leading into a real rocker riding on the twin rails of Clarkin's guitar and Stanway's organ work. Another big rocker then in “See How They Fall”, very anthemic, lots of energy and the album then ends on a slower but no less heavy “From Within”, a very worthy closer.

TRACK LISTING

1. All the Dreamers
2. Blood Red Laughter
3. Didn't Like You Anyway
4. On the Thirteenth Day
5. So Let it Rain
6. Dance of the Black Tattoo
7. Shadow Town
8. Putting Things in Place
9. Broken Promises
10. See How They Fall
11. From Within

As I said at the beginning, a great album from a great band who have been going for almost three and a half decades now, and every time seem to pull a rabbit out of the hat. Since they reformed in 2002 Magnum seem to have found a new purpose, a new energy and a new determination to produce the very best music they're capable of. They've certainly succeeded in creating here an album that will go down on the shortlist for my best of 2012. Who'd bet against their fortieth anniversary concert?

Translation: Anteater (Ant) one of our prog rock supremos, did, at the time this was originally posted, describe the album as "meh", a verbal shrug, as in meh from The Simpsons?

Originally Posted in The Playlist of Life, December 23 2014
https://i.postimg.cc/bvgQ2RHp/pushing.jpg
All right, it might be a little hard to consider this a prog rock album, as it's really more in the classical line, but give it a chance and you might be surprised. If not, feel free to **** off. This is, after all, my thread, and I am lord and master of my realm - what's that? Yes dear. No, no I'm just talking to my - ah. Can't it wait till... no? Bit busy, you see and... yes, yes I understand my treasure. Not sure why you married me either. Sigh. Excuse me one moment.


Ahem! Where was I? Oh yes, that's right. Well, the fact that the Scrooge mentioned in the title of the album is not Dickens' Ebenezer but rather Disney's Scrooge McDuck does change my attitude towards the album, but only slightly. Nevertheless, as someone probably said, what the duck? Let's go for it.

What? You thought I wasn't married? Well no I'm not, not really... you don't have a robot wife? Probably just as well. More trouble than they're... yes dear? Can't I do it tomorrow? What difference is it going to... yes dear, you're right as usual. I know. I'll be right there.

Sigh. Just listen to the album, huh? I'll be back... later.
YES dear! Right away!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...%282014%29.jpg
Music inspired by “The Life and Times of Scrooge” --- Tuomas Holopainen --- 2014 (Nuclear Blast)

For those of you who don't recognise the name, Holopainen plays his music with Nightwish, for which he plays the keys, and this is his first solo album, despite the fact that he has played on other projects and with other bands. The album is, not surprisingly, a concept, and is as I say based on “The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck”, a graphic novel centred on the mean old mallard of Disney fame. I assume he dropped the last word in fear that maybe people would think it was an album for kids, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, if you erase from your mind that it is about a duck, and convince yourself (as I believed originally) that it is in fact the story of the old miser in “A Christmas Carol”, then you really can get into it.

Unlike his “day job”, Holopainen features a lot of classical, cinematic style music here, and there's very little you could call heavy or even at times rock, but the album does not suffer from that lack. We start with a narrated piece in “Glasgow 1877”, as Alan Reid, taking the role of Scrooge describes visiting his ancestral home in Scotland, while behind him soft synth, booming percussion --- which I think may be bodhran (bough-rawn), the ancient traditional Irish hand-played drum, as no drummer is noted, and this is played by Holopainen's Nightwish bandmate Troy Donockley - and pipes fade in, a soprano vocal from Johanna Kurkela, who takes the role of “Glittering” Goldie O'Gilt - who apparently is Scrooge's secret lover in the comic - singing in Gaelic (don't ask me what is being sung: Irish is hard enough without my trying to translate Scottish!) as the music swells into something of a crescendo.

It's to Holopainen's credit that he recognises where his own talents lie, and does not try to take the vocals himself. He writes and composes all the music and plays the piano and keyboards, but has drafted in some friends to help out, such as Donockley and Tony Kakko from Sonata Arctica. In addition to his work on the bodhran, the former does a wonderful job on uileann pipes and whistles here, while Holopainen himself lays down the most beautiful piano lines as the song nears its end. “Into the West” begins with a vocalise from Kurkela, deep synth and then a really nice picked acoustic guitar, a sense of longing and even trepidation in the music. Great backing vocals and Donockley is back in with the whistles. Now we get harder orchestral hits on the keys from Holopainen, punchy percussion and what sounds like banjo. And is. It gives the song a very Country feel, almost like something out of a western. Other than the opening vocal piece this is an instrumental, and quite long at over five minutes. Touches of the Alan Parsons Project in there too near the end.

A sweet and lonely harmonica from Jon Burr finishes off the song and cements the western feel before we move into “Duels and Cloudscapes”, where things ramp up considerably, with swirling keys, skirling pipes and thumping drumwork on, I guess, the bodhran. A marching beat suffuses the tune as Holopainen takes over on the keys, a sort of victory march with some truly effective violin from Dermot Crehan. It all slows down then to a single whistle backed by sombre keys, then what sounds like harp and pizzicato strings, in a passage that does indeed evoke the old Disney soundtracks. A rolling, ponderous drumbeat then ushers in a heavy vocal chorus as Crehan slips and slides all over the track, violin cradled under his chin, fire in his eyes. A big powerful finish then takes us into “Dreamtime”.

As you might expect, this slows everything down and features that most Australian of instruments, the didgeridoo, expertly wielded in the hands of Teho Majamäki with little sprinkles of keyboard thrown over the tune by Holopainen like fairy dust, and we are certainly off on a trip. Powerful synth underpins the track as almost slave-ship-style drums pound out the rhythm. Again it's an instrumental, and certainly conjures up the vision of aborigines dancing under the hard southern sun in the outback. There's something very hypnotic about it, and that's due in no small part to the didgeridoo, which you could never mistake for any other instrument nor associate with any other country. The cinematic feel prevails through this piece too, and though there are some chanted vocals they are pretty low in the mix so I still really consider this an instrumental.

“Cold Heart of the Klondike” describes, I assume, Scrooge's hitting the big time when he goes gold mining and how he made his fortune. It rides on sweet rippling piano and a thick little bassline before choral vocals join in, then violin before the first proper vocal in English comes courtesy of Tony Kakko as The Storyteller, and we all know what a powerful voice he has. The Celtic element returns as the song swirls in a kind of reel, mostly thanks to Crehan's inspired violin work and some beautiful, sad and lonely uileann pipes. This is the longest song on the album, almost seven minutes, and something of a centrepiece in music as well as story, as Scrooge makes his fortune and changes forever as a person.

The next track features vocals from Kurkela again, with an introduction from Alan Reid as the eponymous character; it's not a ballad but it is slower and somewhat more gentle than the tracks that have gone before, with a really nice dual vocal halfway through “The Last Sled” and superb violin playing from Crehan, as well as some gentle and effective piano from Holopainen. Again the APP influence leaks in, so much so that I wondered Eric Woolfson wasn't involved, till I remembered he's no longer with us. Engineered by Parsons? No, there's no credit there, so maybe it's coincidence or maybe Tuomas Holopainen is a fan of the band. Either way, the fingerprints of Alan Parsons are all over this in places, and hard to ignore. Lovely vocal ending takes us into “Goodbye Papa”, with a sprightly piano belying the song's theme and indeed title, the whole melody riding on Holopainen's piano before uileann pipes join in and then that Parsons theme is back, driving the tune onwards, pipes and violin meshing beautifully.

The choir comes in here strongly too, before the whole thing falls right back to the single piano line, accompanied only by the violin. Heavy bodhran cuts in, racking up the rhythm in a very rolling manner, as the song moves into its final minute. Low whistles attend its end, the choir coming in again, then that sound that could be harp (though none is credited; maybe it's Holopainen on the synth) and we fade out on the choral vocals and a few piano notes with attendant violin. What many would take to be Scrooge's mantra and raison d'etre, “To Be Rich” opens with lush organ and violin, a slow, stately piece that is almost funereal in pace. Kurkela is back with a vocal performance to rival any on the album, giving it everything as she laments the loss of her lover's innocence. The pain in her voice is almost palpable. Crehan backs her sadly, as notes drip like tears from Holopainen's piano keyboard, the choir adding their own melancholy tone to the song.

“A Lifetime of Adventure” opens on a balladic piano line, with choral backing swelling behind it, Kurkela remaining at the mike for her final solo performance on the album. Donockley's bodhran cuts in, taking the rhythm but not destroying it as Kurkela sings like a wounded angel on what I guess is the only real ballad on the album. Holopainen again sprinkles his piano notes through the song like magic powder, then Crehan joins in with some heartbreaking violin as the intensity of the song powers up. This gives way to the first guitar solo, all the more breathtaking for its absence up to now, as Mikko Iivanaine, whom we heard earlier on the banjo, really makes his presence felt, finishing the song off with a heartfelt performance, and taking us to the closer.

Acoustic guitar begins “Go Slowly Now, Sands of Time”, with the voice of Reid again as Scrooge reflecting on his life and wondering about the decisions he has made. Uileann pipe comes softly in, as does gentle violin, and I think the theme of the opener is revisited in the melody here. A beautiful solo on the pipes from Donockley adds to the haunting, haunted air of this finale, as Kurkela joins Reid in the last chorus. It winds down then on fading acoustic and vocal, leaving us with a definite feeling of loss and sorrow.

TRACK LISTING

1. Glasgow 1877
2. Into the West
3. Duel and Cloudscapes
4. Dreamtime
5. Cold Heart of the Klondike
6. The Last Sled
7. Goodbye Papa
8. To Be Rich
9. A Lifetime of Adventure
10. Go Slowly Now, Sands of Time

I've read through the lyrics but I think to get any real sense of what this is truly about, you need to be familiar with the comic book, and I'm not. Nevertheless, the breadth of the musical landscape is enough to take you on a wild and often bitter trip into what turned a young man (or duck) into a miserly old skinflint who had, at the end, nobody left to love him. I always thought of Scrooge McDuck as a cartoon character who was just a parody of Dickens' famous miser, but it would appear this comic expands on that and takes him more seriously. If you've read it you probably understand.

But for a solo project, this is pretty breathtaking. Even those who pooh-pooh the notion of Nightwish may find something in the sweep of its beauteous grandeur, from the stunning cinematic instrumentals to the angelic vocals from Johanna Kurkela and the vocal contributions from others. To say nothing of the superb violin, uileann pipes and bodhran, and of course the piano and keyboard splendour of Tuomas Holopainen himself, which unlike many solo keyboardist's work, do not swamp or drown the other music but complement it perfectly.

A symphony, occasionally set to words, and a fitting soundtrack for the life of one of the characters who has gone down in the collective consciousness of humanity as a byword for stinginess and meanness, the archetypal miser.

Even if, as in this case, he happens to have webbed feet.

Let’s travel through the Five Decades of Prog again, and go all the way back to the seventies.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._Life_vdgg.jpg
Album title: Still Life
Artist: Van der Graaf Generator
Nationality: English
Year: 1976
Chronology: 6
The Trollheart Factor: 3

Track Listing: Pilgrims/Still Life/La Rossa/My Room (Waiting for Wonderland)/Childlike Faith in Childhood’s End

Comments: Well as ever you could be listening to Trespass - though of course VDGG were the originals - with a pastoral, soft tune until it breaks out and shows it certainly is not Genesis, Hammill performing those vocal acrobatics he’s so famous for. Track gets pretty intense and powerful, a good bit of brass but not too overpowering, quite effective in fact. The title track starts off with what I think is acapella vocal though it’s so low it’s hard to hear it; think there’s an organ or something running very quietly underneath it. Now it picks up and actually has a kind of funk feel to it. As always, Hammill holds the attention with his spectacular, at times disturbing singing. “La Rossa” is a pretty long song, nearly ten minutes, and for what’s in it I kind of don’t see the need. Good sort of medieval atmosphere in parts, carnival organ, gets quite frenetic. Good sax solo.

The problem here is nothing is really sticking. I’ve heard a few of their songs that I really like and can remember, but nothing on this album, at least so far, is making that sort of impression on me, and it’s a common failing for me with VDGG. Just two tracks left, and “My Room (Waiting for Wonderland)” has an almost blues feel to it, slow and measured, but again it goes by without making any sort of impression, and again the closer begins with that intolerably low, almost muttered vocal, which makes it hard to hear what he’s singing. Yeah I’m just bored with this now.



Track(s) I liked: Not really anything stood out

Track(s) I didn't like: didn’t NOT like anything, but all kind of passed in a blur

One standout: n/a

One rotten apple: n/a

Overall impression:


Rating: 5/10

Future Plan: This has actually made me LESS likely to listen to VDGG again... sigh. :( Still Life? Still bored...

Time to get this thing organised in an, um, organised way. Last time I just dove in to my record collection, this time I want to make it, oh what’s that word again? Oh yeah. Organised. So here’s what I’m a-gonna do. Going alphabetically through my collection I’ll stop at each prog arist (cos, you know, I have other music too) and if I haven’t heard anything/all by them I’ll choose one album, see what it’s like and move on.
https://media.tenor.com/images/59e4b...fa04/tenor.gif
If you dare then,
https://i.postimg.cc/MpMZdgbK/progvoy.jpg
So let’s see where our journey takes us first.
Just watch out for the sentinels! Don’t worry: we’re safe inside this craft.
https://i.imgur.com/RWvkVQg.gif
Okay, so that’s A Flock of Seagulls. They’re not prog. No, no they’re not, let’s move on.

A Forest of Stars? Post-rock, my son.

What’s this coming up on the right? Ah, yes. A Sound of Thunder. Great band, but not prog in any way, shape or form.

Ah, here we go! First stop. Do NOT exit the shuttle. Remember those guardians?. What? Oh yeah. Sentinels. Whatever. You don’t want to go messing with them. Help yourself to industry grade headphones, grab a beer and put your feet up while we check these guys out.

https://img.discogs.com/19Zy9HbDyszj...-5337.jpeg.jpg
Artist: A.C.T
Nationality: Swedish
Sub-genre: Eclectic Prog
Formed: 1994
Number of albums: 5
Owned by me: 5
Listened to: 1
Album selected: Last Epic
Position in discography: 3rd

Comments: Starts out very orchestral, very short intro and then into an uptempo keyboard-driven “Wailings From a Building”, courtesy of Jerry Sahlin, great hook and I like the vocal harmonies. Is that a female singer? No. No it isn’t, Herman Saming is definitely male but his voice certainly sounds a little feminine. Interestingly, despite the album title there are in fact no epics on this album, in fact the longest track is a mere six minutes. Quite a sense of both Queen and ELO here, touches of It Bites too. I very much like this, and we’re only on track one. Not including the intro. “Mr.Landlord” has a lot of Saga about it, kind of a carnival atmosphere to it. The It Bites comparisons keep coming. More string arrangements for a moment before we head into another uptempo and upbeat track on “Torn By a Phrase”, dropping back to a simple acoustic guitar from Ola Andersson for the verse before taking off on swirling keys for the choruses. Very much a sense of Manfred Mann’s “Davy’s On the Road Again” in the melody.

Absolutely gorgeous combination of violin, cello and vocoder (!) makes “Ted’s Ballad” something very special, driven on soft piano with some fine ELO-style backing vocals, then other than the intro and the outro the shortest track is “Dance of Mr. Gumble”, which allows the guitarist to really have his head and go wild, some fine orchestral hits helping the melody out here, and I assume given the fact that it runs for barely over two minutes it’s an instrumental. Yes it is. “Wake Up” has an almost reggae feel to it, strutting along arrogantly, then turns into a sort of Beatles pastiche. Again some sumptuous violin and cello is added here. The tempo remains high but returns to a more rocky, slightly harder tone with the longest track, “Manipulator”, showcasing another fine hook in the chorus, that carnival sound coming back in about halfway, while “A Loaded Situation” brings a more dramatic feel to the album, with grinding guitar and a very Yes-style keyboard run from Sahlin, who also handles the strings arrangements and vocoder, the latter put to good use here in what I feel may be another instrumental.

And so it is, and on we go into “The Observer”, strident piano driving the tune along, Anderson’s powerful guitar riffs adding their voice too - though here the melody seems a little fractured and confused for me, hard to follow. Vocoder in a very ELO style takes us into the far superior “The Cause” with the welcome return of the hook and an almost ABBA feel to it (not kidding) while “The Effect” seems to more or less maintain the same basic melody, lots of orchestral strings here, mostly cello I think, guest female vocals from Sara Svensson and we end (more or less) on “The Summary” which bops along with almost a new-wave idea allied to the most lush keyboard lines, bouncing guitar and a lovely slow section in the middle which gives both the orchestra and the backing vocalists a chance to shine once more, and then the outro bookends the album, one minute of cello violin and viola but with added vocal harmonies. Superb.

Track Listing and Ratings*

1. Intro (7)
2. Wailings From A Building (9)
3. Mr. Landlord (9)
4. Torn By A Phrase (8)
5. Ted's Ballad (10)
6. Dance Of Mr. Gumble (8)
7. Wake Up (8)
8. Manipulator (8)
9. A Loaded Situation (7)
10. The Observer (6)
11. The Cause (8)
12. The Effect (7)
13. Summary (9)
14. Outro (10)

* I’ll be rating each track on a scale from 1 to 10

What did I like about this album? Absolutely everything. Many prog bands tend to be very stiff, serious, up themselves about their music. A.C.T. are different; they have fun playing their music, and while it may not be the case that all their lyrics are upbeat (I haven’t looked into the lyrics) they certainly come across that way. All musicians are top notch here, singer is great and the usage of orchestra and vocoder really adds to the compositions, but is not overused or pushed in your face too much. Again, breaking with the majority of prog bands (though in fairness they are described as eclectic prog) there are no really long songs here, no suites or anything. Nothing overstays its welcome, and the album is well bookended by the intro and outro.

What did I not like about this album? Hardly anything. The only track I was a little lukewarm on was “The Observer”, but I liked even that. Otherwise, nothing to complain about.

Will I be listening to more? Hell yes.

Album rating
(Here I’m going to use an old system I used to employ, showing a speedometer. The “faster” the speedometer goes, the better the album. I have no hesitation in awarding this the highest rating right out of the box).
http://www.trollheart.ie/speed10.jpg

:love:

I reviewed that Aardvark album in the History of Prog here I Know What I Like - Trollheart's History of Progressive Rock and Progressive Metal

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We couldn’t finish up our look at Threshold without giving a shout out to the third vocalist, could we? And as I have yet to listen to their latest, the only other album with Glyn Morgan behind the mike is rather unfortunately my least favourite of theirs. Well, here we go then!
https://img.discogs.com/aMTq4_Z5zOGL...-9505.jpeg.jpg
Album title: Psychedelicatessen
Artist: Threshold
Nationality: English
Year: 1994
Chronology: 2


Track Listing: Sunseeker/A Tension of Souls/Into the Light/Will to Give/Under the Sun/Babylon Rising/He is I Am/Innocent/Devoted

Comments: The album starts off well enough, with the rocking “Sunseeker”, and after the excellent debut Threshold are certainly in form here, a big atmospheric synthy opening suddenly kicked aside by Karl Groom as the track explodes into life, very heavy metal and Morgan’s voice when we first hear it is certainly different to the other two, more in the metal vein than both his predecessor and the man who will succeed him in four years. The song changes into an almost gospel style (sort of) halfway through, slowing down and allowing Groom to fire off a screeching solo, ramping everything back up again. There’s a kind of preview of the melody of later “Devoted” before we head into “A Tension of Souls”, beginning slow and snarly, both guitar and vocals, then picking up as it heads towards something of a crescendo via a slow, staggered sort of blues section.

When it gets going though it really comes to life and that hook is there again. All the best Threshold songs have memorable parts, catchy tunes and recurring hooks, which might be why this album is so relatively poor: many of the songs (not these but later) are just forgettable, and seem badly constructed. The epic is “Into the Light”, opening on chimy, echoey slow guitar and an aching, emotional vocal from Morgan. Quickly though it ramps up and running for ten minutes (exactly) you’d expect it to go through some changes. And it does. There is, to be fair, a hook in the song - and the absence of such is not an accusation I can level at all of the tracks, only a small handful, but still, for Threshold you don’t even expect one - and while it bounces around a little, kind of unsure exactly where it’s going it’s still very listenable. It is telling though that every single time I see this track I fail to remember how it goes. Says a lot really.

And then we come to a low point on the album, as we hit the first Glyn Morgan-penned track. Now I’m not going to blame the poor quality of this album on him, as some have done. I think he’s a decent singer; he had very very large shoes to fill with the departure of Wilson, and while he struggles to lace them up properly, the boys must have been happy with him as he is now the current vocalist. But this song is, how can I say this without giving offence? I can’t: it’s awful. It’s just insipid, weak, bereft of ideas, bereft of any real melody, lacking any hooks and boring as hell. Other than that, I guess it’s all right. He’s not a bad songwriter though, as we’ll see with the other track he pens later.

After the disappointment of “Will to Give” we’re treated to a Richard West masterpiece in the sublime “Under the Sun”, a short but far superior song showcasing his talent on both the piano and synth, while Morgan gets a chance to really stretch his vocals without having to roar or growl. Back to the grind then for “Babylon Rising”, which to be entirely fair to it is an okay song, but just that: it’s nothing special, which when speaking about Threshold makes me sad but that’s how it is. And it doesn’t get any better - in fact, it gets much much worse - as we stumble into “He Is I Am” (what?), perhaps the strangest song title I’ve heard in a while, certainly the oddest from these guys. There’s a dub version of this on another album of remixes and my god it gets on my tits. I actually find the melody of “Babylon Rising” quite similar to this, so that it seems almost like it’s a continuation. Not completely, but there are echoes there.

Luckily, the guys marshall to finish a very weak album strongly, with the second of Morgan’s compositions in the rather beautiful “Innocent”, showing he can indeed write songs, and good ones. Echoey reflective guitar leads the melody, with a powerful vocal prayer in the lyric. Yeah, the guy can write, just sometimes he doesn’t do it well I guess. Finally we get the full version of that snippet we heard at the end of the opening track, which becomes the theme to “Devoted”, kicking off on a manic guitar riff and swirling stabbing synths before settling down into a swaggering march. The song actually is almost two, the second part ushered in on a celestially beautiful synth as Morgan’s voice climbs to heaven, bringing back in the hard guitar riffs and ending on a powerful flourish.



Track(s) I liked: “Sunseeker/A Tension of Souls/Into the Light/Under the Sun/Innocent/Devoted”

Track(s) I didn't like: “Will to Give/He is I Am”

One standout: Under the Sun

One rotten apple: Will to Give (or “He Is I Am”, can’t decide: they’re both crap)

Overall impression: Definitely the weakest of the Threshold albums. Unfair I think to lay all the blame on the shoulders of Glen Morgan, who was just stepping in here at the time, Wilson returning for the next album, and he’s involved in little of the songwriting, which is generally pretty poor. It’s not the worst - even a bad Threshold album is better than those from many other artists - but it ranks very low, probably at the bottom of this band’s work.

Rating: 7.8/10

:basketbal

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With the onset of a new year my intention is to try, as far as I can anyway, to listen to and feature the newest prog albums as they come out. For my guide I’m using this site New Prog Releases: 2020-2021 and will watch as each week and month goes by to see what comes out. Obviously, I can’t and won’t attempt to feature every album, because even when you’re only talking about prog albums there are a lot of them released every month, so the plan would be - and this is, as ever, open to change brought about by a sudden, ill-conceived confidence in my abilities, boredom, home circumstances or any other factor whatever - to try to pick one each week, and if possible to try to feature it on the week it’s released.

Obviously this will not be possible with this month, as we’re already heading into its last week and a bit, but for the future this is what I will be aiming for. As for January, I will try to feature four albums from this month over the next days; as not every album I want will be available to me when I want it I may decide then to run into other months, ie look at January albums in February and March and so on, depending on how many are released that I want to hear. At least this way I can keep up with some of the latest prog albums that come out. At the end of each month, insofar as I can, I’ll choose my best of the month, and then at the end of the year I’ll have a better idea of what might be my favourite albums of this year.

Here is the list of what was, and is scheduled to be, released in January.


January 2021 Cloud Over Jupiter "They're Here With Us" (Progressive Rock) (CD)
January 2021 RLND "Zealand" (Instrumental Progressive/Post Metal) (vinyl)
January 2021 Oracle Sun "Machine Man" (Progressive Power Metal) (CD)
January 2021 Raven Sad "The Leaf and the Wing" (Progressive Rock)
January 29, 2021 Syrinx Call "Mirrorneuron" (Progressive Rock)
January 29, 2021 Gaspard "Vertiges" (Instrumental Progressive Rock/Metal)
January 29, 2021 Asia Minor "Points Of Libration" (Progressive Rock) (Europe)
January 29, 2021 Needlepoint "Walking Up That Valley" (Retro Prog, Canterbury, Jazz-Rock, Fusion)
January 29, 2021 Soen "IMPERIAL" (Progressive Metal)
January 29, 2021 Steven Wilson "The Future Bites" (Progressive Rock/Pop)
January 25, 2021 Home Brewed Universe "Fear of an Obtuse Earth" (Instrumental Progressive Post Rock/Metal)
January 22, 2021 Steve Hackett "Under A Mediterranean Sky" (Instrumental Acoustic Progressive Rock)
January 22, 2021 Red Cain "Kindred: Act II" (Progressive Power Metal) (digital)
January 16, 2021 Humanity Gone "The Seven Deadly Sins" (Progressive Metal)
January 12, 2021 Need "Norchestrion: A Song For The End" (Progressive Metal/Rock)
January 11, 2021 The Flying Caravan "I Just Wanna Break Even" (Progressive Rock)
January 10, 2021 MFTJ "My Mom's Getting a Horse" (Instrumental Eclectic Progressive Rock)
January 08, 2021 Exodus to Infinity "Archetype Asylum" (Progressive Rock/Metal)
January 08, 2021 Sithu Aye "Senpai III" (Instrumental Progressive Metal)
January 08, 2021 Roland Gassin "Born In The Seventies" (Hard Rock, Progressive Rock)
January 07, 2021 ProAge "4.Wymiar" (Progressive Rock)
January 06, 2021 Stewart Clark "Let's Go There" (Progressive Rock)
January 01, 2021 Mark Wingfield with Jane Chapman and Adriano Adewale "Zoji" (Progressive Rock, Fusion)
January 01, 2021 Glass Kites "Glass Kites II" (Progressive Rock)
January 01, 2021 Soniq Theater "Time and Space" (Instrumental Progressive Rock, Electronica)
January 01, 2021 Neon Heart "temporaria" (Psychedelic, Progressive Rock) (CD)
January 01, 2021 Like Wendy "The Fisher" (Progressive Rock) (CD)
January 01, 2021 Geof Whitely Project "Luna Ad Insanian Convertant" (Progressive Rock)


So with all that in mind, the first one I want to look at was indeed released on the first day of this month, the first day of the year, and is from an artist of whom I have never heard, as many of these probably will be.

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Title: Glass Kites II
Artist: Glass Kites
Nationality: Canadian
Sub-genre: Crossover Prog
Release date: January 1 2021
Album number: 2
Familiarity: Zero
RYM Rating: 3.21
ProgArchives Rating: 3.70

These guys certainly don’t believe in rushing out the albums! Inadvertently, one would suppose, reversing the year numbers on their debut and next albums, they put out their first offering way back in 2012, leaving a gap of nine years before this hit. Has it been worth the wait? Has anyone been waiting? I’ve personally never heard of them, but when you come from the land that gave us Rush and Mystery, well you have to take notice don’t you? The opener is a nice soft little instrumental, mostly driven on piano, that gets bouncy as it nears its end, and then “In the Night” introduces us - well, me anyway - to the vocals of Leon Feldman, who doesn’t only sing but plays guitar, keyboards, piano, synths and does sequencing too, so probably the creative engine of the band? I would say tentatively though that his voice, while certainly competent, lacks the power needed to really focus you on him, at least on this track. And there are only five on the album in total.

Sort of a tubular bells introduction with rolling percussion to “Leviathan”, one of the longer tracks at just shy of nine minutes, with some good synth work but I’ve yet to hear the guitars make their mark in any significant way; they seem to be sort of riffing around the edges as it were. Piano is very front and centre here again. This is not that surprising: Glass Kites have, in addition to Feldman, another piano player in Daryn Cassie and Nate Drobner, who takes bass duties, also plays keyboard and synth, so this is of necessity going to be a very keyboard-heavy album. There’s a certain sense of minimal jazz fusion in the music too I feel, keeps it light and breezy. I would like to hear the guitar get its head though - poor Curt Henderson sounds a little left out, while even Kyle Araki on the drums is having a fine time. Hear a lot of ELO’s “The Whale” from 1978’s Out of the Blue here, and the use of the vocoder certainly adds to that comparison. I didn’t realise how many prog bands seem to be using vocoders, but I’ve come across two now, other than Threshold, who I thought were the only ones.

Despite the slightly frenetic drumming of Araki, it’s still coming across as fairly laid back, relaxed and I’ve yet to hear Glass Kites rock out, if indeed they do. I have two more tracks on which to see if this happens, and once again bright piano takes us into “Idealogue”, which, given its less than three minute length, I assume will be another instrumental. There’s some nice strummed guitar here; maybe Henderson is a believer in the “less is more” theory. It works pretty well here. But the closer is the longest track, ten and a half minutes of “Discworld/Projector.” I don’t know if that’s Terry Pratchett’s famous comic fantasy world in the title, but I guess we’ll find out. Or, you know, not, as I can find no lyric sheet. No surprise by now to find it’s a big synthy opening, quite dramatic with a whispering vocal before the actual singing begins, putting me in mind of The Alan Parsons Project in some ways.

Picks up now about four minutes in, though again it’s the piano and the keys that drive the song, a nice little almost apologetic solo from Henderson before he’s shunted aside by the banks of keyboards again. Probably the most uptempo of the tracks on the album, and finally Henderson gets to let loose and to be fair goes completely wild on the frets. About bloody time. The track ends on what appears to be thirty seconds of empty silence, which is something that always annoys me. Maybe there’s something going on very low in the background?

Track Listing

1. Intro (Soviet) (8)
2. In the Night (7)
3. Leviathan (7)
4. Ideologue (8)
5. Discworld / Projector (8)

I’d say this was certainly an enjoyable little album, nothing wrong with it but I can’t see anyone who would have been breathlessly awaiting its release. Worth a listen all right, but I don’t think I could go out of my way to recommend it.

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(This is all YouTube has, sorry…)


Bandcamp: https://glasskites.bandcamp.com/album/glass-kites-ii

So then this is off???:


"Going alphabetically through my collection I’ll stop at each prog arist (cos, you know, I have other music too) and if I haven’t heard anything/all by them I’ll choose one album, see what it’s like and move on"

Absolutely not.
It's just one of the many sections I'm dealing with here at the Fortress. We have the Featured Artist, we have decades of prog, we have albums I want to give a last chance to, we have new albums (as above) and there are literally ten or twenty new features in the pipeline. This will run as and when, but every post will not be an alphabetical pick from my collection. The next one will be happening soon, but until then there are plenty of other proggy goodies to keep you entertained.

Let's stroll with our hands in our pockets down the dusty windswept streets of my musical memories, passing The Regret Hotel, glancing with a shudder in the direction of the Bad Choices Bank, round the corner of Inadvisable Street and Stupid Move Avenue. If we cross over the road here and avoid the careening horse-drawn wagons with their deliveries of Doubt and Disappointment and Frustration, we can see the lights and hear the off-key music, so let's just push in the doors and grab a drink down at the
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Which is my colourful and roundabout way of saying we're about to check out another album that did not impress me in the past, and see if I can get into it, or whether it needs to be shelved forever and forgotten about.
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Album title: Perchance to Dream
Artist: The Arc Light Sessions
Nationality: Canadian
Year: 2015
Chronology: 3
The Trollheart Factor: 1

On the surface, I should love this band. With a classically-trained piano player into everything from Genesis and Yes to PFM and Pat Metheny, what’s not to like? But I remember being mightily disappointed - bored, I think - the first and I believe only time I spun it. So here I am again, giving it another chance to convert me, see if my opinion on it changes. The Arc Light Sessions is the brainchild of John Alarcon, who plays keys including Mellotron, with Michael Dionne taking vocals and guitar. There’s a very orchestral opening to the title track, with a slow Asia feel to it too, plenty of Mellotron blasting from Alarcon, the song putting me in mind too of Pendragon. I don’t know about the vocalist; I kind of think he’s not that great, and he certainly doesn’t grab the attention. Some nice piano merging with a squealing guitar, but there’s something not quite, I don’t know, cohesive about this, like they’re borrowing bits from other bands and songs and trying to force them all together. God that singer is pretty poor.

Alarcon can certainly play the piano, there’s no doubt about that, keys and Mellotron taking us directly into “... only to Awake”, a much shorter piece, the companion to the opener, and I would say quite likely an instrumental, which is good as I don’t have to listen to Dionne attempting to sing for a while. God I hope he improves as the album goes on, otherwise it’s going to be torture listening to him all through the rest of this album. Well I was right about this being instrumental, and then “There Will Come a Day” is a slow very Alan Parsons Project ballad and unfortunately Dionne has not improved. He also does his own backing vocals it seems, so it doesn’t help that now I’m hearing him twice as it were. The melody is nice, the piano carrying it, but it’s hard to enjoy it when the vocalist is making such a hash of the singing. Nice guitar solo, very effective; if only Michael Dionne would stick to the frets.

Another piano ballad in “Through These Years”, but a lot shorter at three minutes, while “Please Let Me Know” runs for nearly six, and is also quite laid back, in fact I’ve yet to hear ALS really let loose and rock out, if they ever do. Again it’s like listening to a budget knock-off version of the APP, though nowhere near as good. I’m probably insulting Parsons and his boys by comparing them to these heads. To be fair, there’s nothing wrong with the music, just none of it is coming across as particularly original. It’s like the band sat down and listened to the APP’s discography and then decided they would emulate them rather than write any of their own music. Unfortunately the only way they don’t copy them is by having various vocalists, so we’re stuck with Dionne.

This is going to be a struggle, I can tell. We still have - ****! Eight songs to go, and I’m feeling like I’m in an ordeal. Think this next one might be another instrumental at least. When I don’t have to listen to Dionne’s singing - I use the word in its widest possible meaning - I can, not enjoy, but at least tolerate these guys. This isn’t too bad actually, for once mostly on guitar, but we’re back to piano for “The Old Man and the Sea”, with some nice flute added in by Luc Tremblay (definitely heard of him, just can’t remember where) but it breaks down as soon as Dionne opens his mouth. Some sort of choir there in the background which does help distract a little from his voice; with another, more competent or talented singer this could actually be enjoyable. Decent tune, some nice warbly keyboards and so far no Mellotron; these guys definitely overuse that venerated prog rock instrument. Good guitar solo, ramping up the tempo a little, though it quickly resumes its more or less sedate pace.

I suppose I should be thankful there are no epics here: the longest track just inches over seven minutes, and the next two are short ones, “The Ghost of Winters Past” slightly less than four minutes while “Jigsaw” just edges past three. Neither are very remarkable or memorable, and then we’re into the six-minute “Deception Days.” Normally I wouldn’t be so anal about the length of the songs (well, not all the time), but really I’m just hoping to get through this and the longer the tracks are the harder that task is becoming, so shorter tracks are welcome, or at least, more welcome than the longer ones, which aren’t welcome at all. Think I’ll just hide my head till it’s all over. If anything occurs to necessitate a remark I’ll mention it. Otherwise I’ll see you on the other side, assuming I make it out alive.

Oh god I just have to remark that on “Misunderstood” Michael Dionne does what I would have assumed impossible, and actually gets worse singing! God, when he growls it’s just painful. Shut the fuck up. Thought the album might go easy on me by closing with a double instrumental, but no, only the penultimate track, the other had to have Dionne foist his excuse for vocals upon us one last (and it will be the last) time. Fuck off you cunt.

Track Listing

1. Perchance to Dream... (7)
2. ...Only To Awake (8)
3. There Will Come a Day (6)
4 Through These Years (6)
5. Please Let me Know (5)
6. Eye of the Storm (7)
7. The Old Man and the Sea (9)
8. The Ghosts of Winters Past (7)
9. Jigsaw (8)
10. Deception Days (6)
11. Misunderstood (3)
12. Over the Horizon... (8)
13. ...Till the End (5)

Admittedly, some of the scores would have been higher had it not been for Michael Dionne’s awful travesty of a voice, with the result that any instrumentals got relatively high points. I pushed “The Old Man and the Sea” more than I wanted because, despite his vocals, it actually stuck with me and was a half decent song.

What do I think now?

I’m even more against this album now that I remember how terribly Dionne sings, and the poor APP rip-off the music is. Not sure how this struggled above a rating of 3 on Prog Archives but I wouldn’t have given it a 2. I won’t be giving this any more chances.

Verdict: Never gonna see the light.
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Coming Soon!
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Looking forward to it!

:beer:

Like many other artists in my collection, I couldn’t tell you where these guys came from, or at least, why they ended up on my computer, but I was glad they did. With a name like that, you’d think they were Greek or Spanish or something, but no, they’re American. The name, of course, comes from that fantasy classic of all fantasy classics, and is the name of the highest God of the elves, first mentioned in the Silmarillion, another potential link with later prog rock icons. At any rate, this album certainly qualifies as one more of
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Album title: A Story Two Days Wide
Artist:Iluvatar
Nationality: American
Year: 1999
Chronology: 3
The Trollheart Factor: 3

I like the way the band’s name is even written on the cover using a vaguely medieval style font, strengthening the connection with Tolkien. Pretty much all of the tracks here are long ones, with only one below six minutes (well, two). It opens on “Sojourns”, blasting away with a big thick Mellotron from Jim Rezek and some fine intricate guitar courtesy of Dennis Mullin, the song containing the album title, a good bouncy mid-tempo number, the vocals of Glen McLaughlin strong and clear without being overbearing in a sort of Hammill/Gabriel way: they’re there, you can hear them but he doesn’t force your attention onto his voice. The unavoidable comparisons to seventies Genesis, Yes and even Rush persist, though I don’t hear much if any piano yet. Nice spacey sort of synth backdrop to the midsection of the song as it slows down into a very gentle, drifting pace.

Picking up speed now as it builds to the big climax at the end, Mullin showing off his expertise on the guitar without, well, showing off. A soft, introspective opening to “Savant” with very definite Pendragon overtones, really nice bass line and a sense of Mostly Autumn here too. “Dreaming With the Lights On” is much more rocky and uptempo, and indeed shorter, the shortest so far at six and a half minutes. I must say that here McLaughlin does start to sound a little Phil Collins-y, then one of my favourite tracks on the album is “Holidays and Miracles”, which has a lovely, lazy, relaxed feel to it, driven by sparkling guitar and a soft vocal in one of the performances of the album by our man Glen. It is though, to be fair as I always harp on this, the first of their songs here in which I can pick out a hook, and it’s a good one.

Sort of gives me echoes of Gabriel’s “San Jacinto” in certain areas, with a nice instrumental section at the midpoint, some very Asia-style trumpeting keyboards from Rezek building up the intensity till McLaughlin comes back in with the vocal, though the song ends kind of oddly. Big punchy intro then to “Better Days”, which trundles along with almost metal boots, a real sense of urgency in the melody, McLaughlin’s voice sounds slightly modulated - not quite a vocoder but maybe phased or something? The melody seems very familiar, at least the verses, but I can’t quite place it. I’d definitely call this the heaviest track on the album, while the next is the shortest, and actually precedes the longest. “Even Angels Fall” is, I guess, what passes for a ballad, though I kind of wouldn’t necessarily call it such.

It does however as I say lead into the epic, the closing track and by far the longest at over fifteen minutes. “Indian Rain” opens on soft synth and guitar (with the obligatory sounds of thunder and rain in the background) and involves some very emotional work on the frets by Dennis Mullin. Initially at least it’s a slow, morose kind of tempo, dramatic strings creating the backdrop for the guitar and there’s some nice work on what sounds like the Prophet near the end too. A bouncy acoustic guitar ending rounds things off nicely.

Track Listing

Sojourns (7)
Savant (7)
Dreaming With the Lights On (8)
Holidays and Miracles (9)
Better Days (7)
Even Angels Fall (6)
Indian Rain (9)

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Discographies, discographies....
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You want 'em, we got 'em. Hell, I'll even consider suggestions. No, I will not do that because it is in fact anatomically impossible, but I may accept requests to do a discography of a particular prog artist, if you can make a convincing case for them.

Right now, we're looking at these this year:
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More will be no doubt added.
The first of these, soon.

Before January runs out on me, let’s check out another of the prog albums released this month. Less than three weeks ago in fact.
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Title: Archetype Asylum
Artist: Exodus to Infinity
Nationality: American
Sub-genre: Progressive Metal
Release date: January 6 2021
Album number: 1
Familiarity: Zero
RYM Rating: n/a
ProgArchives Rating: n/a

Right, I can find nothing about these guys - well, this guy - anywhere, so I leave it up to his own promotional team to explain: This self-produced one-man-band will take you on a heady journey filled with screaming guitar solos, eclectic arrangements, and a dizzying range of styles and emotions. Using elements of prog rock, metal, blues, jazz, rap, EDM, pop, and classical music, the debut album, Archetype Asylum, explores the depths of the psyche with the psychoanalytic tools of Jung, Freud, and Lacan. It is a story of loss and growth through encounters with archetypal projections of the unconscious, reconciling light and shadow, candor and jest, fear and love.

Indeed. I have to say, it sounds like it might not be the kind of thing I enjoy, but as we say here in Ireland, sure we’ll give it a go. Why did I choose this one, when there were others released that day, and plenty more so far this month? Simple: I liked the name of the band. So if it sucks I only have myself to blame.

I think the doctor, then, is ready to see us now.
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/d...?itok=y4y7ls77
“King Other” gets us underway, with a trippy guitar run and the sort of rhythm you might expect to hear on something by Diablo Swing Orchestra, a vocal which mixes the best of Eldritch, Nick Cave and Dave Vanian from The Damned. It’s pretty frenetic, and puts me in mind too of the more eclectic work of The Dear Hunter. He’s got a good range, this guy with the unassuming name of Danny Mulligan, dropping from deep-throated growl to softer gentler vocal and manic shriek. It’s hard to believe this is all the work of one man, but I guess we have to believe him because, as I say, nobody else has any information on him at all, and anyway, why would he lie? But it’s damned impressive. Seems like he even does his own backing vocals, as nobody else is credited at all.

There are, it would appear, two epic tracks on this album and the first clocks in at just under nine minutes, with “Shadow Self” including a pretty damn fine rap, with a real metal vibe in the guitar; this lad really does want to appeal to all bases, doesn’t he? Think he may just succeed too. Some funky guitar thrown in there, kind of channeling Prince in ways. There are recorded samples used too, presumably from some sort of lecture or tape on psychology. Maybe. Great fiery guitar solo here, then it runs into quite a beautiful almost waltzy chorus with some cello I think, lovely orchestral work (I would assume it’s synthesised, but you never know) and I think we’ve moved into the third track, which features the only other collaborator on Mulligan’s album, some guy called Dr. Gabor Mate speaking, but this whole track only lasts for less than two minutes.

Shuffle boogie then for “The Body, the Drive and the Dreamer” with a great chorus - come on, there are female vocals in there, surely? He can’t be doing them too? Going wild on the guitar and keys now for “Trickster”, sort of AOR feel to this in ways, then it’s like going down to see Dean Martin on something for “Plaza Thursday”, again a short track and into “Right Now”, which reminds me of Wham!, or maybe Daft Punk. Totally disco, man. The closer is the other epic, and with a capital E. It runs for over fourteen minutes, opening on some truly lovely cello with a rising guitar line that gives you the feeling this is going to be something special. Well, everything has been special about this so far, but I feel this might be the standout.

Soft piano now joins slide guitar and violin and then it jumps to life in the third minute, vocal coming in now, jazzy little piano run, the song taking a kind of AOR turn. Some really nice Fender Rhodes as we head into an extended instrumental section as the track reaches the midpoint, a lovely laconic guitar solo and some breezy jazzy piano slowing things down for a moment before it picks up again on a sort of Steely Dan style guitar riff which turns into a real slice of funk and disco as we head towards the end, everything then dropping back to solo cello, slow and mournful to take us out.

Track Listing

1. King Other (9)
2. Shadow Self (9)
3. Just Like Us (7)
4. The Body, The Drive, And The Dreamer (8)
5. Trickster (8)
6. Plaza Thursday (8)
7. Right Now (8)
8. Second Innocence (10)

As a progressive rock album, this is stunning. As a debut it’s even more so. When you factor in that it’s apparently just one guy doing all this, it’s hard to heap enough praise on him. So much for not being something I'm into! There’s absolutely no way I could award this any less than the top rating.

Which I will.

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Any prog head worth their salt will know of Prog Sphere, a website that champions new and often unsigned (though not always) prog acts, as well as Prognosis, which in concert with the magazine Classic Rock Presents Prog gives away a CD of selected tracks every publication. From what I know, Prognosis is only available when you buy the magazines, (and over the years I’ve bought a few!) whereas the Prog Sphere compilations, which go under the umbrella title of Progtronics are all available online from their bandcamp page, http://www.prog-sphere.bandcamp.com. Here then I want to feature some of the bands on those discs, and taking a totally random shot for Progtronics to start with I've ended up with this one:
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Which as you can see, is number 21 in the series. So let’s see what’s on it.

(Videos where I can find them...)

Track 1: “Vacant Oceans” by The Sway of Mountains
This certainly kicks off with a real punch, not to mix metaphors, which I totally did, but it sounds like progressive metal - or even just metal! Driving powerful drums that sound like a bunch of octopi are playing them, hammering guitars in an almost black metal style, and I imagine this will be instrumental. Perhaps it’s post-rock (post-prog?) but I sort of don’t really see this as proper prog rock myself personally. Not that it’s bad or anything, just sounds definitely more in the post-metal side of things to me. Still, not a bad start.
Rating: 6/10

Track 2: “Salvation” by The Waves of Mercury
Very low-key guitar getting this one going by contrast to the previous track, almost acoustic before it ups the ante with a sharp guitar and heavy percussion, vocals this time against an almost power metal ballad I would have said. Good vocal harmonies, definitely built on the guitar riffs though. Like it when everything drops away to just the bass and a sotto voce vocal, then the guitar kind of slips back in quietly as the vocals proper return. Ends as low-key as it began.
Rating: 7/10

Track 3: “Rapture” by Yvan Cluet
Opens on a sort of dramatic piano I think, with echoey guitar, gives the impression of the start of a horror film maybe; low, threatening in a laid back way, quiet, steady, could be building to something. A lot of staggered, almost pizzicato work here then some funky guitar breaking in with what might be orchestral hits. The first track so far to even use keyboards, which I find odd in a prog artist, but there you go. The longest of the tracks at just over nine minutes, and even though it’s only four in I would imagine at this point there will be no vocals here. Guitar getting very rocky and aggressive now, rising into something of a shred. All stopping now for celesta or harp or something, very ethereal, before the guitar snarls back in and the percussion picks up.

Impressive stuff. Apparently this is from his first album, entitled Tryouts and you can catch his music here https://soundcloud.com/yvan-cluet-898845529/rapture
Rating: 9/10

Track 4: “Forsaken” by Channel the Animal
Again we’re looking at a guitar intro, this time with a sort of vocalise in the background, then a growly death vocal bursts in, so I assume we’re talking, what, progressive death metal here? Heavy stuff certainly; the vocal harmonies are good, and there are clean vocals too, so maybe an Epica/Leaves Eyes kind of thing? From the album Death of the Dream apparently. Not really my thing if I’m honest. Some rather good introspective guitar, breaks out into a fine solo and without the death vocals I can appreciate this more. But there they are again at the end.
Rating: 5/10

Track 5: “The Furry Traitor” by Hoarhound
Buzzy rocky guitar gets this underway - have none of these people heard of keys? - then it’s a slow marching kind of pagan metal idea with a hoarse, ragged vocal then it settles down into a decent slow guitar groove, but again this ain’t the sort of prog I would be listening to myself. Perhaps, with a vocalist like that, they should have named themselves Hoarsehound? Sorry, sorry...
Rating: 5/10

Track 6: “Perseveration” by Datara
Apart from the fact that the title is not a word, it’s yet another hard metally guitar opening, machine-gun guitar and battering percussion, rising into a sort of Thin Lizzy-style guitar mixed with Iron Maiden, as far as I can see about as far removed from prog as you could be. From the album The Climb, it says here. Keyboards continue to be conspicuous by their absence. Guess we have yet another instrumental on our hands here.
Rating: 6/10

Track 7: “North” by Pindle
No chance of tracking down a video by these guys, as Pindle is apparently something to do with the computer game Diablo, so we’ll have to do without a video representation of the song. It is, unsurprisingly at this point, another snarling guitar intro with a very heavy tilt towards metal, decent for what it is but where are my keyboards?? Funky guitar runs here, bit bluesy too at times. Good solo in the closing minute.
Rating: 7/10

Track 8: “Flood” by Hallowing
And for this one the best YouTube could give me was “Halloween floodlights.” Right. Well, at least this sounds vaguely progressive, or what I consider progressive anyway, with a kind of cinematic opening and then - oh well here we go again - another blasting guitar punch, kind of in a doomy vein here I think. Very stately and morose, I imagine there’ll be a growly - no, wait: it’s a screechy vocal. Well I knew something would be coming. This is more like black metal really than anything else. With a name like Hallowing, and the way this disc has been headed, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. Oh look! There’s a growly vocal too: two for the price of one. That is, two vocals, neither of which I wanted. Introspective guitar section is nice, then himself screeches and growls all over it. Is it the one vocalist or two different guys? Do I care? I do not.
Rating: 3/10

Track 9: “Wake Up” by Sky Factory
Can I dare to hope, with a name like Sky Factory, that these guys will be more the prog I’m used to? The final track, the last chance to get a song even vaguely resembling standard prog rock? No? No video anyway - Gucci Mane and Minecraft are the results I get, thanks a lot - but at least there’s a nice soaring guitar solo to open proceedings, goes through a sort of chunky boogie and again is an instrumental, and again no keyboards to be found.
Rating: 4/10

Overall average rating for this disc: 6/10

One issue I always had with the few of these that I tried was that the music thereon was seldom if ever what I would call prog rock. I look at the bottom of the page and I see such tags as “djent”, “Doom metal”, “hardcore”, “metalcore” and “experimental”, and I would have to say this disc at least continues the trend - and the disappointment for me - of focussing much more on metal and such, guitars rather than keys, instrumentals rather than sung vocal tracks. Overall, not very impressed, which is usually the impression I’m left with after listening to one of these.

Not, as they say, my kind of prog.

This, though, might be.

In contrast to the Progtronics disc, the ones given away free with at first Classic Rock Presents Prog and later just Prog, which went under the description of Prognosis, all featured either well--known or at least signed artists, who hopefully will be more in the line of the kind of prog I prefer. This is the third one they released.

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Track 1: “Indigo” by Pendragon.
I’ve already covered this when I chose Pendragon as the first Featured Artist, so if you want a deeper review of it check that out. The opening cut from their 2008 album Pure, this track sees Pendragon in a heavier vein, moving somewhat away from the more often pastoral nature of their earlier albums, and tackling real-world issues. I think. Great track anyway. Good start.
Rating: 9/10

Track 2: “Motion” by Konchordat
This band, on the other hand, I know nothing about, but would hazard a guess that with a name like that they’re… French? No. Couldn’t be further. English, hailing from the green county of Kent. Well, so much for my guess. This is from their debut album English Ghosts and immediately there’s a more, well, prog feel to it than I got from any of the tracks on the Progtronics disc. I like the sort of medieval opening and the vocal is gentle but strong. And plenty of keyboards too thank the Great Pixie! The guitar is great too though. See? Already I have a new band to get into, something which did not happen with the other disc. Kind of a slower, majestic pace to this, certainly nowhere near as frenetic or heavy as the Pendragon song.
Rating: 9/10

Track 3: “Clear” by Breathing Space
This one should be right up my street. Band put together by the keyboard player from Mostly Autumn, this is from the second album by Breathing Space, entitled Below the Radar and features current Mostly Autumn singer Olivia Sparnenn on vocals; more uptempo than the previous, it of necessity sounds quite like the parent band, but that’s no bad thing, not for me anyway.
Rating: 9/10

Track 4: “Hollow Hills” by The Wishing Tree
And again, come to papa! The Wishing Tree is Marillion guitarist Steve Rothery’s solo band, and this is also from their second album, Ostara, though to be fair there seems to have been one hell of a gap between this and their debut - thirteen years in fact. But then, Steve’s a busy boy, so we can forgive him the wait I’m sure. As you might expect it’s pretty acoustic-y, very guitar-driven and quite laid back. Female vocals from (let’s see) Hannah Stobart - I think I recognise that name but not sure from where. Looks like it’s just herself and Steve; she writes the songs too apparently, and Steve does, well, everything else. Peter Trewavas lends a hand on the bass too. Nice.
Rating: 9/10

Interesting point: don’t know if it’s intentional but we’re halfway through the disc now and every act has been a British one, indeed an English one. Let’s see if that continues.

Track 5: “Breathe It In” by Darwin’s Radio
Well yes, so far it does. Darwin’s Radio are also English, and this is, again, from their second album, Template For a Generation, which has only three tracks, although they’re nineteen, eleven and thirteen minutes long. This one is the eleven-minute one. Lovely soft piano intro with powerful keyboard bursting through then it gets a bit prog metal. Hmm, I see the singer is one Declan Burke: surely not the same Dec Burke who released Destroy All Monsters? Oh. Yes. Yes it is. Interesting. Seems he left Darwin’s Radio after this album to pursue his own career, and given this is not only the second but also last album by the band, I guess we can assume they split up after he left. Pity. They sounded like they had real promise.
Rating: 9/10

Track 6: “The Wretched Fathoms” by Knifeworld
Technically still English, but the brains behind this band, Kavus Torabi, is anything but a Brit, as you might gather from his name. He's actually Iranian. This is from Knifeworld’s first album, Buried Alone - Tales of Crushing Defeat and it’s certainly a heavier track than anything we’ve had on this disc yet since Pendragon. Very much guitar-oriented, it seems to alternate from pounding guitar chords to softer, more soothing riffs, a little disorienting. Vocal seems very Beatles-ish. It’s also the shortest track on the disc, a mere three and a half minutes. Certainly interesting.
Rating: 7/10

Track 7: “Time Flies” by Porcupine Tree
Ah my old bugbear! Never quite sure what to make of Porcupine Tree. When they’re good they’re very very good, but they can often be not only mediocre but frustratingly inaccessible, for me anyway, as well. This is from their tenth album The Incident, and is a shortened, edited version of an eleven-minute track. It’s pretty uptempo, guitar-driven, fairly simple tune I guess for these guys. Almost a kind of indie rock vibe to it. Not bad.
Rating: 7/10

Track 8: “The Moment Has Passed” by The Resonance Association
And completing a totally English lineup, this is from The Resonance Association’s second album We Still Have the Stars. Sounds a little freaky and spacey and seems to be all instrumental, or at least this track is. The artist is described as “psychedelic/space rock” on Prog Archives, and I’d agree this sounds in that bracket. Lot of feedback, weird sounds, repeating motifs - not quite drone but close in ways - electronic samples, drum loops; gives a sense of early Hawkwind in places. Again, not bad, though I’m not sure I’d listen to a full album of this.
Rating: 6/10


Overall average rating for this disc: 8/10

Unsurprisingly, the Prognosis disc has a higher average rating, given that a) I knew at least some of the artists and b) most of the tracks scored around 9/10. As far as checking out further work from any artist on either disc goes, I would consider 4 on the Prognosis one (apart from the ones I am already aware of, that is) and at best 2 on the other one. No big revelation that the disc with what I would consider both more “my sort of prog” and also bands I know wins, but that doesn’t mean future Progtronics discs might not fare better. They’d do well to have some god-damn keyboards on them though to achieve that! Less metal and more prog please!

I feel like checking out another random album so let’s
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/28...g?v=1520200679
and see where it falls.
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Album title: Stop Momentum
Artist: Cobalt Blue
Nationality: Brazilian
Year: 2017
Chronology: 1
The Trollheart Factor: 0

All right well space rock and psych rock is not normally my thing, but all I can say is this random stuff can be for the birds, and after eventually - and I mean with a lot of effort and torn hair, which I cannot afford to lose - I ended up on a band called Gladiator, who stubbornly refused to be on Spotify or YouTube, I said **** this for a game of intergalactic stormtroopers and just picked an album. And this is what I got. So we have a band from sunny Brazil who debuted in 2017 with this, and it sounds kind of laid back as it begins, a lot I think of jazz fusion in it, soft vocal, some nice guitar as “At Due Gesture” (huh?) gets things motoring, and is in fact the longest track on the album at just under nine minutes. Some phased vocal work here now and buzzy guitar, then almost inevitably lots of weird feedback and sound effects and doo-dads. Will this stretch the track beyond what it needs to be, in my opinion? Well it’s six minutes in so let’s see if the other three are justified.

Yeah, kind of not really. Just tailed away into nothing. “Bereaved” has a hard guitar leading it, and while it says that’s a guy singing he sure sounds like a woman at times. A little low in the mix, if I’m honest, which makes it hard to be sure; the guitar player is taking over here. Hmm, that’s intriguing: seems it’s the same guy. Julio H. Miotto sings, plays guitar and bass, Fender Rhodes and Hammond (which are the only keyboard instruments used) so I guess it’s his show really. Getting very Black Sabbath now as “Cataclysm” bursts out with some fine shredding there, but like the few bits of psych rock I’ve heard this tends to wander off on a jam more often than not, and that can get very boring and frustrating.

“Drops ‘n’ Doors”, on the other hand, sounds really interesting. Acapella with vocal harmonies which really showcases the talent of Miotto behind the mike. Only lasts just over two minutes, but it’s different and very welcome. Those are definitely female vocals joining him though, I don’t care what anyone says. After that brief but pleasant interlude it’s back to rocking and screeching guitars for “Catalyst”, which is okay but nothing special, though it does have some nice trumpets and sax, to be fair, then another short piece in “All We Have Are Oscillations”, perhaps the only instrumental, with some cool talkbox, before “Dweller of the Sevenfold”, the other long track at seven and a half minutes, sort of a blues boogie to it, and Miotto is going wild on the Hammond here. Nice. I like the fanfares here too, gets quite dramatic. Some sort of taped audio too I think. It sounds quite sinister, an extra level of disturbing laid over it by the warbly sax break, reminds me a little of that section in Supertramp’s “Fool’s Overture”. Gets pretty frenetic at the end.

Two shortish tracks to end then. “Circadian Clock” has a pretty hypnotic bass line allied to a sweet guitar motif. This goes a bit Deep Purple/Led Zep in the last minute or so, which leaves us with “Luciferase”, another psych freak-out with a vocal I would swear is female. Not bad, I’m sure they’re pretty good at what they do and if you like this it’s probably a good example of the genre, but just doesn’t really interest me.

Track Listing

1. At Due Gesture (5)
2. Bereaved (4)
3. Cataclysm (5)
4. Drops N' Doors (8)
5. Catalyst (4)
6. All We Have Are Oscillations (8)
7. Dweller Of The Sevenfold (7:31)
8. Circadian Clock (4)
9. Luciferase (4)

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Continuing on through the Five Decades of Prog, we’re back at the eighties.
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Album title: Planets
Artist: Eloy
Nationality: German
Year: 1981
Chronology: 9
The Trollheart Factor: 3
Eloy have been around for a lot longer than I originally gave them credit for. When I heard my first Eloy album, 1983’s Performance, I was quite disappointed because it didn’t sound old-school prog to me. It was more modern, perhaps cutting-edge, at least to me at the time, who had at that time come up on Genesis and Rush and Marillion and Twelfth Night. But this German outfit in fact got together just as the world bade farewell to the “swinging sixties”, and by the time I blundered upon them the album I so snippily disparaged as “not really prog” was, and is, their eleventh, they having been in existence at that point for thirteen years. Shows what I knew!

Well thank you Spotify! Once again, you’re useless to me here. I don’t know why I bother. Oh, there are Eloy albums there all right, but not this one. Fortunately, I have them all anyway, so let’s just select it from my hard drive and hit play. Incidentally, you might be thinking, as I was, this album may be a tribute to Holst’s classical masterpiece, but it isn’t. There’s a short, just shy of two-minutes introduction called, um, “Introduction”, spacey synthy sounds and feedback guitar, then we begin proper with “On the Verge of Darkening Lights”, an uptempo guitar from Hannes Arkona meshing with syrupy synth from Hannes Folberth and the distinctive vocal of Frank Bornemann (who will never be able to deny he’s German with that accent) takes us on a magical journey of exploration. Some very upfront bass from Klaus-Peter Matziol , and the song ends very low-key, sliding directly into “Point of No Return”, which swaggers along on sharp guitar and swirling synth, a much slower beat on this one.

There’s a nice semi-early Genesis feel to “Mysterious Monolith”, some sweet acoustic guitar allied to soft electric, a gentler vocal from Bornemann and lush synth from Folberth too. Matziol certainly makes his presence felt, while Folberth gives a sort of rendition of the riff “The Logical Song” on the keys. The problem though, for me, persists with Eloy, in that while I enjoy what I hear, generally, I really don’t remember any of the songs, even during the album. They don’t make the kind of impression on me they probably should, which is one reason why I don’t and haven’t listened to much from this band. Even that album I mentioned at the start, Performance, I can only remember two tracks from. Nothing here is sinking in and as each track ends I immediately forget it. That might just be me; maybe they’re not holding my attention, but even if so, it makes it hard to get a sense of what they’re about.

“Queen of the Night” comes in very gradually and seems, rather oddly, to be cut lower than the rest of the album. I assume it’s the ballad, led in by soft piano and a vocal that’s next to inaudible for about a minute, then powerful strings swell behind it and it gets a little louder and more coherent. Oh, and suddenly it kicks up on punchy guitar riffs and well, what do you know? It’s not a ballad at all. That was a surprise. Female backing vocals, not credited, certainly add something to this song, as does the string section. Some of the passages take a distinct ELO turn (Eloy without the last letter?) aided by some fine work on the guitar. Nice little relaxing instrumental then in “At the Gates of Dawn” before we meet the “Sphinx”, where everything ramps up again and in fact I’m reminded somewhat of that later album in the rising, blasting keyboard arpeggios, and sadly, in being reminded of their 1983 effort I’m back to not caring. There’s a good bass section here leading in sprinkly keyboards around halfway through the track, Bornemann’s vocal riding over the musical backdrop. Everything drops away then to just drumbeats in the fifth minute, before those stabbing, sliding synths power back in.

That leaves us to be “Carried by Cosmic Winds”, with a very Jean-Michel Jarre feeling to it, winds hissing and waves crashing, soft guitar climbing its way almost unobtrusively into the melody attended by howling synth. The vocal comes in low and soft too, then Hammond breaks into the tune, carrying it along with vocoder work, Eloy being another band who use this quite extensively. The strings section comes in here just at the end too, providing a pretty sumptuous backdrop to the close of the album.

Track Listing

1. Introduction (6)
2. On The Verge Of Darkening Lights (6)
3. Point Of No Return (6)
4. Mysterious Monolith (6)
5. Queen Of The Night (8)
6. At The Gates Of Dawn (8)
7. Sphinx (6)
8. Carried By Cosmic Winds (7)

I’m sure this is a great album, and all Eloy fans love it, but I just can’t get up the enthusiasm to say it does anything for me. It doesn’t: it’s over and I have got little from it, nor do I expect to be returning to it anytime soon, if at all. I guess my sense of meh with Eloy continues for now. Maybe they have an album, or albums, that will change my mind, but this ain’t one of them.

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January slips away, the first month almost done....
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Title: I Just Wanna Break Even
Artist: The Flying Caravan
Nationality: Spanish
Sub-genre: Symphonic Prog
Release date: January 11 2021
Album number: 1 (I think)
Familiarity: Zero
RYM Rating: n/a
ProgArchives Rating: n/a

This appears to be the debut from these guys, at least I can find no information at all about them anywhere else so much assume this to be the case. Very seventies organ and then synth to open the album as “Get Real” introduces us to The Flying Caravan, and to Juan José Sánchez on the keys. Hypnotic bass lines from Pedro Pablo Molina then the guitar of Antonio Valiente growls in, but so far no vocals. We’re halfway through as Luís Mas pounds out the drumbeats, and I’m thinking this is going to be an instrumental. And a very good one too. Very keys-oriented, though with some nice guitar licks too. This is a long album - almost an hour and a half, and that’s without the extra version of one of the songs, which itself runs for over sixteen minutes, so there’s a lot to get through.

The title track, as it were, is next, or perhaps I should say identity track, as “Flying Caravan” opens again on whirly keyboards and organ, and now we get vocals, and they’re from Izaga Plata, and have they been worth waiting for. She sings like an angel, really changing the focus of the music, and, thankfully for my review, in English. Kind of reminds me a little of Kim Seviour from Touchstone, bouncing along with great enthusiasm as we move into a dark, moody synth and guitar introduction to “Upstream to Manonash”, a lot of Pendragon in this, much more laid back and gives Valiente a chance to shine on the guitar, and there’s some nice soft flute too from Juan Carlos Aracil which really adds something to the song.

“Love’s Labour Mislaid” has a kind of Rushesque feel, slow again with this time a fair bit of guitar leading it in, goes along nicely, really sweet vocal from Plata, and into “The Bumpy Road to Knowledge”, also featuring more of Aracil’s flute and tending along a fairly slower, more relaxed melody. In fact, looking at it now, I believed this to be the longest track, and as such, running for sixteen minutes, it is. However the suite which follows it more than doubles that, so although it’s broken up into seven sections it must qualify as the true epic. I think it’s tenor sax we hear from Manuel Salido here, though I’m no expert on saxophones. Really nice tune though. Has a kind of haunting feeling about it, delivered through Plata’s plaintive vocal and Valiente’s ringing guitar chords.

Beautiful soulful sax break in the tenth minute - maybe that’s tenor sax and the other was alto? Not sure. Superb anyway. A great upbeat keyboard run now which reminds me a little of Marillion’s “Incommunicado” and some fine guitar bringing the piece almost to a close, then some low, rolling percussion and sonorous organ fading in with acoustic guitar and flute as Izaga comes back with a last vocal to finish the song in fine style. And that takes us to the rather phenomenal closing suite, “A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups”.

As I mentioned, this is split into seven sections, and while it all plays as one track there is a breakdown of the times, so I can follow it along. Part I then, “Northern Lights”, opens on uptempo acoustic guitar and synth, sprinkles of piano and then there’s a real build up to a powerful Mellotron piece and into a jazzy piano and guitar run before Mas lets loose with a powerful drum gallop and we head into Part II, “Change of Revue”, bringing in Plata’s vocal behind some expressive guitar and what sounds like violin. It’s a slower piece, warbly organ from Sánchez weaving its way through the melody. Part III, “S.A.D. (Solitude Affective Disorder)” again inches towards those early Rush comparisons, rocking along nicely with Izaga Plata’s voice a little stronger and more passionate now, edging almost into jazz territory on occasions.

Slick little guitar solo from Valiente here, really showing what he can do when he’s given a chance, though before the section ends Sánchez has taken over again as Plata comes back in with the vocal. Part IV is “The World Had Turned Over (And I Couldn’t Hold On)” and opens on single picked guitar notes backing Plata, could be something like a vibraphone in there too, then Valiente winds up for a quick solo as Sánchez comes back in with the organ, Part V, also relatively short at less than four minutes, “Moonlight Labyrinth” come in on thick warbling bass and Fender Rhodes, striding along nicely with a nod to The Doors on the piano run, then punchy guitar and dark synth, a funky guitar solo threading its way through it, while Part VI, “Second Thoughts”, rides on frenetic organ and has, for the first time, backing vocals, kicking up into a boppy little upbeat number and leading into the final section, Part VII, where “The Sum of All Your Fears” brings this remarkable suite to a close with a beautiful duet between Plata and Jorge Aniorte and a soft guitar motif from Valiente.

Track Listing

1. Get Real (8)
2. Flying Caravan (8)
3. Upstream To Manonash (8)
4. Love's Labour Mislaid (9)
5. The Bumpy Road To Knowledge (9)
6. A Fairy Tale For Grown-Ups. Part I-Northern Lights (8)
7. A Fairy Tale For Grown-Ups. Part II-Change Of Revue (8)
8. A Fairy Tale For Grown-Ups. Part III-S.A.D. (Solitude Affective Disorder) (8)
9. A Fairy Tale For Grown-Ups. Part IV-The World Had Turned Over (And I Couldn't Hold On) (8)
10. A Fairy Tale For Grown-Ups. Part V-Moonlight Labyrinth (8)
11. A Fairy Tale For Grown-Ups. Part VI-Second Thoughts (9)
12. A Fairy Tale For Grown-Ups. Part VII-The Sum Of Your Fears (8)

It’s a lot to take in. I mean, we have some serious, serious talent here, there’s no doubt about that. But as I always say, putting massively long epics on your debut album is always a risk. Here, The Flying Caravan have put two, one after the other, and while they’re both excellent I’m not entirely sure people will be able to digest such large slabs of music right away. It’s a lot to eat, to carry the metaphor further, in one sitting. A sixteen-minute track would have been a lot to take in, but a thirty-three minute one too? I don’t know.

It’s certainly an album worth listening to; I just wonder if these guys have reached too far too soon, and overstretched themselves? But I could very well be wrong, and come the end of the year I could be seeing this at the top of charts like Prog Archives. I certainly hope so, as it deserves to be there or thereabouts. Alternatively, it might just go totally unnoticed, which would be something of a crime.

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Originally Posted in Bitesize, March 3 2015
(Some slight edits)

(Written almost six years ago now as you can see, and what a suddenly appropriate and unintentionally prophetic title!)

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Artiste: Shattered Skies
Nationality: Irish (Yay! …?)
Album: The World We Used to Know
Year: 2015
Label: None; digital release
Genre: Progressive/ Djent Metal
Tracks:
Collapse of Man
The End and the Rebirth
Haunted
15 Minutes
Elegance and Grace
Show’s Over
As the Sea Divides
Flipside
Aesthetics
Saviours
The World We Used to Know
Chronological position: Debut album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: These guys are from Wicklow, and my ancestors used to be kings there, so technically they are my subjects…
Initial impression: Oh man I hate … um … love this.
Best track(s): Elegance and Grace, As the Sea Divides, Aesthetics, The World We Used to Know
Worst track(s): There’s nothing bad here.
Comments: Oddly, I had no idea these guys were Irish when I bought the album, which I did just because I happened to like the name, and the few samples I heard. I didn’t even know they were prog metal, so that’s two bonuses. Unless this turns out to be crap. Well I thought I would hate the short intro piece, being just static really but then it broke into an emotional piano piece and I really like it. It’s less than two minutes long though and slides into “The End and the Rebirth”, and for a moment I think I’m hearing an electronica album until the guitar bites through, and now we’re rocking!

The vocalist puts me in mind of Damian Wilson or Sean Filkins, and in fact his name is Sean: Murphy, while the guitars could maybe be pulled back a little in the mix; at times they almost drown him out. Very powerful, energetic stuff though. “Haunted” has a lovely jangly guitar intro before it just explodes all over the place in a really good way, but again the vocals are a little swamped. I am a little disappointed to see on their Bandcamp page they describe themselves as “London-based”. Well, sure, but why not Irish? You know, you can take the boy out of Ireland but … something something. Anyhoo, they do admit to being from Wicklow and Dublin, so I guess that’s okay. Great banging piano intro to “15 Minutes”, whose running time does not reflect its title. Excellent vocal harmonies, when you can make them out, somewhat in the mould of Arena, and I love it when the guitars cut back to allow the piano to take centre stage for a moment.

“Elegance and Grace” presents itself as one of the best tracks so far, but I must admit the guitarist is getting on my nerves a little. It’s like he thinks he has to hammer out the chords all the time and doesn’t know how and when to dial it back. I guess this is what they call djent, from what I read. The track sounds like it should be a ballad, but the man on the frets has other ideas. Still a great song though. The keys, when they’re allowed to poke through the guitar assault, really add a layer of grandeur to the music, such as in the opening to “As the Sea Divides”, before the axes grind (sorry) all over it with, quite frankly, unnecessary violence. You can hear the piano still going in the background but it’s almost completely drowned out till the guitar fades back out and lets it have its head.

We also get to hear vocalist Sean Murphy strut his stuff properly before he’s swamped again, which is a real pity, as it’s kind of ruining the song. If this is djent metal, I’m not so sure I like it. The piano-driven “Aesthetics” is a lovely song, closest they come to a ballad, and the guitarist mostly holds himself back here, which is nice. Is there a choir in there? Could be. Title, and closing track, is pretty brilliant too.
Overall impression: While the guitar may be a little too punchy for me, a bit in-your-face, this is still a fantastic debut, and the fact that the boys are Irish, well sure I have to support them don’t I?
Hum Factor: 7
Surprise Factor: 9
Intention: Follow these guys!

For our last look at this month’s
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I was in a little of a quandary. I got out okay though; you just have to know where the lock mechanism is. But it was kind of between this and Dead Reckoning, and I went back and forth for a while (serves me right for not going before I left the house) before eventually deciding on this, as it’s their most recent that I’ve heard.

It’s also one hell of an album.
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Album title: For the Journey
Artist: Threshold
Nationality: English
Year: 2014
Chronology: 10


Track Listing: Watchtower on the Moon/Unforgiven/The Box/Turned to Dust/Lost in Your Memory/Autumn Red/The Mystery Show/Siren Sky

Comments: It’s rare that a Threshold album starts out as anything but uptempo, exciting and pumping, and this is no exception, as “Watchtower on the Moon” kicks things off in grand style, the usual excellent hooks and melodies, vocal harmonies and that good old reliable vocoder. I wonder if Threshold are the only prog band - certainly prog metal I would imagine - who use this effect? Never heard anyone else use it*. Once again the album follows a certain formula, with “Unforgiven” a slower, crunching, more grinding sort of track, and again the kind of chorus you just can’t get out of your head. The first time I listened to this it was a case of “oh yeah, Threshold are back!”

The epic “The Box” runs for just shy of twelve minutes, and opens on a lovely restrained piano from Richard West, a gentle vocal from Wilson and then some sort of audio effect where someone rails against the tyranny of machines, or work practices or something, and it blasts into another dimension. To be honest, Threshold are on record saying this is an easy one to understand lyrically, but it slightly evades me. I think it’s to do with gaining technology before you’re ready for it, or being enslaved by relying on same. Either way it’s a great song, powerful guitar work from Karl Groom, great organ from West, wonderful vocal harmonies and at the end it slips back into the soft piano that began the song, fading out.

It’s back to hard rocking then for “Turned to Dust”, which reminds me a little of “Slipstream” or “Paradox” maybe, very uptempo with a sweet hook aided by those wonderful vocal harmonies, a real hallmark of this band. The usual ballad - though Threshold’s ballads are generally anything but usual - comes in the form of “Lost in Your Memory”, Groom’s rather overpowering opening guitar chords quickly giving way to West’s lovely piano and keyboard lines, and the song takes its place along such other greats as “Mansion” and “Keep it With Mine”. Grinding organ then drives “Autumn Red”, which, if the album has a weak track - and it’s a big if - would probably qualify. I find it extremely Asia-like, and if I heard this on the radio (some chance!) I would have said it was them certainly.

But it’s not by any means a bad track, just shows how good the others are when I single this one out as slightly below par. Phased vocals form a major part of and add to the spookiness of “The Mystery Show” with haunting guitar, very much a slower track though not a ballad by any means. Some lovely piano passages and a great chorus, and the album ends then on “Siren Sky” which like many, though not all, Threshold songs, stands on its chorus, which is fantastic. Very impassioned singing from Wilson in what would be his final performance for the band, bookending a career with them that began almost twenty years ago at this point. A fine swan song, though who knows? We may see him in the future again. A faithful servant to the band and we wish him well in his future endeavours.



Track(s) I liked: Just about everything

Track(s) I didn't like: If you twist my arm, maybe “Autumn Red”

One standout: Really hard to say. “The Box” might just edge it

One rotten apple: n/a

Overall impression: After only two years the boys come storming back, and it’s a triumphant return. It would be three years till we heard from them again, but this would keep us happy until then.

Rating: 9.7/10


* Note: I've since found this not to be the case, as related through these pages in the last week or two.

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If you chance to look at the second post on this thread you'll see a question by Unknown Soldier, wherein he asks if I have listened to this album yet, and tells me that until I do, nobody here will take me seriously, sort of the same kind of disbelief that I hadn't heard it/didn't worship it as was engendered when I revealed I had never heard a King Crimson album.

Look, I won’t try to pretend it’s not a classic album, and deservedly so, but I have never been sufficiently impressed by this opus to understand how it consistently and constantly comes top of every god-damn poll regarding “greatest prog albums” or whatever. I know, all of you out there, particularly Yes fans, are thinking the same thing, while lighting up the torches;
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And it does seem to be regarded as blasphemy to even mention the words “less than perfect” when talking about the album, but what can I do? I’m not known as a bandwagon-jumper, and I’ve lurched on to the beat of my own drum for so long now that I’m really unlikely to start falling in line at this late stage. I know the respect the album commands, and I’m sure it’s merited. I just wish I could share it. I’ve only listened to the album a couple of times, but neither of them have made me feel I was in the presence of greatness. This could be due to my less than fawning attitude towards the band, or maybe I really just don’t get it.

So I’ll try again.
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Album title: Close to the Edge
Artist: Yes
Nationality: English
Year: 1972
Chronology: 5
The Trollheart Factor: 5

One of the things that turns me slightly against this classic album is, I suppose, the fact that it has really only three tracks on it, even if two of them run for over ten minutes, and the third only misses that by seconds. But the main suite, the title track, comes in at over eighteen and kicks off the album. Now I have a major problem with seventies Yes - I just tend to be bored mostly by what I’ve heard of it to date - but I’ll try to put that aside and view this, if possible, through the eyes of someone coming to this album for the first time.

So we have a sort of birdsong and sound effects thing to open then Steve Howe’s busy guitar bursts upon the song, going a bit wild while Rick Wakeman wibbles away on the keys and then Jon Anderson gives a loud “Aaaah!” a few times, Biff Bruford in his last appearance with the band making sure his presence is felt from the beginning. The first part of the suite is called “The Solid Time of Change” and other than those expostulations from Anderson seems to be mostly an instrumental intro to the piece, then Anderson comes in with proper vocal as the tempo picks up in what is presumably the second part, “Total Mass Retain”. Always hard to delineate parts of a suite if they’re all shown as one track so I’m guessing here, though aficionados of the album will no doubt tell me if I’m wrong.

Okay, now I hear the lyric “I Get Up, I Get Down” which seems to be the third part, but we’re only seven minutes in, so I doubt we can be there already? Maybe the lyric is used in one of the preceding parts? Maybe I should just stop trying to figure out where the parts change over. Yeah, that sounds like a plan. Anderson is singing in full voice now, the guitar a kind of jazzy, funky riff carrying the tune, some very nice bass from Chris Squire merging with Hammond from Wakeman as we hit the tenth minute and then it stops on sighing guitar, all percussion fading out entirely as the tune begins to drift like a gentle wind. Nice piano bringing in vocal harmonies, very low and quiet, then rising as a kind of choir, and despite what I said above I think this may be “I Get Up, I Get Down”, which has now taken us into the eleventh minute. Very relaxing.

Has a very Beatles/ELO feel about it, this part of the suite, Anderson’s voice easily rising above everything as he displays his powerful range and then a deep church organ comes in sonorously to take over proceedings as Jon steps back, allowing Wakeman to shine. Anderson drifts in and out during this sequence, perhaps like a leaf borne on a wind, occasionally landing, then flitting back up into the sky, but this part is all Wakeman. Howe then lends a hand as, I assume, we head towards the final part, “Seasons of Man”. Some fine lively arpeggios from Wakeman, attended by Squire, as we move towards the sixteenth minute, Anderson coming back in with the vocal just before the end and then it just all sort of fades out.

The other suite is “And You and I”, which is also broken into four parts, the first being “Cord of Life”, which opens with gentle acoustic guitar from Steve Howe, then Anderson pairs up with him as they sort of stride along together before the rest of the band come in to flesh out the melody. In the sixth minute then it drops back again to Howe on the acoustic solo, very introspective, then it picks up a little again as Anderson returns, and Wakeman adds his own touch though mostly, to be fair, he’s conspicuous by his absence on this track, which I find odd as there are only three on the album. It is quite a whimsical tune, I guess: might not benefit from bombastic Hammond or Wurlitzer or pounding piano maybe.

And now we’re into “Siberian Khatru”, which I’m afraid I will never grow to love. I don’t even like it. Bugs me. And there’s nearly ten minutes of it. It does have to be said that it’s the most uptempo and rocky track on the album, another vehicle for Howe’s guitar, though here Wakeman gets plenty of real estate too. Sounds like some brass in there too, not that I care. I really do not like this track.

Track Listing

1. Close to the Edge
- i. The Solid Time of Change
- ii. Total Mass Retain
- iii. I Get Up I Get Down
- iv. Seasons of Man
2. And You and I
- i. Cord of Life
- ii. Eclipse
- iii. The Preacher, the Teacher
- iv. Apocalypse
3. Siberian Khatru

And so it ends. And so I remain skeptical. Call me a heretic, say I’m not a true prog head. Burn my effigy in the town square - hey! I said my effigy! I’m just never going to get it. It’s not that I consider this a bad album, but I don’t see the fuss. I just don’t. The greatest prog album of all time? Why is this better than, say, Trespass? Or 2112? Or even In the Court of the Crimson King? Sure, it has two suites but so what? Lots of prog albums have those - Yes may have been the first to do this, although I doubt it. But it’s a competent album, in my opinion, and not one I’d be spinning much if at all.

As Homer said about the Farside calendar: I don’t get it. I don’t get it. I don’t get it. I…. don’t get it.

Not close enough to the edge for me I guess.

I won’t insult anyone any further by rating it.

Now... now come on! No need to be like that!
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There's a lot of deep analysis and material out there already that break down why Close To The Edge is highly regarded, so if you ever want to go learn more about "why" then you shouldn't have much trouble. None of the other prog bands (or otherwise) sounded like what Yes were doing in '72, so it isn't hard for me to see why it made a big impression personally.

Uh-huh. The thing is, I've never liked being told what to like, or why such an album is a classic. I understand things like people citing it, influences it has on other artists, sales, longevity, innovation etc and that's all fine. But just because an album is a classic doesn't mean I automatically have to like it, and I just don't. I mean, I don't not like it; I just don't see any justification for its place at the apex of prog rock. To me, there are far, far better albums both before and after CttE that deserve the title. But I know I'm in a minority. I did try - god knows I tried, in case somehow I was missing something, but I just don't see anything special there, not for me.

One more to go before we sail out of January
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Title: The Seven Deadly Sins
Artist: Humanity Gone
Nationality: American
Sub-genre: Progressive Metal
Release date: January 16 2021
Album number: 1
Familiarity: Zero
RYM Rating: n/a
ProgArchives Rating: n/a

Again I have to assume this is the band’s debut album; Glass Kites are the only artist with new album out this month that I have come across who are even known anywhere, so there’s nothing to contradict or confirm my supposition. I find it rather interesting that this is supposedly a prog metal band but they don’t have a keyboard player. We’ll see how that plays out. I also assume, given both the title of the album and that of the tracks, that this is a concept based on (anyone)...?

It kicks off with “Pride”, a sort of a slower, almost doomy feeling to it, vocalist (and drummer) Angelo Rivera clear and strong, if a little nasal, while Thelmo Rago thumps out the guitar chords like hammer blows. Some sort of spoken recorded track where someone speaks through a loudhailer, some pretty good soloing, then rather surprisingly “Wrath” is a more laconic sort of tune, when I would have expected Rivera would have been growling all over the place while Rago beat his guitar to death. I mean, it’s heavy, no doubt, but more grindy than I would have thought it would have been. Getting even more introspective now for “Gluttony” - kind of hard to imagine how that could be represented musically, if this is what Humanity Gone are trying to accomplish here.

I must say I very much like the vocal on this one, and how the guitar just punches your face in then flies into one heck of a solo but still manages to somehow keep it down, as it were. I definitely hear the prog metal in this. “Lust” is up next, should be interesting! Opens with reflective guitar, almost acoustic then kicks up hard and heavy, the lyric seems to make a very clear distinction between love and lust, drawing a comparison with violence and abuse. Rivera’s vocal is dark and slightly manic, I like the guitar histrionics here, almost neoclassical in nature against a slow, pounding drumbeat. Quite atmospheric. Staggered guitar riffs opening “Sloth”, which again belies its title by not dragging slowly along in funereal pace, but in fact thumping at a decent pace with snarling guitar and a tripping drumbeat.

“Greed” ups the tempo, bringing a heavier feel to the proceedings, and the album finishes on “Envy”, which also keeps things heavy with barking guitar and a rocking tempo, quite the air of menace about it.

Track Listing

1. Pride (7)
2. Wrath (7)
3. Gluttony (8)
4. Lust (7)
5. Sloth (7)
6. Greed (7)
7. Envy (7)

It’s certainly a competent album, and an interesting idea, however if the band intended to represent each of the Seven Deadly Sins through musical interpretation, I’d have to say that for me they failed here. At best, I think each sin is used as a general theme for the song built around it, but there are areas where I think they could have approached some of them differently. Perhaps that’s a good thing: they didn’t take the obvious route (angry on “Wrath”, slow on “Sloth” etc) but in the end I think I’m left with a feeling of what was the actual point?

I think the jury may remain out on this one for some time, but for now

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After nearly two years, welcome back to the Fortress of Prog!
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Has two years living here alone sent me crazy? Again? Maybe.
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Seven years ago, almost to the day, I attempted to undertake a humungous project under which I would listen to the discographies of over sixty artists - and I mean every album. This I entitled The Great Discography Project. It ran for just over a year, and to be fair, I made a decent dent in it, but I was never going to finish it. One of the main problems was that I had, somewhat foolishly, agreed to accept suggestions and so had been bombarded by bands and artists I either did not know or had no interest in hearing.

So this time it's different.

The Great Prog Discography Project

Natch, it will only be prog artists - but they can be prog rock or prog metal, or a bit of both - and only ones I know and like. If you have a prog artist you want to suggest, keep it to yourself. No, seriously, sorry, that's rude isn't it? I meant to say fuck off. Look, if you really HAVE to have this artist reviewed try your luck, but the final say lies with me and I have no intention of taking on the discography of some artist just so you can giggle at me. So, you know my tastes: if you want to suggest something, put some thought into it. Ideally though, don't bother: I'm going to have enough to do here as it is.

Another difference is that this time I won't be doing one discography to the end and then another; I'll be going from one to another to another, chronologically of course, but it won't be the same artist all the time. This will give me a little scope for variety and ensure I don't get bored.

So for now anyway, the list looks like this. I will probably add others as they occur to me. No Genesis, Marillion or Yes albums, for obvious reasons.

Current list (to be updated with albums and later links as albums are reviewed)

Arena
The Dear Hunter
Fish on Friday
IQ (maybe)
Jadis
Kamelot
Millennium
Mostly Autumn
Pallas
Pendragon
Red Sand
Shadow Gallery
Spock's Beard (maybe)
Threshold

Coming soon(ish)-ish!

Trollheart's Top 100 Prog Albums

Feel free to suggest albums to me; I will try to listen if I don't know them already and will, if I feel they merit a place, add them into the rankings. Or just sod off, it's all the same to me. :D

Oh, I should make it clear this is not 100 Prog Albums You Need to Hear Before That Guy with the Chainsaw and the Odd Laugh Cuts Your Legs Off, or The Greatest Prog Albums - Ever! It's merely the 100 albums I think are the best, in my opinion; the 100 I enjoy most. So, eh, probably don't expect to see that one here. Unless I can really overcome my aversion to it, which is unlikely.

Siberian Khatru is my favorite Yes song but we can still be friends I guess.

That's an affirmative. I can't take SK seriously because I always hear "Siberian Quatloo"!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkxGQJWZDEw

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Okay then, time to check out another of the Progsphere discs.
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Which as you can see, is number 19 in the series. So let’s see what’s on it.

(Videos where I can find them...)

Track 1: “Pulse” by Death of an Astronomer
Sounds a bit like a metal Status Quo if I’m honest; quite catchy in a harsh sort of way. Now it’s sped up and I would not be at all surprised to hear death vocals, unless this is an instrumental, which it may very well be. Yeah I think it is. Pretty damn good I have to say. There’s a “Balance” in brackets in the title, but I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean. I don’t see the artist on ProgArchives, nor on Metal Archives, so no idea what they’re supposed to be. How about Discogs? No, nothing there either. Quite enjoyed that actually. Good start.

Rating: 7/10

Track 2: “Harbor City” by Victor Lee

Another guitar-centric tune, and I would say again instrumental. And again I don’t see him on PA, nor MA. Good kind of guitar virtuoso style of thing with some keyboards too, and this certainly sounds a lot more progressive than just about anything I’ve heard on either of these discs to date. No information on him anywhere.

Rating: 8/10


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laQWdpf0ibU

Track 3: “Straws” by Joviac

Another sense of if not quite heavy metal then hard rock, with a driving beat and growling guitar, and indeed the first vocals on the disc. Ragged, raspy voice but not anywhere close to death vocals. Quite AOR in its composition; good harmonies, nice hook, like this one a lot too. Sort of reminds me of a slightly heavier Magnum maybe? Well okay: for once this guy is on PA - hold on, guy or band? Band, it would seem, from Finland. This is from their second album, Here and Now, released in 2020. Good stuff, very catchy. PA calls them heavy prog, but I would not agree: this is far closer to AOR than anything else, maybe melodic rock.

Rating: 9.3/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74szjFyLMmw

Track 4: “Shadows of the Past” by Infirmum

Death vocals here in a dark, doomy style of music which ambles along slowly like maybe Pallbearers or something. The vocal is raspy and next to unintelligible but not aggressive, almost whispering in a way. Great guitar work. I imagine I’ll find these guys on MA? Yep, there they are: doom/death metal it says, so what that has to do with progressive rock or metal I don’t know, but this is from their debut album, the cheerily-titled Wall of Sorrow. It’s all right to be fair. Another Finnish band, and seems like it might be a one-man one.

Rating: 7 /10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sHME_i3hBA

Track 5: “Boisterous Silence” by Fate of Faith

Now this sounds straight metal to me. Sharp bouncy guitar, kind of a hoarse vocal, chugging and shredding abound. Kind of sounds a little like something from the late seventies. The guy isn’t much of a singer I must say. Closing track from their debut album, Black Heaven. They’re Swiss, in case you care. I don’t.


Rating: 4/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbn0UxUOuzs

Track 6: “Show Your Temper” by Gone Are the Days

Sounds more hardcore or post-hardcore or some fucking thing with hardcore in it somewhere. A little limited in the lyrics department, basically the title repeated over with a lot of shouting and growling. Not for me. Guitars are good, but if this is progressive I’m off to compete in Miss World. Gone Are the Days of good music, if left to these guys. Sorry.

Rating: 3/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4iuLuloBPk

Track 7: “Deadlock” by Conflict

Feel like I’m listening to the Pet Shop Boys when this starts. Darkwave? Gothic rock? Gothic Metal? Metal Hardcore Gothic Death Rock? Certainly, again, not anything I could consider in the least progressive. The singer is decent - the one doing the clean vocals, if we assume there are two. If not, then he’s VERY good. Too many bands using the name Conflict, and I’m really not that bothered. Good instrumental passage in the middle, shows they can certainly play. Love the piano piece and the whole atmosphere that builds around it as they head back to the main melody. Actually, that will raise its rating considerably. I was about to dismiss them but this is another level, unexpected.

Rating: 8.4/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B80oh5FKGBY
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Track 8: “My Sexual Tool” by NUDZ

Now before it even starts this sounds more like a hip-hop/gangsta band/song, but to be fair when it does start it’s pretty bitchin’ (Copyright The Batlord, MMXV) with a real groove about it, though whether it’s djent or stoner or what the hell it is I don’t know. See if I can find out. Ah. Stoner says Discogs. Also grunge. So tell me what that has to do with being prog rock? Hello? Hello? Is there someone there? From Brazil apparently, and from their one and only album.

Rating: 5/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMszsF7sdA8

Track 9: “Svalbard” by South Harbour

Well this sounds more like it. Chingly guitar with a female vocal, soft but I don’t think a ballad. With a title like that I’m assuming Scandinavian? Yeah: Danish. Kicks up after about a minute into almost a post-rock style of guitar, better and better. This is from also their own album, A Withered World in Colour. Says on PA they’re experimental/post-metal. I’d listen to more of this, for sure.

Rating: 9.7 /10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wot5efc4x20
Overall average rating for this disc: 6.8/10

Better than the last one we looked at/listened to, but there’s still far too much metal and basic rock here that to me makes no sense to call progressive. There’s nothing wrong with the bands or artists, but I feel their inclusion is denying exposure to perhaps better bands, or at least those with more claim to prog credentials.

On the other hand, the Prognosis series usually is all prog bands, and ones I know or usually have at least heard of. Our random choice brings us to this one, number 14.

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Track 1: “Facing Reality” by Ether’s Edge.
A problem asserts itself. I think, when I did these last time, I had Spotify so could usually catch any of the tracks, as I don’t have the discs (or I probably do, but have no idea where they are now) and YouTube is no help. So for now I have to leave this one, unless I can find another way to get the track. It’s from, so far as I can see, their only album, Return to Type. Sounds like a secretary who went back to the office because she forgot she had not finished her work. Yeah, you get bad jokes here, too, no extra charge.

Okay, with no other alternative then, I’m taking the one track they have from that album, which is the title track. Guess it doesn’t make that much difference; it’s the band we want to hear, not any specific track, so any one will do. This is somewhat heavier than expected, so I would hazard that Ether’s Edge are more in the progressive metal area, though I have to say I have never heard such a bland voice! Like the guy is almost speaking the lyric with not an iota of inflection or emotion at all. I don’t think the song is that boring, but his singing certainly robs it of any interest I might have had in it.

Rating: 1/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY3KD6LOWXI

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Track 2: “Revolution of Light” by Aisles
This, however, I do have. I in fact have all of Aisles’ records, though I think I’ve only heard one. This is taken from their second album, In Sudden Walks, and it’s a nicely uptempo song with more than a touch of eighties Yes and some Jadis about it. There’s a good division of work here, with keyboards keeping pace with guitar, neither overpowering the other, and it’s a decent little song. I doubt I’d remember much about it though, which would be something of a major niggle.

Rating: 6/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xf9D78iNjE

Track 3: “Staring at the Sun” by Credo
From their third album, Against Reason, this is a long one, over ten minutes. Nice keyboard arpeggios to start us off, kind of Spock’s Beard in a way, then it gets going on a synth line reminiscent of Touchstone perhaps, long instrumental intro of nearly three minutes which incorporates a fine guitar solo. Good upbeat song with Rotheryesque touches on the guitar and a singer whose style seems to give more than a nod to Justin Hayward and Rob Sowden of Arena.
Rating: 7.5/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCUVPHmTiXk

Track 4: “Like the Ocean” by In Lingua Mortua
Okay well these guys are obviously not doing any pastoral ballads are they? A big throaty scream and bludgeoning guitars in a dramatic, sort of horror-movie style punches you in the face and nicks your wallet while you sit dazed on the ground and ask “But where are the Moogs? The Mellotrons? Not even a flute, for god’s sake?” And they come back and trample over you again for having had the temerity to mention flutes. Look, I don’t know who these guys are, but prog rock they ain’t. Let’s see if we can untangle this mess. To MA, post-haste! Progressive Black Metal, it says. From Norway, it says. Second album, Salon des refuses, it says. Well all right. Should guessed with a name that translates to “in the language of the dead” they weren’t exactly going to be singing about quests and dragons.

Rating: 3/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9X-YzwCU48
https://i.discogs.com/C1bpUVCxNSUIv7...k4LmpwZWc.jpeg

Track 5: “Interstellar” by Amplifier
Amplifier I know; I’ve heard one or two of their albums. Should at least be easier on the ears than the dead-speaking ones. From one of their most famous albums, their third, The Octopus, and now I see it’s not them I’m thinking of, but another band I keep getting them mixed up with. Oh no wait, it is: I see the album I’m thinking of, Echo Street, so yeah, same band. Haven’t heard this one though I don’t think. Another ten-minuter. Ah, how I love prog! As long as it’s a good ten minutes, of course. Heavier than expected, but then Discogs describes them as psychedelic/space rock, and yeah, I think these guys have more in common with Hawkwind than Hostsonaten. It’s good but it’s really not my sort of thing.

Rating: 5/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6-OHRup75c
https://i.discogs.com/2Q-t4sk4uTp_DO.../Ny5qcGVn.jpeg
Track 6: “Contemporary Ache” by Modest Midget
Another one I know nothing about. Taken from their debut album, The Great Prophecy of a Small Man, this is more guitar-driven than keys, some nice interplay between the guitar and the bass player, but there’s something sort of simple/poppy about the tune, can’t really get into it. Doesn’t, to be honest, sound much like prog to me.
Rating: 7/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6xdnjbJWss
https://i.discogs.com/yy3H73RvCxlub5.../OC5qcGVn.jpeg
Track 7: “Falling Down” by Pallas
Pallas I have only heard the one album but really liked it. This is from XXV, which looks to be their twelfth album, pretty good neo-prog, but I don’t really have too much else to say about it to be honest. Nothing wrong with it, just nothing that stands out.

Rating: 7/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpS7XUCUeQE
https://i.discogs.com/jZHZWIsP8xYmdO...U1LmpwZWc.jpeg
Track 8: “Dark Star” by Panic Room
I’ve heard Panic Room too. This is from their second album, Satellite and opens with a cool powerful toccata on the organ, Mostly Autumn’s Anne-Marie Helder doing a fine job on the vocals. Vaguely Celtic feel to this. All right I guess.
Rating: 6/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2yeoKmx4Fc
https://i.discogs.com/lxKgcY6dkUlKnn...IyLmpwZWc.jpeg
Track 8: “From the Darkness” by Spock’s Beard
I worry about Spock’s Beard. Like Porcupine Tree and Riverside, I try to get into their music but keep coming up against a wall. And this is seventeen minutes long! It will either be very good or very boring, we’ll see. From the album X, their tenth, not surprisingly, the track is a suite, broken up into four parts, and starts off in that frenetic way that makes me often dislike them so much. Still, there’s plenty of time for it to change, and it does, slowing down around the 7th minute (second part? Maybe; hard to say) with some nice piano lines in the 9th. Again, it’s a decent song but I’m not convinced and I won’t be remembering it once it’s over.

Rating: 6/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACSW0n8Yw_o

Overall average rating for this disc: 8/10

Considering I know some of the bands here, it's still not really that impressive. And why do these guys keep choosing artists to whom I would imagine prog is a dirty word? I can't fathom the idea behind the selections. Overall, I'd say I'm underwhelmed and somewhat disappointed, despite the much higher average rating for the disc as compared to the Progtronics one.