Jacula - Tardo Pede In Magiam Versus (1972)

 

The debut album from this band from Italy.

The band was a trio with a lineup of bass, guitars, violin, harpsichord, church organ, moog, flute and vocals.

I reviewed their third and final album Pre Viam for ProgArchives back in December 2011 and I gave it a good review. You can read that review here. I also had their first two albums too. I am not a fan of occult rock so I put these two albums in the back of my collection..... until now. 

A review of their second album will therefore be added in some days time.

This forty-two minutes long album starts with some female vocals before it moves on into a more symphonic ambient landscape. There are a lot of church organs here.

The music is a blend of female Italian vocals and symphonic ambient music. The music turns towards neo-classical music at the end of this album.

The music is not particular interesting or good. This is a decent enough album but nothing more than that.

2 points 

 

Frutería Toñi - Tengo Mis Días Buenos (2017)

 

The second album from this band from Spain.

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

A handful of guests added guitars, oboe and backing vocals.

I reviewed their 2014 album Mellotron En Almibar back in May 2015 for # 1 of this blog. I have also had their second and third albums for a while and on my list of albums to review. A review of their third and last album will follow before the end of the year.

I really like the Mellotron En Almibar album a lot as I wrote in my review of that album. That album were a blend of a RIO/avant-garde album and an eclectic prog album.

The one hour long Tengo Mis Dias Buenos has a lot of the same type of music.

There is a lot of King Crimson in their music. There are also some jazz and folk rock in their music. The Spanish male vocals are good and the music is both colourful and good.

Eclectic prog fans should check out this band.

3 points 

  

 

 

Fouette - Subliminal Messages (2024)

 

The debut album from this band from Finland.

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

This is another new band to me and a new addition to ProgArchives, the website that made me aware of this band. The band has so far released two albums and I will soon, hopefully, get their brand new album too.

This album gives us an hour's worth of neo-prog.

The music is melodic and it is in the Dutch neo-prog tradition.

There is some very good guitar solos here and some good vocals. The music is pretty complex and symphonic with the opening track clocing in at fifteen minutes and the closing title track clocking in at twenty minutes.

There are also some shorter tracks here too.

The overall quality is pretty good although most of the songs are a bit unremarkable. Nevertheless, neo-prog fans should check out this album.

2.5 points  

 

  

Midlake - For the Sake of Bethel Woods (2022)

 

The fifth album from this band from USA.

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

I have reviewed their first four albums in July 2016 for # 1 of this blog and I gave them good ratings. 

The band has just released a new album, their sixth album. I also got hold of this album too, their fifth album. Hence this review which will be followed by a review of their new album before the end of the year.

Midlake is listed as a folk-rock band in ProgArchives and other places. The music on this three quarters of an hour long album is a blend of folk rock and west-coast psych rock.

The vocals are pretty good. The music is mainly guitar-based with some supporting keyboards.

The music is mid-tempo too and a bit hippie flower power like.

The music is nice but still a bit anonymous and dull. This is not their best album. It is still a pretty good album though.

2.5 points 

 

 

 

 

Cage - Secret Passage (2008)

 

The debut album from this band from Italy.

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

The band has just released their second album. An album I will review later this year. But I will first review this, their debut album.

The album is clocking in at three quarters of an hour.  

The music is epic neo-prog with some symphonic prog and heavy prog influences. Although this is not RPI, there is a lot of RPI structures in their music too. 

There are some vocals here inbetween some long and epic instrumental parts. Some of the instrumental parts are good, heavy guitar solos. There are also some acoustic guitars pieces here.

The vocals reminds me about Peter Gabriel and the vocalist in The Watch (same vocalist ??). The vocals are great.

Their music does indeed remind me about The Watch, a band I really rate highly.

This is indeed a very good album and a bit of a surprise to me as they have been flying under my radar.

Check out this album.

3.5 points  

 

Radiant Moon - Now's The Time (2024)

 

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

I became aware of this fifty minutes long album through ProgArchives and got a copy of it for review.

The album was described as classic progressive rock by the band and that is the reason why I got this album.

The music is indeed classic progressive rock with a lot of Yes and Genesis references. There are even some Gentle Giant references here too. The Gentle Giant references are due to the sound. 

The music has some guitars, piano and some trumpets which is very effective and good. The clarinet brings the music almost into Jethro Tull territory at times.

The music is pretty slick too. The sound is contemporary and good.

The vocals is pretty good and so is the music. I am not entirely won over due to not all the music being good. Those into classic progressive rock should check out this album.

2.5 points

  

Magnum - Lost On The Road To Eternity (2018)

 

The 19th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

Some guests added bass, a philharmonic orchestra and vocals. 

The band returned after a two years long album break with this sixty-seven minutes long album.

The music is as on most of their albums a blend of pomp rock and AOR.

The band does not reinvent the wheel on this album. There are some strings here in addition to the standard guitars, keyboards and vocals. 

The music is also a blend of fast songs, mid-tempo songs and ballads. The vocals is good.

The quality of the music is decent enough. This is not one of their best albums as the band is threading water here. 

2 points   

 

Year Of No Light - Vampyr (2013)

 

The third album from this band from France.

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

I reviewed their first album Nord fifteen years ago in ProgArchives. I reviewed their second album Ausserwelt in May 2024 in # 3 of this blog and liked it a lot. I will review the remaining three albums before the end of the year. 

The seventy minutes long Vampyr is the soundtrack to Carl Dreyer's 1932 silent movie of the same name.

The music is darkened post-rock with some post-metal influences.

The music is pretty infernal and particular at the end of the soundtrack, the climax of the silent movie.

The music is pretty good throughout, despite of the very slow start which has a lot of ambient music. But the music improves a lot after ten minutes.

This is an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points  

Lunar Clock - The Scream of Nature (2020)

 

The debut album from this band from The Netherlands.

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

This band has just released their new album, which is their second album, and I aim to review that album before the end of the year.

This, their debut album The Scream Of Nature is based on the famous painting The Scream by my fellow Norwegian Edvard Munch and it is clocking in at forty minutes.

The music is symphonic prog. 

There are even some RPI influences in their take on symphonic prog. The music also got a lot of Johan Sebastian Bach influences. There is both some Yes and Genesis influences here.

The music is in other words more melodic than epic. The vocals is good. The sampled flutes are also good. There are also some good guitar solos here.

This is a more than acceptable debut album and a good album in it's own right. Check it out from their Bandcamp page.

3 points  

Fluido Rosa - Le Vie dei Sogni (2016)

 

The debut album from this band from Italy.

The band was a seven pieces big band with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, saxophone and vocals.

I reviewed their second album earlier this year and then discovered that they had released their debut album some years earlier. Hence I got this album and added it to my list of albums I wanted to review before the end of the year.

This album is clocking in at fifty-five minutes.

The music is classic, early 1970s RPI with some 1970s pop and folk rock influences. Their take on RPI is indeed based on classic Italian pop and folk rock.

The music is melodic and the Italian vocals are very good.

The use of the saxophone is very nice too and is filling in the empty spaces in their music. Music that also has a great guitar and keyboard sound. 

The result is a very good album and one of the better ones I have heard for a while. This album is a bit of a hidden gem which deserves a lot more attention. 

3.5 points 

  

 

 

Syland - The Man Who Falls From Nowhere Part II (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from France.

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

Although this album was released almost one year ago, this is still a new band to me.

I have no idea where the Part I album refers to.. but this forty minutes long Part II album is their debut album.

The music is best described as heavy prog with some neo-prog influences.

The vocals are in English and the music is pretty muscular and hard.   

The music is also compact and there is not many guitar solos here. The music is based on the electric guitars.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. I am again not entirely won over. Nevertheless, I hope to hear more music, more albums, from this band.

2.5 points 

Mavens Telescope. The - Endurance (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Brazil.

The band was a duo with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, banjo, piano, synths, programming, voices and vocals.

Two guests added cello and female vocals on one track.

The band returned again with this fifty minutes long album after a ten years long album break.

As I wrote in my review of their 2015 debut album, I was not very impressed by their music. It was still a pretty good album.

The music on Endurance is melodic neo-prog with some incorporated heavy prog.

The music is pretty standard and there is not many surprises or any new things the band is bringing to the scene. The vocals is good and the band does a good job on some good and some rather decent songs.

I am still not won over. Nevertheless, this is on balance a good album and one to check out if melodic, elegant prog is your thing. 

3 points 

 

 

Viaticum - Solar Transient (2020)

 

The third album from this band from Switzerland.

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

The band returned again after a six years long album break.

This forty minutes long album is their so far latest album. I have no idea if the band is still with us or have broken up.

Their debut album Trip Me Tender was very poor while their second album Kosmikrock was pretty good. I therefore had my hopes for Solar Transient.

We get a blend of space rock, doom and sludge core on this album. 

There are some Black Sabbath influences here. But most of the music is more sludge than doom. The music is also rather brutal and slow. The music is also melancholic space rock throughout.

The vocals is rather good and the band does a good job. 

The result is another pretty good album from this band and I hope they will release some more albums. Check out their Bandcamp page.

2.5 points 

 

Frøislie. Lars Fredrik - Quattro Racconti (2025)

 

The third album from this artist from Norway.

Lars Fredrik Frøislie did the drums, organ, keyboards and electronics himself. 

Two guests added bass and vocals on this album.

This is a re-work of his debut album Fire Fortellinger from 2023. The major difference here is that Stefano "Lupo" Galifi is doing the vocals and they are in Italian. 

Stefano is one of the best ever vocalists from Italy. He is mostly known from Museo Rosenbach. I love his work as the ex vocalist in Il Tempio Delle Clessidre's debut album, one of the best if not the best post-millenium RPI albums ever. 

I get the feeling Stefano's status as a great vocalist has also been enhanced by his excellent vocals on the fifty minutes long Quattro Racconti too. 

This Norwegian symphonic prog album has been transferred to Italy and has now become an RPI album. The music has been slightly altered to make this an RPI album. 

Fire Fortellinger is a great album. Is Quattro Racconti as good or a better album ? Stefano's vocals and the the translation of the album to a more RPI orientated album makes this a slightly better album. It also justifies a review, and I had this album for a while before I decided to review it. It also justifies a purchase of this album too.

This is a superb album and very probably the best album of this year, 2025. RPI fans should really get this album.

4.5 points 

 

 

Wilderun - Olden Tales & Deathly Trails (2012)

 

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

This band from Boston has released four album between 2012 and 2022. I am reviewing all four this winter, hopefully before the end of the year.

The band name is pretty interesting and wild. Ditto for the album title and the album art-work.

The music on this fifty minutes long album is a blend of heavy metal and folk music. 

Skyclad from Great Britain is a good reference. Wilderun is more folk music orientated though.

There are some death metal growls here but the metal part is more like power metal and heavy metal. 

The music is pretty fast and wild. The balance between metal and folk music is pretty good and most of the album is indeed good. There are also some less good pieces here. The use of mandolin is very good.

This is a pretty good album and a promising debut album. I am looking forward to listen to the remaining three albums.

2.5 points   

Tempano - En Reclamación (1983)

 

The third album from this band from Venezuela.

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

This album is clocking in at thirty-five minutes. 

That is mercifully short....  

The music here has nothing to do with prog or any interesting forms of music. The music here is 1980s pop music.

The vocals is OK. But even the vocals cannot save this turkey of an album.

It is an album best forgotten.

1 point 

Us & Them - The Lights and the Shadow (2025)

 

The third album from this band from Sweden.

The band was a duo with a lineup of guitars, electronics and vocals.

The band returned with this three quarters of an hour long album after a ten years long album break. I reviewed their 2015 album some days ago and I was not really impressed. So I had no expectations for this, their new album.

The music here is acid-folk rock. 

There is still a lot of good female vocals here from Britt Ronnholm. There is also some more instrumental music around her vocals too. That has made this album a bit better and more interesting. 

The music is also a bit electronica at times. There are indeed some nice electronica bits here.

The music here is pretty good and this is by far their best album. Check it out at their Bandcamp page.

2.5 points 

 

The One - Lighter Than Air (2025)

 

The second album from this band from The Netherlands.

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

This forty minutes long album is the follow up album to the very good 2023 album Sunrise. I reviewed that album earlier this month.

The music is again melodic prog in the vein of Yes, Genesis and Camel. This is what the band set out to play and that is what we have got on both their albums.

The music is mid-tempo with some good vocals and guitars.

The sound is very good and most of the songs are good too. 

This album is not as great as their debut album. The band is suffering from the difficult-second-album syndrome on this album.

Nevertheless, this is a good album and one fans of melodic prog should check out.

3 points  

 

 

Fulguromatic - Fulguromatic (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from France.

The band was a duo with a lineup of drums, xylophone, percussion, bass synth, guitars, banjoline, piano, organ, synths, flute and voices.

This three quarters of an hour long album has got some attention in the scene and I grabbed a copy of this album for a review some weeks ago.

The reason is that this band and album has been labeled as a Canterbury prog scene band and album. 

The music here is more jazz than rock. Jazzy prog with a lot of quirky melodies. Gilgamesh is a good reference here throughout this album.

There are also some clear zeuhl influences throughout this album. Fans of zeuhl will also find this album very enjoyable.

The music is pretty fast and wild at times. Most of all, the music is quirky and playful. The vocals is weird and good.

There is a lot of interesting details on this good album. An album that will please most prog rock fans. Check out this album.

3 points 

 

 

Mavens Telescope. The - The Seed Of True Existense (2015)

 

The debut album from this band from Brazil.

The band was a trio with a lineup of percussion, drums, guitars, piano, synths, programming and vocals.

Some guests added drums, bass, trumpet, trombone and vocals.

This to me a new band on the scene. They have just released their new album, their second album. I will publish my review of that album later this month.

They have also been included in ProgArchives and that is how I became aware of them. 

The music here is neo-prog with some mainstream rock and progressive metal influences.

The music is very melodic with a slick, elegant sound. 

The vocals is really good. Ditto for the guitars and keyboards. The added woodwinds are adding some colours to the music.

There are a couple of good songs here. The rest of the album is decent enough. This is an album fans of melodic and slick neo-prog will like a lot.

2.5 points

 

Viaticum - Kosmikrock (2014)

 

The second album from this band from Switzerland.

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

Two guests added percussion and guitars on a couple of tracks.

I was not impressed at all by their pretty poor 2011 debut album Trip Me Tender. That meant I had no expectations to Kosmikrock.

This album clocks in at seventy-five minutes. 

The music is a blend of space rock, psych rock and some post-rock. The music is in short krautrock.

The pieces of music here are one average ten minutes long. There are some long space rock excersises here and some pretty good vocals too.

The music is pretty groovy throughout. The guitars are good.

The result is a vast improvement on their debut album and a pretty good album. This is an album krautrock fans should check out.

2.5 points 

Poor Genetic Material - Pastoral (2025)

 

The 17th album from this band from Germany.

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

One guest added drums and pipes.

This band album debuted in 1999. I have reviewed a couple of their albums, including the previous album Possibilities (2024) in # 3 of this blog. It was a pretty good album.

The band returned with this three quarters of an hour long album earlier this year. 

I love the art-work... Quiant and quirky art-work. The same cannot be said about the music.

The music is melodic, mid-tempo neo-prog.

There is a lot of vocals here and some flute too. This in addition to the usual guitars and keyboards fare.

The music is not very exciting. It is very effective and this album is pretty good.... actually, this is a good album and an improvement on last year's album. But don't expect to be surprised by the music here. 

3 points 

 

Man - Be Good To Yourself At Least Once A Day (1972)

 

The fifth album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This is my second review of this album as I have discovered too late that I did indeed review it back in August 2010 in ProgArchives. It is my policy to review albums only once and not twice. Anyway.... I am still going ahead with this review.

I am reviewing all the Man albums this fall, winter and probably spring too in this blog. That is one of the many rewards of running this blog.

This album is clocking in at thirty-six minutes and has four tracks.

The music is hard psych rock with some rhythm'n'blues influences. 

The music is very dynamic and groovy. The vocals and the guitars are very good. The sound is great.

This is one of the better hard psych rock from the 1970s and a very good album in it's own right. I rate this higher now than I did back in 2010 and in that ProgArchives review. Which proves that I have aged well...

3.5 points 

 

 

Ovrfwrd - Fantasy Absent Reason (2015)

 

The second album from this band from USA.

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

I reviewed their 2014 debut album Beyond The Visible Light last month and that was a decent enough album.

The band continues with their instrumental heavy prog on the three quarters of an hour long Fantasy Absent Reason album.

The music is heavy prog with some symphonic prog influences. It is pretty epic too.

The music is pretty hard throughout with a lot of guitars and some piano and organs supporting the guitars.

The music is decent enough without really being impressive or good.

If instrumental heavy prog is your thing...

2 points 

Us & Them - Summer Green and Autumn Brown (2015)

 

The second album from this band from Sweden.

The band was a duo with a lineup of bass, guitars, electronics and vocals.

I have yet to find their debut album so I am starting with this, their second album. A review of their third album, their new album, will follow later this month.

This album clocks in at forty-two minutes.

The music is basically acoustic guitar and female vocals. There are some synths too here. 

Britt Ronnholm's very good vocals is basically carrying this album. 

The melodies are decent enough with a couple of good songs too. This is not the most exciting music around though and I am not really won over.

Those into acoustic folk music may find this an interesting proposition. This is a decent album, indeed.

2 points  

 

The One - Sunrise (2023)

 

The debut album from this band from The Netherlands.

This is a one-man-band with Timothy Van Der Holst doing most of the instruments here... drums, bass, piano, organ and synths.

Some guests added guitars, lyrics and vocals.

The result is this forty minutes long album, released both as LP and an online download album.

Timothy set up this band to play melodic prog in the vein of Yes, Genesis and Camel. And that is indeed what we get on this album.

That means melodic prog somewhere between symphonic prog and neo-prog.

The music is slow to mid-tempo with some classic organ and guitars. The vocals is also classic and very good. The sound is very good and there is some very good guitar solos here.

This is indeed an album in the traditional prog rock albums mould. My only gripe with this album is the lack of any great tracks. But those into neo-prog and symphonic prog should check out this album.

The band has just released a new album and I will review it later this month.

3.5 points 

 

 

Emma - Halidome (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Iceland.

The band was a duo, two brothers, with a lineup of drums, guitars, harmonica and vocals.

Some guests added drums, bass, cello, keyboards and trumpet.  

This band released this album through Bandcamp earlier this year.  

The album clocks in at one hour and it is obvious that Sigur Ros is a major inspiration here.

The music, shoegaze and post-rock, feels like a more folk rock earthbound version off Sigur Ros.

There is indeed a lot of melancholic folk rock in their music. The use of a trumpet throughout this album adds a lot of sadness to their music too.

The music is rather slow too with some good vocals and some good melodies. The result is a good album and one to check out if eclectic prog is your thing.

3 points 

 

 

  

Triangle - Se7en (2025)

 

The fifth album from this band from The Netherlands.

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

One guest added xylophone.

After three albums as a neo-prog band with vocals, Triangle became an instrumental symphonic prog band. That happened on the previous album and the band continues as an instrumental band on the one hour long Se7en.

The band has also moved a lot closer to cinematic rock on this album too.

The music is also pretty eclectic too.

The missing vocals is still a loss and I am not convinced that the band has moved in the right direction. The music here is too much run-of-the-mill as there is so many bands and so much similar music out there.

This and their other albums are name-your-price Bandcamp albums and most definitely well worth checking out. A new album will also be released shortly from the same Bandcamp page.

2 points 

Spirergy - Journey Beyond (2024)

 

The second album from this band from Great Britain.

Spirergy is a one-man-band with Dave Allen doing the drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, electronics and vocals.

This is the follow up album to the very good 2023 album Aeon. An album I reviewed last month in this blog.

That album was very similar to a classic Yes album. So I expected more of the same on Journey Beyond...

The one hour long Journey Beyond reminds me a lot about an album from the Dutch band Us. That means a lot of Yes influences combined with a lot of Camel influences too.

The music is indeed symphonic prog. The music is also melodic but not as technical and full of interesting details as on the Aeon. 

Some of the music is a bit too pedestrian too.

That said, this is still a good album. It is an album fans of symphonic prog will like. I still prefer Aeon, though...

3 points   

Syrinx - Time Out Of Place (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Canada.

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

I have not had the pleasure of listening to their 2019 debut album Embrace The Dark so this is the only album I have with this band.

The music is a blend of post-metal, eclectic prog and indie rock.

The sound is a bit distorted. The vocals are screamo vocals.

The music is mostly mid-tempo with some forays into extreme metal territory.  

This is not an album for the faint-hearted or those who like their music to be melodic and nice. 

There are a couple of good pieces of music here. There are also some very poor pieces of music here. On balance, this is a decent enough album. I am not won over.

2 points 

 

 

 

Uriah Heep - Salisbury (1971)

 

The second album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of vibes, drums, bass, guitars, harpsichord, piano, organ and vocals.

Some guests added woodwinds.

This forty minutes long album is regarded as classic album from the 1970s. 

Uriah Heep was a hard rock band... nominally a hard rock band, that is. This album though takes us into prog rock.

The opening track is hard rock before we get a prog rock track and then a mix of hard rock and prog rock.

The title track is a sixteen minutes long prog rock opus. A weird one, but still a melodic track with woodwinds included.

The vocals on this album is very good and the band does a good job on some really good tracks. This album has perhaps not aged well. It is still a good album and one to check out.

3 points  

Steely Dan - Katy Lied (1975)

 

The fourth album from this band from USA.

The band was a duo of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker with a lineup of bass, guitars, piano, keyboards, saxophone and vocals.

They got help from some guests who provided drums, haldorophone, percussion, vibes, bass, guitars, piano, keyboards, woodwinds and backing vocals.

This is the follow up album to their great 1974 Pretzel Logic album. An album I really fell for as you can see in my review last month.

The band is now officially a duo after a change of personnel and lineup. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker was always the two main persons in this band and the duo format just formalised this fact. 

Katy Lied is a thirty-five minutes long album where all surplus fat is cut and the ten songs are short and punchy.

The music is quirky, jazzy art-rock. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker had an unique way of composing songs and that shines through on this album too.

This album is not as great at Pretzel Logic. It is still a very good album and another charmer. 

3.5 points 

Half Past Four - Good Things (2013)

 

The second album from this band from Canada.

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

I have earlier reviewed both their first album and their third, this year's album. You can read that review somewhere else in this blog.

That album's music is different from what we get on the one hour long Good Things album.

This album is dominated by some good female vocals. Vocals on the top of some psych rock and vaudeville rock. The result is pretty eclectic and eclectic prog is their genre.

The music is still pretty melodic too. The music is mostly mid-tempo and has some good keyboards and guitars.

Half of the album is good while the other half is decent.

This is not their finest hour, I am afraid.

2.5 points 

 

 

 

Oberon - Aeon Chaser (2018)

 

The fourth and final album from this band from Norway.

The band was a one-man-band with Bård Titlestad doing the keyboards, electronics and vocals.

I have reviewed his first three albums earlier this fall and I have not been that impressed. The music was too pedestrian for my liking.

The three quarters of an hour long Aeon Chaser is still in the singer/songwriter tradition.

The music is again piano and vocals dominated. There is a lot of bass and guitars involved too. My guess is that they are programmed.

The music is mid-tempo and the music is bordering to psych rock throughout. 

There is a lot of melancholy in the music. 

The songs are pretty good and this is by far the best Oberon album.... so far. It is an album well worth checking out if psych rock is your thing.

2.5 points 

Pavlov's Dog - Wonderlust (2025)

 

The ninth album from this band from USA.

The band was a seven pieces big band on this album with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, violin, grand piano, organ, synths and vocals.

This band has been around since their 1975 debut album Pampered Menial. That album is a semi-classical album in the progressive rock scene.

The music on the other seven albums has not been as good or interesting.

The music on this fifty minutes long album is a country-rock. There are some psych rock influences throughout this album too.

There is a lot of violins here and some pretty good vocals. The music is mid-tempo and songs based.

The music is poor on interesting details. The songs are pretty good at times.

This album is a decent album but nothing more than that. It is an album for those who collect everything from this band.

2 points 

Triangle - Safe Ground (2022)

 

The fourth album from this band from The Netherlands.

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

The band returned again after a six years long break. 

The band has chosen to go instrumental on this one hour long album.

The music is somewhere between symphonic prog and cinematic rock. Mostly symphonic prog, to be more precise.

The music is dominated by the guitars and the music is mid-tempo and pretty melancholic.

The music is also a bit run-of-the-mill and not particular engaging.

The result is a decent enough album. It is also their least interesting album too... so far.

2 points 

 

Spirergy - Aeon (2023)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

Spirergy is a one-man-band with Dave Allen doing the drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, electronics and vocals.

This is a new name to me. This album was voted the album of the year in a couple of online prog rock magazines. The band released their second album last year and I will review it next month.

This album clocks in at the one hour mark.

The music is symphonic prog. References are in particular Yes. There are also some Genesis and ELP influences here.

The vocals reminds me a lot about Jon Anderson, formerly of Yes. The vocals is very good indeed. The rest of the music also gives me a lot of good Yes vibes.

The music is at times very good and the result is an album in the classic symphonic prog tradition. This album deserves a lot of praise and I am really looking forward to giving the second album my attention.

This is a very good album indeed.

3.5 points 

Yak - The Pink Man & The Bishop (2025)

 

The fifth album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a one-man-band where Martin Morgan did the bass, guitars, synths and programming.

Two guests added drums and bass on one track.

This fifty-five minutes long album is the latest album from a band who album debuted back in 2004. Martin Morgan is in involved with a lot of things and the album frequency is sporadic. The previous album was released ten years ago.

I have reviewed most, if not all the Yak albums in ProgArchives and in # 1 of this blog. I have given them good reviews too. 

The music here is a blend of instrumental symphonic prog and cinematic rock. 

The music is elegant, epic and mid-tempo. There is a lot of guitars and some synths here. 

The overall quality is good. This is one of the far too few good instrumental albums released during the last couple of years. Check out this album. 

3 points 

 

Magnum - Sacred Blood Divine Lies (2016)

 

The 18th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The band soldiered on with this fifty-five minutes long album.

The music here is pomp rock. Add some heavy metal and AOR influences and you get the drift here.

The music is mid-tempo, pretty catchy and with some good hooks.

The music is very much classic Magnum. There are a couple of ballads here in addition to the more muscular stuff here too.

The vocals is very good and the overall quality is somewhere between decent and good when it comes to the music.

If you want to find out what Magnum is all about, this album is recommended.

2.5 points 

 

Viaticum - Trip Me Tender (2011)

 

The debut album from this band from Switzerland.

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

This band has released three albums through Bandcamp and I am reviewing all three of them this winter.

This album is clocking in at three quarters of an hour.

The music is a mix of garage rock and psych rock. There are also some space rock here. The label this album should be put archived as is krautrock.

The music is mid-tempo and slightly hard. The first half is instrumental while the last half has vocals in some proper songs structures.

The vocals is pretty decent. The music is also half-decent without really being impressive.... or decent.

The instrumental parts are decent though and I hope they will continue down that path on the next one of their albums as I will review it in some days time.

1.5 points 

Amoeba Split - Quiet Euphoria (2023)

 

The third album from this band from Spain.

The band was an eight pieces big band with a lineup of drums, percussion, vibraphone, bass, guitars, piano, electric piani, organ, Moog, keyboards and woodwinds.

This is one of the better bands from Europe although they have only released three studio albums and one live album.

This forty minutes long album takes us to the Canterbury scene and it's fusion/jazz scene.

The music is really hardcore, dense jazz here. Avant-garde jazz also springs to mind.... but on reflection, the jazz is not that avant-garde. It is not particularly melodic, though.

This album is not easy to digest for a proghead.

The vibraphone is very cool and this instrument is used throughout the album.

There are a lot of good stuff here and on balance, this is good album. But do not expect any melodic fusion here. This is a jazz album.

3 points 

 

  

Arts - Find a Way (2021)

 

The debut album from this band from Sweden.

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

This forty-five minutes long album is so far the only album from this band.  

The music here is a blend of neo-prog, folk rock and symphonic prog. 

The sound and music is very much in the Swedish prog tradition. Both Kaipa and The Flower Kings is a good reference here.

That said, the ambience is also laidback folk rock and west coast psych rock. 

The vocals is very good and ditto for the sound. 

There is a lot to like on this album, indeed. The overall quality is very good throughout. I really hope this album is not a one-off album from these guys as this album is one of the better debut albums I have ever come across from Scandinavia. 

Check out this album.

3.5 points 

Astroverse Dimensions - Beta Shell (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Germany.

The band was a duo with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, theremin, organ, keyboards, synths and vocals.

I reviewed their 2023 debut album Feeding On The Spirit back in October 2023 in # 3 of this blog and gave it a good rating. I was therefore pleased when I got their second album for review.

The album is forty minutes long and the music is instrumental heavy prog with some psych and space rock influences.

Ozric Tentacles is a good reference together with ELP and Eloy.

The music here is heavy, epic and a bit space rock like at times.

There is a lot of good details throughout this album. The vibe is also good.

This is a good album and one both fans of heavy prog and space rock should check out. 

3 points 

 

 

Enter - Awakening the Past (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Italy.

The band was a ten pieces big band/project with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, piano, programming and vocals.

Not many people thought the band was going to return after their 1991 debut album Images From Floating Worlds (see my review from earlier this month). But they did that earlier this year with this three quarters of an hour long album.

The music here is a blend of musicals, RPI and symphonic prog.

There is a lot of Yes influences in their music. Ditto for PFM and Banco influences too.

The music is mid-tempo, elegant and with a lot of piano.  

The vocals are both male and female. The vocals is also good. All the vocals are in English.

The music is really elegant and modern too. The music is leaning a bit too much towards musicals and rock opera territory for my liking. The music is not typical RPI and I am not so sure if this is a RPI band.

That said, this is a good album and one to check out if elegant melodic prog is your thing. 

3 points 

 

Tumbleweed Dealer - Dark Green (2025)

 

The third album from this band from USA.

The band was a trio with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, synths and programming.

A handful of guests added organ, church organs, mellotron, keyboards, woodwinds and vocals.

This album is a forty minutes long album.  

I have been very critical of their first two album which contains primitive, unimaginative space rock. So had no expectations to this album.

The band has expanded their lineup and guests list. That means a lot more elaborated music too.

Space rock is what we get here... in the beginning. Space rock with some synths and programming too in addition to the guitars.

Then we get some rap and vocals. That in addition to some more jazz at the end.

The result is a pretty clever, good album. I hope the band continues down the same path in the future and also writes some better music. The band should build on what they have done on this album.

2.5 points 

Caterpillarmen - Miklu betri en guð (2025)

 

The fourth album from this band from Iceland.

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

The band album debuted back in 2010 and I have reviewed their albums both in ProgArchives and in # 1 of this blog. I have given their albums good reviews. 

This forty minutes long album was recorded in 2012 but was not released before in October this year.

The band is regarded as a rio/avant-garde band. Their music is still melodic and the band sounds more like an eclectic prog band on this album. 

The music is pretty similar to King Crimson's music, indeed.

The music is mainly mid-tempo and pretty harsh with some disharmonic effects and vocals. The music is still pretty melodic though.

There is some good vintage organs here in addition to the guitars and vocals. The music is also good and this is an album fans of eclectic prog should check out.

3 points 

 

 

Triangle - Retreat (2004)

 

The second album from this band from The Netherlands.

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

Triangle returned again four years after their debut album Square The Circle. 

Retreat is clocking in at one hour and gives us more of the same as on the debut album...

The music is a blend of neo-prog and art rock.

The songs are medium long with the longest song clocking in at just under ten minutes.

The guitars are sometimes a bit grungy. Some of the music is also depressive and grungy. The whole vibe is melancholic and sad.

The vocals are pretty good. There are a couple of good songs here. The overall quality is somewhere between decent and good. This album is not their best.

2.5 points 

Tempano - Pesadilla Sin Final (1981)

 

The second album from this band from Venezuela.

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

This is the follow up album to their pretty good 1980 debut album Atabal Yemal. An album I reviewed earlier this month here in this blog.

That album was a progressive rock album. 

The thirty-five minutes long Pesadilla Sin Final is more a blend of art-rock and vaudeville rock. Frank Zappa springs to mind throughout large parts of this album.

There are also some pop music here too. 1980s pop music. The music is still pretty colourful.

The Spanish vocals are pretty good although they are a bit weird and an acquired taste. The sound is a bit plastic-like and the typical, very much detested 1980s sound.

The result is a decent enough album. An album which sounds dated. Nevertheless...

2 points 

 

 

 

Altura - Mercy (1996)

 

The one and only album from this band from USA.

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

This band were a short lived band who released this album on the legendary Magna Carta label. They were a great prog rock and progressive metal label in the 1990s. 

This album is clocking in at fifty minutes and the music here is a blend of progressive metal and heavy prog.

There are a lot of Dream Theater influences and references in their music. There are also some Fates Warning and Rush influences here.

The music is guitars based with some supporting keyboards. The vocals are decent enough. The vocals are also their weakest link too. Their abilities to write good songs are also sorely lacking.

I can understand why this is their only album. The reason being the pretty low quality here.

Nevertheless, this is a decent enough album. 

2 points 

 

Apogeo - Due Ere (1983)

 

The one and only album from this band from Italy.

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

This album is totally unknown but there are now some ongoing research into the band in ProgArchives after I tipped them off about this band.

This album clocks in at close to forty minutes.

The sound is very poor but we can still make out the music here. The music is some sort of symphonic prog. RPI to be more precise.

There is a lot of both Le Orme and ELP influences here. Add in Trace and Pink Mice too and you get the drift.

The music is a bit cheesy at times but it is still pretty good.

The bad sound means this album is not as good as it should have been. This album is screaming out for a cleanup and a re-release. I would still recommend this to all RPI fans. Symphonic prog fans should also have a look at this album.

The music is pretty good. The sound is pretty dire. Hence.... 

1.5 points