Benjamin's Kite - Ingenious Cacophonies (2020)

 

The third album from this band from Canada.

The band is listed as a seven pieces big band on this album with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, saxophones, flutes and vocals.

I reviewed their second album Antediluvian Euphonies (2018) some days ago. I gave it a good album rating. That is why I was looking forward to sink my ears into the follow up album.

Ingenious Cacophonies is clocking in at one hour and we get much the same as on the second album.

That Phil Collins era Genesis, the Duke album and infuse a lot of neo-prog into the blend. That is where we find this band and this album.

The music is very slick with slick male vocals and some slick pieces of music. Commercial is the word most people will use on this album. The music is still progressive.

Towards the end of the album, there are some instrumental saxophone and flutes dominated pieces. They are very good, indeed.

The vocals on the songs are also good. There are a lot of good pieces of music here. Enough to make this another good album from this band. I will review their album in some days time.

3 points 

Fabric Of Reality Project - Carpe Diem (2023)

 

The third album from this band from Great Britain.

The band is a one-man-band with Rick Lambe doing the drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, synths, samples and vocals.

He got help from a handful of guests who added drums, guitars, narration and female vocals.

This is the latest album from Fabric Of Reality Project. It is also a one hundred minutes long album. In other words, a one hour and forty minutes long album.

The music is epic symphonic prog.

The album starts with some ten minutes of Eloy inspired pieces of music. This is before the music takes a more conventional symphonic prog route. 

The music is also folk rock influenced too. The sound and music are both epic and earthy at the same time.

There are an half an hour long suite about the Covid pandemic on this album which is both good and poignant. Too many people perished in that pandemic.

The result is a very good album and one to check out if you are into epic, yet melodic symphonic prog. 

3.5 points  

 

Floating Nest - Blow Off Steam (2026)

 

The debut album from this band from Spain.

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

This band was formed in Sweden of all places. Sweden is at the other end of Europe from Spain. My mind boggles...

This album is clocking in at three quarters of an hour and the music is heavy prog.

Their take on heavy prog is spiced up with some electronica, djent and death metal brutality, including some male death grunts.

The vocals are female vocals and they are very good. There are also some male vocals here.

Most of the music is still pretty melodic. The music is at times harsh and dissonant. 

The sound is modern, cutting edge and contemporary. 

The songs are all good. This band is talented and I hope we will hear a lot more from them in the future.

3 points  

 

 

 

Marbin - Aggressive Hippies (2015)

 

The fourth album from this Israeli-American band.

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

Gosh, it is nine years since I reviewed four of their first five albums. They were on MoonJune Records back then and I got promo copies of their albums. After these reviews in # 1 of this blog, I moved on to some other bands. I did not even know they were still with us until I found some of their remaining albums at the end of last year. 

I put the rest of their album on the list of albums I should review this year. I will review these albums this spring and early summer.

Aggressive Hippies are clocking in at fifty-five minutes.

The music is a blend of jazz and fusion. 

The music is fast and has a lot of saxophone and guitar solos. The music is really dynamic with some hints of gypsy music throughout. The music is also pretty harsh, dissonant and esoteric.

Melodic is not the word I would use on their music. The music is still good and this is a band well worth checking out.

3 points 

 

 

Jazz Q - Zvěsti (1978)

 

The fifth album from this band from the Czech Republic.

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

One guest added soprano saxophones on two tracks.

Martin Kratochvil was the piano, organ and keyboards player on this album and the record label/the authorities/the band, for reasons unknown to me, decided to name themselves Martin Kratochvil & JazzQ on this album. In this blog, they are only Jazz Q.

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

The music is again fusion. The take on fusion here is not as intense and jazzy as on previous albums. There are indeed some progressive rock here and some cinematic rock.

The music is very melodic throughout. There are some good organs, keyboards and guitar solos throughout this album and the music is rich in interesting details.

The result is a good album from this band. This is not among their best albums but it is still worth checking out.

3 points  

Turcotte. Guillaume - Anomalies (2022)

 

The debut album from this artist from Canada.

Guillaume Turcotte did the bass, guitars, piano, organ, Rhodes keyboards and vocals.

A handful of guests added drums, percussion, guitars, violin, piano and vocals.

I have been a fan of the Quebec prog rock scene for the last decade and a half. So when I heard about this name-your-price Bandcamp album, I was pretty quick to download this album.

I know nothing about Guillaume Turcotte. Anommailies is clocking in at three quarters of an hour.

The music is a blend of folk rock, chanson and symphonic prog. Good references are Harmonium and Jelly Fiche.

The sound is lush and colourful. There are a lot of piano on the mid-tempo music. 

The music is melodic and folky. There is still a lot of interesting details and the album really makes an impression. 

Guillaume's French vocals are great. There is one great song here too..Il m'arrive. The rest of the songs are good to very good.

This is a very good album and one you should download. I hope we will hear a lot more from this artist.

3.5 points 

 

 

 

Turning Virtue - A Temporary Human Experience (2016)

 

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

This band has only released this album and I fear that this band is another one-album only band.

The music on this three quarters of an hour long album is a blend of heavy prog and neo-prog. 

The first couple of Porcupine Tree albums are a good reference. There are also some Rush references here.

The music is mid-tempo with a good sound and some really good guitars.

The vocals are good and the rhythm section is doing a good job.

There is not really anything that sets this band apart from any other bands. The songs are decent enough but not really that interesting. My guess is that the band did not sell many of their CD Baby (R.I.P) albums and split up due to the indiference from the scene. The band were talented so that is a shame.

2.5 points 

 

Czycsy - Secret Clockwork (2025)

 

The ninth album from this band from Poland.

This is a one-man-band where Marek Krol does the guitars, synths, saxophones, percussion, programming and vocals.

I reviewed the sixth album Uwu Slaughter (2022) back in January 2023 for # 3 of this blog and gave it a good rating. I will also review the new album Aftermoon in some days' time. 

This album is three quarters of an hour long. 

The music is a one-man-band version of symphonic prog. The music is surprisingly organic. That is something I also noted in my review of the 2022 album as you can read in my review above.

The music is really melodic but also pretty symphonic. Symphonic enough for this to be a symphonic prog album. 

The vocals are a bit weak, but still passable. The organ sound is very good and the star of this album. The organ sound gives the album slightly a 1970s feel.

The result is barely a good album, but still a good album. It is an album well worth checking out.

3 points 

 

Benjamin's Kite - Antediluvian Euphonies (2018)

 

The second album from this band from Canada.

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

One guest added saxophones.

This band album debuted under the name The Kite back in 1991 with a self-titled album. An album I have without any success tried to get hold of. I have managed to get hold of their latest three albums and they will all be reviewed here this month.

This album clocks in at fifty-three minutes and the music is neo-prog.

There are some strong art-rock influences here and some rather faint heavy prog influences.

The music is mid-tempo, melodic and has got a lot of interesting details. 

The vocals are very good. 

This is a good album and I am really looking forward to reviewing their remaining two albums too.

3 points 

 

 

 

Fabric Of Reality Project - Unforseen Circumstances (2019)

 

The second album from this band from Great Britain.

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

One guest added a Chinese voice to the album. 

 I reviewed their 2018 debut album Still Life last month. That album is a very good symphonic prog album. 

This month, I am reviewing their two remaining albums, starting with this one hour and five minutes long album.

The music here is much more closer to mainstream rock than symphonic prog. Melodic rock is the correct term for the music.

The vocals are still good and the band does a good job. There are still some Yes and Genesis influences here. There are far more Procol Harum influences here, though. 

There are some good details here and the music is pretty progressive. 

The quality is good throughout this album. This is an album well worth checking out.

3 points 

 

 

 

 

Nudge Unit. The - The Nudge Unit (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Italy.

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

One guest added keyboards to one track.

The Nudge Unit is a side-project of Pentesilea Road, a heavy prog band that has released two albums so far. 

The album is clocking in at forty minutes. 

The music is heavy prog.   

The album starts with some very heavy guitar riffs. The music is progressive metal before the vocals come in and the music becomes a lot softer and a lot more progressive. The music is bordering to progressive metal throughout these forty minutes. The guitars are very heavy.

Both the guitars and vocals is very good. There are some keyboards adding some colours to the music. 

The quality is good throughout and this is a debut album who showcases a talented band. I am not sure what will be these guys main priority now; The Nudge Unit or Pentesilea Road. Only time will tell.

3 points 

 

  

Uriah Heep - Conquest (1980)

 

The 13th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The band returned two years after their last album. 

Conquest is clocking in at three quarters of an hour.

There is a new vocalist in the band, John Sloman. He stayed in the band for two years and later released around ten solo albums, the latest one last year.

His vocals are softer and more rounded than their original vocalist. The music is therefore more like stadium rock on this album. The music is still hard, but still softer than on their previous twelve albums.

The sound is also very commercial and this album is the band going mainstream, seeking commercial success.

Maybe they got commercial success with this album. The music is decent enough. This album is still a bit of a low for this band. It is an album best avoided.

2 points 

 

 

Kikagaku Moyo - Mammatus Clouds (2020)

 

The third album from this band from Japan.

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

I have quite liked this band's blend of psych rock, raga rock and space rock on their first two albums. So I was looking forward to review this album too.

This album is clocking in at fifty minutes. The album is a break with their past, their first two albums.

This album is a space rock album with sitar as the dominant instrument.

There are one or two minutes with vocals, make that a voice here. The rest of the music is pure instrumental space rock.

Their take on space rock is at times gentle while it is pretty harsh and brutal at the end of the album.

The music has a great Indian and Eastern Asian feel and ambience. The music is also appealing and good.

This is an album space rock fans should check out.

3 points 

Cravinkel - Garden of Loneliness (1971)

 

The second album from this band from Germany.

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

This is the final album from this band.

Their self-titled 1970 debut album was a pretty poor album as I wrote in my review some days ago. But I still had some hope for Garden Of Loneliness, the follow up album.

This album clocks in at forty minutes.

The music is hard rock with a lot of psych rock influences.

Some of the songs are fluently running into psych/space rock improvisations. There are some wild guitars and vocals in these improvisations. 

Those improvisations are probably why Cravinkel has been put in the krautrock genre/label. Which is justified in my view. The vocals are still in English though and pretty bluesy. 

The music is still pretty melodic and in the 1970s rock and psych tradition. This is by far their best album and a decent album.

2 points 

Corvus Stone - Corvus Stone Unscrewed (2015)

 

The third album from this multi-national band.

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

A handful of guests added drums, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

This is the latest album from this band and very probably their final album. 

This fifty minutes long album has four new songs and nine remixes of old songs. This is strictly not a proper new studio album. 

Stef Fleming and the late Colin Tench were the main people in this project. Stef Fleming, Blake Carpenter and Sean Filkins are some of the vocalists here. 

The music is a blend of heavy prog, folk rock and symphonic prog. The organ sound is great here and the band has got that one right.

The vocals are good. Most of the music is instrumental though and remixes has taken the music more into a symphonic prog direction than the original songs.  

The result is a good album and that is a surprise as the remixes and the new songs are superior to their first two albums. Their journey ended with Colin Tench's tragic passing. This album is another tribute to him and his musical visions.

3 points 

Telegraph - Topography of Mind (2026)

 

The second album from this band from Israel.

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

One guest added flute.

I reviewed their 2018 debut album Mir back in December that year for # 2 of this blog and that was a good album. You can find my review here.

I was back then hoping for a new album a lot sooner than eight years. However, that is how long it has taken to release Topography Of Mind.

The music on this three quarters of an hour long album is again mostly instrumental. 

There are four songs here. Each of them is eleven minutes long. 

The music is again a blend of Eloy, Genesis and Focus. Add Camel to this list too. There is some cinematic rock and some hints of fusion here. The right label on this music is symphonic prog.

The music is mid-temp, pastoral and melodic. It is also at times, beautiful. 

The result is a very good album indeed. It is a bit of a surprise of an album too and one that will rank pretty high anyone's list of album of the year. 

3.5 points 

  

 

Scree - August (2025)

 

The second album from this band from USA.

The band was a nine-pieces big band with a lineup of drums, percussion, glockenspiel, bass, guitars, pedal steel guitars, violin, cello, organ, keyboards, clarinet, saxophones, loops and programming.

I reviewed their 2023 debut album Jasmine On A Night In July some days ago and that was a pretty good album. The music was a blend of jazz and post-rock.

August is clocking in at forty-two minutes and we are getting more of the same here.

That means minimalistic jazz with a lot of post-rock influences.

It can in fact be argued that the music here is a blend of jazz and folk-rock. An argument I will make here. 

The music is mostly acoustic with some woodwinds in between the acoustic and half-acoustic guitars. 

The music is very subtle and modest. 

There are some good stuff and some not so good stuff. I am still a bit unsure about this band. Nevertheless, check out this band.

2.5 points 

Man - Anachronism Tango (2019)

 

The 17th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This is their latest album and very probable the final ever album from Man.

I have not been impressed by their latest five albums and did not have any expectations for Anachronism Tango.

This album is clocking in at three quarters of an hour. The music is a blend of mainstream rock, Americana and rock'n'roll.

The vocals here only pretty decent and a drop in quality from the previous albums. The music is pretty uninteresting. One old-school rock'n'roll track livens things up a bit. 

This album is a good candidate for their worst ever album. A couple of decent tracks are the only saving grace on this album. Man was a good band in the 1970s and their albums from that era should be purchased. The rest of their albums are a waste of time and money.

1.5 points 

 

35 Tapes - Veil On Life (2026)

 

The fourth album from this band from Norway.

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

I have really been impressed by their first three albums and I was therefore more than willing to review their new album when I got the offer.

The music on this forty minutes long album is an earthy take on symphonic prog.  

The music is melodic with a lot of neo-prog influences too.

The music is melancholic and brooding with some good male vocals on. There are some Gazpacho influences throughout. The music is therefore not really clear-cut symphonic prog. More like a crossover between neo-prog, art-rock and symphonic prog.

The music is very good, no matter what label and genre this album should be put into. The sound is excellent and this band has again delivered the goods.

3.5 points

 

 

 

 

Klone - All Seing Eye (2008)

 

The second album from this band from France.

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

One guest added vocals on one track.

I was not impressed by their debut album Duplicate from 2003. An album I reviewed earlier this month. I have heard a lot of good things about this band. I am soldiering on again through their albums.

The music on this fifty-five minutes long album is again a blend of djent and alternative metal. There are still some nu-metal influences here although they are a lot less prominent on this album.

The music is also epic at times with some muscular melodic themes.

The vocals are harsh and screamo.

There is a lot of contrasts in the music here. The added saxophones are also adding contrasts here.

The music is somewhere between decent and good. I am not won over by the band... yet. 

2.5 points 

  

 

 

Kingfisher Sky - Skin of the Earth (2010)

 

The second album from this band from The Netherlands.

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

The music on this three quarters of an hour long album is heavy prog with female vocals.

The music is at times both muscular and heavy. 

Both the vocals and the cello are softening the music and are making a lot more melodic. More neo-prog'ish, in fact.

The music is pretty complex at times too and pretty epic.  There is indeed a lot of the symphonic elements from the neo-prog genre present on this album. Other parts of their music are more melodic, catchy and poppy.

The vocals are superb and the band does a good job on some good pieces of music.

 This is a good album which should please everyone into muscular, yet melodic progressive rock. 

3 points 

 

 

Cravinkel - Cravinkel (1970)

 

The debut album from this band from Germany.

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

This band released two albums between 1970 and 1971 before they split up. I got both albums and will review the second album sometime later this week.

This album is clocking in at forty minutes.

The music is mainstream rock with some country'n'western and psych rock influences. 

The male vocals are in English which means the band had some international aspirations. 

The music has a psych rock vibe throughout and that makes the rather pretty decent music slightly more appealing.

There are not many positives on this album. There are some dire country'n'western like songs here and some decent psych rock influenced mainstream rock pieces here. Hence....

1.5 points 

 

Corvus Stone - Corvus Stone II (2014)

 

The second album from this multi-national project.

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

A dozen guests added percussion and vocals to this album.

This band has in total released three studio albums. I reviewed the debut album back in October 2012 in # 1 of this blog and you can read the review here. I will review the third album sometime later this week. 

Corvus Stone II is clocking in at eighty minutes. 

The music is a blend of heavy prog and neo-prog. Stef Fleming and the late Colin Tench were the main people in this project. Stef Fleming is still around and writing new music, btw. Stef Fleming, Blake Carpenter and Sean Filkins are some of the vocalists here. 

The music is mid-tempo and their take on melodic progressive rock has a lot of Americana influences.

This is a long album and not everything is good here. There are also some very good pieces here. The quality is on average good and this album offers a lot of value for money. Check it out.

3 points 

 

 

 

Dødsego - Reisen Vol 1 Beyond The Void (2026)

 

The debut album from this band from Norway.

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

Three guests added hardanger fiddle, harmonica and vocals.

This band is new to me. They toured Norway and released this album at the same time. Their activity level is high although they are doing everything themselves.

The music on this fifty minutes long album is a blend of psych rock and heavy prog. 

The music is muscular, pretty complex and pretty melodic. The music is also varied and has many different expressions. Despite of the many expressions, the music never feels disjointed. There are a lot of very good details here.

The music is pretty eclectic and quirky throughout.   

The vocals are good throughout. The saxophones and flutes are adding a lot of spice to the music. The rest of the instruments are good too.

The music is very good throughout. There is no doubts this band are talented enough to become one of the leading band in the now crowded Norwegian prog rock scene. Check out this album.

3.5 points 

 

Scree - Jasmine on a Night in July (2023)

 

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

Scree is a new band in the fusion/jazz genre and they have so far released two albums. I will review their second album at the beginning of next month.

 Jasmine On A Night In June is clocking in at thirty-four minutes and the music is jazz.

The music is minimalistic with a half-acoustic guitar and some piano, making most of the music. The music is influenced by post-rock. The music is indeed a blend of jazz and post-rock during most of this album.

Most of the music is also acoustic and eclectic. Eclectic for those of us who approach this album from the  prog rock perspective. Or from the rock and metal perspective. This music sounds a bit alien to our ears, in other words.

The music is pretty good. This is a more than acceptable debut album and I am looking forward to this band's future. Not at least, to review their second album early next month.

2.5 points 

 

Man - Reanimated Memories (2015)

 

The 16th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

One guest added pedal steel guitar on three tracks.

After the last couple of pretty dreadful albums from this band, I had no expectations for this one hour long album at all. 

There are no original members of this band left. The music is also very different from their best days in the 1970s. 

The music is mainstream rock with a lot of Americana and rock'n'roll influences.

The vocal is good and that is the only good thing on this album. 

The steel pedal guitar is adding a lot of country'n'western feel to this album. And that is not a good thing.

There are some decent songs and some pretty dire stuff here. This album is a half-decent album and a borderline turkey. This is another album that does not live up to this band's good reputation.

1.5 points 

 

Diaspro - Diaspro (2026)

 

The debut album from this band from Italy.

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

This is another band I have been aware of through ProgArcives. 

There is still life in the RPI genre and this band is proving just that.

This album is half an hour long. The band's take on RPI is the classic variant of RPI. 

The music is lush and colourful. It is melodic, pastoral and a bit muscular at times. 

The male Italian vocals are very good, indeed. The keyboards generated violins are a good bonus on this keyboards and guitars dominated album.

Half an hour is a bit on the short side when it comes to value for money. There is no surplus fat here and the music is punchy and to the point.

The quality is good throughout and this band is a talented band with a good future if they want to soldier on and release some more albums. RPI fans should get this album.

3 points 

 

 

Katatonia - Tonight's Decision (1999)

 

The fourth album from this band from Sweden.

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

One guest, Dan Swano, contributed with drums throughout this album.

The band changed from being a doom & death metal band on the previous album Discouraged Ones (1998) to a more grunge and alternative rock on that album. A big break with their first EP and their first two albums indeed.

Tonight's Decision is clocking in at just short of one hour and the band continues down the alternative rock and grunge path.

There are only clean vocals here. The music is also clean. All the death and doom metal influences have been done away with on this album. 

The music is still hard and heavy. 

The music is pretty good throughout. There are some stuff here who falls well short. Nevertheless, this is a a pretty good album. I am yet to be won over by this band's conversion.

2.5 points 

Fates Warning - Perfect Symmetry (1989)

 

The fifth album from this band from USA.

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

Two guests added keyboards and a violin on one track.

Their first four albums are a blend of heavy metal, power metal and progressive metal. Mostly heavy and power metal, it has to be said. The quality of the music is pretty poor.  

This album is three quarters of an hour long.  

The music here is progressive metal.

The vocals are both thin and shrieking. It is also pretty melodic when the music is slowing down. 

The music is guitars based. There are some keyboards and violin on one track. The tracks are reasonable long here.

This is the first album where the band has gone fully progressive metal. There are some good tracks here and some not so good tracks. The vocals, when strained, are not good at all. 

This is the best of their first five albums and by quite a margin. This is indeed a pretty good album.

2.5 points 

 

Dracula - Dracula (1996)

 

The debut album from this band from Romania.

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

This is the only album this now disbanded band has released. It is also a concept album about probably the most famous man from Romania ever..... Dracula. He lived in the Transylvania province of Romania and has been the subject of fascination for the last one hundred year.

This album is three quarters of an hour long. 

First of all, the music sounds like it was written and recorded in the late 1960s/early 1970s. The music has the feel of a proto-psych rock album, one of the early psych rock albums in the scene. 

The music is indeed eclectic psych rock with some folk rock influences. The music is really, really weird with female and male vocals and narrations in their local language. Hence, is is not possible to follow the Dracula story on this album. It is a story everybody knows so that is not a problem.  

This is one of the weirder, most bizzarre albums I have reviewed in this blog during the twelve last years. 

The music is working though and this is indeed a decent album. It scores pretty high on originality too. Check out this album.

2 points 

Daltonia - Fragmentos De Un Viaje (2007)

 

The second album from this band from Chile.

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

I was not particulary impressed by their 1999 debut album. As I also had this, the follow up album in my collection I decided to also review this album.

This album is a three quarters of an hour long album.  

The music is a blend of electronica and some rather quirky art-rock.

There is still a lot of spoken words here and some normal vocals. 

The music is pretty pedestrian and bereft of noticeable interesting details. The music is therefore pretty primitive.

There is some decent music here. But not enough to make this even a decent album. This is a half-decent album and just that.

1.5 points  

Blöndal’s C4therine. Bjorg - Wild Blue Yonder (2025)

The debut album from this band from Iceland.

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

This band was included in ProgArchives two months ago and I got this album based on the description of the music.

The music on this forty minutes long album is jazz..... sort of.

Bjorg Blondal's vocals are pretty dominating here and her vocals are in the dreampop vein. Hence, this album is a bit of a blend of jazz and dreampop.

There is also some avant-garde influences here. The music is therefore not particularly melodic or easy-listening. Some of the music even got some harsh guitar riffs. 

The music is therefore slightly weird and avant-garde. 

The vocals are superb. The music is a blend of good and decent. This is an interesting album and on balance, this is therefore a good album.  

I hope we will hear a lot more from this band in the future.

3 points 

Cen Projekt - Dawnbreak (2024)

 

The 12th album from this band from Germany.

Chris Engels did the guitars, synths, programming and vocals here.

He had help from two guests who added bass, piano and keyboards.

I reviewed the tenth album Arcane Sonic (2024) some days ago and really liked it. I gave it a very good album rating.

This album is clocking in at fifty-five minutes. The music is again heavy influenced by Genesis.

There are also some notable Yes influences here. There are also some Argos influences here. Argos is another German band and Chris Engels sounds like he is influenced by this band. That is not a bad thing as Argos is a good band.  

The music is melodic, elegant and pretty complex. The music is also slightly melancholic. 

The music is good throughout and this makes this an appealing album for those of us into symphonic prog and neo-prog. I should really get the rest of the albums from this band/project.

3 points 

  

Arcadea - The Exodus Of Gravity (2025)

 

The second album from this band from USA.

The band was a trio with a lineup of drums, keyboards, synths, samples and vocals.

Their self-titled 2017 debut album was not particularly interesting or good. I therefore had no expectations for this, the follow-up album.

This fifty minutes long album is another blend of heavy prog, neo-prog and electronica.

The music is very bombastic and heavy throughout these fifty minutes. 

The vocals are pretty good and there are some pretty good vocal harmonies too.

The sound is good throughout.

This album is an improvement on the debut album. The djent and the more primitive shouty post-punk influences have been ditched. The quality of the music is pretty good. I am not sure if I can really recommend this album. But visit their Bandcamp site and listen to this album first.

2.5 points 

  

Hällas - Panorama (2026)

 

The fourth album from this band from Sweden.

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

I reviewed their first three albums some three years ago in # 3 of this blog and liked them a lot. The first two albums were in the Scandinavian symph prog vein. Their third album was more of an art-rock album.

Panorama is clocking in at three quarters of an hour and the music is a blend of art-rock and old hard rock.

There is still some pretty obvious Kaipa influences in their music too.

The ambience and sound are very much the 1970s hard rock sound. 

The music is also melodic and elegant.

The major piece of music here is the twenty-two minutes long opening track Above The Continuum which is a fine piece of epic art-rock.

The rest of the album is also good. This album is not as good as I thought it would be based on their first three albums and the reviews I have so far read. This is still a good album and one to check out.

3 points  

Man - Kingdom Of Noise (2009)

 

The 15th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

One guest added drums on two tracks.

I have not been impressed by the latest albums by this band. The last album Diamonds And Coal from 2006 was their first without any original members. It was also a dire album. So I had no expectations to the three quarters of an hour long Kingdom Of Noise.

The music is a blend of mainstream rock and Americana. 

The music is pedestrian and pretty basic. The music is meant to be catchy..

The vocals are pretty good. The lead vocals are male vocals but there is also some female backing vocals. The latter one is pretty naff and cheesy.

Cheesy... That describe most of the music here. There are some decent songs here inbetween some pretty dire songs. This is not an album this band should be remembered for.

1.5 points 

  

Jazz Q - Elegie (1976)

 

The fourth album from this band from the Czech Republic.

The band was Martin Kratochvil on synths, moog, electric piano, organ and keyboards. He was helped by the fourteen pieces big Jazz Q with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, cello, violin, electric harp and vocals.

I was impressed by their 1975 album named Album as you can read in my review from last week. Jazz Q is a band that I find both impressive and interesting. It is obvious from listening to many other bands that the music scene from behind the repressive Communist regimes behind the Iron Curtain was pretty impressive. Thanx to ProgArchives, this scene has no come to mine and others' attention.

The music on this forty minutes long album is fusion.

There are a lot of short guitar solos and some bass solos here. The keyboards, organ and electric pianos are adding a lot of themes here too.

The music is mid-tempo, complex and quirky. It has a lot of interesting details too.

This is therefore another good album from this band. An album that should get this band some more admirers. More Jazz Q album reviews to follow this spring and early summer. 

3 points

 

  

Third Eye - Connexion (1977)

 

The second album from this band from The Netherlands.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of drums, percussion, congas, bass, organ, keyboards, saxophones and flute.

I was not impressed by their debut album which was a pretty messy jazz album which had some avant-garde pieces too.

Connexion is clocking in at just over forty minutes and the music is somewhere between jazz and fusion.

There are four pieces of music here, averaging ten minutes long each.

The music is pretty fast with mostly saxophone solos. There are also a couple of flutes and Fender Rhodes solos here.

The music is groovy and engaging. There is a lot of interesting details here and even progheads will find this album highly enjoyable.

The quality is good throughout and this album is a bit of a hidden gem in the scene. Check out this album if fusion, prog and jazz is your thing.

3 points 

 

 

Torquati. Toto - Vita, Amore e Musica (2009)

 

The second album from this artist from Italy.

Toto Torquati played piano, organ, keyboards and did the programming here.

He had help from numerous guests who added drums, bass, upright bass, guitars, violin, cello and vocals.

This is his second and final album as he passed on in 2023, 81 years old.

I reviewed his 1973 debut album back in December 2014 and liked that RPI album a lot. You can read my review here.

This album is clocking in at seventy-one minutes. The music is a blend of jazz and neo-classical music. 

The music is keyboards and synths based. The music is pretty lush at times. Some of the music is a bit too much elevator and shopping-mall music. The vocals here are mainly wordless and used as instruments.

There are some pretty good pieces here and some pretty dire pieces. 

On average, this is a decent enough album. This is an album that those into more challenging music can bypass.  

2 points 

 

 

 

 

Ergot Project - A Family Secret (2025)

 

The second album from this band/project from Italy.

This is a project from multi-instrumentalist Christian Marras on the island of Sardinia. He did the drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and the programming here. 

Some guests added vocals to this album.

The 2016 debut album was a The Beatles cover album and not particularly interesting. I have not reviewed it and neither do I intend to review it in this blog.

The three quarters of an hour long A Family Secret is to my knowledge an album with original compositions, composed by Christian Marras.

The music is a blend of dark goth and heavy prog. The music is mid-tempo 

Most of the music is dark, gloomy and brooding. The music is also pretty melodic. There are a lot of distorted vocals here in addition to some more normal, pretty good male vocals.

The quality is decent enough without really being convincing. I am not won over at all. 

2 points 

Cen Project - Arcane Sonic (2024)

 

The 10th album from this band from Germany.

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

This is so far the only two Cen Project albums I got in my collection and I have therefore decided to review them before I get some more of their albums.  

The band has the exactly same setup as ELP and the band's music is symphonic prog. That is why I expected ELP like symphonic prog on this fifty-three minutes long album.

The music here is more like Genesis and Porcupine Tree than ELP. 

The music is really elegant, melodic and full of interesting details. The vocals are really good too.

The music it as times pretty epic too and the guitars and the keyboards/synths is well balanced. 

The quality is very good throughout this album. Symphonic prog fans should check out this album.

3.5 points 

  

 

Arcadea - Arcadea (2017)

 

The debut album from this band from USA.

The band was a trio with a lineup of drums, keyboards, synths, samples and vocals.

One guest added female vocals on one track.

This band came to my attention through ProgArchives. They have released two albums and both are up for review this week here in this blog.

This, their debut album, is clocking in at forty minutes.

The music is a mishmash of djent, heavy prog, electronics and neo-prog.

The music is both vocals heavy and keyboards/synths heavy. There are some samples and electronics here too. Most of all, the music has a nasty, machine-like, synthetic feel. 

The music is pretty unimpressive throughout these forty minutes. This is still a decent album. I hope their second album is far better than this one.

2 points 

  

Arti E Mestieri - D Brane (2025)

 

The ninth album from this band from Italy.

The band was now a nineteen-member big band/project with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, violin, piano, keyboards, samples, loops, sax, flute and vocals.

This album popped up totally unexpectedly in my inbox some weeks ago. It was indeed released at the end of last year and that well below my, pretty faulty, radar.  

I believe this is more of a studio project now than a real band. Hence the nineteen contributors to this seventy-four minutes long album.

The music here is fusion.

There are a lot of symphonic prog and some folk rock influences on this mainly instrumental fusion album. Jean Luc Ponty is also a good reference here. 

The balance between violins, guitars, sax and keyboards solos is good here. There is therefore a lot to enjoy here. The very good musicianship here also adds a lot to this album. Even the three minutes of vocals adds something to this album.

The result is a good album. Maybe this is their final album. In that case, the band is leaving us on a high.

3 points 

 

Uriah Heep - Fallen Angel (1978)

 

The 12th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The band returned again one year after they had released two albums.  

This album clocks in at forty minutes. 

The band were in a bit of a creative vacuum in this period, according to what their fans have told me. That explains the music here....

The music is a blend of hard rock, rock'n'roll and arena rock. The band was trying really hard to keep at least one foot in the US market with this album. An album really dominated by US rock.

John Lawton's vocals are really good. That is the only positive thing about this album. 

Some of the songs are poppy and catchy. Trying to be catchy but failing, that is. 

The songs are pretty sub-standard and not on par with the music on their first albums. The band is threading the water on this (barely) decent album.

2 points 

  

Kikagaku Moyo - Forest of Lost Children (2014)

 

The second album from this band from Japan.

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

This is their follow up album to the pretty good self-titled debut album.

This album is clocking in at thirty-two minutes and the music is a blend of psych rock and space rock.

There is a lot of sitar in their music and that also brings raga-rock into play here as a good reference.

The music is also guitars based and the themes are based on this instrument.

The vocals are more like instruments than proper vocals. The music is mid-tempo. The music is also pretty exotic and Eastern-Asis like.

There are some good pieces here and some not so good pieces. That makes this a pretty good album. It is an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points 

Third Eye - Third Eye (1976)

 

The debut album from this band from The Netherlands.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, congas, percussion, cowbells, bass, piano, keyboards and mellotron.

This band has released three studio albums and one live album. I got their first two albums up for review this week.

The music on this thirty-seven minutes long album is jazz. 

The jazz is pretty much classic jazz. There are some Soft Machine like fusion here too. Some of the jazz here is avant-garde too. 

The music is dominated by organ, piano and mellotron. 

The music is mid-tempo to fast. It is pretty melodic at times too. 

Some of the music is pretty good while other parts does not work at all. This is an album well worth checking out.

2 points 

 

 

 

Time Thief - It's Never Over (2014)

 

The one and only album from this band from USA.

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

This album clocks in at forty minutes and the music is a blend of AOR, mainstream rock, pop and a bit of pomp rock. 

The band marketed this album as a prog rock album. Well, they were wrong. But this is how this album ended up in my collection.

The sound is decent enough. The vocals too is decent enough. 

Some of the music is catchy. Some of the music is pretty dire. Some of the music is decent.

This is an obscure, forgotten album. In the case of this album, that status is deserved. This is only a half-decent album and one to ignore.

1.5 points 

 

 

 

Another Realm - Origin (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

The band is a duo with a lineup of guitars and vocals.

One or more guests added bass, synths and programming.

This duo is Phil Stuckley from the prog band Stuckfish and Steve Morrison from the heavy metal band Tysondog. They released their self-titled EP back in 2023 before they released this album last year.

The result is this three quarters of an hour long album.

The music here is a blend of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) and progressive metal. Mostly heavy metal, it has to be said.

Their take on heavy metal is symphonic metal too with some goth rock influences.

The vocals is very good as we already know from this blog's review of the Stuckfish albums. The music is not particularly interesting. The music is a return to the 1980s-90s heavy metal scene with all it's ills and mistakes. 

This is a decent album but nothing more than that. Those into retro heavy metal should check out this album and their EP.  

2 points 

 

Last Plane Out - Cautionary Tales (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Sweden.

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

One guest added saxophone on one track.

Nils Erikson were a member of Karmakanic on their albums and is hopefully still involved in that band. Their albums is a good reference for both Last Plane Out albums. This is something I noted in my review of the 2024 self-titled debut album some days ago too.

Cautionary Tales is clocking in at thirty-eight minutes. 

The music is a blend of neo-prog and Scandinavian symphonic prog. The music is also melancholic and full of reflections. There are some Kaipa and Karmakanic influences here.

The vocals are good and the music is surprisingly complex taken into account that this is a duo. Well, it is essentially a one-man-band. 

The overall quality is good and an improvement on the debut album. This is a band fans of Scandinavian symphonic prog should check out.

3 points 

 

Equilibrio Vital - Retorno (2010)

 

The third and final album from this band from Venezuela.

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

I was not impressed by their second album Kazmor El Prisionera from 1984 as you can read in my review posted some days ago. 

The band took a long break and returned twenty-four years later with the three quarters of an hour long album.

The music is what we can describe as Latin symphonic prog.

There is some folk rock influences here too. Most of all, the music reminds me of the RPI genre. There are some Camel influences throughout this album. 

The music is both complex and melodic. It is also sunny and exotic. 

Most of the music is instrumental. There are a couple of minutes with some good male vocals. The vocals are in Spanish, their local tongue.

The music is really elegant and engaging with some good organs, flutes and guitars. If this is their final album, and that is almost a certainty, the band has left us on a high and with a very good album. 

3.5 points