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 

Fabric Of Reality Project - Still Life (2018)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

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

One guest added narrations. 

Rick Lambe is the man behind this band and he has been active in the music scene for the last few decades. This band and its three albums are his first foray into the progressive music scene. I will review these three albums in the coming weeks.

The music on this seventy-three minutes long album is classic symphonic prog. References are both Yes and Genesis.

There is a bit of a folk rock and an Americana sound in Rick's take on symphonic prog. There is also a long piece of narration (about a terror attack on London) on the nine minutes long Things Need To Change. 

The title track is an half an hour long suite. References here are Yes. The other songs are symphonic and epic too.

The vocals are good. The sound is good and Rick does a good job on the instruments and arrangements of the pieces of music.

Rick and his Fabric Of Reality Project has been flying well under mine and other prog rock fans radar. This album is hidden gem and one to check out. This is a borderline great album. A couple of lesser great tracks "only" makes this a very good album. 

Check out this album if symphonic prog is your thing.

3.5 points  

 

 

 

 

 

Klone - Duplicate (2003)

 

The debut album from this band from France.

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

Two guests added violins and vocals.

This band has so far released nine albums and I am reviewing them this spring and summer. 

I have been warned that their music is very strange and twisted. Hence, I got some trepidations.... 

This forty-two minutes long album takes us into a blend of nu-metal and alternative metal.

The vocals is mostly distorted and heavy. The music is also very heavy at the beginning of this album. After half an hour, we get some ambient music and some rather strange grunge ballads.

The alternative metal is pretty good. The ambient stuff and grunge bits are a bit sub-standard.

The result is not a convincing debut album. It is more like various ideas thrown together and presented as an album. This is a decent album but nothing more than that. 

2 points 

  

Kingfisher Sky - Hallway of Dreams (2007)

 

The debut album from this band from The Netherlands.

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

This band has so far released five albums and they are all up for review this spring. 

I have known about this band for ages, since they released this album no less. But it has taken me this long to review their albums.

This album is clocking in at three quarters of an hour and the music is melodic heavy prog. The vocals are female vocals.

We called it female fronted prog some years ago before we realised this was too sexist. Which it was. There is no denying that the very good female vocals are in the forefront of the mix on this album.

The music is as stated above heavy prog. There are also some neo-prog and some hints for folk rock here. The music is really melodic, yet pretty complex too.

The songs are all good and this is a debut album which raises my expectations for their remaining albums.

3 points  

  

Solteronas en Escabeche - Lenguaje y Comunicación (2019)

 

The debut album from this band from Chile.

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

This is another new band to me. I got this album from a friend in Chile. It has taken me some years to finally get around to reviewing it.

The music on this fifty-five minutes long album is a blend of Latin folk-music, post-punk and avant-garde/RIO rock.

The vocals are in Spanish and they are female vocals. The sound is good.

The instrumentation is sparse to say the least. The music is rhythmic and a bit primitive. 

The music is really eclectic here and has this RIO ethos throughout. The vocals are pretty good.

Those of you into avant-garde/RIO will find a lot to enjoy on this album. This is a decent enough album. I am not entirely won over, I am afraid. 

2 points 

 

  

Sunstain - Modern Nature (2022)

 

The debut album from this band from Austria.

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

This band has released a lot of singles on Bandcamp but only one album, this album. This to my knowledge.

I am not sure where and how I got this album. The music is not really the genre this blog is covering.

The music on this fifty minutes long album is grungy hard rock. 

There is a lot of grunge rock in their hard rock. There is also a lot of blues here.

The vocals are muscular and a bit too strained at the most hard rocking pieces of music. There are some more mellow pieces here where the vocals is very good. The vocals fits the music though.

The music is decent enough and hard rock fans should check out this Bandcamp album and all their singles.

2 points 

Outernet. The - The Light & The Fury (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Australia.

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

This is a new band to me and I discovered them through ProgArchives. 

The music on this fifty minutes long album is a blend of jazz and fusion.

The jazz and fusion here is fast and technical. It is also groovy. 

The keyboards is the dominant instrument here, helped by the three other instruments.

The music is pretty much mainstream jazz/fusion. The music is also slightly eclectic. There is also some good melodies here.

The music is very much how I envisage my jazz/fusion. The music is really good throughout. I very much enjoy the music here and I recommend this album to anyone into fusion and jazz.

3 points   

 

 

Last Plane Out - Last Plane Out (2024)

 

The debut album from this band from Sweden.

The band was Nils Erikson on keyboards, vocals and programming.

Jonas Reingold added bass and guitars on one song and Aida Jabbari added female vocals on another song.

Nils Erison (ex Karmakanic) and his Last Plane Out project has so far released two albums and I am reviewing both of them this week.

Nils has taken parts of the Karmakanic sound and music with him on his new adventure, Last Plane Out. 

The music on this thirty-five minutes long album is a blend of singer/songwriter and Scandinavian symphonic prog. There are also some latter days Pink Floyd in the music on this album.

The music is light, fluffy and uplifting. There is some good music here. Most of the music is a bit too pedestrian. This is still an album well worth checking out. This is indeed a pretty good album.

2.5 points 

 

Equilibrio Vital - Kazmor El Prisionero (1984)

 

The second album from this band from Venezuela.

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

Four guests added backing vocals.

I reviewed their 1983 self-titled debut album back in May 2011 in ProgArchives and gave it a good rating as you can see here in my review.

It has taken me almost fifteen years to decide that their remaining two albums also should be reviewed and that is what I am doing this week.

The music on this forty minutes long album is a blend of Latin rock and symphonic prog. 

The sound is a bit 1980s and pretty flat. The music is very hard at times. It is also symphonic at times too. 

The vocals is pretty good. The music is at times good. There are also some pretty dire pieces of music here.

This album is a notable drop in quality compared to the debut album. This is a decent enough album and not an album I would recommend.

2 points 

 

Jaime - Above And Beyond (2026)

 

The debut album from this band from Norway.

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

This band was formed by five Norwegians. One of them moved from Ecuador to Norway when he was a toddler. Twenty years later, this man wrote the lyrics and the music for this one hour long album. An album about alienation and mental health. This is also a theme I know well myself.

The album starts with a bold, epic instrumental symphonic prog metal piece before we get some female vocals and then some more symphonic prog metal.

The music is epic and bold throughout. This album is not a standard prog metal album. The music is too symphonic for this to be a standard prog metal album.

The musicians does a great job. The music is pretty unique and the vocals is great.

Not all the music is great here. Nevertheless, this is a pretty unusual album and a very good one too. This album should interest both the symphonic prog and the prog metal fans. Check it out.

3.5 points 

 

 

 

Katatonia - Discouraged Ones (1998)

 

The third album from this band from Sweden.

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

Three guests added bass, keyboards and backing vocals.

I am continuing to explore this band. Their debut EP and then debut album made a pretty big impression on me thirty-two years ago. Then I forgot the whole band as I moved to a new country and became more into progressive rock than metal. But I have returned to the band now to review their albums.

The three quarters of an hour long Discouraged Ones is a total break with their past as a death/doom metal band. The music here is more like gloomy indie rock.

The band is here doing the same journey as Anathema also did at the same time as Katatonia underwent their journey of transformation.

Most of the guitar sound is still rooted in the sound on their first two albums. That means a death/doom metal guitar sound underpinning the dark, gloomy indie alt-rock on this album.

That means there are still some similarities between this album and their first two albums.

The vocals are clean vocals and pretty good. 

The music is pretty good. This after overcoming the shock this sudden break with the past on this album. There are indeed some good stuff here and some decent stuff. This is an interesting album, indeed.

2.5 points 

Fates Warning - No Exit (1988)

 

The fourth album from this band from USA.

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

One guest added keyboards to this album.

I have not really been impressed by their first three albums and was not really looking forward to spending some quality time with this album.

This album is forty minutes long and the music is a blend of heavy metal, power metal and progressive metal. 

The sound on this album is mired in the 1980s heavy/power metal sound. The guitars sounds plastic fantastic and the vocals are screaming more than being melodic.

There are some Watchtower and early Queensryche influences here. The quality of the music on No Exit is not on the same level. 

Albums like this is one of the reasons I cannot stand power metal. There are some decent stuff here but most of the stuff is pretty dire. Hence...

1.5 points 

 

 

 

Travelers Of Tyme - Someday In The Ancient Future (2023)

 

The second album from this band from USA.

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

This band/duo has released three name-your-price Bandcamp albums. I reviewed their first album some days ago and quite liked it. But I had no plans of reviewing any more of their albums. Then a couple of albums got lost and I ended up with this album anyway.

This album is clocking in at thirty-four minutes and it is very much following in the footsteps of their 2015 debut album Chronomads. 

The music is a blend of surf rock, garage rock and psych rock. The music is very quirky and weird with some weird sampled voices.

The music is mainly performed by guitars. There are some keyboards and programmed woodwinds here too.

Most of the music is surf rock and this makes the music quirky indeed.

The quality is again pretty good and both the albums I have reviewed should be downloaded and enjoyed.

2.5 points  

 

 

 

 

Transcendence - Eternal Stream (1997)

 

The debut album from this band from Canada.

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

This band has released two albums but I only got this album and I got it back in 1997. I reviewed it for a couple of now defunct fanzines and then sold the CD after I had copied it over to my first ever external hard-disc, a then 40 GB big monster. The album has now found it's way to my recent home server and the list of to-review albums.

The band was formed in admiration for the likes of The Gathering and The Third And The Mortal. The music on this fifty minutes long album is more a goth version of The Gathering's debut album. The music is nowhere near The Third And The Mortal, though.

The album comes complete with female and male vocals. The guitars are pretty bad and the same goes for the sound which is the 1990s goth metal sound.

There are also some acoustic pieces here. They are not interesting at all. 

This is one of the least interesting goth albums from the scene and a borderline turkey. There are some decent stuff here. Hence...

1.5 points 

 

   

Perfect Beasts - Perfect Beasts (2026)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This band is a supergroup with John Mitchell (It Bites, Arena, Lonely Robot, Frost*, Kino etc) as the main force behind this band/project.

John Mitchell is a purveyor of muscular neo-prog and that is what we get here.

Fifty minutes of muscular neo-prog with some John Mitchell's vocals, it is.

The ten songs are short and pretty punchy. They are not particular catchy, although I get the feeling they were meant to be that.

The guitars and the vocals are very good. The music is pretty melodic and mainstream neo-prog.

There is no surprises here and no really great pieces of music. The music is good and this is a good album.

3 points 

Idioverse - Red Buzzer (2024)

 

The fifth album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This fifty minutes long album is their so far latest album. 

Their first four albums have been a mixed bag, quality wise. From half-decent to pretty good. 

Their music has always been a blend of the esoteric art-rock of Radiohead and post-punk. 

On Red Buzzer, the band sounds like a blend of Radiohead and Thumpermonkey Live. 

The music is still pretty harsh and esoteric. It is also hard too. The music has some dissonant guitars too. 

The vocals are good. The contrasts between the melodic vocals and the harsh, dissonant music are the band's modus operandi.   

The quality is decent enough. This is not their best album. It is well worth checking our their name-your-price Bandcamp albums if challenging dissonant music is your cup of tea.

2 points 

 

Garybaldi - Storie Di An'altra Città (2016)

 

The sixth and latest album from this band from Italy.

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

A number of guests added percussion, bass, guitars, viola, violin, cello, French horn, bassoon, flute, saxophone and vocals.

This fifty minutes long album is the bands latest album. It is perhaps their final album too. 

I have not been impressed by their albums. Albums in the blues, rock'n'roll and pop vein.

Bambi Fossati, the main member of the band on the first five albums is no longer a member of Garybaldi on this album. He only guests and add guitars on one of the tracks, track six. 

The music on this album is also a total break with the first five albums too. The music is muscular, melodic RPI. Classic RPI in fact with male Italian vocals.

The vocals are very good and there are a couple of very good songs here too. The overall quality is good and this is a very enjoyable album. 

This album is by far their best album and it is a shame that the band never really explored classic RPI before they recorded this album. This is indeed a good album and a nice epitaph if this is their final album.

3 points 

 

Bladverk - Monumental Thrill, Monumental Chill (2026)

 

The debut album from this band from Norway.

Bladverk is the guitarist and vocalist Henrik Schmidt. 

He got help from three guests adding vibraphone, keyboards and woodwinds.

I got this three quarters of an hour long album from their record label Apollon Records. Hence this review although the music is not really my cup of tea or something I really review in this blog.

The music is a blend of acoustic guitars and vocals singer/songwriter music and art-rock. Mostly singer/songwriter, it has to be said.

The music is pastoral and softly spoken. The music is also lyrical and fully acoustic.

The vocals are good. The music is too pedestrian for my liking although there are some good keyboards and woodwinds here.

The music is decent enough. This album is not really my cup of tea. Fans of acoustic guitars and vocals based music should give this album a chance.

2 points  

 

Man - Diamonds And Coal (2006)

 

The 14th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

One guest added percussion.

The band's latest albums has not been impressive. The band had long abandoned the psych rock that made their name in the late 60s - early 70s. It had been replaced by mainly mainstream rock.

The music on this fifty minutes long album is mainstream rock with some smaller blues rock and americana influences.

The album is songs based with a lot of vocals. Some of the songs are a bit hard rocking. Others are more like ballads.

The music is pretty pedestrian and not interesting at all. This is everything progressive and psych rock is not. 

There are some decent songs here and some pretty dire pieces of music. This is not an album this band should be remembered for or even be associated with.

1.5 points 

 

Jazz Q - Album, Které Nikdy Nevyšlo (1975)

 The third album from this band from the Czech Republic.

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

Numerous guests added guitars and vocals to this album.

I have really liked their first two albums and there is no doubts that this band is one of the better jazz and fusion bands from the Eastern Europe, if not the whole of Europe.

This album is clocking in at seventy minutes and the music is a blend of fusion and jazz.

The music is mostly mellow with some sporadic faster piece of jazz and fusion.

The guitar solos here are great and one of the aspects of this album that draws me in. My air guitar has been dragged out of the closet and used when listening to this album. 

The organ sounding keyboards are also very good here.

There are some vocals at the end of this album. Most of the album is instrumental jazz and fusion.

The quality is very good throughout. This album is pure joy if fusion and/or jazz is your thing. Check it out.

3.5 points 

 

Traumwolf - Aussen (1982)

 

The one and only album from this band from Germany.

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

I know nothing about this band. I suspect this band is from the then DDR - East Germany. The part of Germany which was behind the Iron Curtain then and run by the Communist Party. I have my suspicions based on the sound and the music.

This album is three quarters of an hour long and the music is soft mainstream rock with female German vocals.

There are some early 1970s symphonic prog influences in the music. They are pretty faint, though.

The music here was already pretty much outdated when this album came out and the sound is not particularly pleasing. Hence my suspicions about this album being released behind the Iron Curtain.

The vocals are good, although a bit too light. The musicians do a decent job. The poor quality of the music makes this a borderline turkey. There are a couple of decent songs here though. This is not an album I would recommend. There is a good reason why this album is so obscure... it's lack of quality. 

1.5 points 

 

 

 

 

Travelers Of Tyme - Chronomads (2015)

 

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

This band/duo has released three name-your-price Bandcamp albums. I only got this album and I doubt I will get their two other albums... let alone review them.... or maybe I will/should.

The music is a blend of surf rock, garage rock and psych rock on this thirty-six minutes long album.

The music is very quirky and weird.

The music is also melodic at times with some weird voices and samples included in the melodies.  

There are some space rock guitar solos here and some organs. The guitars are pretty good.

There are some good stuff here and this album comes a bit of a surprise as I did not have any expectations to this album at all. There are some hidden goodies in the scene and this album... and probably band too... is one of them.

Check out this pretty good album.

2.5 points 

Budjana. Dewa & Czech Symphony Orchestra - Praguenayama (2026)

 

The 14th album from this artist from Indonesia.

Dewa Budjana did the soundscapes and guitars here. The symphonic orchestra delivered a full symphonic sound.

Three other guests added bass, hanpan and kendang.

I have got a lot of his album still unreviewed but I will get onto it later this year/early next year. I should have done this years ago, but other artists and bands has come in the way...

This album is clocking in at half an hour. The music is neo-classical music with some Indonesian folk rock and guitar solos. 

The music is both elegant and melodic. It has some good details, mostly delivered by the Indonesian instruments and the guitars.

I am pretty much dead against rock and jazz bands adding classical orchestras to their sound. The result is mostly dreadful bad albums. This album is an exception that confirms my opinion. The music is pretty good throughout and this album is quite a pleasant album.

This is an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points 

 

Idioverse - Sook (2018)

 

The fourth album from this band from Great Britain.

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

One guest added drums on the first song.

The 2014 album Water Bomb was a pretty good album and I had some high hopes for Sook.

Sook is a three quarters of an hour long album and it is a compilation album of unused songs going back many years. Something I did not know when I put this album up for review.

There is a lot of Radiohead in their music and some post-punk. Nirvana, the big grunge band from the 1990s springs to mind here too.

The album is full of contrasts between the more harmonic Radiohead'ish tunes and the angry dissonant post-punk.  

The vocals are good and that is the only part of this album that is good. 

The quality is decent. This album is a disappointment. It is also a name-your-price Bandcamp album.

2 points 

 

 

Garybaldi - La Ragione E Il Torto (2000)

 

The fifth album from this band from Italy.

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

Two guests added drums on this album.

The band returned again four years after the release of the fairly decent Blokko 45 album. An album I reviewed here one week ago.

The music on this one hour long album is again a blend of rock'n'roll and blues. There is also some Italian pop here.

The Italian vocals are pretty good. The music is hard and pretty primitive.

The songs are not too bad. The music is again decent enough. Garybaldi is failing to impress me, I am afraid. Nevertheless...

2 points 

Danakil Safari - From The Soil (2026)

 

The debut album from this band from Norway.

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

This is a new band to me and another debut album from the very impressive Apollon Records, Norway.

The band is named after a geographical feature in Ethiopia, Africa. A depression in the earth, no less.

This is a three quarters of an hour long album. The music is a blend of ethno jazz, fusion and eclectic prog. 

The music is very eclectic and quirky.... but still somewhat melodic. 

I am normally not a big fan of woodwinds. But the band's use of woodwinds is very cool and almost makes me forget that I am no fan of these instruments. 

This album is not for those who want clear and concise melodies. It is an album for the fans of jazz and fusion. It is also a good album in it's own right and one to check out. I hope to hear a lot more from this band in the future.

3 points 

 

  

 

Uriah Heep - Innocent Victim (1977)

 

The 11th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The band returned again for their second album of the year, the year of 1977.

The last albums have not really been interesting albums and I did not have many, if any expectations to the forty minutes long Innocent Victim.

The music is quite plain and simple 1970s hard rock.

This album is really hard rocking. The not-so-pleasant album art-work is really fitting, indeed. 

John Lawton's vocals are the only really aspect of this album. The hard-rock is a bit one-dimentional and not so interesting.

The songs are simply not good enough here. This is still a decent enough album but it falls a bit short of the mark.

2 points  

 

Kikagaku Moyo - Kikagaku Moyo (2013)

 

The debut album from this band from Japan.

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

This band has released six albums and they are all up for review here throughout this spring. Something I am really looking forward to.

This album is just short of half an hour long.

The music is a blend of psych rock and space rock.

The use of sitar also brings the raga-rock genre into play here.

The music is at times pretty heavy space rock. Other parts of the album is more pastoral psych rock.

The music is on average melodic. The sitar is adding a lot of colours and indeed life to this album.

This is therefore a pretty good album which is lacking a bit when it comes to melodies. This is more than an acceptable debut album, although a bit too short.

2.5 points  

  

Prognoise - Lacrimal (2021)

 

The second album from this band from Brazil.

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

A number of guests added percussion, guitars, violin, keyboards, synths, flute and effects. 

I really like their 2018 debut album Solar and gave it a good review back in June 2020 in # 2 of this blog. I also mistakenly wrote that this was the one and only album from the band. The band proved me wrong one year later when they released Lacrimal. My mistake... Sorry.

The band is from the far north of Brazil, far away from the main prog scene in Brazil. It is a major achievement that the band has released two albums and one EP. 

Lacrimal gives good value for money as it is clocking in at seventy minutes. The music is a blend of King Crimson like ecletic prog on the opening ten minutes before it becomes a more Latin-American symphonic prog album. The music is returning to eclectic prog on a regular basis throughout this album.

The balance between symphonic prog and eclectic prog means there is a lot of very good details on this album.

The sporadic vocals here are good. Most of the album is instrumental. There are some proper songs here too and they are very good. 

The sound is good and the music is very good. This is one of the hidden gems that makes running this blog so much more interesting and rewarding. Check out this album.

3.5 points 

 

 

 

 

 

Penguin Cafe - A Matter Of Life (2011)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was an eleven pieces big band with a lineup of percussion, bass, cello, viola, violin, ukulele, dulcimer, cuatro, piano, melodica and northumbrian pipes.

This band was formed by a son of two members from The Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Penguin Cafe has so far released five albums. I have only got this album from them. I have reviewed all the The Penguin Cafe Orchestra albums in this blog.

A Matter Of Life is clocking in at almost fifty minutes and chamber avant-garde neo-classical music is what we get here.

There are a lot of strings here and some piano.

The music is pretty slow and a bit pedestrian. 

Is this rock ? Is this progressive rock ? No. It is chamber music.

The music is decent though with some interesting pieces of music. The music never really becomes good and I think this is the only one of their albums I will ever review.  

2 points 

 

 

Solstice - Clann (2025)

 

The eighth album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was an eight-piece big band with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, violin, keyboards and vocals.

One guest added vocals on one track.

I have reviewed some Soltice albums in the previous editions of this blog and were therefore interested in this album when I got it. Somehow, it fell through the cracks in my office, and it is only now that I have finally been able to review it.

This album is, including the bonus track, forty-five minutes long. 

The music is neo-prog influenced celtic folk rock.

The music is both dynamic, colourful and melodic. There is a lot of very good female vocals here and the guitars and the violins are good.

The songs are pretty long and a bit complex.

The quality is good throughout this album. This is another good album from one of the better bands in Great Britain right now.

3 points  

 

 

 

Soft Machine. The - Thirteen (2026)

 

The 14th album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, piano, duduk, mellotron, flutes, saxophones and electronics.

Two guest added guitars and organ.

According to the band, this is their 13th album. However... most of us regard the 1976 album Rubber Riff as a Soft Machine album. Hence, this is their 14th album. This as a clarification.

Thirteen is clocking in at sixty-five minutes and the music is a blend of pure jazz and fusion.

The music is mostly pretty dense jazz.

Daevid Allen and his guitar appears as a guest musician here on one track, some forty five years after he left the band. 

There are some melodic stuff here but there are not many of those. The music is driven by guitars, flutes, organs and mostly saxophones. Theo Travis is the most prominent member of the band on this album.

This album is the least accessible, the least melodic of their albums, going back to 1969. The music is good though. This album is not among their best albums though. I am still glad that this band is alive, touring and releasing new albums. 

3 points 

 

 

 

Pymlico - No More No Less Live Stud... (2026)

 

The ninth studio album from this band from Norway.

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

I have reviewed all their albums in previous editions of this blog and I therefore jumped on the chance to review this album, their newest album.

This album is forty minutes long and the music is a blend of cinematic rock and symphonic prog.

The music is also instrumental, gentle and melodic. The music is also mid-tempo and dynamic.

There are a lot of guitars, organs and saxophones here. 

There are some good harmonies here and some good solos.

The music is wishy-washy at times. The quality is decent to good throughout this album.

This is not their best album. It is still an album for those who love instrumental prog.

2.5 points 

  

 

Macky Ar - Rivers Apart (2026)

 

The eight album from this band from India.

Macky Ar is a one-man-band where Mahesh Arora does the guitars, synths, programming and some vocals. 

Mahesh got help from two guests who added guitars and vocals on a couple of tracks.

I have reviewed the first five Macky Ar albums in # 3 and this issue of this blog. His albums have improved a lot since the debut album. So when this album popped up in my inbox, I had no hesitations in adding it to my long to-be-reviewed list.

Rivers Apart is clocking in at just short of one hour and five minutes.

The music here is in the same style as on his first seven albums. That means melodic symphonic prog.

The music is pretty epic throughout. The music is not particular complex due to this being a one-man-band. That band format comes with some strict limits. 

The music is therefore more melodic and it has some good latter days Pink Floyd vibes throughout.

The vocals is pretty good and the music is good. Macky Ar/Mahesh Arora has finally arrived.

3 points  

 

 

 

 

Idioverse - Water Bomb (2014)

 

The third album from this band from Great Britain.

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

Two guests added drums and bass on some of the tracks.

I am not a fan of their first two albums as evidenced in my reviews posted last month. 

This album is a three quarters of an hour long album. The music is again art-rock.

There are again a lot of Radiohead influences here. The music here is still a lot more eclectic than the normal fare from Radiohead. King Crimson is indeed a good reference here too.

There is also a lot of post-punk in their music. This DIY ethos which shines through at this name-your-price Bandcamp album.

The band has expanded their music a lot on this album and the vocals are good. Tom Yorke is a good reference when it comes to the vocals. 

The quality is pretty good and this makes this album an interesting piece of art-rock. Check it out.

2.5 points 

 

 

Garybaldi - Blokko 45 (1996)

 

The fourth album from this band from Italy.

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

This is the follow up album to the 1990's Bambi Fossati & Garybaldi album. That album was a pretty dire album. Hence, I got no expectations to this album.

The music on this forty minutes long album is more or less the same type of music as on the 1990's album. 

The music is a blend of rock'n'roll, blues and Italian pop.

The music is fast and hard. The sound is decent enough. 

The Italian male vocals are decent enough and the majority of the songs are decent too. There are still some dire pieces of music here and it is impossible to overlook those pieces when writing a review.

This is another pretty decent album. It is also an album best forgotten.

1.5 points 

 

Stazione Delle Frequenze. La - Chirale (2023)

 

The second album from this band from Italy.

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

This is the follow up album to the 2019 debut album Physis. A pretty good album I reviewed seven years ago, in 28. February 2019 in # 2 of this blog. 

The music on the half an hour long Chirale is RPI. 

Their take on RPI is mid-tempo RPI with some light Italian vocals. Their take on RPI has got a lot of neo-prog influences too. There are also some heavy prog here.

The music is pretty flowery throughout with some very good vocals. The music is also pretty muscular with some guitar solos.

There are some decent and some good songs here. This is therefore a pretty good album and not a particular improvement on their debut album. 

2.5 points 

 

 

  

 

Sloane Square Band - Thoughts (2024)

 

The second album from this band from France.

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

Two guests added bass and vocals.

This band has so far released three albums and I got their first two albums up for review this month. I reviewed their debut album Guelf some days ago and that was a pretty good album.

This album is clocking in at three quarters of an hour. The music is lively and mid-tempo. There is a lot of latter days Pink Floyd influences here and some Americana influences. There are also some neo-prog influences here.

There is a lot of female and male vocals here. There are also some good guitar riffs, guitar solos and organs here. 

The music is melodic and pretty good. The music is not a particularly exciting or proggy. It is still an album worthy of your attention.

3 points

 

Malibran - Remastered Collection (2025)

 

This is the first best-of album from this band from Italy.

The band was a sextet on this album with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, piano, keyboards, flute, saxophone and vocals.

This eighty minutes long album was released last year through MaRaCash own Bandcamp site. I don't normally review best-of albums. But this band deserve a bit of attention and I suspect that the readers of this blog know about this album. Hence, I am reviewing it.

Malibran has released five studio albums, three live albums and a rare-and-unreleased album. I have reviewed their five studio albums both in this blog and in ProgArchives.

The music is a blend of neo-prog and RPI. 

The music is melodic and epic. It is also pretty symphonic at times. As this is a compilation album, there is a pretty big difference between these songs who were originally released between 1990 and 2009. There are some good flutes on some of the tracks and some very good Italian vocals.

The overall quality is good and this is a good compilation for those who are curious about this band, one of the better new RPI bands.

3 points 

 

Carpani. Alex - The Good Man (2024)

 

The seventh album from this artist from Italy.

Alex Carpani did keyboards, programming and vocals.

Five guests added drums, bass, guitars, saxophones and soprano female vocals.

This one hour long album is so far the latest album from Alex Carpani.

Alex has returned to symphonic prog on this album.

The music is epic, bold, muscular, operatic and melodic. There is some baroque music here. There are also some neo-prog influences.

Alex has still retained some heavy prog and Porcupine Tree influences on this album. Some of the songs here are indeed in the heavy prog genre.

This is an enjoyable album and a very good album indeed. It is one of his best albums, if not his best album to this date. Check out this album.

3.5 points 

  

Morse. Alan - So Many Words (2025)

 

The second album from this artist from USA.

Alan Morse did the bass, guitars, bouzouki, mandolin, electric sitar, cello, tin whistle and vocals here.

He got help from a lot of guests who added drums, bass, guitars, viola, keyboards, saxophones, tin whistle and vocals.

His debut album arrived back in 2007 and that was a guitar based fusion album. So that was what I expected on the one hour long So Many Words too.

Alan Morse has changed style on this album.

US Symphonic prog and pomp rock is the music here. There are a lot of Spock's Beard and Saga influences here. Ditto for Kansas and some funk influences too.

The music is bold, epic and melodic. It reminds me a lot about the first Spock's Beard albums.

Alan Morse's guitars are still prominent here and his riffs and solos are very good. 

The overall quality is indeed very good and this is one of last year's better albums. It is an album well worth checking out.

3.5 points  

  

Neal. Ian - All in the Golden Afternoon... (2026)

 

The fifth album from this artist from Great Britain.

Ian Neal did the guitars, piano, organ, keyboards and synths here.

He got help from numerous guests who added narrations, female vocals and a guitar solo.

I have reviewed a couple of his albums in # 2 and # 3 of this blog. I like them a lot and have rated them as very good and good. 

This one hour long album is not really a new album. It the twentieth anniversary of the 2006 album of the same name. His debut album, no less. 

The music is symphonic prog with a lot of The Enid influences. There are also some Yes and Genesis influences here.

There is a lot of narrations and female vocals here in addition to the keyboards and guitars. 

The music is very flowery and symphonic. It is also very melodic throughout.

The music is good and this is a recommended album. Do you really need this album if you have got the 2006 version of the album ? I would say so, yes.

3 points   

Katatonia - Brave Murder Day (1996)

 

The second album from this band from Sweden.

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

Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth did the growl vocals. 

In other words, Mikael Akerfeldt did most of the vocals on this album. Opeth were just starting up back then and their first albums were clearly influenced by Katatonia. 

This album is clocking in at forty-two minutes and the music is a blend of death and doom metal. As mentioned above, the vocal is mostly death metal growl vocals.

There are some melodic pieces inbetween the slabs of death and doom metal. The tempo is mid-tempo and the music is pretty melodic.

The music is also pretty quirky. The clean vocals are pretty good. The music is bold and pretty epic.

The result is a pretty good album and one to check out.

2.5 points  

 

 

Fates Warning - Awaken The Guardian (1986)

 

The third album from this band from USA.

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

One guest added keyboards.

The band returned again with this fifty minutes long album.

This album is their proper breakthrough and is now regarded as a semi-classic in the power metal and progressive metal genres.

The band is still influenced by early years Iron Maiden. There are still a lot of power metal in their music too.

The band has moved a lot in the direction of progressive metal. Although the migration over to this genre is not complete, there is a lot of progressive metal here.

The light, screaming male vocals are a bit of an acquired taste and not really the type of vocals I find comfortable good. They are pretty good.

The general quality is decent enough. The music is suffering a lot from the 1980s sound and this album has not aged well. This is a decent enough album.

2 points 

Spisek Sześciu ‎- Complot Of Six (1975)

 

The one and only album from this band from Poland.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of drums, bass, piano, trombone, saxophone and trumpet.

The album-art work gives away the game here. This is a forty minutes long jazz album. I found it in ProgArchives (as per usual) so someone must have thought there is some fusion and/or prog here too.

The music is much more jazz than fusion. The take on jazz is esoteric and eclectic.  

The jazz is mid-tempo to fast. It is also a bit funky at times. 

There are some good woodwind solos here and some really good organs and bass. 

The music is also pretty hard and this album is therefore not for the faint hearted. 

The quality is decent to good. I am not totally won over by this album. It is still one to check out if jazz and fusion are your thing.

2.5 points 

 

 

Sloane Square Band - Guelf (2021)

 

The debut album from this band from France.

The band was an eight pieces big band on this album with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

This band has so far released three albums and I got their first two albums up for review this month.

This album is clocking in at fifty-five minutes and the music is a blend of neo-prog, psych and folk rock. There are also some hints of jazz and blues here. 

There is a lot of female and male vocals here. The music is lively, mid-tempo and pretty much mainstream rock.

There are also some early Moody Blues and some 1970s arena rock influences here.

The quality is pretty good and this is a more than acceptable debut album. I hope the band has built on this album on the follow up album as I will review it in some days' time.

 2.5 points 

 

Avamanyar - Eternity Of Ages (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from USA.

This is a one-man-band run by Chris Sanders who plays drums, percussion, bass, guitars, piano, organ, keyboards and vocals

Three guests added guitars, organ and flutes.

I heard about this band through ProgArchives and their submission to the site. I got their album and put it on my long list of new albums to review. This is the day....

This album clocks in at sixty-six minutes and the music is some sort of US symphonic prog.

There are some Kansas and a lot of Yes influences in Chris Sander's take on symphonic prog. The music is quirky and pretty symphonic. There are some pretty evident classical music influences here.

The music is still both muscular and melodic with some good organs and guitars. The vocals are really good too.

There is a lot to enjoy on this album if neo-prog and symphonic prog are your thing. This band should be welcomed with open arms in the progressive rock scene. I hope we will hear a lot more from Chris Sander in the future.

3 points 

   

Carpani. Alex - Microcosm (2022)

 

The sixth album from this artist from Italy.

Alex Carpani did the keyboards, bass synths, mellotron, drum loops, electronics and vocals.

A number of guests added drums, bass, guitars, violin, flute, saxophones and vocals.

Alex Carpani returned again after a two years long album break with this one hour long album.

The album starts with a version of the King Crimson classic Starless and I am by now starting to wonder if this is one of the dreaded cover versions/tribute albums. Thankfully, it is not. This version of Starless is nowhere as good as the original version. That probably says more about King Crimson's brilliance than Alex Carpani.

The rest of the album is more of a neo-prog prog album. There are some strong Steven Wilson and Porcupine Tree influences on this album.  

The music is melodic and pretty elegant. There is a lot of good details here too and the vocals is good.

This is another good album from Alex Carpani. 

3 points 

Morse. Alan - Four O'Clock And Hysteria (2007)

 

The debut album from this artist from USA.

Alan Morse did all the electric guitars here. 

He had help from a number of guests who added drums, percussion, bass, acoustic guitars, mandolin, violin and keyboards.  

Alan Morse is the founding member of Spock's Beard in addition to releasing two solo albums. He released his last studio album last year and a review of that album will follow in some days time.

Most of Spock's Beard, including his brother Neal Morse, helped out Alan Morse on this one hour and four minutes long album.

The music here is instrumental fusion.... well, most fusion albums are instrumental so let us call this a fusion album. The music is dominated by Alan Morse's guitars too. He is a superb guitarist indeed.

Some of the music is funky with some good jazz themes. Other parts of this album are rather pastoral and slow. 

Alan Morse really showcases his abilities on guitars and this is therefore mostly a classic guitar hero album. He is well supported by the guests here who also do a very good job. 

The music is good though with some very good pieces of music. I am a bit unsure but I chose to give it a very good rating as there is a lot to enjoy here.

3.5 points