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 

Rostro Del Sol - Universo 25 (2026)

 

The third album from this band from Mexico.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bajo, guitars, keyboards and saxophone.

The band returned again with this album, their third album. I have really enjoyed their first two albums and jumped at the chance to review their new album too.

Universo 25 is a fifty minutes long album. The music is hard & heavy psych rock.

There is also some jazz, make that a lot of jazz in their music. They have mercifully got rid of the brass rock who blighted their second album Blue Storm from 2023. 

The jazz here is really hard and heavy too. Which goes well together with the hard psych rock here.

The music is instrumental throughout and there are a lot of good details here. There are also some good guitar solos here. The organs is also good.

This is a welcome return to form for this band after the rather disappointing Blue Storm album. I still think their self-titled debut album is their best album. Nevertheless, this is a good album from a good band who deserve a lot more attention. Get their albums from their Bandcamp page.

3 points

 

 

 

Man - Undrugged (2002)

 

The 13th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

Two guests added drums.

The band returned again with this fifty minutes long album. An album recorded during two sessions, five years apart. An album with this pretty horrendous bad album art-work.

The music is a bit of a mixed bag. Americana, psych rock and mainstream rock. The music is also mid-tempo and pretty soft and pedestrian.

The songs are mostly original compositions. Their cover version of Georgia On My Mind is decent enough.

The vocals are decent enough.

Some of the songs here are pretty dire. A couple of decent songs are the album's saving grace. This album is to this point their worst album and by a good margin.  

1.5 points 

 

Jazz Q - Symbiosis (1974)

 

The second album from this band from the Czech Republic.

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

A number of guests added congas, clarinet, trumpet and vocals.  

This is the follow up album to their 1973 debut album.

With a bonus track on the CD, this album is clocking in at fifty minutes. The original album is clocking in at forty minutes. I would strongly recommend the fifty minutes long version of this album as the ten minutes long bonus track is a very good piece of bluesy jazz.

The music here is fusion with female vocals.

The music is very jazzy with some good organ and guitars solos. The music is also a blend of fast and mid-tempo fusion.

There is a lot of details here and the vocals are good. 

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. This is an album for the fusion fans out there.

2.5 points 

Vuvr - Pilgrimage (2001)

 

The one and only album from this band from the Czech Republic.

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

A number of guests added synths, didgeridoo, tabla, saxophone and flutes.

This album is a rare one. It was released through Shindy Records in the Czech Republic. I remember that label as an extreme metal label. I got some of their albums but then lost interest in the genre before they released this album. Hence, this is my first meeting with this album after it was recommended to me through ProgArchives.

The music on this forty minutes long album is progressive death metal. Cynic, Atheist and Pestilence are good references here.

We get progressive death metal here including death metal vocals/growls.... and we get some jazz pieces here. Weird.... Weird....

Half of the music is quirky jazz and the other half is death metal. These pieces are intertwined. 

This is one of the more quirky, unusual albums I have reviewed for a while. There are some good pieces here and some less good pieces here. This makes this a pretty good album and one to check out. 

2.5 points 

 

 

 

Van Dool. Tenk and Paul Sears - Aperiodic Grok (2024)

 

The debut album from this band from USA.

 

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

 

A handful of guests added bass, woodwinds, flutes and vocals.

 

I reviewed their second and this year's album from the band some weeks ago. The duo then asked me if I wanted to review their debut album too. Of course I accepted their offer.

 

This album is clocking in at forty-two minutes and the music is a blend of eclectic prog and jazz.

 

The music is pretty esoteric. It is also pretty quirky and jazzy.

 

There is a lot of half-acoustic jazzy guitars here and some keyboards. There is also plenty of electric guitars here.

 

The quality is good throughout this album and this is an album eclectic prog fans should check out.

 

3 points 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roolaart. Anton - The Ballad of General Jupiter (2026)

 

The third album from this artist from The Netherlands....

Anton Roolart did the bass, guitars, keyboards, synths and vocals.

A number of guests added drums, percussion, piano, keyboards, flute, saxophones and narrations.

It seems like Anton Roolaart has now relocated back to his native country The Netherlands, according to his new record label MoonJune Records. 

His first two albums are pretty good and I am glad he has returned again after this long break.  

The music on this forty minutes is more neo-prog than symphonic prog this time. There are also some more folk rock and mainstream rock on this album.

The music is mid-tempo, melodic and with some good details.

The vocals are a bit too strained at times. It is still pretty good and not a liability. 

The music is pretty good and this is an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points  

 

 

 

Bainbridge. David - On The Edge (2025)

 

The ninth album from this artist from Great Britain.

David Bainbridge did the percussion, guitars, mandolin, bouzouki, piano, keyboards and synths here.

He got help from a number of guests who added drums, percussion, bass, violin, viola, cello, uillean pipes, saxophones, flutes, tin whistle, narrations and vocals.

This is the first album I have ever got of David Bainbridge, the solo artist. I am an admirer of Iona, his previous band and I got all their albums. But his solo albums has completely bypassed me....

On The Edge is clocking in at eighty-three minutes and the music is symphonic prog with lots of folk rock incorporated. This album can even be labeled as a folk rock album. It is 50/50 of both genres.

The music is mid-tempo, melodic and very elegant. There is a lot of uillean pipes and female vocals here. Both are superb, btw. The guitars are great. 

The music is also uplifting and epic. There is a lot of very interesting details here too.  

This is a very good, bordering to a great album. Well, on reflection, this is a great album and one of last year's best albums. 

4 points 

Baco Di Silenzio - Aquile E Cieli (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Italy.

The band was a one-man-band with Salvatore Scuderi doing effects and vocals.

A number of guests added drums, bass, guitars, violins, harp, piano, keyboards and oboe. 

Salvatore with friends debuts with this forty minutes long album recorded in his own studio. The album has also been released on his own record label. Do it yourself is the main theme here as all the music has been composed by him too. 

The music is mid-tempo and pretty pastoral. It is indeed RPI too but not in the traditional sense of RPI.

There is some mainstream rock here too and that is why this is not an RPI album. There is still some strong Banco influences here.

There are some really cool organs and guitars here in addition to the great vocals. 

The music is very melodic and it has this Italian pastoral sound and ambience. The music is also elegant and full of life.

This is a good album and one to check out even for those who are not entirely RPI fans. 

3 points 

 

  

 

Plantoid - Flare (2026)

 

The second album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This is the follow up album to the 2024 debut album Terrapath. That was a good album as I wrote in my review last week.

Flare is clocking in at close to fifty minutes.

The music is again a blend of psych rock and jazz. Add in some dream-pop too. There are also some King Crimson like eclectic prog here too. Art-rock is the most correct label for this band and this album.

The music is mid-tempo, a bit minimalistic and very quirky.  

Chloe Coyne's vocals are superb, and her husband Tom Coyne's guitars also add a lot of texture and riffs to this album. 

This band has been described as the future of progressive rock. I am not so sure about that. In any case, this is a very good album. An album I am sure will be included in my top ten list of the best albums of the year.

3.5 points 

 

Uriah Heep - Firefly (1977)

 

The 10th 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 with this forty minutes long album.

The music is a blend of bluesy hard rock and some more mainstream arena rock.

Some of the music is catchy and a bit poppy too. The vocals are very good and the band does a good job.

The sound is good throughout.  

This is not one of their best albums. Neither is it one of their worst albums. 

This is a decent album in it's own right and one to check out if 1970s catchy hard rock is your thing.

2 points   

 

 

Carpani. Alex - L'Orizzonte Degli Eventi (2020)

 

The fifth album from this artist from Italy.

Alex Carpani did the synths, guitar programming, programming and vocals here.

He got help from three guests who added drums, bass and narration.

Alex Carpani started out in the symphonic prog genre. His first albums were in that genre. He then went on a journey over to a much more commercial music expression. 

On this fifty-five minutes long album, his journey has landed him in the heavy prog genre. A not so long journey from the symphonic prog and RPI genre.

The vocals are in Italian and there is indeed some RPI in his music. Porcupine Tree is again a pretty big influence. Ditto for their frontman Steven Wilson. 

The music is dynamic, muscular, catchy and melodic. The vocals is good and the sound is also good.

There are also some good details here. This is an interesting album and a good album too.

This is one of his better albums and well worth checking out. 

3 points  

   

Travis Double Talk. Theo - Transgression (2015)

 

The second and final album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, percussion, guitars, organ, piano, flute and saxophone. 

Theo Travis is a much travelled and much used musician in bands like The Tangent, Gong, The Soft Machine etc etc. He has also released a lot of solo albums. 

He has released two albums under the band name Theo Travis Double Talk. I reviewed the pretty good first album a few days ago.

The debut album Double Talk was a jazz album. Transgression is clocking in at fifty-five minutes and the music is fusion. There is still some jazz here but the music has moved a lot towards fusion and some progressive rock. There are even some folk rock influences here.

The music is mostly mid tempo. There are some ballads here too and some more pastoral pieces of music.  

The music is melodic with some good flutes, guitars and saxophone solos. The songs are prettty long. There is one Robert Wyatt and one The Tangent cover here too. Both of them are not as good as the original versions.  

The original pieces of music here is far better than those cover versions. 

The music is indeed mostly good. This is an album well worth checking out if softly spoken pastoral fusion is your thing.  

3 points 

 

Seven That Spells - The Death And Resurrection Of Krautrock IO (2014)

 

The 11th album from this band from Croatia.

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

Two guests added kazoo, organ, keyboards and throat singing.

This fifty minutes long album is the penultimate album from this band before they disbanded. 

The band has moved towards krautrock on this album.... so they claim. Maybe they were a krautrock band on all their albums. I don's really know as I have only two of their albums, this album included.

The music is outer space rock with improvisations and a lot of experimentation. This is also what we call krautrock. 

The music is pretty weird with some weird vocals/voices incorporated into the music. The music is dominated by the guitars.

The sound is good and the overall quality is pretty good. Those into krautrock and space rock should check out their twelve albums.

2.5 points 

 

Tour de Force. Le - Le Tour de Force (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Spain.

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

This band released this one hour long album at the end of last year. I spotted it when the band submitted it to ProgArchives and got myself a copy of this album.

The music is eclectic prog with some jazz influences.

There are also some heavy prog here and some hints of Andalucian folk rock. 

The music is pretty hard but also pretty melodic. The music is in the power trio format in other words.

The music is also pretty quirky and there is some interesting details here.

The result is a pretty good album and one well worth checking out. 

2.5 points   

 

 

 

Masson. Colin - The Old Bridge Of Awe (2025)

 

The seventh album from this artist from Great Britain.

Colin Masson did all the music himself on bass, guitars, keyboards, vocals and drum programming.

This album is a fifty-five minutes long follow up to The Visitor from 2024. That album was a pretty good album. I have in this edition of the blog also reviewed two other pretty good albums from. You will find the rest of my reviews of his albums in previous editions of this blog.

The music is again heavily influenced by the Harbour Of Tears era of Camel. 

There is a lot of celtic folk rock influences here. Colin Masson relocated from England to the Loch Awe area of Scotland around 50 miles from this blog's HQ just before he released this album. That has influenced this album, I believe.

There is a lot of folk rock here. There are also some good, long guitar solos here.

The music is really melodic. It also has some good details. The sound is good. 

This is indeed one of his better albums and by far better than The Visitor. It seems like Colin Masson's music has got a new lease of life at the shores of Loch Awe.

3 points 

 

Martínez. Julián - Ecos Del Horizonte (2026)

 

The third album from this artist from Argentina.

Julian Martinez did the pianos, keyboards, synths and programming here.

This is not really an album as it only clocks in at twenty-three minutes. Anyway....

This album is my first taste of his music. An album I have seen reviewed in ProgArchives and those reviews got my attention. So I got this Bandcamp album. 

The music is neo-classical music performed on piano, keyboards and synths. There are some programmed clarinets here too.

The music is mid-tempo with some baroque music influences and themes. The music is pretty heavy neo-classical too.  

The music is not that exciting or engaging. There are some pretty good details here. Most of the music is decent enough. Those of you into neo-classical music may want to visit his Bandcamp site and check out this and his other albums.

2 points 

 

 

 

Circu5 - Clockwork Tulpa (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Great Britain.

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

A number of guests added guitars, trumpet, programming and vocals.

I was not in particular impressed by their 2017 self-titled debut album. Their take on neo-prog and heavy prog was simply not that good. The songs were a bit sub-standard.

The band returned eight years later. This after some gigs and getting more experience. 

The fifty minutes long Clockwork Tulpa is still somewhere between neo-prog and heavy prog. There are indeed some King's X influences here too. Subtle hints but still pretty notable. 

The music is mid-tempo to fast. The music is pretty epic and bold. There are some guitars and vocal harmonies here and the vocals are good.

There is some weird stuff here and the band sounds pretty eccentric here. Nevertheless, this is a good album. This band no doubt has a future and it will be interesting to follow their progress. 

3 points 

 

  

Idioverse - Head of a Feline (2013)

 

The second album from this band from Great Britain.

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

One guest added drums on one track.

I was not impressed by their 2012 debut album Resin. It is a fairly decent album.

This name-your-price Bandcamp album Head Of A Feline clocks in at three quarters of an hour and the music is again a blend of post-punk and art-rock.

The band sounds like an unhinged blend of The Verve and Radiohead.

The music is slightly more melodic this time around. It sound also more focused and the songs are pretty well developed.

The vocals are pretty good and ditto for the guitars.

This is a decent enough album and an improvement on their debut album. Due to this being a name-your-price album, this is a worthy download.

2 points  

 

Garybaldi - Bambi Fossati & Garybaldi (1990)

 

The third album from this band from Italy.

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

This thirty-seven minutes long album was their comeback album after an eighteen years long break.

Bambi Fossati was the leader of the band (and Gleemen). The band used the name Bambi Fossati & Garybaldi for a while after they reformed in the 1990s.

The music here is a blend of blues and pop music. There are some faint RPI influences in their music too.

The music is at times wild and bluesy with some harmonica. There are also some pop tunes here.

This album is like a collage of these two different genres; pop and blues. 

The positives here are the Italian vocals and a couple of good guitar solos. The negatives are the sub-standard music. Most of this album is pretty dire. That is why this album is only a half-decent album.

1.5 points 

 

  

Travis Double Talk. Theo - Double Talk (2004)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, organ, clarinet, flute, saxophones and programming.

Theo Travis is well known from bands like The Tangent, Gong, The Soft Machine Legacy. He has also released some solo albums in addition to the two albums he released under the name Theo Travis Double Talk. Both albums are up for review in this blog. The review of the second album will be posted in some days time.

Double Talk is a sixty-six minutes long jazz album.

Theo Travis is mainly a saxophonist and his saxophone is very prominent on this album. There are still some guitars and organs here too.

There is a long guitar solo here which is one of the highlights of this album. An album dominated by some mid-tempo jazz. Some of the jazz is also ballads.

There is a jazz version of Pink Floyd's classic See Emily Play which is both quirky and good. The rest of the album is decent to good. This is an album for the jazzheads. 

2.5 points   

Seven That Spells - Acid Taking And Sweet Love Making (2011)

 

The eight album from this band from Croatia.

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

This band album debuted in 2003 with the album The Blowout and has so far released twelve albums. The last one in 2018 and it seems like the band has split up. I have had two of their albums hanging around for years. It is therefore about time to review both of them. The review of the second album will follow in a few days.

This album is clocking in at fifty two minutes and it contains five tracks. 

The music here is space rock. Experimental free form improvised space rock, that is. 

There are some female (?) vocals here. But most of the music is cascades of more or less distorted electric guitars.

There are some more melodic pieces here too. Most of the music is pretty intense space rock.

The music is pretty good throughout this album. Space rock fans will really enjoy this album. I should probably get the remaining ten albums too.

2.5 points 

 

 

Big Big Train - Woodcut (2026)

 

The 18th album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a seven pieces big band with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, violin, grand piano, electric piano, organ, mellotron, moog, keyboards, synths, trumpet, piccolo trumpet and vocals.

This band does not really need any introduction as they are widely regarded as one of the best current prog rock bands in the scene. I have also reviewed all their albums in the previous editions of this blog.  

The band visited the Munch Museum in Oslo last year and they became fascinated by some woodcuts in that museum. Hence the themes and the album title.

The music on this sixty-five minutes long album is a blend of neo-prog and symphonic prog.

The music is lush, symphonic and melodic. It also has a lot of details.

Their music also retain an undertone of folk rock. British folk rock in the vein of Strawbs. 

There are any great songs here and this album is not one of their best albums. Nevertheless, this is still a very good album and one of the best albums of the year... so far.

3.5 points 

 

Rostro Del Sol - Blue Storm (2023)

 

The second album from this band from Mexico.

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

A number of guests added drums and saxophones.

This thirty-five minutes long album is the follow-up to their 2021 self-titled debut album.

The debut album was a pretty wild jazz/fusion album. The band has changed a bit their music on this, the follow up album.

The music is more controlled and more mid-tempo. There is a lot of brass rock here and this is the genre best describing this album.

There is one fifteen minutes long composition here, one ten minutes long composition and two five minutes long compositions.   

The music is mid-tempo with some vocals. There are a lot of saxophones (brass) on this album in addition to half-acoustic and electric guitars. There are some good guitar solos here too.

The music is a bit groovy and the vocals are good.

I really liked the jazz on their debut album and this album is a bit of a disappointment. That said.... this is not a bad album. It is actually a pretty good album. The band is very talented and I am really looking forward to reviewing their new album sometime in the coming days. 

2.5 points 

 

 

 

 

 

Roolaart. Anton - The Plight Of Lady Oona (2014)

 

The second album from this artist from USA.

Anton Roolaart did the percussion, bass, guitars, mandolin, keyboards, drum programming and vocals here.

A number of guests added drums, bass, piano, keyboards, synths, narrations and vocals.

Anton returned again seven years after the debut album Dreamer with this three quarters of an hour long album.

Dreamer was a pretty good US symphonic prog album and I had some hopes for the follow up album... this album.

We get more US symphonic prog here with some influences from Yes, Genesis and Renaissance. Add a lot of Porcupine Tree references too here.   

Annie Haslam is delivering some great vocals on the fourteen minutes long title track. That track is the best track and almost a hommage to her band Renaissance. It is probably a hommage to this band.

The music is melodic, symphonic and pretty muscular at times. There is a lot of good details here too and this album is an upgrade on the debut album. This is indeed a good album.

3 points 

 

Kronstad 23 - Sommermørket (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Norway.

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

Two guests added saxophones.

This band is one of the many new, very good jazz/fusion bands coming out of Norway lately. Their debut album a good debut album.

The album is clocking in at forty-two minutes and the album was more or less recorded live in the studio.

The music is a bit of a mixed bag. 

The first half an hour of this album is a jazz album with some fusion influences. The final five to ten minutes contain some raga rock performed with a sitar.

The music is mainly performed by electric guitars, half-acoustic guitars and organs. There are also some piano, moog and saxophones here too. There are some very good solos here.

The music is pretty understated throughout. The details are subtle and this album demands the full attention of the listener. 

The quality of the music is good and this is another good album from this band. Check out this band.

3 points 

 

 

Katanoia - Dance Of December Souls (1993)

 

The debut album from this band from Sweden.

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

One guest, Dan Swano, added keyboards and backing vocals.

I actually bought this album, released on No Fashion Records, on the day of it's release as I had been pretty impressed by the mini CD Jhva Elohim Meth from 1992. Katatonia were a very exciting band back then and different from most other extreme metal bands. They are still regarded as a very interesting band.

I will review their fourteen studio albums this year, starting with this album.

This album clocks in at fifty-five minutes. The music is doomy death metal. There are also some early black metal influences in their music.

It is fair to say that this band bridges the music of the likes of (early) My Dying Bride and the death/black metal scene anno 1992-93. 

The vocals are harsh black metal'ish, but still pretty good. The music is pretty melodic and at times a bit progressive too.

The music is pretty good throughout and this is a pretty impressive debut album. It is also one of the better debut albums in the extreme metal genre.

2.5 points 

 

Fates Warning - The Spectre Within (1985)

 

The second album from this band from USA.

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

One guest added keyboards to this album.

Their 1984 debut album Night On Brocken was an Iron Maiden copycat album and did not really indicate where this band was heading. See my review from earlier this month.

The fifty minutes long The Spectre Within moved away from the Iron Maiden type of heavy metal. The break was not complete, though. Nevertheless, the band moved much more in the direction of power metal, German power metal, and progressive metal on this album.

Progressive metal was still in it's infancy back then. The Spectre Within is indeed one of the first albums in this genre. The music is still not fully progressive metal. 

The light, screaming male vocals and guitars are pretty good. The music is pretty powerful and heavy. There are some progressive metal here although most of the music is more power metal than progressive metal. There are still some Iron Maiden heavy metal here too.

The music sounds a bit dated but is still decent enough. The vocals are an acquired taste. I am not really won over by this album. 

2 points  

 

Plantoid - Terrapath (2024)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This has just released their second album. I thought it would be both wise and just to review their debut album before I review their new album sometime next week.

The music on this forty minutes long album is a blend of psych rock and jazz.  

The music is mid-tempo, quirky, melodic and it has some good female vocals. The music has a very good vibe too.

The guitars are really good here too and is, together with the vocals, carrying the music. The vocals are also working as an instrument throughout most of the album.

The music is full of interesting details and this makes this an engaging album.

This is indeed a good album and a more than acceptable debut album. A band I have added to my list of top talents. Check out this album.

3 points 

 

Pacheco. Fernando - Himalaia (1986)

 

The one and only album from this artist from Brazil.

Fernando Pacheco did the guitars here.

He got help from numerous guests on drums, bass, guitars, violin, keyboards, flute, clarinet and voice.

This album was originally released on an half an hour long LP before the CD re-release added another ten minutes of music, making this a forty minutes long album. I am here reviewing the CD re-release.

The music here is symphonic prog with a lot of Latin-folk rock influences. There are also some neo-classical music influences here throughout this album.

Both Kayak and in particular Camel are good references here. 

There is a lot of melodic guitars, flutes and keyboards here. The sound and music are both lush and colourful. It is also pastoral throughout. 

The quality is good throughout and this is indeed a good album. It is also a bit of a hidden gem who deserve a lot more attention.

3 points 

 

Costa. Alfio & Piazzi. Stefano - Morgana 1994 2024 (2025)

 

The debut album from this duo from Italy.

Alfio Costa did the piano, keyboards and vocals here. Stefano Piazzi did the guitars and vocals.

Two guests added drums and vocals.

This forty minutes long album is a radical rework of Prowlers thirty years old album Morgana. An album I have never really rated as a classic RPI album. Prowlers were a good RPI band but never really among the best or more interesting RPI bands in my opinion. 

Both Stefano Piazzi and Alfio Costa played on the original album. 

The music is stripped down and based on piano and vocals. It is also pretty dark and brooding. The music is mostly slow and does not have many interesting details.

The sound is downtuned and not particularly good. The vocals are pretty good. 

The music is too pedestrian and does not have enough variations to hold the attention of the listener throughout these forty minutes.

This is a pretty decent album. I don't think the original album was this bad. Sorry, Alfio and Stefano...

1.5 points 

Rostro Del Sol - Rostro Del Sol (2021)

 

The debut album from this band from Mexico.

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

Three guests added djembe, bass and saxophone.

This is another band that has released three albums and whose albums are up for review in the next couple of weeks.  

The music on this forty minutes long album is a blend of fusion and hard rock.

The music is instrumental and it is both loud and hard. 

The music is also wild with some good guitar solos and some good retro sounding organs. The sound is a blend of 1970s hard rock and fusion plus today's more temporary sound. Mostly the 1970s sound, it has to be said.

There are also some more mid-tempo fusion here too. 

The musicianship is very good and the music is really good too. This is another good debut album and one to check out. The album is a name-your-price Bandcamp album. Hence, get it.

3 points 

 

Roolaart. Anton - Dreamer (2007)

 

The debut album from this artist from USA.

Anton Roolart did the guitars, keyboards, programming and vocals.

A number of guests added drums, bass, slide guitars, cello, keyboards, narration and backing vocals.

Anton Roolart has so far released three albums and they are all up for review in the coming two weeks in this blog.

Dreamer is clocking in at fifty minutes and US symphonic prog is the genre here. 

There are some Rennaissance, Genesis, Yes and Kansas in thei music. There are also some Dutch neo-prog in the music here.

The music is songs based and it is melodic. Anton and the guests did a good job on their respective instruments and the vocals is good.

There are some decent stuff and some good stuff here. This is an acceptable debut album and I am looking forward to listen to the two other albums too.

2.5 points 

Major Parkinson - Valesa Chapter II Viva the Apocalypse! (2026)

 

The sixth album from this band from Norway.

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

A number of guests added percussion, guitars, woodwinds and vocals.

The band returned after four years with the second chapter of the Valesa story. 

This three quarters of an hour long album. Their first five albums has been really good and this is one of the best Norwegian bands at the moment.

There is a lot going on here on this album. The music is a blend of heavy prog, art-rock, vaudeville rock and actually... funky brass rock.

There is some brass/woodwinds on this album. This on some songs who clearly are in the brass rock genre. These songs are funky too.

Most of the music is pretty hard and very quirky. There is a strong fun party feeling on this album. Some Frank Zappa influences are also evident here. There are also some Sgt Peppers era The Beatles influences here too.

This is both a strange and engaging album. The quality is also good throughout this album. An album that will win this band a lot of new admirers.

3 points 

  

Man - Endangered Species (2000)

 

The 12th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

One guest added percussion.

The band soldiered on with this one hour long album.

The music here is mainstream rock. 

The band, Man, we knew from the 1970s has totally gone away on this album. This despite of still retaining the core of that 1970s version of Man. Deke Leonard is still here.

The vocals are pretty good. The band does a good job on some half-decent songs.

This album is pretty painful, this hour long album is pretty painful for those of us who like their first albums. There are some decent songs here and some pretty dire songs. This album is not worthy their good name and reputation.

1.5 points  

 

 

Jazz Q - Pozorovatelna (1973)

 

The debut album from this band from the Czech Republic.

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

Two guests added violin and vocals.

This is a new band to me and I am reviewing their, so far, twelve albums during the next months. This is something I am really looking forward to do.

This, their debut album is clocking in at forty minutes and the music is fusion. References is the likes of Return To Forever and Mahavishnu Orchestra.

There are a lot of guitar and organ solos here. The music is pretty jazzy and fast. 

The music is also very intense at times. There is also some more pastoral, quiet pieces here.

The sound is very good and that makes this album a lot more interesting. 

The quality is good throughout this album. This is an album that fusion and jazz fans should check out.

3 points 

 

 

Skinner Project - Sound Connections (2021)

 

The second album from this band from Brazil.

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

This album clocks in at three quarters of an hour and it has been released through Bandcamp.

I have reviewed both their debut album and their newest album in this blog. Two good albums. That is why I was really looking forward to reviewing this album. 

The music here is neo-prog with some heavy prog influences.

Skinner Project is one of the too few bands who are blending in some pretty heavy Rush influences with neo-prog. That is playing on the heart strings of a Rush fan. Mine heart strings, in other words.  

The music is melodic, muscular and intricate. The vocals are good. 

The overall quality is good and that makes this a likeable album from a very very likeable band. Check out this band.

3 points   

 

Roswell Six - Terra Incognita A Line in The Sand (2010)

 

The second album from this project from USA.

The project was a ten plus members big project with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, cello, violin, keyboards, flute and vocals.

This project was put together by Shawn Gordon from ProgRock Records and he got Erik Norlander and Kevin J. Anderson to write the music and the lyrics.

Two albums were released 2009-2010. Albums I thought I had already reviewed when I got and reviewed their third and latest album, the 2025 opus Terra Incognita: Unchartered Shores at the end of last year (see my review somewhere else in this blog). I was wrong. Hence these two reviews in the last weeks. 

The album is clocking in at sixty-six minutes. The music is a rock opera and it is a blend of progressive metal, heavy prog and more musicals like songs. There is a notable Middle-East ambience here in the music too. The rock opera has a Middle-East/Arabic theme so that is only logical.

The music is a bit heavier on this album than on the debut album. 

Henning Pauly is the main musician here as he is doing the drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and programming. 

Michael Sadler is again involved as a vocalist. He has this time been joined by the likes of Steve Walsh, Arjen Lucassen, Charlie Dominici and numerous other vocalists.  

The sound is good. Some of the music is good too. There are some decent stuff here too. The Middle-East music elements is cool and is adding a lot to this pretty good album. If rock opera is your thing...

2.5 points 

 

 

Polychrome - Someday (2026)

 

The second album from this band from France.

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

Their 2022 debut album Equilibrium was a good album that set some high expectations for their follow up album(s). 

The fifty minutes long Someday takes us into a jazzy art-rock landscape. 

The music is sometimes also pretty trippy too. There is indeed some electro art-rock here. There are also some jazz here in addition to some quirky art-rock.

Quirky and playful is the two words that springs to mind when listening to this album. The music is also melodic and elegant.

The music is very good throughout. There is also a great deal of variation here. The music never feel disjointed though. 

This band is one of the better talents in today's European prog scene. This album and the debut album should be checked out.

3.5 points  

 

 

Boston - Life, Love And Hope (2013)

 

The sixth album from this band from USA.

The band was now it's founder Tom Scholz on drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

Some guests added percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards, harmonica, flute and vocals.

Their previous album Corporate America (2002) was a pretty disappointing pop-metal album and a disaster according to the band owner Tom Scholz. 

The forty minutes long Life, Love And Hope should therefore be an improvement, if Tom Scholz had learned the lessons from Corporate America.

Some of the music here is reworked ideas and songs from that album. Brad Delph's vocals appear on some tracks, long after his passing. There are also a lot of female vocals here.

The music is a blend of pop-metal and mainstream rock/pop.

The music is wishy washy bland and there is not much to be enjoyed on this album. This is an album even worse than Corporate America and an album best ignored.

1.5 points 

 

  

Cortex - Inedit 79 (2006)

 

The fourth and final album from this band from France.

The band was a duo here with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, strings, keyboards, woodwinds, balafon and vocals.

This album was released in 2006. Despite the good sound, I believe this is an album with archive material from the late 1970s.  

This fifty-five minutes long album takes us back to the brass rock, funk and disco scene in the late 1970s.

There is a lot of woodwinds/brass here and the music is groovy. Very groovy. The vocals are also very groovy.

There are also some ballads here and they are not exactly an improvement on the rest of the stuff here.

This album is by a large margin their worst album and a pretty dire album in it's own right. I will remember this band for their first two albums and rather forget this album.

1.5 points 

 

 

Perevod - The Kingdom of Forgotten Whales (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Ukraine.

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

A handful of guests added narrations and vocals.

I reviewed their 2022 album Sons And Daughters earlier this month and was pretty impressed by it. That album contained some modern prog in the vein of Porcupine Tree.

The three quarters of an hour long The Kingdom Of Forgotten Whales is something different again...

This is a concept album and the story is far out weird. The story is told in pretty heavily accented English narrations.

The music is mostly symphonic prog with some neo classical music and heavy prog influences. 

The vocals are mostly female vocals and the narrations are both male and female voices.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. There are some good pieces here and some not so good pieces. This album is a bit of a step in the wrong direction, compared to their superior debut album.

2.5 points 

 

 

 

Uriah Heep - High And Mighty (1976)

 

The ninth album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The band continued on with this forty minutes long album.

The band was by now one of the greatest hard rock bands on this planet. They were touring this planet and got zillions of fans. They still do, actually.

The music on this album were a blend of hard rock, stadium rock and rock'n'roll.

The music is pretty catchy and also pretty melodic.

The music is not particularly interesting though. It is bare-boned rock'n'roll and hard rock. 

The music is decent enough but this album is not their finest hour.

2 points 

 

 

Carpani. Alex - So Close, So Far (2016)

 

The fourth album from this artist from Italy.

Alex Carpani did the keyboards, programming and vocals here.

He had help from a handful of guests who added drums, bass, guitars and additional vocals.

Alex returned after a two years long album break with this fifty minutes long album.

Alex Carpani delivered symphonic prog on the first three albums and I was expecting the same on this album. That is not quite what I got here....

OK, there are some symphonic prog here. But Alex Carpani has moved a lot towards the territory occupied by the likes of Porcupine Tree. The music is a lot more mainstream too.

There is indeed some strong neo-prog influences here too. The music is very melodic. It still has some good details.

Most of the music falls a bit short, quality wise. The vocals is good and the guests does a good job. This is his weakest album so far. It is still a pretty good album and worth checking out.

2.5 points

 

 

Skinner Project - Stoic Waves Voyage II (2019)

 

The debut album from this band from Brazil.

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

I reviewed their latest album, To Earth With Love (2025) in November 2025 and gave it a good rating. I then found their first two albums and put them on my long list of to-do reviews. Both albums are up for reviews this week, in other words.

This album is clocking in at half an hour and the music is a blend of neo-prog and heavy prog. Mostly neo-prog, though. The Rush influence is bringing heavy prog into play here.

Their take on neo-prog is very much the British 1990s version of this genre. Their take on Rush is also from the same era. The sound is thankfully updated to this side of the millennium.

The vocals are good and ditto for the synths and the guitars.

There is a lot to like on this album. The Rush influences make a Rush fan's heart (mine !) beat a bit faster. The overall quality is really good too. This is a band that deserves a lot more attention.

3 points 

 

 

  

Roswell Six - Terra Incognita Beyond The Horizon (2009)

 

The debut album from this project from USA.

The project was a ten plus members big project with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, cello, violin, keyboards, flute and vocals.

This project was put together by Shawn Gordon from ProgRock Records and he got Erik Norlander and Kevin J. Anderson to write the music and the lyrics.

Two albums were released 2009-2010. Albums I thought I had already reviewed when I got and reviewed their third and latest album, the 2025 opus Terra Incognita: Unchartered Shores at the end of last year (see my review somewhere else in this blog). I was wrong. Hence this review and the review of their second album in some days' time.

This seventy minutes long album is a concept album and the music is a rock opera. To be more precise.. The music is a blend of progressive metal and more poppy neo-prog. There are some ballads here too.

The vocalists on this album are the likes of Michael Sadler, James Labrie, John Payne and Lana Lane. 

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. Those into rock operas should check out this album.

2.5 points 

    

Trk Project - FatherSon (2025)

 

The eight album from this band from Poland.

The band was a father and son band with a lineup of drums, guitars, keyboards, programming and vocals.

Two guests added bass and guitars.

This is a side project of the Trk Project and has also been released as FatherSon - FatherSon (2025). As many others do, I regard it as a Trk Project album.

This fifty minutes long album was released in January 2025, thirteen months ago but I did not become aware of it before I reviewed their most recent album, the 2025 album Alice, earlier this year. 

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

The music is slick, melodic and pretty commercial. There are some mid-tempo songs here and a couple of ballads.  

The music is more or less in line with the latest four of their albums.

The vocals is good and the sound is good. The music is not particular interesting and this album is one of the least interesting albums from this band I have ever head. It is still a pretty good album though.

2.5 points