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 Thyme - 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 

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