Raices - Raices (1975)

 

The debut album from this band from Puerto Rico.

The band was a seven-piece big band with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, electric piano, organ, clavinet, moog, keyboards, woodwinds and vocals.

This band has released two albums. One in 1975 and the final album twenty-three years later in 1998. I am just going to review this album, their debut album.

Raices clocks in at three quarters of an hour. 

The music here is jazz.

The music is also Latin-Jazz with lots of exotic rhythms with some jazz and fusion on the top of these Latin rhythms again. 

Most of it is instrumental. There are some vocals too here.

The music is really groovy with some interesting saxophone and flute solos. 

This is a decent album which should interest everyone into jazz and fusion.

2 points 

 

 

Quivira - Quivira (2026)

 

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

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

This is a supergroup with Lisa LaRue and members of Kansas. A much heralded supergroup too.

This album clocks in at sixty-seven minutes.

The music is a blend of symphonic prog and Americana.

The music is pretty hard at times. It is also epic and monumental. The Kansas influences comes thick and fast too.

The band does a great job. The vocals are great too.

The result is a very good album and one that lives up to the hype. This is one of the more interesting albums so far this year.

3.5 points 

 

 

Tea For Two - 101 (2000)

 

The second album from this band from Germany.

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

Three guests added bass, violin and female vocals on some tracks.

The band returned after a six years long album break. Their debut album Dream Or Reality was reviewed earlier this month and it is a pretty good album.

101 clocks in at fifty minutes.

The music here is neo-prog.

Their take on neo-prog is more in the vein of symphonic prog than the more poppy version of neo-prog. A good reference here is Argos, the German masters of neo-prog. 

There are some short and some long compositions here. They are all well crafted and pretty clever. The music is also elegant and pretty beautiful.

The vocals are also very good throughout. 

 This is a good album and a solid improvement on the debut album. This is indeed an album neo-prog fans should check out.

3 points 

Tarántula - Tarantula 4 (2021)

 

The third album from this band from Spain.

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

Two guests added bass and harmonica on one track.

The band returned again, forty-three years after their second album. A decent album too, it was. See my review somewhere else in this blog.

Tarantula 4 clocks in at forty-two minutes.

The music here is mainstream rock.

The music is pretty hard rocking with some ripping bass and guitars. There are some harmonies and some more ballads like music too. 

The vocals are pretty raw female and male vocals. The lyrics are Spanish.

The result is a decent enough album which has no progressive rock whatsoever but still works as a rock'n'roll album.

2 points 

 

 

 

 

ViaMedia - Lullabies for the Marooned (2026)

 

The second album from this band from Norway.

The band was a duo with a lineup of double bass, bass, guitars, keyboards, concertina, effects and vocals.

A number of guests added drums, violins, strings and trumpet.

This is the follow up album to their 2024 debut album Bridge Of Sighs from 2024. An album I reviewed back in April 2024 for # 3 of this blog. I gave it a Good award. See the review here.

Lullabies for the Marooned clocks in at three quarters of an hour.

The music here is art-rock.

The band, I mean duo, has retreated from the more rocking soundscape on their debut album into a much more intimate, softly spoken and refined soundscape on their new album, the follow-up album.

Early Genesis, Procol Harum, Sylvan, Talk Talk and Peter Hammill are good references here. There are even some Steve Hogarth era Marillion lurking around in their music too. 

There is a blend of acoustic and electric instruments here, including guitars. The strings is adding a lot of colours and are complementing the great vocals.

This is an album where a piece of music crosses over to becoming an artwork. 

The result is a very good album and one of this year's better albums from Norway, the new powerhouse in art-rock and prog rock.   

3.5 points 

VP - Sound Dependence (2003)

 

The debut album from this one-man-band from Kazakhstan.

VP abbreviation of Vyacheslav Potapov and he has released a handful of albums under this name. He plays bass, guitar and programming here.

I am reviewing three of his albums in the coming week.  

Sound Dependence clocks in at fifty-four minutes.

The music is a blend of electronica and psych rock.

There are indeed some strong krautrock influences in this pretty wild music too.

There are some distorted guitars and bass here in addition to the programmed synths. 

 The music is very minimalistic too. It has some good ideas though...

I am not overly enthused by this album. It is a free download from Bandcamp and well worth checking out although I will only give it a fairly decent rating.

1.5 points  

 

 

 

 

Velvet Underground. The - The Velvet Underground (1969)

 

The third album from this band from USA.

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

John Cale had left the band but Lou Reed kept on going with this band. The result was this album. I have not been impressed by their first two albums. But this band is, for good and worse, an icon and it is only right to review all their studio albums.

The Velvet Underground clocks in at three quarters of an hour.

The music is acoustic psych rock.

The music is pretty downtuned and minimalistic. Most of the music is performed by acoustic guitars and vocals.

Lou Reed is the lead vocalist here. He is helped by two female vocalists too. There are some sporadic organs here.

Most of the songs are pretty dire. There are three decent songs which is the saving grace on this album. 

This album is only a half-decent album and best avoided.

1.5 points 

Thy Listless Heart - Pilgrims on the Path of no Return (2022)

 

The one and only album from this band from Great Britain.

This was a one-man-band with Simon Bibby playing the bass, guitars, drum machines, programming and vocals. 

One guest adds whistles, recorder, pipes and female vocals. 

Simon Bibby was/is a member of the still-active My Silent Wake who has released numerous albums. Albums I should review and am planning to review next year. He was also a member of Seventh Angel around twenty years ago.

Pilgrims on the Path of no Return clocks in at three quarters of an hour.

The music here is doom metal.

Simon Bibby's take on doom metal is pretty symphonic. It is also pretty progressive and melodic too.

There are some funeral doom influences here and some more cinematic rock influences. Pink Floyd also springs to mind.

The music is still complex and still rooted in classic doom metal.

This area between funeral doom metal, cinematic rock and symphonic prog is a pretty exciting area. It is one of my favourite areas too. There are just so few bands/entities in this area. Thy Listless Heart is one of the bands in this area.

The music here is good. This is an album both fans of atmospheric metal and doom metal should check out. The same goes for the progheads.

3 points 

 

Three Colours Dark - Love's Lost Property (2021)

 

The second album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a duo with a lineup of keyboards and vocals.

A number of guests added bass, guitars, violin, oboe, saxophone and drum programming.

The duo is Jonathan Edwards and Rachel Cohen from Karnataka. I have yet to find a copy of their debut album but I am still looking. Hopefully, a review will be posted later this year/early next year.

Love's Lost Property clocks in at three quarters of an hour.

The music here is neo-prog.

There are a lot of folk rock influences in their take on neo-prog. At their worst, there are some The Corrs influences here too.

The music here is built around the Rachel Cohen's vocals. The music reminds me a lot about the softer, poppy and more elegant side of Karnataka's music.

The original material here is mostly good. Their take on Duran Duran's song Ordinary World is both elegant and good.

Although this album is pretty poppy, it is still a good album and one worth checking out if melodic prog is your thing.

3 points 

 

 

 

 

Rupert Selection. The - Music For Horses (2026)

 

The fourth album from this band from USA.

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

A number of guests added keyboards, synths, soundscapes, woodwinds and vocals.

I have reviewed the first two albums but not the third album if my memories serves me right. I may review that album sometimes later.

Music For Horses clocks in at three quarters of an hour.

The music here is best described as art-rock.

There is a lot of Americana in their music too. Based on the sound and music, there is no mistake about which country this band comes from.  

The music is rocking and lively with some woodwinds throughout this album in addition to the usual guitars and synths.

The quality is pretty good throughout. There are not enough good songs here and that is my gripe with this album. It is an album art-rock fans should check out.

2.5 points 

 

 

Sulphurous Sea - Sulphurous Sea (2025)

 

The second album from this one-man-band from Sweden.

Elis Ericson played bass, guitars, keyboards and drum programming here.

Elis Ericson has so far released three albums under this band name. I was not impressed by the debut album. But I am still reviewing the three albums.

Sulphurous Sea clocks in at forty minutes.

The music is symphonic prog.

The music is also instrumental on this album too.

The music is mostly mid-tempo. The music is pretty symphonic too. There are some soaring melodies throughout this album. 

The main instrument here is the guitars. There is a lot of piano here too and some synths.

This album is an improvement on the debut album. I am not a big fan of instrumental albums. This is one of the better new instrumental symphonic prog albums I have heard for a while and a pretty good album in it's own right.

2.5 points  

  

String Driven Thing - Keep Yer And On It (1975)

 

The fifth album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a quintet with a line-up of drums, percussion, bass, banjo, guitars, violin, viola and vocals.

Two guests added piano and harmonica.

The band returned again after only a one year long album break. I was not impressed by their previous album and had no expectations for this album.

Keep Yer And On It clocks in at forty minutes.

The music is a blend of mainstream rock and folk rock.

Add in some Americana too and you get the picture.

The music is pretty hard rocking and groovy. There is a lot of violins in the music. The Kansas influences are subtle but still there. 

There are a lot of guitars and vocals too here.

There are a couple of pretty good pieces of music here. And there is some songs here which deserves to be forgotten.

This is a decent enough album from a band who were pretty popular in the beginning of the 1970s. A band worth checking out.

2 points 

  

Pattern Seeking Animals - Grimalkin (2026)

 

The sixth album from this band from USA.

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

The band returned again after a one year long album break. The band is a side project of Spock's Beard... or is it the opposite way around now ? Pattern Seeking Animals is a very productive, prolific band and is threatening to overshadow Spock's Beard. Something I think everyone is very happy about. 

This album clocks in at fifty minutes.

The music here is US symphonic prog.

The music is melodic and a bit symphonic. There are both a lot of Kansas and Spock's Beard vibes and influences throughout this album.

There are some strings here in addition to the synths and guitars. The mood is mellow. The music is mid-tempo.

The male vocals are very good. They are complemented by some very good female vocals too.  

This is not their best album. The overall quality is still good. This is an album fans of US symphonic prog should check out.

3 points  

 

 

 

 

 

Tea For Two - Dream Or Reality (1994)

 

The debut album from this band from Germany.

 

The band was a quintet with a line-up of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards, flute and vocals.

 

This band released three albums between 1994 - 2006. All three of them are up for review in the coming weeks.

 

Dream Or Reality is clocking in at one hour.

 

The music here is neo-prog.

 

The music is melodic, light, poppy and song-focused. There are a symphonic prog instrumental piece at the end of the album.

 

The band was very inspired by the like of Marillion and Pendragon. That is evident in the music.

 

There are a few keltic folk music influences here too.

 

There is some decent and some good music here. I am not entirely won over. Neo-prog fans should check out this album.

 

2.5 points 

 

 

 

Thollot. Jacques - Quand le Son Devient Aigu, Jeter la Girafe à la Mer (1971)

 

The debut album from this artist from France.

Jacques played drums, percussion, piano, organ and effects here.

Jacques is the brother of Francois Thollot, a more well-known zeuhl artist than Jacques. 

Jacques released five albums before he passed on twelve years ago. I will review them all in the next two-three weeks.

This album clocks in at three quarters of an hour.

The music is avant-garde rock/jazz.

I am not denying that I am sceptical to most of the avant-garde music. Albums like this are one of the reasons for this attitude.

The music is a bit too pling-plong unhinged. There is not much of a method in this madness. The music is too dire to really win my approval.

There is some decent music here. But most of the music leaves me cold. Hence....

1.5 points 

 

Pinnacle - Assasin (1974)

 

The one and only album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a quintet with a line-up of drums, bass, guitars, organ, moog and vocals.

This band from Liverpool, England was a short lived band who released this album and then disappeared again. This album has been re-released seven times as bootlegs and more official releases. The band left a mark, at least. 

Assassin clocks in at forty minutes.

The music is hard rock with some psych rock influences.

The music is really hard rocking and pretty wild with some good solos.

There are also some more mid-tempo and slow psych rock here too. Some Moog-dominated psych rock.

The vocals are pretty good.

The result is a decent enough album which will appeal to hard rock fans. Check it out.

2 points 

 

 

Pandora - Measures of Time (1974)

 

The one and only album from this band from Sweden.

The band was a sextet with a line-up of drums, bass, guitars, piano, synths and vocals.

This band was a pretty short-lived band. The LP was released in 1974 and re-released on a German label in 2015.

Measures Of Time clocks in at thirty-four minutes.

The music is early days symphonic prog. Proto-symphonic prog, to be more precise.

The music reminds me a lot about Procol Harum. There is also some hints of Kaipa, Camel and early Genesis here.

The music is melodic throughout. It is also mid-tempo with some good guitars and keyboards.

The vocals are pretty good.

Some of the music is good and some of the music is decent. I am positively surprised, indeed.

2.5 points 

 

 

 

Osiris - Within a Dream (2026)

 

The sixth album from this band from Bahrain.

The band was a seven-pieces big band with a line-up of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, piano, keyboards and vocals.

I have reviewed all of this band's albums both in ProgArchives and in this blog. I like their albums a lot. This band deserve a lot more support.

Within A Dream clocks in at almost an hour.

The music is symphonic neo-prog.

The songs here are long, symphonic and complex. It can therefore be argued that this is symphonic prog album. And that with a great deal of justice.

The sound is still neo-prog and the core of the songs are very much in that vein. There is nothing wrong with that in my view.

The music is also mid-tempo with some good solos from the keyboards and the guitars. There is also a great organ sound here.

The vocals are good.

There are no real killer tracks here. This is still a good album and one of their better albums. 

3 points 

 

 

 

Hackett & Rothery - The Roaring Waves (2026)

 

The debut album from this duo from Great Britain.

Steve Hackett and Steve Rothery does the guitars, bass, keyboards and harmonica here.

Three guests added drums, bass and keyboards.

This is the long awaited album from these two super-guitarists. Two legends from the symphonic prog and neo-prog scene. Neither of these two guitarists needs any introduction.

The album clocks in at three quarters of an hour.

The music is symphonic prog. Instrumental symphonic prog, that is.

References are both Steve Hackett solo albums and Camel.

The two guitars complement each other on the melodic music here. There are one more bluesy rocker here too and some more folk-rock inspired melodies.

This album is a bit of a grower as the music sounds uninspiring during the first listening sessions. The music, the flower, then starts to open up and some new details emerges.

The result is a very good album and one to check out if melodic prog is your thing.

3.5 points 

 

 

 

Sulphurous Sea - Tadmor (2025)

 

The debut album from this one-man-band from Sweden.

Elis Ericson played bass, guitars, keyboards and drum programming here.

Elis Ericson has so far released three albums under this name and I am reviewing them this month. The two other reviews will follow within the coming week.

Tadmor clocks in at forty minutes.

The music is symphonic prog.

The music is instrumental with a lot of guitar harmonies and solos. The music is in other words guitars dominated. There are some short ambient keyboards pieces here too.

The music is mid-tempo. The music is not particularly varied or expansive.

The music is too much run-of-the-mill to be of any great interest. A couple of good themes is the only positive pieces of music on this decent enough album.

2 points 

 

 

String Driven Thing - Please Mind Your Head (1974)

 

The fourth album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a quintet with a line-up of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, banjo, viola, violin and vocals.

Three guests added keyboards, saxophones, flute and bagpipes.

I have reviewed their latest two album of their first three albums and have quite liked them. So I am planning to review a couple more of their albums too in addition to this album.

Please Mind Your Head clocks in at forty minutes.

The music is a blend of folk rock and 1970s mainstream rock.

The music is pretty hard throughout. There are some hard guitars here.

There are also some violins here and they are adding a folk rock feel to the hard rocking music.

The vocals are pretty good. There is one good song here, Mrs O' Reilly. The rest of the music is decent enough.

This is a decent enough album which may please those into the 1970s scene.

2 points 

 

Galasphere 347 - The Syntax of Things (2026)

 

The second album from this Anglo - Scandinavian band.

The band was a trio with a line-up of drums, guitars, lap-steel guitars, keyboards, synths, programming, flute and vocals.

A number of guests added bass, guitars and sax.

I liked their self-titled 2018 debut album a lot and was pleased when the band returned eight years later with this album.

The Syntax Of Things clocks in at fifty-six minutes.

The music here is symphonic prog.

The music is both complex and melodic. It is also pretty symphonic. Genesis is a good reference throughout this album.

There are some good keyboards harmonies and guitar solos throughout this album. 

The vocals are also good.

This is another good album from this band and I hope we will hear a lot more from this band. Hopefully sometime this decade.

3 points 

 

 

Long Earth - Towards The Sky (2026)

 

The fourth album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a quintet with a line-up of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

This band is from Glasgow, a town about ten kilometres up the River Clyde from this blog's lavish head office. Glasgow is also the biggest town in Scotland and the home of a dozen of prog rock bands.

I have reviewed the first three Long Earth albums and I have liked them a lot. 

Towards The Sky clocks in at sixty-seven minutes.

The music here is neo-prog.

The music is songs based. They are mid-tempo and pretty melodic. 

The songs are each in the region of five to twelve minutes long. 

Maalke Siegerist's vocals is an important part of this band's music. I gather she is from The Netherlands and has found a new home here in Scotland (I hope). Her vocals are great.

This is not their best album. It is still a good album and one melodic prog and neo-prog fans should check out.  

3 points 

 

Procol Harum - Something Magic (1977)

 

The ninth album from this band from Great Britain.

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

I have so far been surprised, positive surprised, about the quality of their albums as I have never really rated this band. I have been proven wrong and I now look at the band and their albums with fondness.

Something Magic clocks in at forty minutes.

The music is art-rock.

Half of this album is songs based while the final half is the nineteen long The Worm And The Tree suite.

The songs are pretty pastoral and melancholic with some great vocals from the late Gary Brooker. These songs are very good.

The suite is a bit lacking in quality. It has some great organs and vocals. Those are it's saving grace. The melodies in itself is not that good.

The result is another good album from this band and one to check out. It is another album that has proven that I was wrong not to rate this band. 

3 points 

 

Sigur Ros - () (2002)

 

The fifth album by this band from Iceland.

The band was a quartet with a line-up of drums, glockenspiel, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

Four guests added violin, viola and cello.

I have had the joy of reviewing their first albums and am planning to review all their albums before the end of the year.

This album clocks in at seventy-two minutes.

The music is post-rock.

The music is slightly ambient post-rock with lots of sombre, melancholic melodies. One of my friends (yes, I got some) from BBC has called this band's music as the most beautiful music in the world. Listening to this album, I concede that she has got a point. 

The music is indeed very beautiful.

There is no doubts this band is the leading band in the post-rock genre. This album is up to this point their best album and a reason why I really like this genre.

3.5 points 

 

  

Pansies - Cascade of Colors (2017)

 

The one and only album from this band from USA.

The band was a trio with a line-up of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

The band comes from California and they released this album through Bandcamp. The album was also recorded in their home studio. That is all I know.

The album clocks in at forty minutes.

The music here is psych rock.

The late 1960s psych rock scene seems to be the inspiration for their music.  

The music is melodic, flower power, pastoral and folky. The music is song-based. The organ sound is great.

The sound is surprisingly good and more than acceptable. 

The vocals are very good too.

The overall quality is good with a couple of very good songs too.  

This album is a positive surprise and another hidden gem among the many unknown Bandcamp albums. This album is indeed a credit to the Bandcamp business model and platform.

3 points 

Palco Numero Cinque - Carta Straccia (2014)

 

The one and only album from this band from Italy.

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

This is another new band to me. The band is still alive and playing gigs in Italy, I have been informed. 

Carta Straccia clocks in at forty minutes. 

The music here is a blend of alternative rock and psych rock. There is also some folk rock influences here.

There is a lot of RPI influences in their music too and I was very tempted to label this album as an RPI album. The reason is that RPI is a wide-ranging genre. There is a case for this album to be labelled RPI.

The music is both melodic and a bit edgy. It is also a hard rocking album at times. There are also some more pastoral pieces here.

The male Italian vocals are great.

There is no doubts this album is a bit of a gem. It is also a good album RPI fans should check out. This is an underestimated/undervalued album and indeed, band. Check out this album.

3 points 

  

 

Esp - Extra Sensory Perception (2026)

 

The tenth album from this band from Great Britain.

 

The band was a trio with a line-up of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

 

Back in April & May 2018, I review their first two albums in # 2 of this blog. The reviews can be found here and here. I liked those two albums and it is therefore a bit of a mystery to me why I have not reviewed the rest of their albums too. I should do that next year or so. In any case, I got their new album and I am reviewing that album here...

 

Extra Sensory Perception clocks in at fifty-two minutes.

 

The music here is neo-prog.

 

There are some Porcupine Tree influences and some psych rock here too.

 

The music is melodic and a bit complex. The music is pretty light with some mainstream rock influences.

 

The vocals are good and there is a good guitar sound here.

 

The overall quality is good. The songs are a bit workmanlike. Nevertheless, this is a good album.

 

3 points 

 

Moonrise - No Rewind (2026)

 

The fifth album from this band from Poland.

The band was a one-man-band with Kamil Konieczniak doing the drums, bass, guitars and keyboards. 

Three guests added guitars and vocals.

I have reviewed the first four albums and have liked them a lot. 

No Rewind clocks in at fifty-two minutes.

The music is neo-prog.

The neo-prog is in the Polish neo-prog tradition with a lot of art-rock influences.

The music is melodic, slick, elegant and slightly melancholic. The music is also commercial and should appeal to the melodic rock scene outside the prog rock community.

There is a lot of male and female vocal harmonies in their music. The vocals are good throughout this album. 

The music is pretty good throughout. There is a blend of good and decent songs on this album. I am not entirely won over, though....

2.5 points 

 

 

 

 

Sume - Persersume (1994)

 

The fourth and final album from this band from Greenland.

The band was a seven-piece big band with a line-up of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

The band ended their twenty-one year long recording artists career with this album. I have not been impressed by their first three albums. It is though remarkable that a barren island like Greenland managed to produce a band like Sume. I take my hat off to this band and the people on Greenland.

This album clocks in at three-quarters of an hour.

The music here is mainstream rock.

There are some folk rock influences here. But most of the music is run-of-the-mill mainstream rock.

The lyrics and vocals are in their local language Greenlandic. This language is spoken and written by around one hundred thousand people. 

That is the only remarkable thing about this album. The music is pretty decent. A couple of pretty good songs elevates this album to a decent album. 

2 points 

 

 

Stubbs - The Prime Moving Lumps (1985)

 

The third album from this band from Japan.

The band was a quartet with a line-up of drums, bass, guitars, piano, organ, synths and samples.

One guest added vocals.

I have really enjoyed their first two albums. Albums I regard as hidden gems in the prog rock scene. Both of them have been reviewed in this blog.

 The Prime Moving Lumps clocks in at three quarters of an hour.

The music here is Canterbury prog & jazz.

The music is quirky, instrumental, jazzy and pretty eclectic. It is still melodic too.

Egg is a very good reference here. 

The sound is good. The organ sound is really the star on this album and makes a Canterbury scene fan's heart beat a lot faster. 

The overall quality here is good and it is a crying shame that this band's three albums has not been re-released. They deserve that. Stubbs is my find-of-the-year.

3 points 

 

Gardening Club. The - The Insubstantial Pageant (2026)

 

The eleventh album from this band from Canada.

The band was a seven-piece big band with a line-up of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, piano, keyboards, saxophone and vocals.

The band returned after a two years long album break. I have reviewed some of their albums. Albums I like a lot. I was therefore jumping at the chance to review this album too.

The album clocks in at just over one hour.

The music is art-rock.

The music is also a blend of symphonic prog, folk rock, vaudeville rock and psych rock. Art-rock in other words.

The music is elegant and melodic. It is also complex and epic too.

There are some great vocals here, both male and female vocals.

The overall quality is good and that makes this another good album from this band who is slowly becoming one of the best bands from Canada. Many would argue they are already one of the three best bands from this country.

3 points  

 

 

Triosphere - Oceans Above Stars Below (2026)

 

The fourth album from this band from Norway.

The band was a quartet with a line-up of drums, bass, guitars and vocals.

 

I have yet to sample their first three albums. The reason is that I am not a fan of hard progressive metal, the music this band plays. I got this album directly from their record label and have therefore decided to review it.

 

This album clocks in at fifty minutes.

 

The music is progressive metal.

 

The music is very hard and heavy in the beginning before it becomes a lot more melodic towards the end of this album.

 

The overall impression is that this is a really heavy progressive metal album. The music is not as progressive as I would have wanted either. The music is more like straight heavy metal.

 

The vocalist is a female vocalist. The vocals are still raw and take no prisoners. The vocals is good.

 

The rest of the band does a good job too. 

 

I am not really convinced by this album. The quality is somewhere between decent and good. Heavy metal and progressive metal fans should and will check out this album.

 

2.5 points 

 

 

 

 

 

Tarantula - Tarantula 2 (1978)

 

The second album from this band from Spain.

The band was a sextet with a line-up of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, organ, moog, melotron and vocals.

The band returned after a two years long break. I reviewed their debut album around twelve years ago. I have their latest two albums up for review sometime in the next week. 

This album clocks in at three quarters of an hour.

The music here is a blend of symphonic prog and heavy prog.

The music is very hard at times and it reminds me a lot about the heaviest bands in the RPI scene. The main difference here being that Tarantula's vocals are in Spanish.

The music is wild. The vocals, male and female, is pretty good.

This album is not as good as their debut album. It is still a decent enough album and well worth checking out.

2 points 

 

Parsons Project. The Alan - Eye in the Sky (1982)

 

The sixth album from this project from Great Britain.

Alan Parsons did the organs, synths, electronics and vocoder here.

Numerous guests added drums, percussion, bass, mandolin, guitars, harpsichord, piano, harps, organ, keyboards, synths, woodwinds and vocals.

This project returned again after a two years long album break.

Eye In The Sky clocks in at three quarters of an hour.

The music here is pomp pop.

The music is pompous ballads and crooner like pomp pop throughout. The music is also very sugary sweet throughout.

This album has two big hits. I am not sure which one of the songs as the music sounds very dated. Outdated, to be more precise.

The band does a good job. Ditto for the vocalists. The result is barely a decent album. It is an album I would rather want to forget. 

2 points 

 

 

Attila - Attila (1970)

 

The one and only album from this duo from USA.

The band was Jon Small on drums and Billy Joel on keyboards. Yes, that Billy Joel who later became a massive solo artist who sold zillions of albums and hit singles. This album was his debut album. Hence this review.

Attila clocks in at forty minutes.

The music here is hard rock. 

There are a lot of psych rock influences here too. 

To be clear.... The only reason why this album has got some attention is that this is Billy Joel's first album as a recording artist. He is doing all the keyboards here. There are no traces of Billy Joel, the piano man and the pop artist here. Not even a millisecond of what he later did can be found on this album.

The music is also pretty wild and hard throughout this album. There is a lot of Deep Purple influences here.

The quality is pretty poor throughout. This album is a borderline turkey. The keyboards and the drums are decent enough as this album is only being let down by some poor pieces of music. Hence...

1.5 points 

 

 

Athanor - Vulv'air (2008)

 

The debut album from this one-man-band from France.

Cedric Marcucci did the computers and electronics on this album.

Is it really twelve and a half years since I reviewed Athanor's second album ? Gosh, I am surprised ! I also promised to review the debut album as soon as possible.... Well, a promise I am now keeping, although twelve and a half year is not "as soon as possible" in my books. The review of the second album can be found here.

Vulv'air clocks in at three quarters of an hour.

The music here is RIO/Avant-Garde

...Sort of. The music is both sinister and pretty melodic. It also sounds pretty organic and not as electronic as I first feared.

Athanor has always been very influenced by two bands from Belgium, Present and Univers Zero. Athanor is a bit of a light version of these two bands. That goes for this album and the second album.

This is a surprisingly interesting album. It is also a decent album. As a free download album, it is an album everyone should download as it is an album well worth having in any record collection.

2 points 

 

 

 

 

 

Blacksmith Tales - Dark Ages Suite & Live in Roma (2026)

 

The third album from this band from Italy.

The band was a sextet with a line-up of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, piano, keyboards and vocals.

One guest added bass on the live tracks.

I really liked their first two albums and have decided to review this album despite half of it being a live album. I never review live albums. 

This album clocks in at fifty minutes.

The music is a blend of progressive metal and heavy prog. 

The first twenty minutes or so are taken up by a suite. A progressive metal suite. This suite is complex and pretty symphonic. There is indeed some pretty strong neo-prog influences in this suite. The music is pretty dark throughout this suite and slightly gothic..... as in gothic RPI.

This suite is good and is worth the price of this album alone.

The live tracks are decent enough but does not add anything new to the studio versions from the first two albums.

The result is a bit underwhelming, I am afraid. This is a pretty good album but nothing more than that.

2.5 points  

 

Sume - Sume (1977)

 

The third album from this band/project from Greenland.

The band/project was a seven-pieces big with a line-up of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, grand piano, organ, Mellotron and vocals.

The band has so far yet to impress me. But I am still going to review their final two albums.... starting with this album. 

Sume clocks in at forty minutes.

The music is folk rock.

There are far more bluesy rock here than folk rock. There are some Procol Harum influences throughout this album.

The lyrics are in the local language Greenlandic, a language spoken by just over fifty thousand people. The vocals is pretty good.

The music is a bit simple and based on guitars and vocals. 

The music is pretty decent throughout. This is not an album I can recommend.

1.5 points  

Stubbs - The Idyll Party (1984)

 

The second album from this band from Japan.

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

One guest added woodwinds on one of the four tracks here.

Their 1983 debut album was a very good album (see my review). Hence, I had some expectations to this, the follow up album.

The Idyll Party clocks in at fifty minutes.

The music is Canterbury prog.

References are National Health and Egg. 

These references are not as obvious on this album as on the debut album, though. The music is more in the Canterbury jazz mould here than the Canterbury prog mould.

The music is also slightly more cinematic than before.

The organ sound is very good. The music is pretty good. This is still an acceptable album. It is an album fans of this genre should check out.

2.5 points 

 

Karfagen - Omni II Act I The Glass of Time (2026)

 

The 23rd album by this band from Ukraine.

Antony Kalugin did the percussion, bass pedals, keyboards, programming and some vocals here.

He had help from a number of guests who provided drums, percussion, bass, guitars, Chapman stick, violin, keyboards, flute, saxophones and vocals.

This album is a part of the Omni series of albums from Karfagen/Antony Kalugin. I really like these albums and I have reviewed most if not all the Karfagen albums in both ProgArchives and in this blog.

This album clocks in at sixty-eight minutes.

The music is melodic, songs based symphonic prog.

Some of the music also sounds a bit like musicals. 

The music is mid-tempo and melodic. The music is also very elegant throughout.

The vocals are a blend of male and female vocals. The vocals are very good.

The music is a bit too wishy-washy for my liking. This is by far not the best Karfagen album out there. That said... this is still a good album.

3 points  

 

 

 

 

Rainbow - Difficult To Cure (1981)

 

The fifth album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a quintet with a line-up of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

The band returned with a new vocalist after a two years long break. Joe Lynn Turner got the vocalist job here and he is far more suited to Ritchie Blackmore's visions than the previous vocalist Graham Bonnet. No offence intended, Graham.... 

This album's cover-art is also one of the more iconic and memorable album covers from this era. I grew up back then and this album cover was everywhere. It is a great album cover too and one of the best ever album covers.

Difficult To Cure clocks in at three quarters of an hour.

The music here is hard rock.

There are also one song with pop/rock. The title track is their take on the main theme in Beethoven's ninth symphony. A symphony many other bands and artists has tried too. It is a pretty good take on this theme. 

There are a couple of other good tracks here too. The rest of the album is pretty poor. This is still a pretty good album and one to check out as this is a semi-classic album and perhaps Rainbow's most known & iconic album.

2.5 points 

 

 

String Driven Thing - The Machine That Cried (1973)

 

The third album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a quintet with a line-up of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, banjo, viola, violin and vocals. 

This band comes from Scotland and their second album, their major label debut album, were pretty popular. I reviewed it last month. 

This original album clocks in at fifty minutes. The extended version released by the band themselves thirty years ago clocks in at sixty-three minutes.

The music here is folk rock.

The music is songs based.

It also has a lot of country'n'western influences as it is straddling the Atlantic Ocean. Hence the band's popularity in USA.

There is a lot of viola violins here. The guitars are slightly in the bluegrass tradition. 

The vocals are both male and female. They are all good.

The music is not particular progressive. I did not know the band wrote the title track for the Bay City Rollers album It's A Game. An album I got forty years ago and (unfortunately) still remember. The original is on this album and it is as poor as this teenybopper band's version.

The rest of this album is decent enough and lot better than that song. Thankfully...

2 points 

 

 

Om - Om (1971)

 

The one and only album from this band from Spain.

The band was a ten plus members band/project with a line-up of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, piano, organ, keyboards, flutes and woodwinds.

This band released this album and then disappeared again. 

Om clocks in at thirty-eight minutes.

The music is a blend of fusion and jazz.

There are also some good space rock influences here.

The music is pretty wild throughout with some good trumpet, guitar and organ solos throughout. The bass is galloping away. The music is pretty fast throughout. 

It is also wild and full of life.

The quality is pretty good. This album is one of the hidden obscure gems out there just waiting to be re-discovered. Check out this album.

2.5 points 

 

 

Obskuria - Burning Sea Of Green (2011)

 

The second album from this band/project from Peru and Germany.

The band was a seven pieces big band with a line-up of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, sound effects and vocals. 

This is the follow-up album to their decent enough 2007 debut album. This is also their final album as the band/project has split up.

The album clocks in at three quarters of an hour.

The music here is psych rock with some strong space and krautrock influences.

The band/project threw some curveballs on their debut album in the shape of a couple of Metallica and The Beatles cover versions. This time around, they have included a cover version of Slayer's classic Black Magic. A version complete with female vocals. A pretty decent cover version, but still nowhere near as good as Slayer's own version.

The rest of the music is decent enough with some male and female vocals.

I cannot really say this band/project has impressed me with their two albums. Their two albums are obscure and that for a good reason.

2 points 

 

 

Bardic Depths. The - Something Are Worth Remembering (2026)

 

The fourth album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a quartet with a line-up of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, saxophones, clarinet and vocals.

The band returned again after a two-year-long album break. I really like their first two albums and I have reviewed them in this blog (# 3 - 4).

Something Are Worth Remembering clocks in at fifty minutes.

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

The music is melodic and complex. There are some late-era Pink Floyd influences here too.

The music is also epic, with some good woodwinds.

The vocals are very good and there is some good guitars here.

This is not their best album. It is still a good album and one to check out if melodic, yet complex prog is your thing.

3 points 

 

 

 

Lindh. Pär & Johansson. Björn - Dreamsongs (2004)

 

The second and final album from this project from Sweden.

The line-up here was drums, percussion, bass, guitars, mandolin, harp, keyboards, clavinet, synths, organ and bassoon.

A number of guests added bass, harp, woodwinds and vocals/choir.

Their debut album Bilbo was a pretty good album. I was therefore looking forward to review the follow up album too. Sadly, this is the final album from this duo.

Dreamsongs clocks in at sixty-four minutes.

The music is symphonic prog.

There are still some folk music influences here. But not as much as on their debut album. The music is more influenced by classical music.

There are a lot of keyboards here.

The music is complex and symphonic throughout. It is also pretty good too. There are some substandard music here too. I am not really won over by this album.

2.5 points 

 

 

Orquestra Mirasol - D'oca A Oca I Tira Que Et Toca (1975)

 

The second and final album from this band from Spain.

The band was a quintet with a line-up of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, piano, synths, flute and saxophones.

This band released two albums between 1974 and 1975. I reviewed their debut album some days ago and that is a decent enough album.

D'oca A Oca I Tira Que Et Toca clocks in at eighty-three minutes. 

The music here is fusion.

There are some strong traditional jazz influences here too. A blend of jazz and fusion is what I would label the music as here.

The band has added a guitar after their debut album, which had no guitars. The music is still dominated by woodwinds and keyboards. The bass has also been pushed a lot more to the forefront in their mix too.

The music is pretty good at times. Some of the music is not exactly sparkling and therefore a bit flat. But half of this album is really good. Hence....

2.5 points 

 

 

Celeste - Prince of One Day (2026)

 

The ninth album from this band from Italy.

The band was a quartet with a line-up of percussion, xylophone, bass, guitars, violin, keyboards, mellotron, synths, saxes, flutes and backing vocals.

One guest added female lead vocals.

The band returned again one year after releasing their previous album.

Prince Of One Day clocks in at thirty-seven minutes.

The music is a blend of RPI and dream pop.

There is also a lot of Italian folk music in the music here. 

The vocals are from the Australian vocalist and harpist Siobhan Owen. Her vocals are superb and add a lot of class and quality to this album.  

The music is good throughout and this is an album everyone into RPI should and must check out.

3 points 

 

  

Velvet Underground. The - White Light White Heat (1968)

 

The second album from this band from USA.

The band was a quartet with a line-up of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, electric viola, piano, organ and vocals.

The band returned again after their collaborative album with Nico and Andy Warhol. Lou Reed and John Cale were still members of this band.

This album clocks in at forty minutes.

The music here is psych rock.

The music is loose, garage like and arty at the same time. 

Lou Reed's vocals is dominating on the top of some dangling instruments.

There are no real good songs here and this album feels like a regression compared to the debut album. There is not much to enjoy here.

This is a decent enough album but nothing more than that.

2 points