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

 

The fourth album from this artist from Italy.

Alex Carpani did the keyboards, programming and vocals here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

2.5 points

 

 

Skinner Project - Stoic Waves Voyage II (2019)

 

The debut album from this band from Brazil.

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

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

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

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

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

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

3 points 

 

 

  

Roswell Six - Terra Incognita Beyond The Horizon (2009)

 

The debut album from this project from USA.

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

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

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

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

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

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

2.5 points 

    

Trk Project - FatherSon (2025)

 

The eight album from this band from Poland.

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

Two guests added bass and guitars.

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

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

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

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

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

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

2.5 points  

 

  

Boston - Corporate America (2002)

 The fifth album from this band from USA.

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

Numerous guests added drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, narrations and vocals.

The band returned again with this three quarters of an hour long album after a break. 

Brad Delph also returned for the final album in his lifetime. He passed on in 2007. His vocals appeared on the following album, the final Boston album, after his passing.

The music here is a blend of mainstream US rock and pop-metal. Or poodle rock as many, in a derogatory way, would label the music here. 

The music is slick and commercial. The soundscape is big and bold. The descent this pretty good AOR and pomp rock band has made into the pop-metal genre is a pretty painful experience. Nevertheless, this is a (barely) decent album. It is also their worst album up to this point. 

2 points 

 

 

Cortex - Pourquoi (1978)

 

The third album from this band from France.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, percussion, piano, organ, electric piano, keyboards, saxophones and trumpet.

A handful of guests added electric piano, clavinet and vocals. 

Their first two albums were funky fusion albums with some female voices used as instruments. Both albums are pretty good and gave me some high hopes for this album, Pourquoi.

The album is clocking in at forty-two minutes and the music is a blend of fusion, funk, pop and Canterbury scene.

There is a lot of male and female vocals on the top of this blend. Good vocals too. Some of the music reminds me a lot about disco too.

Some of the vocals are in French and this gives the album a distinctive French vibe. The English vocals drags this album into a much more Anglo-American pop landscape.

Some of the music is rather good. The majority is decent enough. This is a decent enough album and their so far weakest effort.

2 points 

 

Van Dool. Tenk and Paul Sears - Basal Ardor (2026)

The second 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 got this three quarters of an hour long album submitted to the blog a couple of weeks ago. It has taken this album this long to get to the top of this long list of new albums. A nice luxury problem for a small blog.

 

This duo has an ex The Muffins member (Paul Sears) and a Temple Of Switches member (Tenk Van Dool). I have reviewed the Temple Of Switches albums in all the previous three editions of this blog. Albums I have given good ratings. 

 

I have yet to sample their 2024 debut album Aperiodic Grok. The music on Basal Ardor is a blend of dream pop, jazz and art-rock.

 

There are some dreamy female vocals here who works as instruments. The flutes is also adding some colours to a rather sparse soundscape. There are some half-acoustic and electric guitars here. The guitar solos are understated but still good.

 

The music is eclectic and bordering to being avant-garde. The music is still pretty melodic and the quality is good throughout.

 

This is not an album for everyone. It is still a rewarding album and one to check out if eclectic prog is your cup of tea.

 

3 points 

   

 

 

 

Idioverse - Resin (2012)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

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

I cannot really explain (to myself) how and why I ended up with their five albums. But that is how it is. I will review them in the upcoming weeks.

This album clocks in at forty-two minutes and it is a name-your-price Bandcamp album.

The music is a blend of art-rock and indie in the vein of Radiohead and The Verve. A primitive version of the two above-mentioned bands, that is.

The music is primitive and pretty dissonant. There is no bass here and that is noticeable. The vocals are pretty good.

The songs are pretty hard and again... dissonant.  

The quality is not impressive. There are some decent pieces of music here and some pretty dire ones too. This is therefore only a half-decent album. I hope their four follow up albums is better than this album.

1.5 points 

 

 

Garybaldi - Nuda (1972)

 

The debut album from this band from Italy.

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

This band's real debut album was the self-titled Gleemen album from 1970. That was a decent beat and blues album. See my review here.  Gleemen has released three albums and I have reviewed them in # 1 and in this edition of the blog back in September 2025.

I reviewed the second Garybaldi album back in January 2015 in # 1 of this blog and you can read the review here. It was a pretty good album. I have now got the remaining five Garybaldi albums and will review them in the next few weeks.

Gleemen were a blues and rock band. Rhythm'n'blues to be more precise. The change of name to Garybaldi means the band has implemented a lot of Italian pop and prog on this forty minutes long album. The music still has a lot of rhythm'n'blues too.

There is some good vocals and guitars here. Some of the music here is pretty symphonic. This album is indeed an RPI album. 

The music is also pretty good with some really good pieces. 

This album is regarded as an RPI cult classic and I can understand it's status. This is a pretty good album and one everyone into RPI should have in their record collection.

2.5 points 

  

Daltonia - Observador De Un Uni Verso (1999)

 

The debut album from this band from Chile.

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

One guest added vocals on one track.

I got this album through the ProgShine Records 2024 re-release through Bandcamp. I have noticed that the band released their second and final album in 2007 and I have got that album up for release next month.

The music on this three quarters of an hour long album is a blend of eclectic prog and symphonic prog.

The vocals here are spoken words on the top of some pretty melodic progressive rock.

The spoken words are in Spanish. There are also some King Crimson like pieces here too. 

The music is a bit too pedestrian at times. There is not many good pieces here.

The result is a decent enough album which does not impress. It is still a pretty unusual album due to the spoken words and well worth checking out.

2 points  

 

 

 

 

Circu5 - Circu5 (2017)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a one-man-band with Steve Tilling on drums, peercussion, bass, guitars, piano, calliope, synths and vocals.

A number of guests added drums, guitars, synths and backing vocals.

This is a new band in the UK scene and they have released two albums. I will review the second album sometime in the next couple of weeks.

This fifty minutes long album has a mix of neo-prog, heavy prog and modern mainstream rock.

The music is dynamic with some heavy pieces and some distorted vocals in addition to the pretty good normal vocals. There are some funky stuff here too. I think this is what they call modern prog.

The music is not too bad. Some of the stuff is pretty good. There is also some stuff here who falls flat on it's face. This is therefore a decent album but nothing more than that.

2 points 

  

Winter Of Our Years. The - Soundscapes II (2026)

 

The fourth album from this band from Puerto Rico.

The band was a trio with a lineup of bass, guitars, violin, cello, keyboards and drums programming.

This fifty-five minutes long album is the follow up album to last year's Soundscapes album. A pretty good album I reviewed last year.

The piano has gone from this album and we got a largely violin and guitars based album. Add in some keyboards too and you get the picture.

The music is slow to mid-tempo with a couple of faster pieces inbetween.

Camel is a good reference here. Camel with violins, that is.

The music is instrumental and pretty dynamic. There is not many good pieces of music here. But there is some of them and there is some decent pieces here too.

This is therefore a pretty good album but not as good as the first Soundscape album.

2.5 points 

Epignosis - A Month Of Sundays (2019)

 

The third album from this band from USA.

The band was a one-man-band with Robert W. Brown Jr doing the guitars, organ, mellotron, synths, programming and the vocals.

One guest added female vocals on one track.

Robert returned again after an eight years long break with this one hour long album.

The music is again US symphonic prog. Robert has not changed much, music-wise, during his three albums under this name Epignosis. 

Again, the music reminds me a lot about the Dutch band US. 

The music is a bit pedestrian singer-songwriter and not so symphonic. The guitars does not have an appealing sound. 

The vocals, both male and female, are good. The songs are pretty long. The longest song is clocking in at twenty-two minutes.

There are some good stuff here and some not so good stuff. The result is a pretty good album. I am not really won over by these three Epignosis albums, I am afraid.

2.5 points 

 

 

Det Skandaløse Orkester - Legenden om Boblemus (2025)

 

The third album from this band from Norway.

The band was a seven pieces big band on this album with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, piano, organ, keyboards, synths, flutes and vocals.

One guest added lead vocals on one track.

I was not particular impressed by the previous album Tenk Om Noen Ser Deg (2018). It was a decent enough album full of Frank Zappa like vaudeville prog. 

Legenden Om Boblemus is clocking in at half an hour and this album marks the band's return after a seven years long album break. 

The band and production is stripped down here and the list of muscians is much reduced from the previous album.

The music is a blend of Frank Zappa ditties and Canterbury scene jazz. There is a lot more instrumental music here too and the amount of vocals has been reduced. The last half of this album is mostly instrumental vaudeville jazz in the Canterbury scene mould.

The music is weird and quirky. This album is also an improvement on the previous album. This is a pretty good album in it's own right.

2.5 points 

 

Spirergy - Wherever Forever (2026)

 

The third album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a one-man-band with Dave Allen on bass, guitars, keyboards, drum programming, programming and vocals.

Dave Allen has had a nice progress on his first two albums. Those two albums have gotten him some fans and positive reviews. Positive reviews in this blog too. 

This album is clocking in at seventy-two minutes and the music is symphonic prog.

The pieces of music are long and epic. They are also melodic and pretty complex too. The vocals and the musicianship is good.

Yes is a good reference here. More so on this album than on the previous two albums.

My only gripe here is that the music could have been a bit more complex and adventurous. Nevertheless, this is a good album. Spirergy's three albums should be checked out by all symphonic prog fans.

3 points 

Boston - Walk On (1994)

 

The fourth album from this band from USA.

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

A handful of guests added percussion, guitars and backing vocals.

The band returned again after an eight years long break. This time without Brad Delph who left the band before the recording of this album. The band therefore has a new vocalist. 

This three quarters of an hour long album is a blend of US hard rock, AOR and pomp rock.  

The sound and production are big with multitudes of layers. There are a lot of vocals and guitar harmonies here too.

The music is pretty commercial too.

There are a couple of good songs here and a couple of half decent songs here. Most of the music is decent enough and that makes this a decent album.

2 points 

Fates Warning - Night On Brocken (1984)

 

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

Fates Warning... Thirty years ago I was a big fan of Dream Theatre, another big progressive metal band, and I'm still a (kind of) fan. But Fates Warning never really interested me... before now. I am reviewing all their studio albums this year, starting with their debut album.

The band started out as an Iron Maiden copycat on this three quarters of an hour long album.

The music is in other words early NWOBHM.... New wave of British heavy metal. This translated to the east coast of USA. 

The vocals are a light, shrieking version of Bruce Dickinson/Rob Halford but not as great as those two vocalists. The vocals here is still pretty good.

The guitars are pretty good. Ditto for the bass and drums.

The quality of the songs is pretty decent. The result is a decent album which showcases a need for rapid improvements.

2 points  

 

Nerve Institute. The - Fictions (2015)

 

The third and final album from this band from USA.

The band was a one-man-band with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, piano, keyboards, organ, synths, tape loops, saxophones, programming and vocals.

Jacob Holm from Norway did keyboards and guitars on a couple of tracks. 

Michael S. Judge is the man using The Nerve Institute as the name for his music. He released his debut album Ficciones under the name Sinthome in 2010. I reviewed the second album, the first album under the The Nerve Institute name, some days ago and really liked that album.

Fading Records, a sub-label of AltRock Productions was again the record label and that means this almost one hour long album contains some really eclectic music.  

Indeed it does. The music is a blend of jazz, eclectic prog, Canterbury scene and art-rock.

The music is both quirky and melodic. The music is flowing nicely and it has a lot of interesting details. The vocals is also good and this makes this album both interesting and pleasing.

This is a good album and it is a shame that this band is no more.

3 points 

 

 

 

Meliora - Viaje Holistico (2018)

 

The debut album from this band from Mexico.

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

This band has so far only released this album. I fear that this band has split up for good.  

This one hour long album came to my attention through a review in ProgArchives three years ago and I got a copy of it through Bandcamp. 

The music here has been labeled as Eclectic Prog in ProgArchives and I agree with that label.

The music is really eclectic with some folk rock, goth rock and jazz influences. The pretty operatic female vocals, good vocals btw, are both in English and Spanish.

The sound is a bit muddy. Ditto for the guitars which has a goth rock sound... at best. A plus for the violin who are adding a lot of colours and indeed quality to this album.

This is an interesting album and also an unusual album. The quality is somewhere between decent and good. Check out this album if eclectic prog is your thing.

2.5 points 

 

 

Lifting Line Theory - The Last Goodbye (2026)

 

The second album from this band from USA.

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

In other words, Lifting Line Theory is Chris Caroll on all instruments and Little Miss on vocals. 

The music on this three quarters of an hour long album is, as on the debut album, a blend of heavy prog and US symphonic prog.

Little Miss vocals are both very good and prominent in the mix. The sound is very good and there is a lot of harmonies, vocals and guitars, on this album.

The music is mostly mid-tempo and the ambience is both warm and inviting.

The music is melodic too. 

The overall quality is good. I had hoped that this duo had kicked on and taken more chances and expanded their music a bit after the release of their debut album. But I cannot complain about this album, though.

3 points 

 

Epignosis - Refulgence (2011)

 

The second album from this band from USA.

The band was a one-man-band with Robert W. Brown Jr doing the guitars, organ, mellotron, synths, programming and the vocals.

One guest added female vocals on one track.

This album is the follow up to the 2009 album Still Water. An album I reviewed earlier this year in this blog. It was a pretty good album.

Refulgence is a fifty minutes long album and the music is again US symphonic prog... sort of. 

The music is mid-tempo with some strong Americana influences in this take on US symphonic prog. 

The music has again some references from and to the Dutch band US. 

The guitars and vocals are pretty good. The female vocals are adding a lot of colours to the music. The sound is pretty good although it is not flawless.

This album is most of all suffering from being the product of a one-man-band. There are not many good details here and the music is a bit pedestrian.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. I am still to be won over by Robert...

2.5 points 

 

Det Skandaløse Orkester - Tenk Om Noen Ser Deg (2018)

 

The second album from this band from Norway.

The band was a ten pieces big band with a lineup of marimba, percussion, drums, bass, guitars, piano, electric piano, organ, flute, clarinet, saxophones, programming and vocals.

Some guests added bass, musical saw, cello, viola, violin, harp, woodwinds, narration, voices and vocals.

Their 2014 debut album was a good album somewhere between the Canterbury Scene and Frank Zappa's bizarre world. That album were mostly in the Canterbury Scene though and had some good jazzy parts as I noted in my review earlier this year.

Tenk Om Noen Ser Deg is clocking in at thirty-five minutes. 

The band has moved far more towards Frank Zappa's bizarre world on this album. There is a lot of bizarre lyrics and vocals on this album.

The music is indeed quirky and bizarre with a lot of vaudeville rock. The music is drowned out by the vocals and voices. That is my main gripe with this album and why this album is nowhere as good as their debut album. Frank Zappa fans should check out this album.

2 points 

 

Gjenferd - Black Smoke Rising (2026)

 

The second album from this band from Norway.

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

As I wrote in my review back in April 2024 (in the # 3 edition of this blog), their self-titled 2024 debut album was a very good retro-hard rock album. I was therefore happy to review their new album too.

Black Smoke Rising is clocking in at forty minutes.

We still get 1970s hard rock here. The band has moved a lot closer to stoner rock though and the ghosts of Black Sabbath sometimes come through in their music.

There is also some arena rock here too and the sound is very much the 1970s sound.

The vocals are good and ditto for the guitars. The Hammond organ is vintage and very good.

The overall quality is not as good as their very good debut album. This is still a good album and an album fans of 1970s hard rock will love.

3 points 

 

 

Man - Call Down the Moon (1995)

 

The 11th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This one hour long album is their second album after they reformed in 1983.  

Their comeback album, the 1992 opus The Twang Dynasty was an Americana based album and a decent one. It was an album which did not have much in common with the band's music from the 1970s.  

The band has thanfully replaced a lot of their Americana with some more hard rock and psych rock. The band has tried to replicate some of the music from the 1970s. 

There is still some Americana here and the music is songs based. The music is chorus-verse-chorus based in other words.  

Although this album is a slight improvement on The Twang Dynasty, the music here is still not particular good. This is a decent enough album but nothing more than that.

2 points 

Cortex - Vol. 2 (1977)

 

The second album from this band from France.

The band was a seven-piece big band with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, Fender Rhodes, piano, organ, MiniKorg, clavinet, saxophones and vocals.

Their 1975 debut album Troupeau Bleu is regarded as a cult-classic in French and European prog rock and fusion. It is a pretty good album as I wrote in my last month's review of this album.

Vol 2 is much more a straight fusion album than the Troupeau Bleu album. It clocks in at forty minutes and the music is groovy fusion. 

There are some female voices here used as instruments. Besides of that, the music is instrumental.

The music is also pretty funky throughout.

The music has some good organ, guitars, piano and saxophone solos.  

The fusion here is pretty standard but still pretty good. It is an interesting album, indeed.

2.5 points 

 

   

 

Nerve Institute. The - Architects Of Flesh Density (2011)

 

The second album from this band from USA.

The band was a one-man-band with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, piano, keyboards, organ, synths, tape loops, saxophones, programming and vocals.

Michael S. Judge is the man using The Nerve Institute as the name for his music. He released his debut album Ficciones under the name Sinthome in 2010. I have not been able to find that album yet. The third and final album Fictions was released in 2015 and I will post a review of that album next week.

Architects Of Flesh Destiny is clocking in at one hour and the music is eclectic, as you would expect from an album released on the Fading Records label, a sub-label of AltRock Productions in Italy. 

There is a lot of jazz influences on this album. Strictly speaking, this is not an eclectic prog album as the music is far too melodic for that. There is indeed some symphonic prog here, blended pretty good with the jazz. There is also some notable Canterbury scene influences in this music.

There are some sporadic vocals here. Most of the music is instrumental. The music is also playful and quirky throughout. It is also pretty heavy at times.

The overall quality is pretty good. There are some decent stuff here and some good stuff. This is still an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points 

    

  

Meliora - Everything's Amazing Nobody's Happy (2018)

 

The one and only album from this band from USA.

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

I have no idea who this band from Denver, Colorado is and what became of them after the release of this Bandcamp album. An album that has been hanging around in my collection for years. 

The music on this forty minutes long album is a blend of indie rock and dream-pop. 

The vocals are female vocals and they are on the top of the bass, cello and guitars. The vocals are also pretty dominant on this songs based album. 

The album title very much describes the music and the mood here. The music is melancholic. It is also at times pretty beautiful. There are also some contrasts here with some infrequent screamo vocals and dissonant guitars.

Indie and dream-pop are not really my genres. I still find this album pretty good and enjoyable. This is not progressive rock. Still.....

2.5 points 

 

 

Millenium - The Lost Melodies (2025)

 

The 19th album from this band from Poland.

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

Two guests added extra vocals on a couple of tracks.

This band has been around and releasing albums since 1999. I have reviewed most of them, if not all of them. A leading member of Millenium, Ryzsard Kramarski, also has his own project called Trk Project and I reviewed their last album some days ago.

Millenium is the most prolific and productive band in the Polish prog-rock scene today.  

The music on this one hour long album is melodic, elegant and slick.

The vocals are light and good. The music is very slick and pop-music like at time. Millenium's last albums has been bordering to pop-music and this album is no exception. There are some soppy ballads here with ditto soppy lyrics.

That said, the music is pretty good throughout. The ballads are pretty poor and the music is too slick. Nevertheless, this is a pretty good album.

2.5 points 

Tempano - Nowhere Now Here (2017)

 

The tenth album from this band from Venezuela.

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

Two guests added violin and sax on one track.

This album is probably the final album from this band, whose debut album was released back in 1980. Their albums are a mixed bag of dire pop albums and good progressive rock albums. 

This fifty minutes long album has a mix of neo-prog and Porcupine Tree like art-rock.

The vocals are all in English and the vocals are good. All their previous Latin-Progressive rock influences are absent on this album and it feels like this album could have been released by a US or a British band.

There is lot of keyboards and and guitars here. The music is mid-tempo and pretty elegant. 

The overall quality is good. If this is the final ever album from this band, they have left the scene on a high.

3 points 

   

Sigmund Freud - Risveglio (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Italy.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, piano, moog, mellotron, synths, flute, sax and vocals.

This band were founded in 1972 and did some gigs in the 1970s. But the band did not enter the studio. Then there was a long silence before the band resurfaced with a studio recording of their 1970s songs. 

This seventy minutes long album contains fifty minutes of a new studio album and twenty minutes of some cobbled-together sounds from the 1970s. Mostly live tracks. 

The music here is classic RPI.

The music is mid-tempo with some strong symphonic prog influences. There is still some folk rock influences here too.

The Italian vocals is really good and the flutes are good too. 

There are also some good moog, mellotron and guitars here. 

The result is a very good album and one of the best RPI albums from last year. I doubt this band will release any more albums so this is a one-off album and one to be treasured.

3.5 points 

 

Maze Of Time - Look Beyond The Shadows (2025)

 

The fourth album from this band from Sweden.

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

The band returned a couple of months ago after a thirteen years long album break.

The music on this forty minutes long album is classic Scandinavian symphonic prog. 

The band is walking down the same path they walked on in their first three albums.

The music is melodic with a lot of guitars, guitar solos and keyboards. The vocals are melodic and earthly. Their music is more in the vein of Kaipa than the other big band in the scene, The Flower Kings.

The music is pretty muscular, but never really heavy. The music is both elegant and classic. It still has some bites and it is never uninteresting. It has a lot of interesting details.

This album is one of the biggest surprises of last years. Firstly because I did not expect this album and secondly because of the quality of the music here.

This indeed a very good album and a Scandinavian symphonic prog smorgasboard. 

3.5 points 

Uriah Heep - Return to Fantasy (1975)

 

The eight album from this band from Great Britain.

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

Two guests added pedal steel and saxophone on one track.

The band were on a one-album-every-year album cycle. Albums followed up with endless tours. No rest for the band, in other words.

This forty minutes long album follows on from the previous albums. That means a blend of hard rock, psych rock and arena rock.

The vocals is very good and the band does a good job here. The music has the typical 1970s sound. There is one song, the one with the saxophone, who are leaning towards pop music. It is a pretty bad piece of music. The rest of the songs are catchy enough and decent enough. The title-track is pretty good.

This is not among their better albums.

2 points 

  

 

 

 

Carpani. Alex - 4 Destinies (2014)

 

The third album from this artist from Italy.

Alex Carpani did the piano, organ, mellotron, moog and the vocals.

He had help from some guests who added drums, bass, guitars, balalaika, bouzouiki, flute, woodwinds and vocals.

His first two albums were two good symphonic prog albums and I was therefore looking forward to reviewing this album.

This fifty-five minutes long album takes us to the symphonic prog genre again.

There are some strong RPI influences here too in addition to the Anglo-American symphonic prog sound. His take on symphonic prog has both Genesis and Spock's Beard influences. 

The music is both melodic and symphonic. The vocals is good and there is a lot of very good details here.

This is indeed a good album and one to check out.

3 points 

 

 

Polychrome - Equilibrium (2022)

 

The debut album from this band from France.

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

A number of guests added bass, violin, cello and woodwinds.

This band has just released their second album and I will review that album later this month. 

Equilibrium is clocking in at seventy minutes. Most of the album is studio tracks. There is a couple of live tracks too here.

The music is best described as psych rock. Good old psych rock with the 1970s sound and feel.

The music is melodic and a quirky. There is some jazz influences and prog rock influences here too. 

The music has a lot of good style keyboards and guitars. This in addition to the male and female vocals. Both are good vocals.

The music is on average good. There is no great songs here but it is pretty evident that this is a talented band and I hope to hear a lot from them in the future.

3 points 

Perevod - Sons And Daughters (2022)

 

The debut album from this band from Ukraine.

Perevod was a one man band with a lineup of bass, guitars, synths, programming, drums programming and vocals.

Perevod has so far released two albums. A review of their second album, released last year, will be published later this month.

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

Most of this album is instrumental symphonic prog. The music is pretty hard throughout. There is indeed some edgy modern heavy prog here too.

There is a lot of Porcupine Tree influences in their music, indeed.

The guitars and guitar solos is very good here. The sound is also very good. The few vocals is good.

The overall quality is indeed good and this is a very promising debut album. The war-ridden Ukraine has produced another very good band.

3 points 

 

 

Border Hills - Border Hills (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Italy.

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

Two guests added drums and bass.

The band is one of the latest additions to the ProgArchives archive of neo-prog bands.  

This fifty minutes long album starts out as a Magenta copycat album before the music changes course and goes more into a more melodic neo-prog direction.

Yes, the music has female vocals. And they are good. There are also some good male vocals here.

There is also a lot of symphonic prog like epic instrumental music here too. Some of the music has some RPI influences too.

Most of all, this is a neo-prog album in the Dutch neo-prog tradition. 

There are some good guitar solos here and the music is really good. Very good at places. 

This band is a welcome addition to the prog rock and in particular the neo-prog scene. This is a debut album which should put the band on the map. This is a borderline very good album but I am bumping it up due to the very good vocals and guitar solos.  

3.5 points 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Tempano - Selective Memory (2008)

 

The ninth album from this band from Venezuela.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, violin, clavinet, farfisa organ, piano, organ, mellotron, mini-moog, keyboards, flute and vocals.

This album is strictly not a studio album of new songs. It is a collection of songs from the Seven Samurai Of Prog and the Odyssey projects plus some re-arranged old songs. 

The album clocks in at eighty minutes.

The music is mostly symphonic prog with some Latin-rock at the final four tracks. Those four tracks comes with Spanish vocals while the first eight tracks got either English vocals or are instrumental pieces of music.

There are the usual Yes and Genesis influences here. 

The music is pretty diverse. From instrumentals to more vocals dominated songs.

The musicianship is high and band proves again that they are one of the better bands from this continent. 

The quality is good throughout and this is an enjoyable album indeed. 

3 points 

  

Sangre De Muerdago - O Xardín (2025)

 

The seventh album from this band from Spain.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of percussion, classic guitar, cello, harp, keyboards, woodwinds and vocals.

One guest added female vocals on one track.

Back in 2024, I reviewed their first six albums in # 3 of this blog and liked them a lot. This band is one of the better bands from Spain.

This album is clocking in at fifty minutes and the music is Spanish folk music.

The music is mostly traditional folk music with a few folk rock influences. There is a lot of classical acoustic guitars, flutes and male Spanish vocals here.  

The music is pastoral and slow. The vocals are ethereal at times and very beautiful. The music is performed with old folk music instruments in addition to the guitars and vocals.

The music is therefore very eclectic. The pieces of music are pretty good though and this makes this album a pretty unique, esoteric experience for those of us not living in Spain.

3 points 

 

  

Steeleye Span - Conflict (2025)

 

The 25th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

I have reviewed most of their albums, if not all of them, in previous editions of this blog. Mostly in the # 1 of this blog. I really like this band so I jumped on the chance to review their latest album. An album released one year ago, that is.

This album clocks in at three quarters of an hour and the music is folk-rock. 

Maddy Prior is the vocalist here and she has had a looooong, succesful career. Both with Mike Oldfield and his hit singles, solo-career and as member of Steeleye Span and other folk-rock bands.

The music is classic folk-rock with some fiddle and lots of guitars, bass and drums. The music is a blend of rockers and more pastoral ballads.

The vocals is good and the music is a blend of good and decent songs. It is nice to hear something new, a new album from this legendary band.

2.5 points 

 

Epignosis - Still the Waters (2009)

 

The debut album from this band from USA.

The band was a one-man-band with Robert W. Brown Jr doing the guitars, organ, mellotron, synths, programming and the vocals.

One guest added female vocals on one track.

Robert W. Brown Jr has released three albums under this name and they are up for reviews in this blog in the coming days or week.

Still The Waters is a one hour long album and the music is US symphonic prog. 

The music is melodic and a bit one-dimentional. It is also a bit light on details. 

The music, inclusive the pretty good vocals, reminds me a bit about the Dutch band US and their latest albums. There are some good guitar solos here but the music, and the sound, is suffering from this being a boutique one-man-band.

Robert W. Brown Jr is obviously very talented but although this is a more than acceptable debut album, the talent is not in full bloom on this album.

2.5 points 

 

Det Skandaløse Orkester - No Har De Laget Skandale Igjen! (2014)

 

The debut album from this band from Norway.

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

Some guests added marimba, double bass, bass, woodwinds, narration, voices and vocals.

The band has released three albums, the latest one last year, and they are all up for reviews this month.

The music on this three quarters of an hour long album can best be described as a blend of Canterbury scene and Frank Zappa's weird music.

The music is jazzy, quirky and very playful. Ditto for the lyrics and the vocals. Lyrics very much in the Frank Zappa vein, although not as controversial and sweary. 

The music has some good organs, bass, guitars and woodwinds. The vocals are good too.

There are some really interesting details here and it is obvious that Hatfield & The North plus Caravan is also a major influence on their music.

The result is a good album, indeed. It is also a bit of a surprise to me as I did not like this album when I listened to it when it was released and therefore forgot about it for twelve years. Life happens....

3 points  

 

Unwritten Pages - Fringe Kitchen (2012)

 

The second album from this band from The Netherlands.

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

This album is their latest and probably their final ever album. 

I reviewed their 2010 debut album Noah some days ago and was not particularly impressed by that rock-opera. A decent enough album. 

Fringe Kitchen is clocking in at fifty-five minutes and the music is progressive metal.

The music is more melodic than hard & heavy. 

There is some hard metal here but most of the music is more in the Dutch neo-prog genre than progressive metal. The music wanders of in various directions and is pretty adventurous. The music is not run-of-the-mill progressive metal & neo-prog.

There are some good stuff here. The vocals are pretty good but there are some pieces of music here that fall well short of the target. This is therefore a pretty good album from a pretty obscure band.

2.5 points 

Ultralyd - Inertiadrome (2010)

 

The fourth album from this band from Norway.

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

I have had two of their albums hanging around in my record collection for ages. I reviewed the first one, their second album Chromosome Gun, some days ago and was not impressed. So I am reviewing their final album today.

The album is clocking in at forty minutes and the music is some sort of post-avant garde jazz. There is a lot of psychodelia and garage in their music too. Krautrock is probably the best label on the music here.

The music is full of dissonance. There are some tortured, screaming saxophones throughout this album.

Easy listening music, it is not.

The music is also haunting and not bad at all. There is a lot to like here.

The result is a decent album and a lot better album than I expected. If avant-garde krautrock is your thing...

2 points 

Trk Project - Alice (2025)

 

The ninth album from this band from Poland.

Trk Project is Ryszard Kramarski on guitars, keyboards and vocals.

He had help from a dozen guests who provided drums, bass, saxophone and vocals.

I have been following his Trk Project for some years. I have though missed out on the album released under the FatherSon name earlier last year, the eight Trk Project album. I will review that album later this month.

The one hour long Alice is a melodic neo-prog album.

There is also a lot of musicals and rock opera vibes and music here. I gather that this album is indeed a musical.

There is a lot of female vocals here. Most of the vocals are indeed female vocals. The music is also elegant and melodic.

The music is also commercially slick too. The guitar solos are melodic too.  

The music is too commercial to really have any good details. There is some good songs here and some decent songs. Hence...

2.5 points 

 

Ankh - Tu Jest I Tam Jest (2018)

 

The fifth album from this band from Poland.

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

Two guests added percussion and violin.

This is their latest album. Hopefully, this is not their final album.

The album clocks in at one hour and the music is eclectic prog.

There is a lot of King Crimson influences here, indeed.

There are some folk rock influences in their music too. But most of the music is quirky with some subtle hints of jazz.

The male Polish vocals are good and the violins are adding a lot of colours to the music.

This album is weird and pretty good. I have really warmed to this band and their music. This is a band well worth checking out.

2.5 points 

 

Alternativ Quartet - Deocamdată Suntem (2023)

 

The fifth album from this band from Romania.

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

This one hour long album is their second album from that year. It is also their latest album but I hope we will hear a lot more from them in the future.

This album sees the band continue to explore a melancholic art-rock and post-rock soundscape. Just as they did on their first album of that year.

There are still some Gazpacho influences here. But the music is a lot slower and a lot more downtuned. Sigur Ros is therefore another good reference here.

The music is also elegant, melodic and classy. The male vocals, with lyrics in their local language, are also adding a lot to the music.

The music is really good and this album proves that this band is one of the better art-rock bands around in today's scene. Get this album.

3 points 

 

 

Nankai Trio - Antarctica (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Japan.

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

This album caught my attention due to its high placement in ProgArchives best album of 2025 list. 

This forty minutes long album can best be described as a trio jazz/fusion album.

The music is more trio jazz than fusion, though.

There are a lot of good bass solos here. The guitar solos are very good.

The drums are really good too and the sound is superb.

The music is really dynamic with a lot of solos. The music is a bit formula based. Nevertheless, this is a good album and well worth checking out if you are into jazz and fusion.

3 points 

Boston - Third Stage (1986)

 

The third album from this band from USA.

The band was a duo at this album with a lineup of percussion, bass, guitars, grand piano, organ, electric piano and vocals.

Three guests added drums and guitars.

The band returned again with this thirty-six minutes long album after an eight years long album break.

Boston was by now reduced to the two main men in the band, Tom Scholz and Brad Delp. These two were the main composers on the first two albums and the brains behind this band from the very beginning.

The music here is a blend of pomp rock and AOR.

 There is also some notable heavy metal influences in their music and the band is clearly trying to tag themselves to the heavy metal scene on this album.

The songs are well developed.

The overall quality is decent enough. I am not particular impressed by this album.

2 points 

 

  

Tempano - The Agony & The Ecstasy (2002)

 

The eighth album from this band from Venezuela.

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

Three guests added percussion, keyboards, flute and vocals on a couple of tracks.

The band returned three years after their good El Fin De La Infancia album. A return to form and their best ever album as I wrote in my review earlier this month.

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

The music is mostly symphonic prog though. The first half of the album is very eclectic and has a dense soundscape normally associated with the likes of King Crimson.

The second half of the album has some nice Camel and Genesis influences. This part of the album is very melodic and engaging.

The music is also visiting the classic Latin-American symphonic prog scene on a couple of pieces of music here. That is adding something extra, something extra good, to this album.

The vocals is good and very pleasing too. The sound and music is very classy and elegant throughout. 

The result is their best album so far and a good album in it's own right. If symphonic prog with some eclectic influences is your thing....

3.5 points 

 

Unwritten Pages - Noah (2010)

 

The debut album from this band from The Netherlands.

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

A handful of guests added percussion, guitars and vocals.

This almost one and a half hour long album is the first of in total two albums this band releaesed. A review of the second album will follow early next month.

Noah is some sort of a rock opera. Maybe it is not... but the music is very much in the progressive metal rock opera mould.

The music is very varied. We got djent, nu-metal, progressive metal and mainstream rock here. 

There are both some rather good male and female vocals here. The sound is good.

The overall quality is decent enough. I am not really impressed by this very long album, a double CD no less. The music is too meandering and has no real good pieces of music.

2 points