Magnum - On The 13th Day (2012)

 

The 16th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

One guest added woodwinds on one track.

The band returned with this one hour long album.

The band continued with their blend of AOR and pomp rock. This album have more AOR than pomp rock, though. There is also some good old style heavy metal here too. 

It seems like the band had now found a new audience plus that they were getting their old fans back into their fold. 

The music is mid-tempo with some catchy tunes. The vocals is very good throughout and there are some good harmonies here.

The result is a pretty pleasing album. There is no really outstanding tracks here. This album is still a pretty good album and one to check out.

2.5 points 

 

Steam Theory - Helios Rider (2012)

 

The second album from this band from USA.

The band was a one-man-band with Jason Denkevitz on bass and guitars.

Three guests added drums and keyboards.

This one hour long album continues on from their 2010 debut album Enduring Delirium. That was a decent enough album that I reviewed earlier this fall.

The music here is instrumental heavy prog. 

It is mostly driven by electric guitars, Jason Denkevitz's favoured instrument. 

The music is mid-tempo and melodic. It has a few interesting pieces too. The pieces of music is well constructed.

Most of the music is pedestrian and not particularly interesting. The result is a decent enough album which does not bring anything new to the scene.

2 points 

 

Stud - Stud (1971)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This band released two albums between 1971 and 1972 on the legendary Deram label. The band were a kind of a supergroup with members from Animals, Family and Taste. 

The music on this forty minutes long album is a blend of blues, hard rock and even avant-garde rock.

The album is starting pretty gently with some melodic blues before it enters hard rock territory. 

There is a weird avant-garde drum solo and some other avant-garde stuff halfway through this album before the music makes a retreat into hard blues again.

That makes this album pretty weird. Not to say.... progressive.

The vocals is good and the band does a good job. The sound is also good.

That makes this a decent enough album and one to check out if 1970s rock is your thing. A review of their second album September will follow later this winter.

2 points 

 

Satan - Satan (1973)

 

The one and only album from this band from France.

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

This band is not to be confused with the British heavy metal band of the same name. 

This album was recorded in 1973 and then forgotten until the obscure-albums label Monster Melodies Records released it in 2016. I have gone with the year 1973 as the music is very much early to mid 1970s prog rock.

To be more precise, the music on this thirty-five minutes long album is French symphonic prog, complete with French vocals.

References are Mona Lisa and Ange.

The music is mid-tempo and very much in the 1970s symphonic prog tradition. A tradition that this band probably helped to establish.

The songs are long and complex. They are mid-tempo with some very good musicianship and great vocals. There are some narrations and pastoral pieces here too. The moog sound is great. 

This album is obscure, but still a hidden gem. It is an album that takes the breath away from a symphonic prog fan and a borderline great album. Well, it is a great album and one of the best ever French symphonic prog albums.

4 points 

 

 

Endroom. The - Second Sight (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Norway.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, harmonica, elecronics, male and female vocals.

This is the follow up album to their 2013 self-titled debut album. A decent enough album that I reviewed back in February 2024 for # 3 of this blog.

In that review, I described that album as a blend of old symphonic prog, folk rock and americana. That is also a description who largely fits the three quarters of an hour long Second Sights too. Add some heavy prog too and you get the picture.

It is not a coincidence that large parts of this album remind me of the legendary Norwegian band Thule as their bass player also does the bass on Second Sight and may have added some Thule magic to this album too. Or maybe because both bands originally come from the same place, Honningsvaag, just a few miles from North Cape, the most northern piece of rock in Europe. 

It is debatable if this is progressive rock or not. The music is any case retro 1970s rock with some pretty good male and female vocals. 

The music is melodic, muscular, mid-tempo and sometimes pretty hard. There are some good details scattered around this album too.

The result is a good album who should appeal to everyone into Thule, retro-hard rock and the 1970s rock scene and sound. Check out this album.

3 points

  

 

 

 

Hypnotic Floor - The Friendly Moss Forest Creatures Lived Happily In Perpetual Twilight (2025)

 

The third album from this band from Austria.

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

Two guests added violin and female vocals on a couple of tracks.

The band returned again after a four years album break with this forty minutes long album.

The music here is a blend of psych rock, heavy prog and some folk rock and desert rock. That is a heady mix, indeed. 

The music is catchy, mid-tempo, quirky, intricate and slightly jazzy. There is a hippie flower power ambience running throughout this album.

The sound is both organic and great. The vocals is good. The band does a good job too. 

The overall quality here is very good and this is one of the better albums of the year. 

Check out this and their first two albums too. This is a band who deserve a heck of a lot more attention.

3.5 points   

  

Mysteria Noctis - Vespro (2025)

 

The third album from this band from Italy.

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

I have not been particularly impressed by their first two albums. Their debut album was a black metal album and their second album was a goth rock/metal album. 

The one hour long Vespro continues in the same vein as the previous album Vulnera from 2020. That means more goth metal and goth rock.

The music is mid-tempo with some sporadic faster pieces of music inbetween. 

The vocals are both male and female. They are thankfully all in Italian as the English vocals on Vulnera were excruciatingly painful. 

The guitar sound is again not particularly pleasing. But it is still an improvement from the previous album.

The result is a decent enough album which will interest those into goth metal and goth rock. 

2 points 

Zen Orchestra - Zen Orchestra (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

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

Three guests added bass and guitars.

The band were formed on the ashes of Walking On Ice who were active some decades ago and released an album back in 1994. An album I have yet to review and I will get onto that this winter.

Zen Orchestra is therefore formed by some experienced musicians. Tragically, their bassist Stewart Milne passed away during the recording and Alberto Rigoni stepped in and helped the band to complete this album.

This fifty minutes long album can best be described as a classic British neo-prog album.

The music is both muscular and bold. There are a lot of multilayered guitars here. The usual Genesis and Yes influences are here too.

The vocals are good and the band does a good job. There are no outstanding tracks here. Nevertheless, this is a good album and one to check out if classic neo-prog is your thing.

3 points 

 

Starlight Brigade - Into The Light (2014)

 

The second album from this band from Sweden.

The band was a project lead by Anders Nilsson who did some guitars and keyboards.

He had help from around a dozen guests who provided drums, bass, guitars, saxophones and vocals.

I reviewed their 2013 debut album Under The Velvet Sky last month and gave it a decent album rating.

Their music is a blend of pomp rock and pomp pop. There is a lot of mainstream rock in their music too. That is the case on their debut album as well as on this fifty minutes long album, the follow up album.

The music is mid-tempo to slow, slick and pretty poppy. There is a lot of pretty good male and female vocals here. There are some guitar solos here too.

The music is pretty pedestrian without any really interesting details. This is by no means a progressive rock album.

The result is still a decent album which may be of interest to those who like pomp pop.

2 points 

 

Solstafir - Berdreyminn (2017)

 

The sixth album from this band from Iceland.

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

The band returned again after a three years long album break with this one hour long album.

Their music is pretty weird. The band too is pretty weird, come to think of it. The music is most definate rooted in the barren Icelandic nature and landscape.   

The music here is a blend of post-metal and art-rock. There is even a ballad here and that ballad is very good.

The vocals is both weird and good. They are perfect for their weird music. A more classic rock vocal would have been wrong in their music. 

The music is mostly mid-tempo too with some faster and some slower songs. 

The result is another good album from this band. A band as weird as Iceland itself. Yes, visiting Iceland is on my bucket list. And Solstafir and Sigur Ros will be the soundtrack to that visit.

3 points 

Solum - Avlägsenheten (2024)

 

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

Christian Fredrikson did the drums, percussion, bass, guitars and synths on this album.

He got some help from some guests who added drums, percussion and piano.

I reviewed the 2021 debut album Encountering Murk last month and that was a decent enough album.

The music on this three quarters of an hour long album is instrumental heavy prog.

The music is heavy, bold and soaring majestic. There is indeed some symphonic prog influences throughout this album. 

The music is mainly performed with electric guitars. There riffs, harmonies and multi-layered guitars here. 

The music is also pretty melodic.

The music is a bit run-of-the-mill as there is not much in the way of interesting and exciting music here. The music is not bad. It is just a bit average and workmanlike. This is a decent album but nothing more than that.

2 points 

 

Skyed Pillars - Cloud Opus (2013)

 

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

Christian P. Bassett did the bass, guitars and electronics on this album.

He hasreleased two name-your-price Bandcamp albums under this name. My review of his decent enough debut album was posted last month in this blog.

The music on this fifty minutes long album is a blend of instrumental post-rock and space rock.

The music is mid-tempo and pretty pedestrian. The music is based on chugging post-rock like guitars. There are some sporadic variations in the music. Some outbreaks of Sigur Ros like colourful post-rock harmonies. 

Most of the music is straight forward and not particular interesting. 

This is barely a decent album which may be a worthy download if post-rock is your thing.

2 points 

 

 

Zebulon - Come Day Of Reckoning (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Norway.

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

I am pretty fond of doom metal. Classic doom metal, that is. So I jumped on the chance to review this band's debut album.

This album is forty minutes long album and their record label has described the music as epic doom metal. 

I would call it classic doom metal in the same vein as Solitude Aeturnus. Zebulon's sound and music is more gritty and dirty than Solitude Aeturnus. Ditto for Zebulon's raw vocals.

The music is slow and heavy. The sound is dominated by the walls of guitars. The raw and pretty good vocals is also in the forefront of the mix.

The music is pretty good and the band is talented. This is an acceptable debut album which unfortunate is a bit short of good songs. 

2.5 points 

 

Hypnotic Floor - Odd Conjectures (2021)

 

The second album from this band from Austria.

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

I had the joy of reviewing their 2020 debut album Foggy Bog Eyes back in July 2020 in # 2 of this blog. That album was a good krautrock album. 

The band has just released a new album, their third album, and I will post a review next week.

Odd Conjectures is a forty minutes long album. The music is a blend of psych rock and heavy prog. It is a kind of krautrock too as it has a lot of jazz influences too. Canterbury prog springs to mind here.

The music is very quirky, yet also melodic. The music is also playful and has a lot of good vocals and details.

The result is a good album and one to check out if quirky, playful prog is your thing.

3 points 

 

 

Mysteria Noctis - Vulnera (2020)

 

The second album from this band from Italy.

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

The band debuted in 2015 with the Higher Dimension, which was largely a black metal album. So I did expect something similar on Vulnera, the follow up album.

I got a big surprise.

The music on this forty minutes long album is goth progressive metal with some goth rock and progressive rock influences too. There are still a couple of minutes of some extreme metal here.

The sound is a bit dissonant and ditto for the guitar sound. The goth rock sound is evident here.

The vocals is pretty bad and the guitars are poor. There are some decent music here. There are also some poor music here. The music here sounds half-baked and the result is this half-decent album. An album which is pretty close to being a turkey.

I hope their new album, to be reviewed soon, is better than this album. 

1.5 points 

 

Fallen Letters - Mindfractures (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from India.

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

The metal and prog scene in India is an emerging scene and one to keep an eye on. We will hear a lot more from this scene in the upcoming years. 

The band has released four EPs and singles before they finally released this album. 

This fifty minutes long album has a lot of variety. The music range from extreme metal to djent, progressive metal and art-rock. All this crammed into fifty minutes.

Their take on progressive metal are more in the Porcupine Tree vein than in the traditional Dream Theater vein. Modern progressive metal is a good label on their music.

The vocals are good and the band does a good job.

The overall quality is good throughout and this is an album well worth checking out. I hope we will hear a lot more from this band in the future.

3 points 

Man - 2 Ozs Of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle (1969)

 

The second album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This forty minutes long album was their second album that year. Which was not particularly unusual those days.  

Their debut album, Revelation, was a pretty good album and one that gave me an appetite for the rest of their albums. The music there was a blend of psychedelia, blues and some early symphonic prog. 

The band continued down the same route on this, the follow up album. The symphonic prog has largely gone though and the music is a lot harder this time around. There is indeed some hard rock here.

Hard psychedelia is a better label on the music here.

The album opens with a weird twelve minutes long psychedelic track. Then we get some more songs focused harder rock. 

The sound is good and ditto for the vocals. There is a lot of guitar solos here. 

There is no outstanding songs here and the music is not as good as on the debut album. This is still a decent album and one to check out.

2 points 

November - En ny tid är här (1970)

 

The debut album from this band from Sweden.

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

Two guests added vocals and keyboards.

It is appropriate to start November with the debut album by a band called November. This happened by pure accident and I have been lucky here. The band released three albums before they split up and they will be reviewed in this blog.

The main man in this band passed away earlier this year. The band was also one of Mikael Akerfeldt in Opeth's favourite bands. Hence, the band has renewed attention this year. 

The music on this forty minutes long album is hard rock. References are both Budgie and (early) Deep Purple. 

The music is hard and heavy. There are still some melodies here. The guitars are hard and there are some solos throughout this album. The sound is good and very much acceptable.  

The lyrics are in Swedish. The vocals is pretty good. 

The music is decent enough. This album is more of a historic interest as it is one of the first ever hard rock album from Scandinavia. It is still an enjoyable listen in it's own right. 

2 points 

 

 

Solum - Encountering Murk (2021)

 

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

Christian Fredrikson did the drums, percussion, bass, guitars and synths on this album.

He got some help from some guests who added drums, percussion and piano.

Solum has so far released two albums and they are up for reviews in this blog. 

The music on this forty-two minutes long album is instrumental heavy prog.

The main instrument here are the guitars. There is also some piano and synths generated mellotron.

The music is mid-tempo with some outbreaks of some sporadic heavier pieces of music.

The sound is slightly warm and organic. The musicianship is OK. 

The music is decent enough without really being particular interesting. The result is therefore a decent enough album.

2 points 

Skyed Pillars - The Passing (2013)

 

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

Christian P. Bassett did the bass, guitars and electronics on this album.

He released two album under this name and I am reviewing both of them this fall. 

The music on this one hour long album is instrumental post-rock. 

There is also some indie and space rock here too.

The music is mostly performed with guitars and the music is both muscular and dynamic.

There is some ebb and flow here too. There are also some melodic guitar harmonies too. The cover art-work above describes the music pretty well. 

One hour of this instrumental music is a bit of a test of the listener's patience. This is still a decent album. It is also a name-your-price Bandcamp album and therefore a worthy download.

2 points 

 

Edenya - The Secret Destination You Are Looking For (2025)

 

The third album from this band from France.

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

This is the follow up album to their very good 2023 album Another Place.  

The band started out as a folk rock band and then moved more towards art-rock on the above mentioned album. Their new album, a one hour long album, sees the band now well anchored in the art-rock genre.

The band has also had a change of vocalists since their previous Another Place album was released. Clelia Lenoble has been replaced by Ingrid Denis. That has also given the band a different sound.

Ingrid Denis vocals is very much in the forefront of their music. The music is also muscular and mid-tempo. It is also melodic too.

There are some strings (violins etc) here but not much. The music is mostly performed with the ususal guitars and keyboards setup. 

There is no really outstanding tracks here. The overall quality is still good and this is an album fans of art-rock with female vocals should really pick up and enjoy.

3 points  

 

Soup - Visions (2021)

 

The sixth album from this band from Norway.

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

A dozen of guests added violin, trumpet, flutes and a small symphonic ensemble. 

The band had taken another four years long album break after the release of their previous album Remedies. The band emerged again with the forty minutes long Visions. This is also so far their latest album too.

The music here is again melancholic art-rock. There is also a lot of post-rock in their music too. References is therefore Gazpacho and Sigur Ros.

Compared with their previous five albums, the music on this album is much more symphonic than before. The music is also pretty intense, monumental and bold. There are a lot of details here.

There are still some pastoral pieces here too. The music is still pretty melodic too. Melancholy is the main theme here and what this album will be remembered for.

The vocals is very good and the instrumentation is cool.

The result is a very good album from a band who really deserve a lot more credit and attention. I recommend their six albums and is adding this band to my top 10 of the best bands from Norway.

3.5 points 

 

  

 

Sky - Mozart (1987)

 

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

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

A symphony orchestra, The Academy Of St Martin-In-The-Fields were the guests here.

.... Although it is more correct to say that The Academy Of St Martin-In-The-Fields is the performers here and Sky is just adding, well, some very sporadic pieces of music here. Mostly at the end of this album.

The composer is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and there is no original compositions from Sky here. 

In short, the music on this fifty minutes long album is classical music. 

This album does not add anything new to the zillions of symphony orchestra works of Wolfgang Amadeus Orchestra. It is also wrong to name this a Sky album.

This album is a waste of energy and time. It is sad, very sad that Sky left us with this turkey as they were an interesting band. Their debut album is a good album and one everyone should check out. Mozart though is a turkey.

1 point 

Aerostation - Rethink (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Italy.

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

This band is a true supergroup with Alex Carpani, Jacopo Rossi and Gigi Cavalli Cocchi. All three of them are legendary musicians in the RPI and symphonic prog scene in Italy and worldwide.

I was not won over by their 2018 self-titled debut album when I reviewed it in December 2018 in # 2 of this blog. The music were a blend of Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree. So I was a bit surprised when I saw this follow up album.

The music on this three quarters of an hour long album is a blend of neo-prog and heavy prog. The music is dynamic and muscular. 

The sound is very good and the music has some very good songs and hooks. The vocals is also very good.

The result is a good album and one of the better albums of this year.

Check it out.

3.5 points 

 

 

Stuckfish - Calling (2018)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This band from the north-east of England has so far released four albums and I have them up for review this fall.

This band has become quite popular lately. Hence my interest in them.

The music on this album is a blend of heavy prog and neo-prog. Large parts of this album, that is. 

On a couple of tracks, the band sounds like early Dio and the vocalist sounds like the late Ronny James Dio. Those songs are the highlights on this album.

The rest of the album is mid-tempo with a couple of pastoral pieces too. The music is also slick and pretty commercial. It still has some interesting hooks and details.

The vocals are very good and this band's main strength. 

This is a good debut album and one that makes me wishing for more. I hope the remaining three albums is as good or even better than this album. 

3 points 

 

Steely Dan - Can't Buy a Thrill (1972)

 

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

A handful of guests added percussion, guitars, saxophone, flugelhorn and vocals.

This band is a legendary band and a band I have yet to explore. Hence I will review their nine albums this winter in this blog. 

The music on this forty minutes long album is jazzy, quirky pop-rock.

There is also a lot of funk in their mid-tempo music. Music which is songs based too.

The sound and music is typical for the 1970s and sophisticated. The songs are quirky with some breezy coolness.

The vocals is good and the music oozes class. The ten songs here are all good. The music does not feel dated at all and it is very understandable why this band became so popular and still is a popular band. 

3 points 

  

  

Wizrd - Elements (2024)

 

The second album from this band from Norway.

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

The band returned again with this forty minutes long album after a two years long break. A break where the members recorded and released albums with their other bands, Soft Phog, Draken and Spidergawd.

Their 2022 debut album Seasons was a pretty good retro-hard rock album. It had the 1970s sound and attitude. I reviewed it back in December 2022 in # 3 of this blog.

The music here is a blend of hard rock, space rock, electronica and jazz. The music also takes us back to the 1970s music scene and sound.

This album and the new Spidergawd album, which I reviewed yesterday, has in this respect a lot in common.  

The music is song-oriented with classic song structures. The vocals is good.

The result is a pretty weird and left field album. It is also a good album and one to check out. 

3 points  

 

 

 

 

Xpressive - The Head (2014)

 

The debut album from this band from Poland.

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

This band released this album and a re-worked English lyrics-only version called The Head II before they gave up the ghost and split up. I got both albums but will only review this, their original album.

The music on this one hour long album is progressive metal.

The progressive metal is middle of the road heavy with a couple of ballads too. The ballads comes with keyboards generated strings. 

Some of the music is also bordering to heavy prog too. 

The good vocals are both in Polish and in English. The vocals are good.

The music is a bit too generic progressive metal to really being good. Nevertheless, this is a decent album and well worth checking out on their Bandcamp site.

2 points 

 

 

Spidergawd - From Eight To Infinity (2025)

 

The eight album from this band from Norway.

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

This band was formed by some Motorpsycho assosiated muscians to write, record and perform retro-rock from the 1970s and the 1980s. The result is so far eight studio album and a reputation as a great live band.

The band continues in the same direction on this forty minutes long album. 

The music is pretty hard here. It is also song-oriented and not as heavy as per normal from this band.

The music is still a blend of the '70s and the '80s. It is still rock'n'roll. 

The band has though moved a lot towards power pop. You can hear this in the songs structures. This makes this album a bit of an oddity in their discography.

There is no great songs here though. Nevertheless, the vocals and the guitars are good. The sporadic saxophones are adding some spice to their music too. On balance, this is therefore a good album.  

If hard rock'n'roll floats your boat....

3 points 

 

Soup - Remedies (2017)

 

The fifth album from this band from Norway.

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

Three guests added strings and flugabone.

The band returned again with this forty minutes long album after a four years long album break.

The music here is melancholic art-rock. This is the genre this band has been exploring throughout their career.

There is also a lot of post-rock in their music too. References is therefore Gazpacho and Sigur Ros.

The music is both melodic and pretty muscular. There is some post-rock like ebb and flows in their music too. The music is also full of very interesting details. The vocals is very good.

The result is another good album from this band. This band flies under the radar but they are still a band worth checking out. 

3 points 

Sky - The Great Balloon Race (1985)

 

The sixth album from this band from Great Britain.

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

Some guests added guitars, synths, saxophones, flutes, pan pipes and vocals on some tracks.

I had no positive expectations for this forty minutes long album after I had to endure their last three albums.  

The music here is neo-classical music with some sporadic hints of symphonic prog.

This ain't rock music, that is for sure.

The music is still lively and dynamic. Most of it is a blend of circus music and vaudeville theater music. There are also some more pastoral pieces here too.

There are even some good pieces of music here.... This to my considerable surprise. 

This album is considerable better than their previous three albums and it is indeed a pretty good album. Maybe even their second best album. Wow !

2.5 points  

 

New Grove Project. The - Epiqurium (2025)

 

The fourth album from this band from Sweden.

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

This is the follow up album to last year's comeback album Assorted Affections. A pretty good album I reviewed last year in # 3 of this blog.

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

The album is indeed made of seven acts, Epiqurium Act I - VII. All of them performed with a mix of guitars, bass, drums, keyboards and programmed strings.

All the music has a neo-classical music structure. Some of the music is bordering to being cheesy.

The music is not particular exciting. Nevertheless, there are some good and some not so good pieces of music here. Hence...

2.5 points  

Magnum - The Visitation (2011)

 

The 15th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

Three guests added violin, viola and cello and programming on a couple of tracks. 

The band returned again after a two years long break.

Their last albums were pretty good albums and an upturn in form. So I had hopes for the fifty minutes long The Visitation.

The band returned to their formula of pomp rock and AOR on this album.

The songs are melodic and perhaps a bit softer and less rock orientated than the music on their last albums.

The vocals are good but there are no good songs here. The music is decent enough though. This is not one of their better albums. It is still a decent enough album.

2 points

 

Steam Theory - Enduring Delirium (2010)

 

The debut album from this band from USA.

The band was a one-man-band with Jason Denkevitz on bass and guitars.

Three guests added drums and keyboards.

I reviewed their latest album Chrysalis (2024) back in February this year in # 3 of this blog and noted in the review that I would come back and review their first four albums too in the near future. That is what I will now do in the upcoming weeks.

The music on this seventy minutes long album is heavy prog.

The music is hard and dynamic. There are some keyboards generated art-rock pieces inbetween the guitar harmonies, riffs and solos.

The guitars are mostly electric. There are also some good acoustic guitars pieces here.

The music is also pretty airy and melancholic at times too.

The music is decent enough. The music is lacking a lot of good melodies and details. Hence...

2 points  

Venus Loon - Pandora's Paradox (2024)

 

The fifth album from this band from Great Britain.

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

I reviewed their second album Acid Purtitan (2021) some days ago and that was a decent space rock and electronica album.  

That is also the kind of music we get on this three quarters of an hour long album too. 

There are some long guitar solos here with some vocals and some melodies. There is also some electronica here too.

The music sometimes reminds me about the last albums from the Dutch symphonic prog duo Us. But the music here is not symphonic prog, though. Some parts here are melodic, though.

The music are indeed pretty melodic throughout. The sound is not particular good and neither is the music in particular interesting.

This is a decent enough album but nothing more. I am not won over.

2 points  

 

 

Valis Ablaze - Render (2019)

 

The second album from this band from Great Britain.

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

 This fifty minutes long album was their final album before they split up. 

As on their 2018 debut album Boundless, the music is progressive metal.

These two albums, Boundless and Render, is similar when it comes to the music. That means Render is an album with progressive metal with some djent interludes and lots of vocal harmonies. The music is more leaning towards Porcupine Tree than Dream Theater.

The music is big, bold and heavy. The guitars and the vocals is pretty good. The sound is good.

Render is quality wise weaker than their previous album Boundless. This is why this is only a decent album.

Valis Ablaze is still a band, a forgotten band, well worth checking out. Both albums are available from Bandcamp.

2 points 

 

Pretty Soily Company - Pretty Soily Company (2025)

 

The debut album (?) from this band from France.

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

I know absolutely nothing about this duo. The most important thing is the music, though.

The music on this three quarters of an hour long album is a blend of psych rock, indie rock and art-rock.  There is also some hints of jazz here. Large parts of their music even reminds me about The Tangent.

The music mid-tempo, melodic and with a good ambience. 

There is a lot of electronics here. There is also some acoustic guitars. On the top of this again, we got some good vocals. Vocals in English, that is.

There is no drums here and hardly any bass. The electronics is doing the rhythms. That gives this album an electronic sound. A bit of a strange sound.

This is a pretty good album and the band is obviously talented. I hope we will hear a lot more from this band in the future.

2.5 points 

 

 

 

Rolf Zero - Poseidon (2025)

 

The eight album from this band from Australia.

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

Their first seven albums has been a mixed bag, to put it mildly. From the very poor to pretty good. So my expectations here were pretty low.

The band has decided to become more a rock band on the fifty minutes long Poseidon. An album with some good art-work for a change.

The opening minutes is pretty hard rocking and in the heavy prog genre. The music mellows out after while and we are getting a mix of cinematic rock and symphonic prog.

The music is mainly performed by guitars in the beginning before the keyboards takes over and starts to dominate the music. At the end, the balance is is restored and we get some good harmonies.

Not everything here is good, but this is still a pretty good album and one of their best ones. It is an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points

 

 

 

Riverside - ID.Entity (2023)

 

The eight album from this band from Poland.

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

This fifty minutes long album is so far their latest album. It goes without saying that I am really longing for more albums from them.

The band has more or less dropped all the metal from their sound. They are an art-rock band on this album. Steven Wilson is a good reference. 

The music is mid-tempo and melodic.

The music is also light and airy with some very good guitars. 

There is a lot of great details in their music. Add some really good vocals too and your get a really interesting album.

There is no outstanding songs here. Nevertheless, this is still a very good album and one to check out. 

3.5 points 

 

Roswell Six - Terra Incognita: Uncharted Shores (2025)

 

The third album from this band from USA.

The band, make that a studio project, was a twenty pieces big band with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, violin, viola, piano, keyboards and vocals.

This fifty minutes long album is part three and the closing chapter of the Terra Incognita trilogy. A fantasy book has also been released covering this trilogy.

The first two albums was released in 2009 and 2010. I reviewed them in.......... actually, I have not reviewed them at all. But I still remember their releases. I will therefore put the two first albums up for review this winter.

I did not expect to hear anything more about this band/project again after their second album. Hence my big surprise when I got this album. 

The music here has all the hallmarks of a concept album. The music is somewhere between heavy prog and pomp rock.

The vocalists are both male and female. Mikael Sadler from Saga does the first song and we also get vocals from Dan Reed and Anneke Van Giersbergen. 

The music is melodic too with some interesting details. The music is not particular heavy.

The quality is pretty good throughout with some decent and some good songs. Hence...

2.5 points 

  

Starlight Brigade - Under The Velvet Sky (2013)

 

The debut album from this band from Sweden.

The band was a project lead by Anders Nilsson who did some guitars, keyboards and vocals.

He had help from around a dozen guests who provided drums, bass, guitars, saxophones and vocals.

This band/project has so far released four studio albums and they are all up for review in this blog.

The music on this fifty-five minutes long album can best be described as a blend of pomp rock and pomp pop. There is also some mainstream rock and americana here too.

The music is melodic with some good guitar hooks and vocals. The vocals is a mix of male and female vocals. The music is mid-tempo. The sound is very good.

The music is a bit on the pedestrian side and there is no progressive rock here.

This is a decent enough album which would interest those into mainstream rock.

2 points 

 

 

 

 

Solstafir - Ótta (2014)

 

The fifth album from this band from Iceland.

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

This one hour long album is the follow up album their 2011 album Svartir Sandar.

The cover art-work above says it all about the music....

The music is barren, windswept post-metal with a lot of post-rock influences.

The Icelandic and pretty raw vocals is adding a lot of wilderness to the music. Music which is hard, heavy and a bit dissonant.

The music is also mainly songs based. 

The sound and the ambience is the main positive aspects with this album. Not everything here is good but the overall package still makes this a good album. 

3 points 

 

Venus Loon - Acid Puritan (2021)

 

The second album from this band from Great Britain.

Peter Lawson did all the bass, guitars, keyboards and programming here.

Peter Lawson is a pretty prolific musician. He has released albums under his own name and Venus Loon. I got two Venus Loon albums up for review this month. 

I have earlier this year (March) reviewed his The Witchfynder album for # 3 of this blog. It was a fairly decent album.

The music on this thirty-five minutes long album is a blend of space rock and electronica.

The music is pretty muscular with a lot of guitar riffs and solos. There are some samples here too which is adding some spices to the music.

The music is more one-dimentional than varied. The sound is still pretty big.

The result is a pretty decent name-your-price Bandcamp album which is worthy a download and the inclusion in a space rock album collection. Check it out.

2 points  

 

Valis Ablaze - Boundless (2018)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

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

Three guests added guitars and electronics.

This band from Bristol, England released two albums between 2018-19 before they gave up the ghost and disbanded. 

The music on this fifty-five minutes long album is progressive metal.

That is progressive metal with some djent interludes and lots of vocal harmonies. Their take on progressive metal is not exactly following the Dream Theater blueprint. Far from it. The band is more leaning towards Porcupine Tree. 

The music is big, bold and heavy. The guitars and the vocals is good. The sound is mostly good, with a notable drop in the sound quality on the final two tracks. Tracks I guess is bonus demo tracks.

The quality is pretty good without really being convincing. I think this band deserves a lot more credit than they got back then.

2.5 points

 

Overture - A mezz’aria sul Tempo (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Italy.

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

A guest added vocals on one track.

This band has returned again after a seven years long break. Their 2018 self-titled album was review in May 2018, # 2 of this blog. A link to this review is here.

That album was a prog metal influenced take on the RPI genre. I gave it a good rating and really liked it. Hence, I jumped on the chance to review this, their follow up album.

The music on this fifty minutes long album is RPI. 

The sound is modern and 2025'ish. The music is still classic RPI with a mix of some more muscular pieces and a lot of pastoral pieces. The music is very mellow at times with some good flutes, guitars and some great male Italian vocals.

The overall quality is good and this album would satisfy anyone into classic RPI.

3 points  

 

 

Rolf Zero - Grudge Party (2024)

 

The seventh album from this band from Australia.

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

Two guests added violin and trumpet.

Hmm... Looking at the artwork... Is this a thrash/death metal album ? Nothing could be further from the truth. 

Grudge Party is a forty minutes long album and the music is somewhere between neo-classical music and heavy prog.

The music is sometimes heavy. Then there are some pretty fast neo-classical pieces too. 

The music is cheesy throughout this album and not particularly original or innovative. The sound is good and that is a positive. The music itself is not particular interesting. The whole package makes me wonder if the band is serious here or has made this album as a sendup.

In any case, this is a decent enough album. 

2 points 

 

 

 

Riverside - Wasteland (2018)

 

The seventh album from this band from Poland.

The band was a trio on this album with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, banjo, theremin, organ, keyboards, synths and vocals.

Three guests added guitars and violin.

These progressive metal maestros returned again with this fifty minutes long album.

The band has been one of the best and most influential progressive metal band in the last two decades and it is therefore always a big event when they release a new album.

Wasteland is different from their first six albums. The music here is mellow art-rock with some progressive metal influences.

The music is both pretty melodic and full of interesting details. The vocals is great.

This album is not as good as their previous two albums. Nevertheless, this is a good album and one to check out.

3 points 

 

OrsakOslo - Silt and Static (2025)

 

The third album from this band from Sweden.

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

This is the follow up album to their 2023 In Irons opus. A decent space rock album.

Silt And Static is a fifty-five minutes long album. The music is a rather civilised, earthly take on space rock.

Again, Papir from Denmark is a good reference.

The sound and music is rather dry. The guitars are a blend of half-accoustic and full on electric guitars. There is a lot of guitar harmonies throughout this album. Some guitar effects are used too.

The music is pretty good throughout this album. There is no really great pieces of music here. Nevertheless, there are some good pieces here and some decent pieces here. 

If space rock is your thing...

2.5 points   

 

Man - Revelation (1969)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

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

One guest added sound effects.

Gosh... I was meant to review the whole Man discography back in 2009 in ProgArchives. Then I got distracted and... I forgot about it. But finally, I have returned to this band from Wales. A band who are still active on the gigs scene as they are booked for some major festivals next year. I will review all their studio albums during this winter.

Revelation is a forty minutes long album. The music is psych rock and psychedelia with some beat and blues influences.

The music is a mix of songs and some more longer psych rock pieces with some baroque classical music influences.

The four minutes long novelty/shock effects track Erotica is a bit weird and not representative of this album. But it gave the band some attention and added to the album sales figures.

The rest of the album is pretty good. It is what it is.... a psychedelic album from the late 1960s with no outstanding tracks but which is still a more than acceptable album. 

2.5 points 

 

Mysteria Noctis - Higher Dimensions (2015)

 

The debut album from this band from Italy.

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

This band has released three albums so far and I am reviewing them this month for this blog.

This album is three quarters of an hour long and the music is a blend of extreme metal with some more goth rock and psych rock pieces of music. 

The extreme metal is in the form of (mostly) black metal and that is what this album has been labeled as in some magazines and websites. 

This label is also due to the black metal vocals used here. There are also a lot of clear vocals here.

This is a multi-faced album with a lot of contrasts, minute by minute. From harsh black metal to psych rock.

The sound is not great. The vocals is good but the guitars sounds a bit off kilter. The synths are good, though.

The music itself is decent enough. It is an album worth checking out.

2 points