Synthagma - Radical Animal (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Germany.

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

The four band members has a background from bands like Inquire and Trespass. I have reviewed both band's albums. 

This fifty minutes long album is the latest addition to the list of many new symphonic prog albums. Ditto for the band which can be added to this list too.

ELP and Ekseption are two major influences here. Add in some old baroque classical music. Johan Sebastian Bach is the main classical music influence.

Most of the music is monumental epic with some staccato rhythm figures. The sound is good throughout this album. 

There are some decent enough vocals at the end of this album. The vast majority of the album is instrumental. 

In other words, this is a proper old-style symphonic prog album. 

The quality is good throughout and fans of baroque symphonic prog should check out this album.

3 points 

 

 

 

 

Magnum - Princess Alice And The Broken Arrow (2007)

 

The 13th 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 violin on one track.

The band returned again after a short break.  

The imagery here reminds me a lot of their 1985 classic album On A Storyteller's Night. I am not the only reviewer who has made this comparison. That may be intented by the band.... or perhaps not.

This album is clocking in at just over one hour and the music is indeed a bit of a return to that 1985 album.  

The music is a lot harder here and a lot more like classic Iron Maiden. The music is still classic Magnum. That reminds me why this band got my attention forty years ago.. I thought they were a band like Iron Maiden. I was wrong...

Anyway.. The music is also epic and very much a pomp rock album. The AOR influences has largely gone on this album. 

There is a lot of good hooks and themes here. The guitars are really good too.

This makes this a fairly good album and their best album for over twenty years. Yes, since that 1985 classic album. Check out this album.

2.5 points 

 

Rolf Zero - Satanika (2023)

 

The fifth album from this band from Australia.

The band was a trio on this album with a lineup of didgeridoo, percussion, drums, bass, guitars, piano, keyboards, accordion, harmonica and flute.

This is their fifth album in a matter of a couple of years and the second album of three albums the band released that year. 

None of their albums has been anywhere near impressive.... or even good.

This album clocks in at three quarters of an hour and we get the usual blend of cinematic rock and Camel like symphonic prog.

I have absolute no idea why the band has named this album Satanika. There are some sporadic guitar riffs here. But satanic ? Nope. This album is as satanic as a newborn kangaroo. The trading standard offices should fine this band because of the gross misleading packaging of the music here.

Besides of these very sporadic guitar riffs, there is some accordion, steel guitars, flutes and lots of synths here.

The music is pretty unassuming and unremarkable. It is also pretty decent too. This album is a small improvement on the Tsunami album. It is still not an album I would recommend.

1.5 points 

 

 

Trindade - Trindade (1993)

 

The one and only album from this band from Brazil.

The band was a trio with a lineup of acoustic guitar, mandolin, viola, violin, piano, keyboards and vocals.

Numerous guests added drums, percussion, bass, guitars, strings, accordion, piano, keyboards, flute and backing vocals.

I cannot remember when, from whom and how I got this album. It is listed as a symphonic prog album in ProgArchives and this is probably the reason why this album landed in my inbox. 

Discogs description of this album is far more accurate than ProgArchives. 

The music on this three quarters of an hour long album is a blend of folk rock and pop.

The music is very melodic with lots of violins and accordions in addition to the Portuguese female vocals. 

These vocals is very good indeed. The music is pretty pedestrian and does not really offer any joy for progheads. The music sounds too much like an old-style, 1970s pop album to be of much interest.

The is a fairly decent album but nothing more than that.

1.5 points 

   

  

Teodicea - Il Mondo Esausto (2024)

 

The debut album from this band from Italy.

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

This band is a side-project of the better known band Aliante, a RPI band who has released four albums so far.

This three quarters of an hour long album is a blend of symphonic prog, RPI and cinematic rock.

The music has a mix of keyboards, vintage organs, piano and the more synthetic sounding synths. Behind them again, the bass and drums are audible in the mix.

The music is mid-tempo throughout.

The organ sound is very cool and is adding a lot of soul to this album. 

The music is a bit too much run-of-the-mill instrumental prog to really make this a good album.

Nevertheless, there are some good themes here and this is an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points 

Orion - Into Darkness (2025)

 

The third album from this band from Great Britain.

Orion is Ben Jones on drums, bass, guitars, keyboard and vocals.

He has so far released two albums through Bandcamp under this name. Reviews of these albums was posted late last year in # 3 of this blog. Both albums are good and well worth your time.

This is a one-man-band. Hence the music should be pretty soft. Well, that is not the case here. His debut album The End Of Suffering was very muscular neo-prog. His second album The Lightbringers was a lot softer and more symphonic prog orientated.

The forty minutes long Into Darkness is a return to the musculular, hard blend of heavy prog and neo-prog from The End Of Suffering debut album. The music is still pretty melodic. 

The guitars are the main instruments here and they are really good. The vocals too is really good.

The result is another good album from Orion, aka Ben Jones. Check out all the three Orion albums if neo-prog if your thing.

3 points 

   

MeM - Cielo E Mare (2025)

 

The third (?) album from this band from Italy.

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

A guest added soprano vocals. 

I know next to nothing about this band. I got two of their albums and I have contacted their label MaRaCash for all relevant info. The nice, helpful label has, three times, contacted the band for more info and has received no reply. I therefore can only go by what I know about this band and the two albums I am reviewing this month. 

I reviewed their second album Foglia Di Rugiada earlier this month and that was a decent enough album with a blend of symphonic prog and cinematic rock. 

That album were a pretty stripped down bare boned album. That is not the case with the follow up album Cielo E Mare. 

We get an hour with a blend of cinematic rock and symphonic prog. Mostly symphonic prog, it has to be said.

There are lots of guitars here in addition to the synths. There are some soprano voices on one track. 

The music has some ELP and classic RPI references. This is indeed a RPI album. 

The quality of the music is pretty good. Not everything here is good but this is still an album RPI fans should check out.

2.5 points 

 

 

Macky Ar - A Liar's Prophecy (2025)

 

This is the seventh album from this band from India.

Macky Ar is a one-man-band where Mahesh Arora does the synths himself. 

Mahesh got help from four guests who added guitars and vocals. 

I have reviewed his first albums in # 3 of this blog and his sixth album earlier this week in this blog. I have yet to be impressed by any of his albums. 

This forty minutes long album is his second album this year. The first album Remembering The Days was a pretty bad album. 

That album was a solo album. Mahesh has wisely added some guests here on guitar and vocals.

The result is a deeper, more muscular sound. The guitars itself is an improvement. The vocals is also much better this time around.

The music is run of the mill melodic prog with some goth rock influences. The music itself is only half decent. The music is performed a lot better this time and that makes this album a decent enough album. I am not won over.

2 points  

Cobalt Wave - Men. Mind. Machine (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Poland.

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

This is a new name to me. I found their album through Bandcamp. As I am interested in the Polish art-rock and neo-prog scene, I got it downloaded.

The music on this fifty minutes long album is indeed a blend of neo-prog and art-rock. Marillion and Believe is two good references here.

The music is as per usual from Poland both melancholic and melodic. There is a lot of really interesting details scattered around this album. The guitars are at times half-acoustic and the guitar harmonies are very good. Ths sound is good too on the mostly mid-tempo music. 

The vocals is good and there is no doubts this band is a very fine addition to the melodic prog scene in Poland and Europe.

Check out this good album.

3 points 

 

Riverside - Shrine Of New Generation Slaves (2013)

 

The fifth album from this band from Poland.

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

One guest added saxophones.

The band continued on after a four years long album break.

The result is this fifty minutes long album. 

Most of the Dream Theater like progressive metal had been ditched and the band adopted, and indeed invented a much more modern blend of art-rock and progressive metal.

The band still retains their Porcupine Tree influences. They have incorporated some Radiohead and indeed A-Ha (their last two albums), Pink Floyd and RPWL influences too in their album. 

The vocals is very good and their use of organs is excellent. We still get the usual keyboards and guitar runs here too.

The music is very good throughout and this is their best album of their first five albums. Check it out.

3.5 points 

Sólstafir - Köld (2009)

 

The third 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 four years long album break with this seventy minutes long album.

The music is still post-metal.

There is a lot of post-rock in their music. The band still retains some black metal influences. 

The music has some cool Icelandic vocals. The vocalist is running out of talent and voice on the more heavy parts and the vocals become very dire. The vocals on the most heavy bits is indeed what is letting this album down.

There are some good pastoral pieces here too and they are the best pieces of music on this album. Some of the music is also bold and epic.

The overall quality is decent enough. This album is not on par with their second album but it is still well worth checking out.

2 points  

 

Musica Dispersa - Musica Dispersa (1970)

 

The one and only album from this band from Spain.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bongos, bass, acoustic guitars, mandolin, keyboards, piano, organ, flute and vocals.

This band from the Catalan region in Spain released only one album, this thirty-four minutes long album.

The music is psych rock influenced folk rock. 

Some of the music reminds me about those horrible Amon Duul albums where they made four albums out of one studion session. A studio session where everyone was stoned out and intoxicated out of their minds.  

I don't think this is the case on Musica Dispersa's album. The sound is pretty dire and ditto for most of the music and the vocals.

The music is like a dirge with some outbreaks of decent melodies and pieces of music now and then.  

There are still some decent pieces of music here so not everything is dire. This is still not an interesting album. This is an album who really deserve it's obscurity and I really wonder how and why I got a copy ot it. Not my finest hour......

1.5 points 

Masson. Colin - The Visitor (2024)

 

The sixth album from this artist from Great Britain.

Colin Masson did the bass, guitars, keyboards and drum programming here.

He had help from two guests who added whistle and narrations.

This ex-member of The Morrigan has just released a new album which I hope to get sometimes soon. He has also recently moved from England to the Scottish Higlands. His albums has so far been very inspired by this part of Great Britain. It is natural to move to his inspirations..... or maybe there were other reasons he moved to that area which is not far from me. 

The Visitor is a one hour long album. The music is instrumental symphonic prog in the vein of Camel on their Harbour Of Tears opus. There is in short a lot of keltic folk music inspirations in his music. 

The music is mostly guitars driven. The music is pretty bold and epic too. It is indeed muscular.

This is not one of his best albums by any means. The melodies is not as good as on previous albums. That said, there are some good stuff here and the result is a pretty good album. Check it out.

2.5 points 

 

Fluido Rosa - Abaton (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Italy.

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

This is another band from the very good MaRaCash record label. This album is available from this label's excellent Bandcamp page. The same also goes for their 2017 debut album Le Vie Dei Sogni which I intend to review at the end of the year as I have just become aware of it.

The music on this just short of one hour long album is a blend of various genres. 

Take some psych rock, art-rock, jazz, dream pop, RPI and indie rock. Add Italian vocals and you get my drift.

The music is pretty melodic and mid-tempo throughout. There are some woodwinds here and lots of both male and female vocals. This in addition to some organs and guitars.

The music is pretty pedestrian throughout. The music is not particularly progressive as it only contains some faint hints of RPI.

There are some good music here though and some less good music. RPI fans should check out this album. 

2.5 points 

MeM - Foglia di Rugiada (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Italy.

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

I know next to nothing about this band. I got two of their albums and I have contacted their label MaRaCash for all relevant info. The nice, helpful label has, three times, contacted the band for more info and has received no reply. I therefore can only go by what I have in this and my review of their most recent album this weekend. 

The music on this fifty minutes long album is a blend of cinematic rock and symphonic prog. There are some jazz and fusion influences here too.

The music is mid-tempo with some muscular guitars too. There is some synths generated Mellotrons here and lots of saxophones and organs.

The sound is good old RPI. 

The music is a bit lacking in quality. It is not particular engaging and attention catching. This is a decent enough album and well worth checking out from the MaRaCash Bandcamp page.

2 points

 

 

Macky Ar - Remembering the Days (2025)

 

This is the sixth album from this band from India.

Macky Ar is a one-man-band where Mahesh Arora does the synths and vocals himself. 

I have reviewed his first albums in # 3 of this blog. I have yet to be impressed by any of his albums. I had two more albums hanging around. Both to be reviewed this month. 

The first one is Remembering The Days. It is a thirty-two minutes long Bandcamp album. 

The music is ambient cinematic rock with some neo-classical music influences. 

There are a lot of vocals here. They are very weak and in the back of the mix. The sound is not particular good either.

There are some decent themes here. The rest is pretty dire and I am again failing to really be impressed by this artist. Sorry.....

1.5 points 

Elleven - 8030 (2025)

 

The third album from this band from Germany.

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

The band returned again after a ten years long break. I have reviewed their first two albums in # 2 of this blog. I gave both albums a good rating.

8030 is a seventy-seven minutes long album. 

I described this band as a pop orientated progressive rock band in my reviews of their first two albums. This too goes for this album.

Take some art-rock and blend it with female vocals dream pop. That is what you get here.

There are some Kate Bush influences in both the vocals and in the music. 

Seventy-seven minutes is a bit too long as there are some less good music and some good music here. This album has around fifty minutes worth of good music and is still a pretty good album. 

Check out this album and indeed their first two albums if dream pop and art-rock floats your boat.

2.5 points

 

Lesoir - Latitude (2017)

 

The fourth album from this band from The Netherlands.

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

The band returned after a three years long break. 

The band became a lot more melodic on their previous album Luctor Et Emergo. This after their first two heavy prog albums.  

On this album, the one hour long Latitude, the band has also ditched their Porcupine Tree influences and gone more for an art-rock album. 

There are some Roxy Music and some Marillion influences here. Latitude feels like a blend of those two art-rock strands. 

The big difference is Lesoir's great female vocals. Those sets the band a bit apart from the majority of the rest of the scene.

Some of the music is pretty theatrical and some is more straight forward melodic. There are still some sporadic heavy guitars here.

That makes this another good album from this band and one to check out. On balance, this is their best album of their first four albums.

3 points 

   

 

Monkey3 - The 5th Sun (2013)

 

The fourth album from this band from Switzerland.

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

The band soldiered on with their new album after a two years long break. I hope they spent the time touring. Their music deserves to be played live and loud.  

The 5th Sound is a fifty-five minutes long album.

The music is heavy and instrumental. The band has this time incorporated some post-rock into their blend of of heavy prog and psych rock.   

The incorporation of post-rock is successful and gives this album an edge.

The music is still very heavy and hard. But now, with an edge and some more interesting melodic themes.

There are some good themes and melodies here. Enough to make this a really good album and one to check out. This is their best album so far.

3 points 

Malleus - Paranorm Opera Totale (1996)

 

 The one and only album from this band from Italy.

Enrico Ragni does the keyboards and computers here.

He had help from Donatelli Duranti on female voices. 

The music on this fifty minutes long album is an opera and the music is neo-classical music.

Vangelis is a good reference.  

There is lots of keyboards and programmed sounds here. There are a few female vocals noises here too.

The music is slow and not particularly melodic. Most of the music is therefore like a dirge. The music is indeed very eclectic.  

Most of the music is decent enough. I am not won over but Vangelis fans should check out this album.

2 points 

 

 

Mackay. Duncan - Kintsugi (2019)

 

The ninth and probably the final album from this artist from Great Britain.

Duncan Mackay did the piano, organ, keyboards and synths here.

A female vocalist added her vocals on some tracks.

Duncan Mackay has been involved in Budgie, Alan Parson's Project and Camel in addition to releasing some solo albums. I have previously reviewed one or two of his albums before I found this album in my collection and decided to review it this month.

Kintsugi is a three quarters of an hour long album. The music is a blend of symphonic prog and neo-classical music.

ELP is a very good reference here. Jean Michel Jarre also springs to mind here.

The music has an Japanese ambience and the thin female vocals, thin but good, are also adding to this ambience although the vocals are in English.

The music is pretty good throughout. Although most of the music is instrumental, Rebecca Rayne's vocals is adding some value to this album. Enough value to make it a lot more interesting.

Check out this album.

2.5 points 

  

Moon Halo - Trichotomy (2025)

 

The third album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This is the third album from this band and the only one who has showed up on my radar.... so far. I may get their first two albums based on my experiences with this album. 

This album is seventy-two minutes long and it is a CD and Bandcamp album.

The music is a melodic blend of neo-prog and psych rock. There are also some indie rock influences here too.

The music is really catchy and has a commercial rock edge. There is still plenty of details here to enjoy. 

The vocals are very good and a big plus on this album. There is a lot of guitars and keyboards harmonies here too which is another big plus.

The quality of the songs are good and this makes this album a good, bordering to a very good album. You get a lot of value for your money on this album. Check it out.

3 points   

 

 

Forbidden Myth - Zantea Chronicles The Nightmare Awakens (2024)

 

The second album from this band/project from Greece.

The band was a ten pieces big band/project with a lineup of drums, theremin, piano, organs, mellotron, keyboards, synths and vocals.

The band returned again after their fairly decent 2021 debut album. 

This, the follow up album, is a rather shorter album as it is clocking in at only seventy minutes. 

The music here is symphonic goth metal. No less and no more.

The sound is the 1990s goth metal sound. There is a blend of male and female vocals here. The sometimes heavy accented male vocals are pretty dire. The female vocals are pretty good. 

The guitars sounds flat and synthetic. Not good, not good at all. 

I am struggling to find something nice to write about this album. There are some decent songs here. The rest is best forgotten. 

Fans of symphonic goth metal may disagree with me here......

1.5 points 

Coché Vil - Chaos (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Spain.

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

The band returned after a four years long break. The band had also been expanded from a trio to a sextet. A sextet now including the likes of Derek Sherinian, Marco Minnemann and Danny Cavanagh.

The music on this forty minutes long album can best be described as a blend of 1970s hard rock and 1990s heavy metal.

There are some strong Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden influences in their music. Ditto for some Fates Warning influences.

The music is hard and heavy. There are some loud guitars and vocals here which is carrying this album.

The vocals is good throughout.

Half of this album is really good. The rest... well, let us say that this album is a bit of a step in the wrong direction as the band has dropped their progressive rock influences and gone for a more pure hard and heavy music. The result is still a pretty good album. I hope the band will improve on this album.

2.5 points 

 

A.C.T - Eternal Winter (2025)

 

The sixth album from this band from Sweden.

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

Some guests added woodwinds and vocals.

The band returned again after an eleven years long break. 

I have reviewed their albums in the previous issues of this blog, see the logo of this blog for links to those editions. I have never really been a fan of their poppy progressive rock.

We get just over half an hour with music on this album. There is no surplus fat on this album, though. 

The music is still poppy neo-prog with some mainstream rock thrown into the blend too.

The music is catchy with some Elton John and Muse influences. There is still some pretty complex music here. Some of the music is also vaudeville rock influenced. There is a large degree of circus has just arrived in the town feeling here.

The vocals is good and there are some good guitars here. The music is a bitt too much bubblegum teenybopper. Nevertheless, this is a pretty good album and one to check out together with their first five albums. This album is by no means their best album, though.

Check it out.

2.5 points 

 

 

Soup - Children of E.L.B. (2010)

 

The second album from this band from Norway.

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

A handful of guests added guitars, violin and cello.

Erlend Viken (vocals, keyboards) has now expanded Soup into a full band on this one hour and twenty minutes long album.

The music on this double CD and Bandcamp album is art-rock with some strong post rock influences.   

The music is still highly influenced by Airbag, Sigur Ros and Steven Wilson. But Erlend and the rest of the band have managed to carve out their own niche and place in this scene. 

The music is also pretty melancholic with a lot of, intended or unintended, nods towards the neo-prog and art-rock sound from Poland.

The music here is both melodic, elegant, melancholic, a bit eclectic and full of details. The vocals are good. Ditto for the work put into this by the other musicians too.

The result is a good album and one to check out. 

3 points 

 

 

Sky - Sky 3 (1981)

 

The third album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of marimba, percussion, vibraphone, drums, bass, acoustic & electric guitars, keyboards and tuba.

The band returned again and were now facing the 1980s head on. This decade were pretty barren when it comes to interesting music. Melodic music was not a commercially viable genre.

But this band soldiered on and they were surviving on the audience they got on their million selling debut album. I on the other hand never really understood this band. Something I hope will change during my reviews of their studio albums.

Sky 3 is a three quarters of an hour long album. 

The music is mostly acoustic with a blend of neo-classical music, fusion and cinematic music. 

The band's incorporation of fusion is the saving grace on this album as the rest of the material is not particularly interesting. It is downright dire, some of it.  

The result is a decent enough album. It is an unremarkable album, though. 

2 points 

 

    

Insomnia - II (2024)

 

The second album from this band from Italy.

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

I know absolute nothing about this band. It is my understanding that their debut album was a rock'n'roll album. Or perhaps it was a traditional rock album. I don't know as it is difficult to find. 

Their second album, II, which I am reviewing here, has been released through one of my favourite labels, Marahcash Records. Hence my interest in this album.

The music on this fifty-two minutes long album is RPI. Classic RPI. 

The music is both melodic and pretty symphonic. 

The main instruments are guitars and keyboards. There are some programmed saxophones here too. The music is still organic with some good vocals.

There is indeed a lot of classic RPI here blended in with some more contemporary neo-prog. 

The vocals are good and ditto for the sound. This is a good album and one to check out if RPI floats your boat.

3 points 

 

 

Gleemen - Dove Vanno Le Stelle Quando Viene Giorno (2023)

 

The third album from this band from Italy.

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

This band is one of the forerunners of the Italian progressive rock scene, the RPI scene. Their self-titled debut album was released in 1970 and it was a beat album. See my review here.

It took the band forty-three years to return with their second album. It was a rock'n'roll album and you can read my review from # 1 of this blog here.

It took them ten years to return with their third album, the one I am reviewing here. 

This album is one hour long and it has a mix of cover versions and original material.

The album starts with a The Beatles cover.... Tomorrow Never Knows. That quirky song sets the tone for the rest of the album. The music is quirky and 1960s psychedelia throughout. 

The vocals is good and the band does a good job on the decent enough songs here. Gleemen should be appreciated as a pre-historic RPI band. Ditto for this album and their first two albums. 

2 points 

 

 

 

Ambient Den - Ambient Den (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Australia.

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

This band is another outlet for Ben Craven, a profiled artist from down under; Australia. I have reviewed most of his albums, if not all of them, in the three previous editions of this blog. 

Ambient Den is a seventy minutes long album.

The music is a blend of art-rock and Pink Floyd like psych rock. 

The tempo is slow to mid-tempo. There is a lot of guitars here and some synths and programmed instruments. The organic instruments like organs are good, though. Ditto for the vocals.

Not all the music here is good. There is a lot of good music here though. The result is an acceptable debut album. I am not sure if this album is a one off as the band members are busy with other bands. But I hope we will hear more from this band.

2.5 points 

 

 

 

Forbidden Myth - Zantea Chronicles: The Dream Dominator (2021)

 

The debut album from this band/project from Greece.

The band was a ten pieces big band/project with a lineup of drums, theremin, piano, organs, mellotron, keyboards, synths and vocals.

This band has, so far, released two albums between 2021 and 2024. I will post a review of their second album sometime later this month.

This album is a two CDs album and a Bandcamp album. It is one hour and forty minutes long.

The music is gothic hard rock. It is labeled as heavy prog though. That is not the case on this album.

The music is also meant as a rock opera and it has a lot of rock opera like melodies, indeed.  

There is a lot of female vocals here. Fairly decent vocals. There is no guitars and no bass on this album. None whatsoever and that explains this strange 1980s sound. It sometimes feels like peas shaken around in a glass bottle. Thankfully, there are some more muscular soundscapes here too.

The music is mid-tempo and with lots of piano and synths.

The quality is only half-decent. There are some decent stuff here. I am not by any means impressed by this album. Goth rock fans may like this album.

1.5 points 

 

  

Coche Vil - Invisible (2021)

 

The debut album from this band from Spain.

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

The band has, as I am writing this review, released two albums. Both of them are up for review in this month. A third album has been mooted.

Their music has been described as heavy prog. Something I agree with when I am listening to this forty minutes long album.  

There is lot of good old hard rock from the 1970s in their sound and music. Some Rush influences are pretty obvious throughout this album. 

There are indeed a lot of vintage guitars and keyboards sound on this album. The sound is still contemporary as the band has found a nice balance between yesterday and today's sound.  

The vocals is really good and the band does a very good job indeed.

The result is another, yes, another highly talented band from Spain and a good album in its own right. 

Both hard rock fans and prog fans should get this album.

3 points 

 

 

Finally George - Painter (2025)

 

The third album from this band from Germany.

The band was a one-man-band with Georg Hahn doing the bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

He was helped out by some guests who added drums, percussion, guitars, violin, viola, cello, piano, organ, horns, trumpet and backing vocals.

I have reviewed the first two Finally George albums in # 3 of this blog and I liked them both. Good, softly spoken neo-prog.

Georg Hahn continues down, or up, the same path on this album. We get softly spoken elegant neo-prog on this three quarters of an hour long album. 

The music has a lot of interesting details too. This is therefore not an easy-listening album. There are also some muscular electric guitar themes here.

The vocals is very good and the ambience is very good. The strings and woodwinds is filling in the gaps in the sound.

The music can be a bit too sweet at times. That though is the path this band has chosen and I respect that.

This is a good album indeed and Finally George is a band, and discography, everyone into neo-prog and melodic progressive rock should check out.

3 points 

 

Magnum - Brand New Morning (2004)

 

The 12th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The band soldiered on after their comeback. The market was not in their favour. Nevertheless, their fans kept them alive. That and some non-music daytime jobs, I suspect.

Brand New Morning is almost one hour long and we get the usual blend of AOR and pomp rock here. The blend the band almost has copyrighted.... Well, almost. 

Their last albums has been pretty weak. The band had entered the doldrums and were fighting to get out of it and fill their sails again with some wind.

The band does not move anywhere on this album.

The songs are formula based and not in particular interesting. The vocals is still good but that is the best thing I take from this album.

There are some decent songs here. The remaining songs are dire. Hence...

1.5 points  

 

Rolf Zero - Tsunami (2023)

 

The fourth album from this band from Australia.

The band was a trio on this album with a lineup of didgeridoo, percussion, drums, bass, guitars, piano, keyboards, harmonica and flute.

This is their fourth album in a matter of a couple of years and the first album of three albums the band released that year. 

None of their first three albums has been anywhere near impressive.

Tsunami is a forty minutes long album. We get some pieces with acoustic guitars, piano and some keyboards here.  

None of these pieces makes any sense. They are not ready to be recorded as they are pretty raw scetches which require more development.... a lot more development.  

The result is, to be kind, almost like a New-Age album from the 1980s. But to be truthfully, this is a dire album that fails on all accounts. This is the first turkey from this edition of this blog, # 4. 

1 point

X Panda - Reflections (2016)

 

The second and final album from this band from Estonia.

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

Three guests added backing vocals.

This album is the follow up to their 2011 album Flight Of Fancy. That was a decent enough album with a blend of heavy prog, progressive metal, symphonic prog and fusion.

Five years has gone and the band returned with this one hour long album.

The music is a blend of heavy prog, progressive metal, cinematic rock and fusion.

Most of the music is again instrumental. This one hour covers a large area and some genres of music. From soft cinematic rock via fusion, heavy prog to some very heavy progressive metal.

The vocals is good and the band does a good job on some pretty good pieces of music. 

The music is also a bit mired in the 1990s soundscape. 

This album is a bit too incoherent. That said, this is still a pretty good album.  

2.5 points 

 

Crimson Chrysalis - Enraptured (2015)

 

The second and final album from this band from South Africa.

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

I was not particularly impressed by their 2012 debut album Crimson Passion Play. It was an album with some generic, lifeless symphonic metal in the vein of Nightwish.

Hence I had no expectations to Enraptured, their second and final album.

The band continued down the same path on this fifty-five minutes long album. Symphonic metal, commercial and slick symphonic metal.

The female vocals are good. The sound is good. The mid-tempo music is based on keyboards and guitars. There are some sampled strings here too and the usual vocal harmonies.

The band has moved a couple of millimeters towards goth symphonic metal. They still sounds like Nightwish. 

Their version of the Alice Cooper evergreen Poison is rather lifeless and dull.

This is a pretty decent album but nothing more than that. Nightwish fans may want to check out this album.

1.5 points

 

Half Past Four - Finding Time (2025)

 

The third album from this band from Canada.

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

Two guests added backing vocals.

I have previously in # 1 and # 3 of this blog reviewed their debut album and an EP by this band. These are good releases. For some reason I do not understand, I have yet to review their second album. I will post a review of that album before the end of this year.

Finding Time is a thirty-five minutes long album and the music is mainly art-rock.

As on their first album, there is also some strong Canterbury scene fusion and rock influences here. 

There is some quirky music here, indeed. That is aided by some very good and quirky female vocals. 

The tempo is mid-tempo with some good keyboards and vocals. The music is also melodic. Still... quirky is the word best associated with this album. 

The quality is good throughout and this is an album well worth checking out. 

3 points 

 

Joviac - Autofiction Pt. 1 Shards (2025)

 

The third album from this band from Finland.

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

Earlier this month, I reviewed their second album Here And Now (2020) and liked it a lot. It is a good neo-prog album in the vein of Frost* first two albums.

The band continues down the same path on their new album, a fifty minutes long album.

There is one subtle difference between Here And Now and their new album. Their music has become harder, indeed they have introduced some hardcore djent elements here. Their most melodic music has also become catchier and more melodic. Their music has therefore become more varied, more multidimensional.

The band has also introduced some more symphonic prog in their music and has moved a lot closer to bands like Spock's Beard. Their music is therefore also more epic here than on their second album.

The vocals is also very good here and ditto for the sound. 

The end result of this upgrade is better music and a better album. Their best so far, no less.

This is really an album well worth checking out if you are into epic neo-prog or even symphonic prog. This album will make your day/week/month/year.

3.5 points

 

 

Edenya - Another Place (2023)

 

The second album from this band from France.

The band was now reduced to a duo with a lineup of guitars, piano, keyboards, programming and vocals.

A trio of guests added drums, bass, violin and backing vocals.

This is the follow up to their 2020 debut album Silence. That was a good album as I noted in my review earlier this month.

Another Place is a fifty minutes long album. 

The band continues on from their debut album with some more elegant, melodic art-rock.

The music is more a blend of neo-prog and art-rock this time around. It is anchored in Clelia Lenoble's excellent ethereal vocals. She is one of the better vocalists in today's scene and her vocals is really impressive on this album.

The music is ethereal too. Elegant is another fitting word.

There are also some cascades of electric guitars here and some of the music is muscular and beefy.

The result is a very good album and one of the best albums from that year. The band has just released their third album and I will review it later this year.

3.5 points    

 

 

Idiogram - Reunion of Broken Parts (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a quartet (?) with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, piano, keyboards and samples.

This band comes from the Edinburgh area of Scotland and this is a Bandcamp album.

In short, I know nothing about them although they come from my area, the area where this blog is based.

The music on this one hour long album is a blend of post-rock and cinematic rock.

The music is slow and has some Mogwai influences. 

There is a lot of piano here in addition to the usual cascades of electric guitars. There is also some samples, taken from movies, here at the end.

The quality is decent enough with some very good sound.

This is an album well worth checking out.

2 points  

 

  

 

Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition (2010)

 

The fourth album from this band from Poland.

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

Three guests added woodwinds.

The band continued on towards their rightful status as one of the best prog metal bands in the world. 

This is a three quarters of an hour long album. The music is a blend of heavy prog and progressive metal.

References are both Porcupine Tree and Dream Theater. This album sounds like a crossbreed between this two band's music. This without being a copycat. 

The music is both dynamic and melodic. The vocals are pretty light. They are also very good.

As per usual with progressive rock from Poland, the music has a melancholic undertone. The music is also quirky with some Radiohead undertones and vibes. 

The music also sounds, even fifteen years later, very fresh and original. This album is pretty unique and that is a positive sense.

This is therefore a very good album and one to check out. This album really cemented this band's status as one of the best bands in today's scene.

3.5 points 

Solstafir - Masterpiece Of Bitterness (2005)

 

The second album from this band from Iceland.

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

The band continued on from their 2002 debut album I Blodi Og Andi. An album I reviewed last month.

That album was a pretty primitive black metal album with the full black metal package. It was a pretty good album too.

There are five English vocals tracks and two Icelandic language tracks on this seventy minutes long album.

The music still have some black metal influences. But both the vocals and the music are now a lot more dissonant and experimental. The music here can therefore only be labeled and described as experimental metal.

There are some melodies here too. Most of the music is very heavy and dissonant. 

The music is mostly very fast with some black metal tremolo picking. The music is still pretty eclectic.

This is a pretty good album and one to check out if extreme metal is your thing.

2.5 points 

 

 

X Panda - Flight Of Fancy (2011)

 

The debut album from this band from Estonia.

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

Some guests added violin, woodwinds, backing vocals and a children choir.

This band released two albums between 2011 and 2016. Both of them in the progressive metal genre..

... Sort of, that is. The music on this seventy minutes long album is a blend of heavy prog, progressive metal, symphonic prog and fusion.

Most of the music here is instrumental. The sporadic vocals are pretty good. 

Most of the music is both soaring and pretty epic. It has a positive, happy ambience too. The music is mid-tempo to fast most of the time and a lot of it is driven by the keyboards.

The result is a decent enough album which falls a bit short when it comes to quality. Fans of heavy instrumental prog should check out this album.

2 points 

 

 

Crimson Chrysalis - Crimson Passion Cry (2012)

 

The debut album from this band from South Africa.

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

This band released two albums between 2012 and 2015 before they vanished without a trace. I got both of them when they released their final album but never got around to reviewing them before now. The review of their final album will follow later this month.

The music on this almost one hour long album is symphonic metal. 

Nightwish is a massive inspiration here and the band sails pretty close to this band. So much that copycats is a phrase pretty suitable to describe their music.

That means the music is catchy, melodic and full of female vocals and vocal harmonies.  

The music is generic to say at least.

That said, this album is not a disaster. There are some decent stuff here and the music is so commercial it is hard to really dislike this album. 

This is still a half-decent album though and nothing more than that.

1.5 points 

SubLunar - A Random Moment of Stillness (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Poland.

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

I reviewed their 2019 debut album A Welcome Memory Loss back in August 2019 for # 2 of this blog. It is a pretty good album. 

The band returned again six years later with this forty minutes long follow up album.

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

The music is very melancholic. Even more melancholic than usual for a band from Poland. There are also some elements of harshness in their music too. There is indeed some post-rock in their music too.

The guitars are doing the main job here, helped by some very good vocals. Most of the music is drenched in electric guitar harmonies. There is a lot of interesting details here too. 

The end result is an upgrade on their debut album and a very good album. This album is another example of why art-rock and neo-prog are in such rude health.

3.5 points 

 

 

 

Joviac - Here and Now (2020)

 

The second album from this band from Finland.

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

Two guests added their respective guitar solos.

This band album debuted with a self-titled album back in 2017 before they returned three years later to release this album I am reviewing here. The band has just released their third album and that one is up for review later this month.

I have yet to find their debut album so this is my first meeting with this trio. 

The music on this forty minutes long album is heavy prog with some neo-prog influences. The music reminds me a lot about the first two albums from the British band Frost*. 

This means heavy, muscular melodic progressive rock.  

The music is also based on some catchy tunes. There is a lot of interesting details to make this album interesting too. The vocals is very good throughout.

The overall quality is good and this makes Joviac an interesting band. Check out this album.

3 points 

Edenya - Silence (2020)

 

The debut album from this band from France.

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

A handful of guests added drums, bass and violin.

This band has so far released three albums through Bandcamp and I got, so far, their first two albums. Both are up for review this month.

The music on this fifty minutes long album is melancholic art-rock with some dream pop influences.

The good vocals are female and they are, unfortunately, in English. I would have preferred French as that language is more suitable for their music.

The music is mid-tempo and slower. It is melancholic melodic.

There are a lot of interesting details here and the quality is pretty high. That makes it a good album indeed and one to check out. This band is highly talented, based on this album. 

3 points  

 

 

 

Afargang - Andvake (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Norway.

The band was a one-man-band with Olav Mjelva doing the bass, guitars, hardanger fiddle, harp and vocals.

Three guests added drums, percussion and guitars.

There has been some attempts during the last thirty years to blend black and viking metal with traditional Norwegian folk music. Folk music dominated by harp and harding fiddle. A couple of albums has been pretty good.

Afargang is another project in this genre.

The music on this fifty minutes long album is more melodic than esoteric. The vocals is a blend of clean vocals and black/viking metal screams.

There are some pretty strong Enslaved influences throughout this album. The music is more viking metal dominated than black metal dominated. 

There are some good stuff here and there are some less good stuff here. This album is an untraditional album and pretty eclectic. It is an album more for the metalheads than the progheads.

2.5 points  

Lesoir - Luctor et Emergo (2014)

 

The third album from this band from the Netherlands.

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

The band returned again the year after their second album Transcience. That was a pretty good album from then was a duo.

The band has now become a quartet, a proper band. That with the same vocalist and I presume the engine-room in this band.

The music on this fifty-five minutes long album is not as hard this time as on the first two albums. There are still some Porcupine Tree influences here but the band has also incorporated some art-rock and neo-prog into their brand of progressive rock.

The vocals from Ms. Maartje Meessen is as per usual very good. By slowing down the tempo, the band has also given her more space to showcase her vocals and the result is her vocals so far. 

The songs are both quirky and catchy. There is a lot of good stuff here and the result is therefore their best album and a good album in it's own right. Check out this album.

3 points