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 Clelia Lenoble has been replaced by Ingrid Denis.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 

 

Edensong - The Fruit Fallen (2008)

 

The debut album from this band from USA.

The band was a seven pieces big band with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, violin, piano, organ, flute and vocals.

Some guests added drums, percussion, guitars, cello, violin, organ, piano and synths. 

This band recently released their third and newest album and you can find my review of that album somewhere else in this blog. I have also reviewed their second album in a previous edition of this blog. Hence, I thought it would make sense to also review their debut album.

This seventy minutes long album gives us some really complex and eclectic progressive rock. Blend Jethro Tull with Gentle Giant, Yes and (early) King Crimson. The result would be something like this album.

The music is mostly mid-tempo with some flutes, guitars and keyboards. Add the vocals on the top of this again and you get the music. Music which is a bit quirky throughout.

I am not really won over by this album as the music is somewhere between decent and good. The quality is a bit missing in action. This is still an album and indeed a band well worth checking out.

2.5 points 

 

Echolyn - As the World (1995)

 

The third album from this band from USA.

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

Numerous guests added strings, piccolo, flute and recorder.

I have reviewed some of the Echolyn albums during the last fifteen years. Their albums are hard to find and I can only review those albums I have found. That is around four of their in total eleven albums.

Echolyn is one of the classic US symphonic prog bands. They album debuted in 1991 and has recently released two albums. This after a ten years long break. I reviewed one of this year's albums back in April this year in the # 3 of this blog.

Echoly has always been compared to Yes and this seventy minutes long album may explain why.

There are also some very strong Gentle Giant influences on this album. The blend of these two bands plus the very considerable original creative inputs from Echolyn themselves makes an interesting proposition...

The symphonic prog here is also very influenced by baroque classical music too. Baroque symphonic prog is indeed a label that would fit this album.

The music is melodic, baroque and full of interesting details. The sound is also retro 1970s. The vocals is very good.

There are some very good pieces here and some not so good pieces of music. This is still a very good album and a bit of a reminder to me that I should now collect the rest of their albums. 

3.5 points 

  

  

Pareidolon - The Unattainable Shore (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Canada.

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

Some guests added drums, guitars, organ, synths, flute, narrations and vocals.

I had the joy of reviewing their 2017 debut album Aporia back in August 2017 in # 2 of this blog. It is a good album, indeed.

It has taken them eight years to come up with this sixty-six minutes long follow up album. 

The band has embraced the whole progressive rock and psych rock genre and have distilled those genres into their own brew.

You find influences from all the great bands here. Pink Floyd, Genesis, Jefferson Airplane, Yes, King Crimson, Rush... they are all big inspirations for this album.

The music is epic and monumental. It is also driven by some understated, but still good female vocals. The music is not particularly muscular. It is more like psych rock in this respect.

The music is both melodic and pretty complex. It is also pretty flowery and pretty much flower power inspired.

The result is a good name-your-price Bandcamp album and therefore almost an obligatory download. This is one of the more welcome come backs of the year.

3 points  

Lesoir - Babel (2025)

 The seventh album from this band from The Netherlands.

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

Some guests added strings.

Babel is their latest album. It is a forty minutes long album too.

The music is art-rock with some neo-prog influences. The music is mid-tempo with some good strings giving it some classical symphonic prog influences too. 

Babel also sees the band making some changes. Gone are the vocals based music. Vocals who has overly dominated the music itself on the previous six albums. Don't be wrong...Maartje Meessons vocals is really good. The problem was that it was too much of it on the previous albums.

Babel sees the band come to the forefront with some really good instrumental pieces. There are some vocals here too but they are more restrained.

...and indeed, better. 

This also means the music is more melodic on this album. It is far more elegant too with some really cool themes. This album still retains the Lesoir identity from the previous albums and is not a big break with their past albums.

The result is a great album. This is by far their best album and it should really break this band if there is any justice around. In this day and age....probably not. 

This is one of the best albums of the year.

4 points 

 

 

Monkey3 - Welcome to the Machine (2024)

 

The seventh and so far the last album from this band from Switzerland.

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

The band soldiered on after a five years long album break.

Welcome To The Machine is a fifty minutes long album. The music is hard and heavy space rock. Instrumental space rock. There are some progressive metal influences throughout this album too.

The ambience and the music is also very brooding and dark. Sinister at times. Parts of the music is a bit dissonant. There is also some majestic, soaring themes here performed by the guitars.

The music is driven by electric guitars and there is some good solos here. 

The result is a good album, indeed. This is not one of my favourite bands. Nevertheless, this is a good band and well worth checking out if you like heavy space rock.

3 points 

 

 

 

 

Green Carnation - A Dark Poem Part I: The Shores of Melancholia (2025)

 

The seventh album from this band from Norway.

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

Three guests added percussion, flute and extreme metal vocals.

The band originated from the black metal band In The Woods and released their debut album in year 2000. I have reviewed both them and the In The Woods albums in this blog. See # 2 and # 3 of this blog. 

This forty-two minutes long album is part 1 of a series of concept albums, I gather. The band has ambitions... High ambitions.

The music too has a lot of concept album ideas. Both in the lyrics and the music. 

The music is gothic progressive with some black metal interludes between the more calm and brooding heavy prog metal. There are also some pretty strong folk rock influences here too.

The clean vocals is really good and there is a lot to like on this album. This good album, that is. This is another good album from this band and well worth checking out.

3 points 

 

 

Soup - The Beauty of Our Youth (2013)

 

The fourth album from this band from Norway.

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

Some guests added strings, flute and backing vocals.

The band returned to the rock band format again after their folk music album Duun. A good album but also a one-off album and I presume a concept album. 

The fifthy minutes long The Beauty Of Our Youth takes us back to their genre.. melancholic art-rock.

Their music still got both some folk rock and a lot of post-rock influences. 

References here are both Sigur Ros and Gazpacho. 

The music is melodic and the vocals is very good.

This album is their best album so far and a very good album in it's own right. Check out this band.

3.5 points 

Sky - Cadmium (1983)

 

The fifth album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The band's self-titled debut album was an unexpected million seller in Great Britain and worldwide. The album was also an antidote to the punk music which was all the rage in those years. This album was also a good album and I really like it... to my big surprise. One of my biggest surprises of the year, no less.

Their following albums were not that good. Neo-classical music bordering to elevator/shopping mall music and new age music.

I did not have any expecations to Cadmium, this one hour long album. 

This one hour long album is gives us a blend of shopping mall/elevator pling plong music and neo-classical music. 

It is really hard to find something nice to write about this album... Nevertheless, there are a couple of deent tracks here and the acoustic guitars are good. The result is a half-decent album which is best ignored. I cannot really say I am looking forward to reviewing their final two albums.....

1.5 points

  

With The Dead - Love From With the Dead (2017)

 

The second album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The band returned again two years after their self-titled debut album. The band had expanded to a quartet now with the addition of an ex drummer of Bolt Thrower, one of my favourite death metal bands.

The music on this sixty six minutes long album is a blend of good old doom metal and space rock.

The music is very slow and gloomy. The guitars and bass are downtuned and muddy. The vocals are also pretty downtuned. 

That creates a classic doom metal sound and some classic sounding doom metal music.

It is always good to hear Lee Dorian's vocals again and I really like doom metal. The quality of the music here is somewhere between good and decent.

I believe there will be no more albums from this band. The doom metal scene is alive and well. This band's two albums is well worth checking out.

2.5 points  

Waterclime - Imaginative (2007)

 

The second and final album from this band from Sweden.

This was a one-man-band with Andreas Hedlund playing bass, guitars, organ, keyboards, mellotron, drums programming and doing the vocals.

Andreas Hedlund have had a long career in the metal genre before he set up this project which released two albums. I reviewed the debut album earlier this month and was not particularly impressed. It is a decent enough album. 

Imaginative is a fifty minutes long album. Classic Scandinavian neo-prog is the call here. Hence, the same genre as on the debut album.

The sound on this album... well, it sounds like an album recorded in a bedroom. Some of the instruments are not well played at all. The vocals leaves a lot to be desired.

There are some decent stuff here... but there are also some pretty poor stuff here. 

This is not an album I can recommend, hand on heart. Sorry.....

1.5 points  

  

Pinn Dropp - For the Love of Drama (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Poland.

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

Their 2018 debut album Perfectly Flawed was a very good symphonic neo-prog album.

Seven years has gone and the band has changed genre. This one hour long album is a blend of heavy prog and heavy metal.

There is a lot of Iron Maiden anno the last three albums era influences on this album. The vocals has some Bruce Dickinson's inspirations at their best. When it is not, the vocals is pretty standard prog metal vocals. 

Most of this album is a heavy metal album as there is only some sporadic heavy prog. 

The music is still melodic in addition of being heavy. There are some really catchy songs here. 

I am disappointed that this album is not in the same vein as their debut album and that the band has largely abandoned the progressive rock genre on this album.

That said... this is a good album and one of the few good heavy metal albums I have encountered in the last five years. It is what is.

3 points 

  

  

Lesoir - Push Back the Horizon (2024)

 

The sixth album from this band from The Netherlands.

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

The band has established itself as one of the better new progressive rock bands. Their albums and gigs are doing well.

Push Back The Horizon is a seventy minutes long album. It is also their first post-pandemic album. 

The music is a blend of heavy prog and neo-prog. The music is both muscular and pretty melodic at the same time.

The music is mostly dominated by the very good vocals from Maartje Meessen. Her voice is both powerful and melodic. She is also from what I gather the band leader too.

The other musicians does a very good job too. 

The music requires some listening sessions before it really catches the listener. Lesoir is not one of those melodic proggy pop bands. Their music is more eclectic and complex than catchy and melodic.

After some listening, a good album reveals itself. But this album demands a lot from the listeners. Only those who give it their full attention will be rewarded.

3 points  

 

Monkey3 - Sphere (2019)

 

The sixth album from this band from Switzerland.

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

A guest delivered some guitar solos on one track. 

The band returned to the studio after a three years long break. 

Their 2016 album Astra Symmetry was a good heavy space rock album. Their best up to that point, no less. I was therefore hoping some more of the same....

Sphere is a fifty minutes long album. The band has ditched the vocals they used on one track. The Led Zeppelin influences has also gone. The band has retreated back to classic heavy outer space rock.

Which means these two albums are pretty different from each other.

The music is still hard and heavy. Very heavy. The space rock is really cool and it has got some Eastern Asia flavours.

The music is also good throughout and fans of heavy space rock should check out this album. This is not an album for the faint-hearted, though...   

3 points 

Bakelit - No Fear of Drowning (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Sweden.

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

This album is their follow up to their rather good last year's debut album Asleep Or Insane. I reviewed it earlier this year in this blog.

No Fear Of Drowning is a forty minutes long opus. 

The music continues more or less in the same vein as last year's Asleep Of Insane.   

That means melancholic, muscular neo-prog with a lot of art-rock and some psych rock influences. The music also have this Scandinavian symph prog sound. The band has indeed moved a lot more towards Scandinavian symphonic prog on this album.

The music is bold, epic and big. There is lot of layers of guitars and synths in the bottom of the male and female vocals.

The sound is good and the vocals is very good.

This is a good album and one that will please everyone into both muscular neo-prog and Scandinavian symphonic prog.

3 points 

 

Magnum - Into The Valley Of The Moonking (2009)

 

The 14th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

One guest added violin, viola and cello on one track. 

The band soldiered on in a scene where classic rock, like their music, became a lot more popular again. And not at least, socially acceptable. 

The band sounded like they had found a new lease of life and a fresher sound on their previous album Princess Alice And The Broken Arrow. An album I gave a good review and rated as one of their two best albums... up to that point.

Into The Valley Of The Moonking is a fifty minutes long album. It is blessed with this great artwork by Rodney Matthews. He also did the great artwork on Princess Alice And The Broken Arrow too. Those art-works set the scene for their music. Even on a digital download. 

The music is pomp rock with some folk rock and hard rock influences. 

The music is mid-tempo and pretty elegant. There is this folk rock sound in the background and the more pomp rock sound in the front of the mix. 

Bob Catley's vocals is great as per usual. Not all songs here are good. But there is enough good songs here to make this one of their, so far, better albums. 

2.5 points 

 

Rolf Zero - Paxillus (2023)

 

The sixth album from this band from Australia.

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

Two guests added violin and soprano vocals.

The band returned again with their third album that year. A productive year, in other words. A year when quantity overruled the quest for quality as their first two albums were pretty dismal. 

No expectations to this album, then...

Paxillus is a forty minutes long album and the band is exploring classic symphonic prog on this album.

The references are the likes of ELP, Yes, King Crimson and Genesis. The band still does it their own way. The music is dynamic and has some good keyboards and guitars. The keyboards generated organ sound is very good here.

A soprano vocalist is adding a lot to one of the tracks here and to the album as a whole.

This album is so far their best album and by a country mile. This is a good album in it's own right too. Check it out.

3 points 

 

With The Dead - With The Dead (2015)

 

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 is what has been described as a supergroup. It has two members from Electric Wizard plus Lee Dorian. The latter one is mostly known from Napalm Death and Cathedral. He is also the founder and boss of the highly respected Rise Above Records. 

This label has released both the With The Dead albums. An album I will review later this year. 

The music on this forty minutes long album is a blend of space rock and stoner rock.

The music is very heavy indeed. Heavy but not extreme. This band reminds me a lot about Cathedral, a classic and now sadly split up doom metal band. They split up ages ago so it is nice to hear some music which is so close to this classic band.

It is a long time since I have heard Lee Dorian's vocals too so they are a welcome return. He has a special nasal dominated way of deliver the pretty good vocals. 

The overall quality is pretty good and this album should appeal to everyone into heavy space and stoner rock. 

2.5 points 

Waterclime - The Astral Factor (2006)

 

The debut album from this band from Sweden.

The band was a one-man-band with Andreas Hedlund doing the bass, guitars, organ, mellotron, keyboards, drums programming, programming and vocals.

He had help from some guests who provided guitars and vocals.

Andreas Hedlund have had a long career in the metal genre before he set up this project who released two albums. A review of the second album will follow later this year.

The Astral Factor is a three quarters of an hour long album.

The genre explored here is Scandinavian neo-prog. There are also some pomp rock and some mainstream rock influences here. Pretty big influences, that is.

The music is therefore very melodic. The sound is not particular good and parts of this album has this made-in-a-bedroom sound. The vocals is not particular good either.

The result is a decent enough album which falls well short when it comes to quality. This is still a pretty charming album.

2 points