Oberon - Aeon Chaser (2018)

 

The fourth and final album from this band from Norway.

The band was a one-man-band with Bård Titlestad doing the keyboards, electronics and vocals.

I have reviewed his first three albums earlier this fall and I have not been that impressed. The music was too pedestrian for my liking.

The three quarters of an hour long Aeon Chaser is still in the singer/songwriter tradition.

The music is again piano and vocals dominated. There is a lot of bass and guitars involved too. My guess is that they are programmed.

The music is mid-tempo and the music is bordering to psych rock throughout. 

There is a lot of melancholy in the music. 

The songs are pretty good and this is by far the best Oberon album.... so far. It is an album well worth checking out if psych rock is your thing.

2.5 points 

Pavlov's Dog - Wonderlust (2025)

 

The ninth album from this band from USA.

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

This band has been around since their 1975 debut album Pampered Menial. That album is a semi-classical album in the progressive rock scene.

The music on the other seven albums has not been as good or interesting.

The music on this fifty minutes long album is a country-rock. There are some psych rock influences throughout this album too.

There is a lot of violins here and some pretty good vocals. The music is mid-tempo and songs based.

The music is poor on interesting details. The songs are pretty good at times.

This album is a decent album but nothing more than that. It is an album for those who collect everything from this band.

2 points 

Triangle - Safe Ground (2022)

 

The fourth album from this band from The Netherlands.

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

The band returned again after a six years long break. 

The band has chosen to go instrumental on this one hour long album.

The music is somewhere between symphonic prog and cinematic rock. Mostly symphonic prog, to be more precise.

The music is dominated by the guitars and the music is mid-tempo and pretty melancholic.

The music is also a bit run-of-the-mill and not particular engaging.

The result is a decent enough album. It is also their least interesting album too... so far.

2 points 

 

Spirergy - Aeon (2023)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

Spirergy is a one-man-band with Dave Allen doing the drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, electronics and vocals.

This is a new name to me. This album was voted the album of the year in a couple of online prog rock magazines. The band released their second album last year and I will review it next month.

This album clocks in at the one hour mark.

The music is symphonic prog. References are in particular Yes. There are also some Genesis and ELP influences here.

The vocals reminds me a lot about Jon Anderson, formerly of Yes. The vocals is very good indeed. The rest of the music also gives me a lot of good Yes vibes.

The music is at times very good and the result is an album in the classic symphonic prog tradition. This album deserves a lot of praise and I am really looking forward to giving the second album my attention.

This is a very good album indeed.

3.5 points 

Yak - The Pink Man & The Bishop (2025)

 

The fifth album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a one-man-band where Martin Morgan did the bass, guitars, synths and programming.

Two guests added drums and bass on one track.

This fifty-five minutes long album is the latest album from a band who album debuted back in 2004. Martin Morgan is in involved with a lot of things and the album frequency is sporadic. The previous album was released ten years ago.

I have reviewed most, if not all the Yak albums in ProgArchives and in # 1 of this blog. I have given them good reviews too. 

The music here is a blend of instrumental symphonic prog and cinematic rock. 

The music is elegant, epic and mid-tempo. There is a lot of guitars and some synths here. 

The overall quality is good. This is one of the far too few good instrumental albums released during the last couple of years. Check out this album. 

3 points 

 

Magnum - Sacred Blood Divine Lies (2016)

 

The 18th 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 with this fifty-five minutes long album.

The music here is pomp rock. Add some heavy metal and AOR influences and you get the drift here.

The music is mid-tempo, pretty catchy and with some good hooks.

The music is very much classic Magnum. There are a couple of ballads here in addition to the more muscular stuff here too.

The vocals is very good and the overall quality is somewhere between decent and good when it comes to the music.

If you want to find out what Magnum is all about, this album is recommended.

2.5 points 

 

Viaticum - Trip Me Tender (2011)

 

The debut album from this band from Switzerland.

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

This band has released three albums through Bandcamp and I am reviewing all three of them this winter.

This album is clocking in at three quarters of an hour.

The music is a mix of garage rock and psych rock. There are also some space rock here. The label this album should be put archived as is krautrock.

The music is mid-tempo and slightly hard. The first half is instrumental while the last half has vocals in some proper songs structures.

The vocals is pretty decent. The music is also half-decent without really being impressive.... or decent.

The instrumental parts are decent though and I hope they will continue down that path on the next one of their albums as I will review it in some days time.

1.5 points 

Amoeba Split - Quiet Euphoria (2023)

 

The third album from this band from Spain.

The band was an eight pieces big band with a lineup of drums, percussion, vibraphone, bass, guitars, piano, electric piani, organ, Moog, keyboards and woodwinds.

This is one of the better bands from Europe although they have only released three studio albums and one live album.

This forty minutes long album takes us to the Canterbury scene and it's fusion/jazz scene.

The music is really hardcore, dense jazz here. Avant-garde jazz also springs to mind.... but on reflection, the jazz is not that avant-garde. It is not particularly melodic, though.

This album is not easy to digest for a proghead.

The vibraphone is very cool and this instrument is used throughout the album.

There are a lot of good stuff here and on balance, this is good album. But do not expect any melodic fusion here. This is a jazz album.

3 points 

 

  

Arts - Find a Way (2021)

 

The debut album from this band from Sweden.

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

This forty-five minutes long album is so far the only album from this band.  

The music here is a blend of neo-prog, folk rock and symphonic prog. 

The sound and music is very much in the Swedish prog tradition. Both Kaipa and The Flower Kings is a good reference here.

That said, the ambience is also laidback folk rock and west coast psych rock. 

The vocals is very good and ditto for the sound. 

There is a lot to like on this album, indeed. The overall quality is very good throughout. I really hope this album is not a one-off album from these guys as this album is one of the better debut albums I have ever come across from Scandinavia. 

Check out this album.

3.5 points 

Astroverse Dimensions - Beta Shell (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Germany.

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

I reviewed their 2023 debut album Feeding On The Spirit back in October 2023 in # 3 of this blog and gave it a good rating. I was therefore pleased when I got their second album for review.

The album is forty minutes long and the music is instrumental heavy prog with some psych and space rock influences.

Ozric Tentacles is a good reference together with ELP and Eloy.

The music here is heavy, epic and a bit space rock like at times.

There is a lot of good details throughout this album. The vibe is also good.

This is a good album and one both fans of heavy prog and space rock should check out. 

3 points 

 

 

Enter - Awakening the Past (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Italy.

The band was a ten pieces big band/project with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, piano, programming and vocals.

Not many people thought the band was going to return after their 1991 debut album Images From Floating Worlds (see my review from earlier this month). But they did that earlier this year with this three quarters of an hour long album.

The music here is a blend of musicals, RPI and symphonic prog.

There is a lot of Yes influences in their music. Ditto for PFM and Banco influences too.

The music is mid-tempo, elegant and with a lot of piano.  

The vocals are both male and female. The vocals is also good. All the vocals are in English.

The music is really elegant and modern too. The music is leaning a bit too much towards musicals and rock opera territory for my liking. The music is not typical RPI and I am not so sure if this is a RPI band.

That said, this is a good album and one to check out if elegant melodic prog is your thing. 

3 points 

 

Tumbleweed Dealer - Dark Green (2025)

 

The third album from this band from USA.

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

A handful of guests added organ, church organs, mellotron, keyboards, woodwinds and vocals.

This album is a forty minutes long album.  

I have been very critical of their first two album which contains primitive, unimaginative space rock. So had no expectations to this album.

The band has expanded their lineup and guests list. That means a lot more elaborated music too.

Space rock is what we get here... in the beginning. Space rock with some synths and programming too in addition to the guitars.

Then we get some rap and vocals. That in addition to some more jazz at the end.

The result is a pretty clever, good album. I hope the band continues down the same path in the future and also writes some better music. The band should build on what they have done on this album.

2.5 points 

Caterpillarmen - Miklu betri en guð (2025)

 

The fourth album from this band from Iceland.

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

The band album debuted back in 2010 and I have reviewed their albums both in ProgArchives and in # 1 of this blog. I have given their albums good reviews. 

This forty minutes long album was recorded in 2012 but was not released before in October this year.

The band is regarded as a rio/avant-garde band. Their music is still melodic and the band sounds more like an eclectic prog band on this album. 

The music is pretty similar to King Crimson's music, indeed.

The music is mainly mid-tempo and pretty harsh with some disharmonic effects and vocals. The music is still pretty melodic though.

There is some good vintage organs here in addition to the guitars and vocals. The music is also good and this is an album fans of eclectic prog should check out.

3 points 

 

 

Triangle - Retreat (2004)

 

The second album from this band from The Netherlands.

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

Triangle returned again four years after their debut album Square The Circle. 

Retreat is clocking in at one hour and gives us more of the same as on the debut album...

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

The songs are medium long with the longest song clocking in at just under ten minutes.

The guitars are sometimes a bit grungy. Some of the music is also depressive and grungy. The whole vibe is melancholic and sad.

The vocals are pretty good. There are a couple of good songs here. The overall quality is somewhere between decent and good. This album is not their best.

2.5 points 

Tempano - Pesadilla Sin Final (1981)

 

The second album from this band from Venezuela.

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

This is the follow up album to their pretty good 1980 debut album Atabal Yemal. An album I reviewed earlier this month here in this blog.

That album was a progressive rock album. 

The thirty-five minutes long Pesadilla Sin Final is more a blend of art-rock and vaudeville rock. Frank Zappa springs to mind throughout large parts of this album.

There are also some pop music here too. 1980s pop music. The music is still pretty colourful.

The Spanish vocals are pretty good although they are a bit weird and an acquired taste. The sound is a bit plastic-like and the typical, very much detested 1980s sound.

The result is a decent enough album. An album which sounds dated. Nevertheless...

2 points 

 

 

 

Altura - Mercy (1996)

 

The one and only album from this band from USA.

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

This band were a short lived band who released this album on the legendary Magna Carta label. They were a great prog rock and progressive metal label in the 1990s. 

This album is clocking in at fifty minutes and the music here is a blend of progressive metal and heavy prog.

There are a lot of Dream Theater influences and references in their music. There are also some Fates Warning and Rush influences here.

The music is guitars based with some supporting keyboards. The vocals are decent enough. The vocals are also their weakest link too. Their abilities to write good songs are also sorely lacking.

I can understand why this is their only album. The reason being the pretty low quality here.

Nevertheless, this is a decent enough album. 

2 points 

 

Apogeo - Due Ere (1983)

 

The one and only album from this band from Italy.

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

This album is totally unknown but there are now some ongoing research into the band in ProgArchives after I tipped them off about this band.

This album clocks in at close to forty minutes.

The sound is very poor but we can still make out the music here. The music is some sort of symphonic prog. RPI to be more precise.

There is a lot of both Le Orme and ELP influences here. Add in Trace and Pink Mice too and you get the drift.

The music is a bit cheesy at times but it is still pretty good.

The bad sound means this album is not as good as it should have been. This album is screaming out for a cleanup and a re-release. I would still recommend this to all RPI fans. Symphonic prog fans should also have a look at this album.

The music is pretty good. The sound is pretty dire. Hence.... 

1.5 points 

 

 

 

Atomic Rooster - Circle the Sun (2025)

 

The eight album from this band from Great Britain.

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

Nobody expected a new album from this band as their last album Headline News was released back in 1983. But we all got a surprise here....

 None involved in Headline News is involved in Circle The Sun. I am not the only one who does not understand why this album was released under the Atomic Rooster name. Anyway.. 

This album clocks in at just under forty minutes and the music is a blend of 1970s hard rock, psych rock and blues.

The band is doing a decent job on some half-decent songs. Ten pretty short songs and none of them are good songs.

Atomic Rooster has a very good name in the scene. This album is an anomaly in the discography and should not tarnish their good reputation. This is one of the more unexpected and at the same time, one of the more disappointing albums of the year.

1.5 points  

Enter - Images From Floating Worlds (1991)

 

The debut album from this band from Italy.

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

This band has just released their new album, their second album. Before I review that album, I also want to review their debut album, this album. A review of their new album will follow later this month.

Images From Floating Worlds was released as a demo CD and is a thirty-five minutes long album.

The music is mainly symphonic prog with some neo-prog influences.

There are a lot of both ELP and Yes influences here. Some Triumvirat influences are also evident.

The music is pretty elegant throughout and the music is pretty unique too.  

The vocals is good, although very theatrical at times.

The result is a good album who, if there was any justice in this world, should get a proper release on a proper label sometimes soon. That I afraid will never happen.

3 points 

   

Tumbleweed Dealer - Western Horror (2014)

 

The second album from this band from Canada.

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

I was not impressed by their 2013 self-titled debut album. A pretty poor space rock album. That is why I had no expectations to this, the follow up album.  

This Bandcamp album is clocking in at close to fifty minutes.

The music is still some sort of space rock. Instrumental space rock with a lot of post-rock influences.

The music are mid-tempo and there are some more guitar harmonies and slightly better pieces of music this time around.

The sound is also very good and the duo has clearly become better musicians and composers on this album.

The improvements has not been as big as I hoped. Nevertheless, this is a decent enough album.

2 points  

Latimer. Andrew - War Stories (2025)

 

The debut album from this artist from Great Britain.

Andrew Latimer did the bass, guitars, keyboards, drums programming, electronics and vocals here.

He got help from two guests who added keyboards, saxophone and vocals on a couple of tracks. 

Andrew Latimer is the founder and primus motor in Camel and a living legend in the progressive rock world.  

This fifty minutes long album most of all sounds like a Camel album. It is a Camel album in all but it's name.

We get some guitar solos driven melodies and some sporadic vocals and keyboards.

The music is mid-tempo melodic with some good themes throughout.

This is not the most exciting music around. But the music here works and this album is therefore a good album. File this album under Camel and enjoy the music.

3 points 

Man - Do You Like It Here Now, Are You Settling In? (1971)

 

The fourth album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The band returned again for a new album, some months after they had released their Man album. A good album indeed.

Their new album with this long-winded title, clocks in at thirty-seven minutes.

The music is a blend of west-coast psych rock and blues. Add in some good old early '70s hard rock too and you get my drift.

The music is pretty complex and sligthly avant-garde. It also feels a bit stoned/drugged out hippie.

The vocals is good and the band does a good job on some pretty good songs here. This album is a bit step back, quality wise, from the previous album. Nevertheless, this is not a bad album at all.

2.5 points 

Ovrfwrd - Beyond The Visible Light (2014)

 

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

This band has released five albums and they are all up for review here this winter.  

This album clocks in at close to fifty minutes. 

The music here is instrumental heavy prog.

The music is pretty heavy at times with some more mid-tempo pieces inbetween the heavy pieces of music.

There are also some dissonant guitars here too and some piano and keyboards.

The sound is good and the musicians does a good job. The music is a bit too much run of the mill to really being interesting. 

This is still a decent enough album. 

2 points 

 

Magnesis - Les Fantômes de Noisot (2024)

 

The 14th album from this band from France.

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

One guest added drums on one track.

I have been a follower of this band for the last fifteen years or so. Their first six-seven albums are really great. The music being French symphonic prog flavoured neo-prog. 

This forty minutes long album starts out brightly with some very good vocals on the top of some French symphonic prog flavoured neo-prog songs.

This is not the best music we have ever heard from them, but it is still good.

After twenty-five minutes or so, the album becomes a more instrumental ambient album. The album ends with a pretty good piece of neo-classical music.

This album is probably one of the least interesting albums this band has released. It is still a pretty good album though. I hope this band, as Ange just have done, one day will return to releasing quality albums.

2.5 points 

 

Le Match - Légendes (1975)

 

The one and only album from this band from Canada.

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

A couple of guests added violin and cello.

This band was formed by some Le Nouvelle Frontiere members after that band had split up. I reviewed the two Le Nouvelle Frontiere albums earlier this year in this blog. Two decent enough folk rock albums.

The band comes from the French speaking part of Canada and the vocals are therefore French vocals on this three quarters of an hour long album.

The music is folk rock with some acid folk and psych rock influences.

The vocals are pretty good. Thankfully, they are not dominating this album as they did on the first Le Nouvelle Frontiere album.

There is a lot of violins here and the music is mostly acoustic. 

The music is decent enough and this album should appeal to anyone into folk rock. 

2 points 

Foundation. The - Relations (2025)

 

The second album from this band from The Netherlands.

The band was an eight piece big band with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, violin, piano, keyboards, flute and vocals.

I really liked their 2023 debut album Mask as I wrote in my review back in July this year in this blog. Hence I was looking forward to review their new album, Relations.

The album is clocking in at just short of one hour.

The music this time is more symphonic prog than neo-prog. It can be argued if there is any neo-prog here at all. 

There are some really soaring symphonic rock pieces here. Some of them performed as long guitar solos. Those are great.

Strangely enough, the vocals are both in English and French. There is one great French song here who reminds me a lot about the French symphonic prog scene. Weird as the band is from The Netherlands. But this is also great. Weird, but great....

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

This is an altogether great album and in my top five best albums of the year.

4 points 

   

Oberon - Oberon Through Time And Space (2014)

 

The third album from this band from Norway.

The band was a one-man-band with Bård Titlestad doing the keyboards, electronics and vocals.

This is the final of the in total three album on Prophecy Records Bandcamp page that year. I have earlier this fall reviewed their previous two albums and they are decent enough albums.

This album is a compilation of two demos released in the late 1990s. The album clocks in at thirty-five minutes too.

The music is in the singer/songwriter tradition. It is also a blend of acoustic music with lots of vocals inbetween some ambient pieces.

The vocals is good and the sound is pretty good. 

The music is dark and melancholic. It also has some symph prog influences. 

This is so far the best Oberon album I have heard so far and a decent enough album in it's own right. 

Oberon released an album in 2018 and I will review it before the end of the year.

2 points 

  

 

Stuckfish - IV (2024)

 

The fourth album from this band from Great Britain.

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

Stuckfish is a melodic prog band and this, their fourth album gives us an hour worth of melodic prog.

The music is somewhere between neo-prog and mainstream rock.

The music is mid-tempo, catchy and has some good guitar solos.

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

The overall quality is good and it is understandable why this band is popular.

Check them out if melodic prog is your thing.

3 points 

 

 

Trapella. Alessio - Icaro (2025)

 

The second album from this artist from Italy.

Alessio did the bass, programming and vocals here.

He got help from two guests who added drums and guitars.

As I wrote in my review of his debut album last week, Alessio was a bassist in New Trolls and had also played with Aldo Tagliopietra from Le Orme before he set sail on his own as a solo-artist. Two albums have so far been released.

His 2022 debut album was pretty good.

The music on this half an hour long album is RPI.

It is more a singer/songwriter based music this time around than classic RPI. Nevertheless, the music here is RPI. 

Although the music is not particular interesting, there are some good songs here and some not so good songs here. Hence, this is a pretty good album and one to check out if RPI is your thing.

2.5 points

 

 

 

Uriah Heep - Very 'Eavy...Very 'Umble (1970)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

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

Two guests added drums and keyboards.

Please note that this album was re-released in USA the same year under the name Uriah Heep. 

I am finally getting around to reviewing the twenty-six or so studio albums from this band in the coming twelve months or so. This is a major project which I think will be a lot of fun.

Uriah Heep is legends in their own right, indeed.

This forty minutes long album opens with one of their most known and loved songs.. Gypsy. A very good song indeed.

The rest of the album is a blend of psych rock, prog rock and hard rock. The songs are pretty good throughout. The vocals is very good indeed.

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

3 points 

Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic (1974)

 

The third album from this band from USA.

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

A number of guests added percussion, bass, guitars, banjo, keyboards, woodwinds and backing vocals.

This album is clocking in at just short of thirty-five minutes. The music is art-rock with some fusion and jazz influences.

This album is also a zillion of albums best selling albums. It starts with one of this band's signature songs... Rikki Don't Loose That Number. A four and a half minutes long quirky art-rock masterpiece and one of the better known songs from the 1970s.

Quirky is the word that pops up in my head over and over throughout this album. The songs, the pieces of music is all quirky with some great vocals and details too.

This album makes it easy to understand why this band has this legends status. There is no surplus fat on this album. All the songs are very good or better.

This is one of the better albums from the 1970s and a great album in it's own right. This band has won me over with this album.

4 points 

 

Marmelade Knives - Paradigm Lost (2025)

 

The second album from this band from USA.

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

The band returned again five years after not so impressive debut album Amnesia. An album I reviewed earlier this month here in this blog.

Paradigm Lost is a forty minutes long album and the music is space rock.

The music is instrumental and that is a bit limiting for the music as the music does not really have a focal point.

The music, compared to the music on Amnesia, is much more developed and refined. The music has also a lot of harmonies and fleshed out themes.

The music has a few good details too.

The music is still lacking a lot when it comes to quality. This album is still a step in the right direction compared to their debut album. If space rock is your thing, check out this album.

2 points 

Family Free Rock - Sounds Like Yesterday (2010)

 

The second album (?) from this band from Brazil.

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

I am not sure at all about the discography of this band and will ask the band for the discography. So I am a bit guessing here. The band was and probably still is a great live band and that is their main activity.

This album was also re-released through the Progshine Records Bandcamp site earlier this year. Check it out there.

This album is clocking in at forty minutes and we get a blend of blues, hard rock and in particular psych rock on this album. The format is still power trio and the trio is really rocking out.

The pretty good vocals are all in English this time around. The music is also pretty melodic at times. 

There is still a lot of Budgie influences in their music. 

There is something rustic about their music and that is a bit charming. The quality is also decent enough and this is an album fans of good old hard rock should check out.

2 points 

  

 

Steensland. Johan - Duality (2025)

 

The second album from this artist from Sweden.

Johan Steensland did the drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals here.

He had help from a quartet of guests who provided drums, bass, guitars, piano, flute and female vocals.

Duality is the one hour follow up album to last year's good Crossfade album which I reviewed earlier this month.

We are again treated to a rock-opera. Or make that.. a musical. The music is pretty soft as in Genesis at their most softests and most gentle.

The music is mid-tempo progressive rock and as on Crossfade.. That means like Kaipa on their Angling Feelings album.  

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

The music is not as good this time around. That means a pretty good album where half of the songs are good and the rest is decent enough. I hope Johan returns again with a new album in the not so distant future.

2.5 points 

  

 

Oberon - Dream Awakening (2014)

 

The second album from this band from Norway.

The band was a one-man-band with Bård Titlestad doing the keyboards, electronics and vocals.

This is their second of the in total three album on Prophecy Records Bandcamp page that year. I will review the third album later this week.

The first album had a mix of ambient music and singer/songwriter piano based songs. It was barely a decent album.

The forty minutes long Dream Awakening has a blend of acoustic singer/songwriter music and some psych rock.

Most of the music is acoustic though with either piano or acoustic guitars supporting some good vocals. 

The quality is not particular good and the music is also pretty uninteresting.

The result is a half-decent album and nothing more than that. 

1.5 points 

 

Stuckfish - Days of Innocence (2022)

 

The third album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The band expanded from a duo to a full band, a quintet, on this one hour long album.  

The music is neo-prog with some heavy prog and art-rock influences. 

The music is mid-tempo, elegant and melodic.

There is a lot of good, make that very good details on these eight fairly long songs. Some of the songs are more like musical compositions than songs.

The vocals is great and the music has some good hooks too.

Maybe the music is a bit too slick. This band's popularity is understandable and the band has so far delivered quality albums. This album is no expection.

This is a good album from a very good band.

3 points 

Ange - Cunégonde (2025)

 

The 25th album from this band from France.

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

The fact that Ange has released an album this year is one of the nicest surprises of the year. When we also get both the Christian and Tristan Decamps on this album.... I feel joyous.

Ange is far too often overlooked. But they are still one of the best ever symphonic prog bands ever to have graced this planet.

Not all their albums has been good though and they have had a bleak period with some rather bad pop/rock albums. So which Ange turned up on this album ?

This fifty minutes long album sees the band partly returning to their roots... the symphonic prog era. 

Partly because there are also some art-rock here. There is none of this pop/rock that marred their good reputation. This album is a bona fide art-rock and symphonic progressive rock album.

The sound is also modern and dynamic. The vocals from the Decamps family is very good. They are off course in French, a language who really suits the symphonic prog genre.

The mid-tempo and pretty complex songs here are really good and this album is a really positive surprise. I am pretty impressed.

3 points 

 

 

 

 

Magnum - Escape From The Shadow Garden (2014)

 

The 17th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The band returned again with this one hour long album two years after the release of their previous album.

The band continued on with their blend of pomp rock and AOR here.

The music is rocking more as in classic rock on this album than on the previous three albums. We are not talking in particular hard rock here.. but the music is still rocking.

There are some good hooks and riffs here. The vocals is as per usual very good.

The ambience here is a band who are really enjoying themselves and who knows what they are good at and what their core fans want to hear.

The result is a pretty good album and one to check out if pomp rock and hard AOR is your thing.

2.5 points   

Tumbleweed Dealer - Tumbleweed Dealer (2013)

 

The debut album from this band from Canada.

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

This band has, to my knowledge, released three albums and these three albums are now up for reviews in this blog in the coming couple of weeks.

This album is clocking in at close to three quarters of an hour.

The music is a blend of stoner rock and space rock.

The duo format is very limiting here and the result is a rather primitive take on these two genres.

The sound and music is also dry and does not really bring anything original to the table/scene.

This is a half-decent album which is falling well short of the target.

1.5 points 

 

Marmalade Knives - Amnesia (2020)

 

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

This band just released their second album and I got both their albums up for review. The review of their new album will be posted in some days time.

Amnesia is clocking in at forty minutes. The music is mostly space rock with some electronica and krautrock incorporated into the music.  

Most of the music is instrumental. The music is mid-tempo with a lot of electric guitars. 

Some of the music is rather dissonant. Most of the music is melodic though.

Most of the music is both eerie and melancholic. The synths are used to add spices to the music.

There are no real good pieces of music here. The music is decent enough. Nevertheless, space rock fans may like this album a lot.  

2 points 

Family Free Rock - In Full Swing (2017)

 

The fifth or so album from this band from Brazil.

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

I am frankly not sure if this is their fifth album as the band has not released a list of their albums. Ten years ago, in February 2016, I did review what I thought was their debut album, the 2015 album Day Of Wrath in # 1 of this blog. I am now mistaken, it seems as there is some albums before that again. You can read that review here.

In Full Swing clocks in at almost fifty-five minutes. The music is a blend of blues and good old 1970s hard rock.

There are also some hints of Rush anno their debut album. Budgie is also a pretty good reference.

The band has also not so stealthily copied the guitar solo on Led Zeppelin's classic Stairway To Heaven here. 

The rest of this album is what we can expect from a power trio. The vocals is pretty good. The music is sometimes pretty melodic.

The music is decent enough without being good or impressive. I will review another one of their albums later this week.

2 points 

Aufklarung - Nell'idea di un Tempo che (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Italy.

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

One guest added flutes. 

The band returned after a thirty years long break. Their 1995 debut album De La Tempesta was reviewed back in August 2018 in # 2 of this blog and you can find the review here. 

That album was a good neo-prog influenced RPI album. I was therefore positively surprised to see them return again this year with this three quarters of an hour long album.

We get four compositions here. Two of them are fourteen minutes long and the other two are sub-ten minutes long.

The music here is classic RPI. References are both PFM and Banco.

The music is mid-tempo with some pastoral pieces too. The music is also very complex at times and demands the listener's full attention. 

The Italian vocals is very good. The musicians does a good job too. 

This is therefore another good RPI album which will please all RPI fans. 

3 points 

 

Steam Theory - Passages (2020)

 

The fourth album from this band from USA.

The band was a one-man-band with Jason Denkevitz on bass, guitars, mandolin, bouzouki, keyboards, synths and electronics.

Four guests added drums, bass, violin and keyboards.

Jason continues down the path of instrumental prog metal and heavy rock on this seventy minutes long album.

The previous album, Asunder from 2015, were a pretty flowery album with lots of acoustic instruments in addition to the prevailing electric guitars.

On Passages, Jason has retreated a bit back to electric guitars based instrumental prog metal. There are still some acoustic instruments here. But most of the music is electric guitars based.

The sound is good and Jason does a good job on his guitars. The music is still decent enough but seventy minutes is too long. 

Steam Theory released their fifth album Chrysalis last year and I reviewed it in February this year in # 3 of this blog. You can read the review here.  

2 points 

 

Starlight Brigade - Beyond The Future (2022)

 

The fourth and so far the latest album from this band from Sweden.

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

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

The music on this fifty minutes long album is mid-tempo, elegant, pompous and with lots of vocals.

The music is a blend of pomp rock and pomp pop. Just as on the first three albums.

There are also some AOR here too. 

The sound is good and the music is slightly harder on this album than on the previous three albums.

The vocals is good but the songs are still not really impressive. They are too much run-of-the-mill and is sorely lacking in good details.

Fans of mainstream pop-rock and AOR should check out both this album and the first three albums. 

2 points   

 

 

Cafuné - Tra Le Corde Dei Racconti (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Italy.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, bouzouki, celtic harp, synths, flute and vocals.

This is a new band to me as I got this album earlier this fall. I got a long queue of new albums to review so this album had to wait for it's turn.

Cafune is a Portuguese word but the band is from Italy. 

This album is forty minutes long and the music here is folk rock in the RPI tradition. 

Bands like Fairport Convention, Pentangle, Amazing Blondel and a more folk version of Jethro Tull are good references here. Ditto for Angelo Branduardi.

The (female) vocals of Irene Lippolis are prominent in their mainly acoustic sound. There are a lot of acoustic guitars, harp and flute here in addition to the vocals.

The music is really flowery and a treat if folk rock is your thing. The songs are also good and this is a rather impressive debut album. The best folk rock album of the year ? Probably yes.

3.5 points 

 

 

 

Triangle - Square The Circle (2000)

 

The debut album from this band from The Netherlands.

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

This band released their new album, their fifth album, earlier this year and also made their albums available as name-your-price Bandcamp albums. Hence it makes sense to review the four albums I have yet to review. 

I have already reviewed their third album, the 2016 album Alert & Alive back in April 2017 in # 2 of this blog and you can read this review here.

Square The Circle is an one hour and six minutes long album.

The genre is neo-prog. The band's music is well within the Dutch neo-prog tradition.

Most of the seven songs are clocking in at just over ten minutes. The music is pretty epic and still pretty melodic. There are also a lot of details here.

The music are pretty good throughout and there is no doubts this is a quality band. Something the good vocals also proves.

This is an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points 

 

 

Tempano - Åtabal Yémal (1980)

 

The debut album from this band from Venezuela.

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

This band released ten albums between 1980 and 2016. They are all up for reviews this winter in this blog.

This band was one of the most productive, prolific prog bands from South America during their time. Not all their albums are progressive rock albums.... but we will come to that during the reviews of their albums.

Atabal Yemal is clocking in at just short of forty-five minutes.

The music is a flowery blend of prog, psych and some fusion.

There are also clear Latin rock influences here too.

The music is quirky and a bit complex. The Spanish vocals is good.

The result is a pretty good album which will really please everyone into South American progressive rock. This is an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points 

 

  

 

Trapella. Alessio - LA Ricerca Dell'Imperfezione (2022)

 

The debut album from this artist from Italy.

Alessio Trapella did the basses, guitar, harmonica, flute and vocals here.

He had help from two guests who provided guitars, piano, organ, clavinet and synths.

Alessio was a bassist in New Trolls and had also played with Aldo Tagliopietra from Le Orme before he set sail on his own as a solo-artist. Two albums have so far been released and I will review his brand new album later this year.

The music on this fifty minutes long album is RPI. 

The music is pretty much classic RPI. There is a lot of folk rock, Italian folk rock and some jazz incorporated into this take on RPI.

Some of the music is a bit funky too. There is indeed an undertone of funk throughout this album.

The music is mid-tempo and pastoral at times. The vocals are good and the guests does a good job.

The quality of the songs is somewhere between decent and good. This is an acceptable debut album and one to build on. Something I hope will be evident on his new album.

2.5 points  

 

Steensland. Johan - Crossfade (2024)

 

The debut album from this artist from Sweden.

Johan Steensland did the drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals here.

He had help from a quartet of guests who provided drums, bass, guitars and female vocals.

Johan has been around the Swedish prog scene since the early 1980s without releasing anything. He had a short spell in USA before he returned to Sweden again. 

Crossfade is a rock-opera he started to write and complete back in 1985. It was only recorded and released last year. Earlier this year, the second rock-opera, Duality was also released and I will review that album later this year.

Crossfade clocks in close to an hour. The music is a blend of neo-prog and art-rock.

There is a lot of Kaipa, the Angling Feelings album era, influences on this album. The female vocals are pretty similar too. 

The music is both elegant and melodic. The vocals are very good. Ditto for the instruments too. 

Despite some of the music being slightly cheesy, the overall quality is good and this is an album well worth checking out.

3 points  

 

 

Arianuova - Volevo Andare Altrove (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Italy.

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

This one hour long album is the debut album from this band. The album was released one week ago on Lizard Records.

The music here is RPI. 

This genre has a wide range of bands and Arianuova is straddling both the traditional RPI scene and the modern RPI scene. 

There is indeed a lot of art-rock in their music. That gives their music a light, fresh sound. 

The band's music has indeed it's own identity. The sound is very good throughout. The music is also very varied with some weird, arty instrumental pieces in addition to the songs. The vocals is very good throughout.

The band is indeed taking the RPI scene into a new direction and I hope the band will not be an outlier in this scene as there is a lot to cherish on this album. Not everything is great here. But this is a debut album and a more than acceptable debut album.

This is one of the most interesting debut album in the RPI genre of the year.

3.5 points