Boston - Third Stage (1986)

 

The third album from this band from USA.

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

Three guests added drums and guitars.

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

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

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

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

The songs are well developed.

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

2 points 

 

  

Tempano - The Agony & The Ecstasy (2002)

 

The eighth album from this band from Venezuela.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3.5 points 

 

Unwritten Pages - Noah (2010)

 

The debut album from this band from The Netherlands.

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

A handful of guests added percussion, guitars and vocals.

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

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

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

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

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

2 points 

  

 

Ultralyd - Chromosome Gun (2005)

 

The second album from this band from Norway.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, clarinet, saxophones, electronics and samples.

Last year, I put up my two Ultralyd albums for reviews sometime this winter. I had heard about the band but never listened to their albums. So it sounded like a good idea to review their two albums. 

This forty minutes long album is their second of in total six albums. I will review their fifth album early next month.

The music is a blend of free-jazz and samples. The music is avant-garde and totally out there.

In the middle of this unrelenting avant-garde free jazz assault, there is a piece of Indian pop music. That is complete with the local language male vocals. It feels like this has been lifted from a Bollywood movie. Weird. 

The overall quality is half-decent and this is not really an album I can recommend.

1.5 points 

Laughing Stock - Life In Seven Dreams (2026)

 

The eighth album from this band from Norway.

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

A trio of guests, including Tim Bowness, added trumpet and vocals on a couple of tracks.

As I noted in my review of their previous album, Shelter from 2024, the band started out as an eclectic symphonic prog band before they moved to the art-rock genre.

That is very much evident on this year's Life In Seven Dreams album. A three quarters of an hour long album.

The band is firmly in the art-rock genre with a lot of Tim Bowness and No-Man influences.

The music is really softly spoken and melancholic.

The music is also understated. There are not many good details here. 

This album is not among their best albums. Nevertheless, this is a pretty good album and one for the art-rock crowd.

2.5 points 

Ankh - Expect Unexpected (2003)

 

The fourth album from this band from Poland.

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

Two guests added drums, violin and voices.

The band returned five years after their pretty good 1998 album Bedzie Tajemnica. An album reviewed last week in this blog.

The music on this fifty minutes long album can best be described as krautrock. Krautrock from Poland. Krautrock with Polish and English vocals.

The music is funky, quirky, trippy, a bit hard and pretty melodic. There is also some electronica here.

There are also some proper songs here too inbetween some trippy, quirky pieces of music. 

The vocals is good and the music is really cool and breezy. This is some of the better krautrock I have heard for a while and a good album in it's own right. This is one of the more under appreciated bands in the prog rock scene.

3 points 

 

  

Alternativ Quartet - Departe De Solsti​ț​iu (2023)

 

The fourth album from this band from Romania.

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

This band has had an interesting development over the last couple of albums. So I was looking forward to this album.

This album clocks in at fifty minutes and the music is a blend of art-rock and post-rock. 

Take Gazpacho and Sigur Ros. Then imagine a crossbreed between these two Scandinavian bands. Then you get this album from Romania.

The music is ambient at the beginning before the music becomes a bit more art-rock and post rock like.

The vocals are in their local language (Romanian ?) and these male vocals are pretty good. They are downtuned and in tune with the music.

The music is really slow and understated. The music is still pretty good.

This album is a bit of a slow burner. Nevertheless, it is an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points 

 

 

Lifting Line Theory - Wonder (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

This band has just released their second album and I will review that album sometime next month. 

The band is Chris Caroll on all instruments and Little Miss on vocals. Female vocals. 

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

The music is muscular and songs based. It is keyboards and guitars based.

The tempo is mid-tempo throughout. 

Little Miss vocals are very good and the main attraction on this album.

The sound and ambience are good throughout these fifty minutes. The songs are not always good. Nevertheless, this is a good album and I hope their new album has built on this album and is offering up some better songs.

3 points 

Man - The Twang Dynasty (1992)

 

The 10th album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The band split up after their last album in 1976 and reformed again in 1983. This one hour long album is their first album since they came back together again. 

The band has largely ditched the psych rock and most of the hard rock.

Americana is the replacement here. There is a lot of country'n'western here and a lot of mainstream US rock. 

The album is hard rocking but not in the British way. This is an album of US rock. In other words, Americana.

The music is songs based, simple and pretty melodic. The music is decent enough but not more than that. This is an unimpressive album.

2 points 

 

Cortex - Troupeau Bleu (1975)

 

The debut album from this band from France.

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

The band has released four studio albums plus a retrospective outtakes album. I will review their four studio albums this winter, starting with their debut album.

Wikipedia has described this band as a jazz-funk band. They also label this album as a cult-classic.

The music on this forty minutes long album is dominated by some soft female French vocals, a rampant piano and the saxophones.

The music is soft jazz, bordering on lounge-jazz at times. The music is really laidback most of the times where the vocals serve as an instrument.

The music is pretty funky despite being slow. There is some interesting details here too. The music is also elegant and classy.

I am not sure about this claim that this album is a cult-classic. Nevertheless, this is a pretty good album and well worth checking out.

2.5 points 

 

 

Witchskull - A Driftwood Cross (2020)

 

The third album from this band from Australia.

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

I have not had the chance to sample their other four albums so this forty minutes long album is my first and only meeting with this band. An album released on Rise Above Records.

The music here, not surprisingly, is stoner rock.

The sound is pretty dirty. The music has a lot of bass and guitars. The vocals is dirty but still pretty good.

The music is very heavy but not particularly extreme.

There is no good stuff here and there is no surprises. The music is run-of-the-mill stoner rock and does not bring anything new to the scene.

This is a solid effort and a decent album.

2 points 

 

Walking On Ice - No Margin For Error (1994)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This band is the forerunner of Zen Orchestra, a band that released their debut album last year. An album I reviewed back in November 2025.

No Margin For Error clocks in at one hour and the music is early days neo-prog.

There is also a lot of pomp rock on this melodic, poppy take on neo-prog. References are early IQ and Pendragon.

The music is pretty simple and poppy. There are an didgeridoo interlude halfway through the album which are breaking up the album a bit.

The vocals are rather good. The music is not particular interesting.

This is a decent enough album. It is an album with historical interest for those into neo-prog.

2 points 

 

Discipline - Breadcrumbs (2025)

 

The sixth album from this band from USA.

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

The band returned again after an eight years long break with this fifty minutes long album.

The band is one of the better, if not one of the best, progressive rock bands from USA. It is lead by the charismatic Matthew Parmenter. The band album debuted back in 1988 and has toured Europe and America many times.

The music is US symphonic prog with some Americana influences.

The music is more melodic than on most of their first five albums. The music is also well crafted and cleverly presented.

The vocals is very good and sporadic mellotrong and violins are adding a lot of texture to this album.

This is not their best album. Nevertheless, this is still a good album and one to check out from a band that never really disappoints.

3 points

 

 

 

Dimmornas Bro - Mål (1979)

 

The second album from this band from Sweden.

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

One guest added saxophones.  

This three quarters of an hour long album is the follow up album to their 1977 self-titled album.

Their debut album was a good early symphonic prog album and a hidden gem in the Swedish symphonic prog scene. An album pretty similar to the first Kaipa albums.

The music on Mål is more poppy and rock inspired than symphonic prog. There is still some symphonic prog here, mostly at the end of the album, but mainstream rock has taken over. There is even some folk rock influences here.

There is a lot of vocals here. The vocals are in Swedish and they are pretty good. There is also a lot of organ in their sound.

The music is decent enough but this album is a bit of a let down compared to their debut album. The band also released a third and final album. A pop album, no less. I will see if I am bothered to review it later this year.

2 points 

Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere (2024)

 

The fourth album from this band from USA.

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

Three guests added piano, organ, mellotron, synths, programming and vocals.

This three quarters of an hour long album sees the band return to the themes on their debut album. 

That means death metal with a lot of psych rock and prog rock influences. One of the Tangerine Dream members is also appearing here and the result is an Eloy'ish like piece of music.  

The album starts out as a death metal album before psych rock takes over. That is how the rest of the album goes with spurts of death metal with more melodic pieces in between.

There is some Tangerine Dream like electronica on this album too.

The music is very varied throughout. The music is also pretty decent. I have yet to be won over by this band but I understand the hype around them. They are not really impressing me.

2.5 points 

Sykofant - Leaves (2026)

 

The second EP from this band from Norway.

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

I got this EP from the band as I have reviewed their previous album and EP last year in # 3 of this blog.  Album and EP I rated highly.

This EP clocks in at twenty-three minutes and has three songs... make that compositions. The first two compositions are three minutes long on average. The final composition is seventeen minutes long. 

The band continues on from the 2025 EP Red Sun with their blend of psych rock, progressive rock and 1970s hard rock. 

Old, classic 1970s rock is what this really sounds like. Music that sounds classy & timeless. Elegant, even.

The music is really complex here with some very good details. This is not easy listening music.

The quality is good throughout and this album should satisfy everybody into complex 1970s rock... not to mention classic progressive rock.

3 points  

Uriah Heep - Wonderworld (1974)

 

The seventh album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The band released new albums every year now and toured the albums quite extensively around the world. 

Wonderworld clocks in at forty minutes.

The music is mostly hard rock. There are some psych rock influences in their music too. 

The music is pretty melodic too with some good vocals and musicianship.

There are no real good songs here and this is their least impressive album so far. 

 Fans of 1970s hard rock should check out this album.

2 points 

 

Carpani. Alex - The Sanctuary (2010)

 

The second album from this artist from Italy.

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

Three guests added drums, percussion, bass and guitars.

This fifty minutes long album is the follow up to his 2007 debut album Waterline. A pretty good symphonic prog album.

The music on The Sanctuary is symphonic prog with some ELP and Triumvirat influences. There is a lot of moog and keyboards here. There is also a considerable amount of vocals here.

The music is really melodic. There are some neo-classical music influences here too.

The music is pretty good throughout and the vocals is good. The sound is also very good.

I am not entirely won over by the music here which has some shortcomings when it comes to quality. There are some good moog and melotrons here which elevate this album to a good status. More reviews of his albums will follow in the next couple of weeks.

3 points 

Alto - Happy Ambrosia (1980)

 

The second and final album from this band from Germany.

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

Their music on the self-titled debut album from this Kraan offshoot was a blend of soul, fusion and jazz.

The band has not changed much on the three quarters of an hour long Happy Ambrosia. 

There are less soul this time around and more fusion.

There are still a lot of vocals, female vocals here and a lot of saxophones. There are also lots of guitars and keyboards here. 

The album kicks of as more a rock album than a fusion album. Thankfully, the music then become more fusion than rock after five minutes and the rest of the album is jazzy.

The music is, as with the album art-work, stripped back and a bit bare-boned. That said, this is still a good album with a lot of good details and music.

This is a bit of an underrated band that deserves a lot of credit.  

3 points 

 

Aera - Türkis (1979)

 

The third album from this band from Germany.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, strings, electric piano, organ, moog, keyboards, lyricon, saxophones and vocals.

Two guests added guitars and bass on one track.

The music on this three quarters of an hour long album is jazz with a lot of fusion influences.

Their music reminds me, as on their second album, which I reviewed some days ago in this blog, a lot of The Soft Machine on their Six and Seven albums.

Most instruments, with the exception of the drums and percussion, have long solos here on their medium-fast dynamic take on jazz. There is hardly any vocals here and they are only used as instruments.

There are a lot of interesting details here and the saxophones are very good.

 This is one of those albums that makes me a lot more interested in jazz. Maybe because this album is a bit of a bridge between jazz and progressive rock. 

The band released two more albums before they split up and I will try to find them and review them later this year.

This is a good album in it's own right. 

3 points 

 

 

Cosmograf - The Orphan Epoch (2025)

 

The 10th album from this band from Great Britain.

Cosmograf is Robin Armstrong on bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

Two guests added drums, saxophones and vocals.

I have followed Robin Armstrong's Cosmograf for the last fifteen years with great interest and you will find my reviews of his first nine albums in my blog and in ProgArchives.

Cosmograf is one of the more interesting British acts today. 

The music on this fifty minutes long album is a blend of neo-prog and art rock. 

The music is melancholic and sombre at times. It is also melodic throughout with some soft, very good vocals from Robin Armstrong. There are also some good vocal harmonies, piano and guitar solos here. There is saxophones on one track too.

The overall quality is good throughout and this album proves that Robin Armstrong always delivers the goods. 

3 points 

 

 

Cholo Visceral - Quimera Huaycotrópic (2023)

 

The third album from this band from Peru.

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

This is the come-back album after a seven years long album break.

This album is clocking in at forty minutes and the music is instrumental heavy prog.

There are still some subtle folk rock influences in their music. But they are only faint and it is fair to say that the band has changed a lot since their first two albums.

The music is slick and has lost most of the charm and Latin folk rock influences from their debut album. Some of the music on this, their third album is a bit run-of-the-mill instrumental heavy prog.

The music is still pretty good. It is dynamic and a bit colourful too. There are some good riffs/themes here too. I still think their debut album is their best album. You can find my reviews of their first two albums somewhere else in this blog.

2.5 points 

  

 

Blood Incantation - Timewave Zero (2022)

 

The third album from this band from USA.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of synths and electronics.

The band has so far given us three very different sounding albums. The debut was progressive death metal, the second album was pretty much bare boned Morbid Angel influenced death metal and this album... is electronica.

That means forty minutes with electronica in the Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze territory.  

There are two movements here. Both of them are pretty dull and not interesting at all.

There is some decent stuff here and that's at the end of the album. That makes this a half-decent album. I guess this is not an album they are playing live...

1.5 points 

E.D.O. - The Past Is A Foreign Country (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from The Netherlands.

This band is a one-man-band with Edo Spanninga and he did the synths and the programming.

Edo Spanninga were a member of both Trion and Flamborough Head before he set out on his own with E.D.O. For all I know, he is still involved in those two bands. I hope so as both Flamborough Head and Trion was and are great bands.

The Past Is A Foreign Country is a forty minutes long concept album based on the western world from 1945 to this date. There is a lot of sampled speaches from Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher and unfortunately.. this odious Donald Trump, a man who has insulted everyone here in Europe during the last 48 hours. 

The music is a blend of symphonic prog, neo-classical music and cinematic rock. The music feels like one long piece of music although it is supposed to be seven different pieces of music.

The music is very melodic. It is also a bit meandering and pedestrian.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. This is therefore an acceptable debut album.

2.5 points 

 

Ankh - Bedzie Tajemnica (1998)

 

The third album from this band from Poland.

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

The band returned again after a three years long break.

The band has come on in leaps and bounds after their not so impressive debut album. 

This almost seventy minutes long album is jumping along in most directions. From some cover versions of King Crimson and the Norwegian classical music composer Edvard Grieg to some more folk rock and hard rock. 

The music is eclectic in other words. The music is also quirky. 

The Polish male vocals are also adding a lot of quirkiness to the music. The violins are also rampant and is adding a lot of quality to this album.

Not everything here is good. Nevertheless, there is some good stuff here and that makes this a pretty good album from a pretty obscure band who deserve a lot more attention.

2.5 points  

  

Alternativ Quartet - Cand Nu Cant (2012)

 

 The third album from this band from Romania.

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

The band returned again one year after their good 2011 album Aripi. An album I reviewed one week ago in this blog.

The music on this fifty-five minutes long album are a mix of art-rock and post-rock.

The music is melancholic, slow to mid-tempo. The music is also sad and understated.

There is a lot of piano here. The piano is also supporting the good vocals.

The music is like a more simplified, melancholic version of Gazpacho's music. But there is still a lot of good details here though and the music is good throughout.

This band is one of the more underestimated bands in today's scene and this album proves that point.

3 points 

 

 

  

Alto - Alto (1978)

 

The debut album from this band from Germany.

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

This band was a Kraan splinter group who released two albums between 1978 and 1980. Both of them are up for review in this blog.

I have reviewed all the Kraan albums in the previous three editions of this blog in addition to one review in ProgArchives.   

Alto is clocking in at forty minutes and the music is a blend of soul, jazz and fusion. 

There are a lot of a alto-saxophones here in addition to the electric and half-acoustic guitars. 

The music is dynamic and pretty melodic. There is a lot of drive and progression in the music. There is also a lot of good, interesting details here.

The female vocals are still good. Half of the album has vocals, indeed.   

The result is a good album and a bit of a hidden gem. A gem jazz and in particular fans of fusion and indeed the band Kraan should check out.

3 points 

 

 

Aera - Hand und Fuss (1977)

 

The second album from this band from Germany.

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

I reviewed their 1975 debut album Humanum Est in December 2012 for # 1 of this blog and gave it a good rating. I have now got hold of their second and third album. Albums I will now review here this week.

The music on this forty minutes long album is jazz with a lot of fusion influences. The Soft Machine is a good reference here. The Soft Machine from their Six and Seven era, that is.

The music is dynamic and mostly instrumental. There are some wailing vocals here at the end of the album and that is all there is of vocals.

The solos are a mixed bag of guitars, violin and woodwinds. They are all pretty good.

There are also a couple of pastoral pieces of jazz here.

The quality is pretty good with a mix of decent and good pieces of music. This album is a worthy addition to anyone's jazz collection.

2.5 points 

 

O'Man - 81 (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Finland.

This is a one-man-band where Pekka Ranta did the bass, guitars, synths, effects and drum machine.

Three guests added drums, percussion, keyboards and synths.

This half an hour long album is his second album from 2025. His debut album Katoaminen was a good album and one I reviewed earlier this month.

The music on that album had some dynamic music with a blend of psych rock and cinematic rock. A good blend.

81 is a much more ambient music dominated half an hour. The music is pedestrian and not ambient at all. This album feels like a left-over pieces and outtakes album from the Katoaminen album sessions.

In short, this is just a half-decent album and a considerable disappointment.

1.5 points 

Tritop - Tritop120 (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Italy.

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

Three guests added backing vocals and choir.

This is their follow up album to their 2023's debut album Rise Of Kassandra. An album I gave a very good rating back in August 2023 for # 3 of this blog.

The music on this almost fifty minutes long album is a blend of heavy prog and neo-prog.

The music is epic and pretty hard throughout this album. The music is muscular in other words. It is still pretty melodic too. There is a lot of interesting details here too.

There is a lot of long keyboards runouts and some guitar solos. The vocals are good. Ditto for the sound. 

This is an enjoyable album and a good one in it's own right. I really like this band.

3 points 

 

Trigemino - Corre Hacia Tu Vida (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Argentina.

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

Three guests added steel guitars and vocals.

The band released their debut album Trampas Para Enganar back in 2018 and I gave it a very good rating back in May 2019 in the # 2 of this blog. I was surprised that the band returned again at the end of last year with their second album.

This album is clocking in at just under forty minutes and the music is South-American/Latin symphonic progressive rock.

The music is both quirky and melodic. It is also very much in the 1970s South-American/Latin symphonic progressive rock tradition.

The music is mostly mid-tempo. The music is not overcrowded by instruments. The Spanish vocals are good and the sound is very good. 

There is a nice ambience here and the overall quality is good. This is an enjoyable album from one of the better bands from Argentina.

3 points 

 

 

Leap Day - When Gravity Wins (2025)

 

The seventh album from this band from The Netherlands.

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

I have reviewed their first six albums in my blogs and I rate this band as one of the better Dutch progressive rock bands. 

This sixty-seven minutes long album takes us back to the Dutch neo-prog scene.  

The music is also both symphonic and melodic. There are also some neo-classical music influences here.

The music is also elegant throughout with some epic pieces of symphonic prog. The guitar solos are very good. The vocals are pretty good.

The music is pretty intricate and complex. The music is more like pieces of music than songs in the traditional sense.

The quality of the music is good throughout and this is an album well worth checking out although this album is not their best album.

3 points 

 

 

 

Boston - Don't Look Back (1978)

 

The second album from this band from USA.

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

Three guests added additional percussion.

Their debut album is regarded as one of the better debut albums of all time. It is most certainly one of the best selling debut albums of all time and an iconic album from the 1970s. 

Don't Look Back clocks in at thirty-four minutes and we get a blend of stadium rock, pomp rock and AOR on this album.

The music is bold, hard and pretty heavy. The sound is polished and the band's reputation as perfectionists rings true on this album.

There is no big hits here but the music is still decent enough. This album is a bit of a letdown compared to their debut album.

2 points 

 

 

Tempano - El Fin De La Infancia (1999)

 

The seventh album from this band from Venezuela.

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

One guest added cello.

Their last albums were some pretty poor pop albums. I therefore had no longer any hopes for this band. Then this album arrived.

This one hour long album feels like an album from a different band. As the band had taken an eleven years long break before they recorded and released this album, that may be the reason for what we get here.

The music is a blend of symphonic prog, fusion and neo-classical music.

There are some good Spanish vocals here. Most of the album is instrumental, though. 

The music is dynamic and quirky. It is also pretty melodic with a couple of normal songs inbetween the cascades of instrumental, pretty epic pieces of music.

The result is a good album and a big surprise after those pretty dire preceding pop albums. The band is back and this is the best of their albums.

3 points  

 

 

  

Villblomst - Villblomst (1979)

 

The one and only album from this band from Norway.

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

This album was originally released on LP in 1979 by the local Norwegian record label Briskeby Records. It was then re-released on CD through the NAKCD re-releases series in 2024 (see cover above). That is how I got my copy hos I became aware of this short-lived band.

The drummer here, Pål Søvik, is one of the veterans in the Norwegian progressive rock scene and the owner of Briskeby Records, a good prog rock label who has released some albums.

This album is clocking in at fifty-six minutes and the music is a blend of neo-prog, funk and new-wave rock. 

Both the sound and music are youthful and brash. That is, on the first tracks. The music become a bit more pastoral and mellow on the final half of the album.

The vocals are both in Norwegian and English. They are pretty good.

The band-name Villblomst translates to Wild Flower in English and the band-name really describes their music very well. The music is wild but still flowery. The quality is decent enough and this album is an interesting wild flower in the garden of Norwegian progressive rock albums.

2 points   

  

V.A - Østerdalsmusikk75 (1975)

 

The debut album from this project from Norway.

The project included eight musicians with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, fiddle, keyboards, woodwinds and voices.

This album is a strange one. It was released by the record label Mai back in 1975 on LP. A new updated version with extra tracks was then released in 2015. The original 1975 version was then re-released on CD six years later, in 2021 through the NAKCD series. A series of Norwegian re-releases who has released 680 albums. 

The music here is old folk music from one of the central valleys in Norway, a 400 km long valley in the east of Norway towards the border to Sweden. That valley had/has a rich cultural and music scene.

Participating musicians like Jan Garbarek then took this music and added a lot of jazz to the folk music. A bit of a novel way of approaching this music, indeed.

There are a lot of trumpets and saxophones on this thirty-seven minutes long album. The music is very eclectic throughout with some intense jazz at times.

This is indeed a weird, eclectic album. It is also a decent album which is more of a jazz workout than anything else. If eclectic jazz is your thing....

2 points  

Cervello - Chaire (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Italy.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of bass, guitars, keyboards, sax, flute, recorder and vocals.

One guest added drums.

This album comes as a thirty-six minutes long studio album with a twenty-eight minutes long live album as the second part of the album just to flesh this album out to a one hour long album. 

This is a review of the studio part of this album and I have ignored the live part of this album as I never review live albums. 

Chaire is the name of the studio part of this album and the songs are from 1974-83. They were spliced and collected over the last four years by the members and made into Chaire. 

The music here is RPI. Good classic RPI as they did on their 1973 debut album Melo. That is a semi-classic album in the RPI genre.

There are a considerable amount of saxes and flutes in their music in addition to the guitars and keyboards. The Italian vocals are then added to the top of the sound. 

Despite of being old songs, the music feels contemporary post-millenium. The music is also mid-tempo and melodic.

There are some good and some sub-standard songs here. This album is not as good as Melo. It is still a pretty good album though. RPI collectors should check out this album.

2.5 points   

Eckemoff. Yelena - Scenes From The Dark Ages (2025)

 

The tenth or so album from this artist from USA.

Yelena Eckemoff did the piano, keyboards, synths and clavinett here.

She had help from some guests who added drums, percussion, bass, guitars, violins and flutes.

I got this one hour and forty-five minutes long album recommended to me as was described as a symphonic prog album. That got my attention... The album art-work sealed the deal and I got this album. 

The music is mostly baroque neo-classical music with some neo-folk influences.

There is a lot of violins and clavinets here. There are also surprisingly some guitar solos here. The music is indeed pretty electric and not so acoustic as I thought it would be.

The music is very melodic with some great musicianship. 

I would not really describe this album as an interesting album. It is also not a particular good album. This neo-classical genre is not an interesting genre. Nevertheless, this is a decent enough album.

2 points 

 

 

Caravaggio - We All We Are (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Italy.

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

A handful of guests provided percussion, accordion, flute and vocals.

I reviewed their self-titled 2022 debut album back in March 2025 for # 3 of this blog and were not particularly impressed. It is still a decent album but sorely lacking any good songs.

We All We Are is clocking in at fifty minutes and the music is a blend of neo-prog and commercial pop-rock. 

The music is mid-tempo and melodic. The vocals are in English and they are pretty good.

The band does a pretty good job. There is not many good details here though.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. There a couple of cringeworthy songs here and those are letting this album down. This album is still a small improvement on their debut album.

2.5 points  

    

Huis - A Huis Clos (2025)

 

The fifth album from this band from Canada.

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

Hmmm..... I have never hidden my admiration for this band from Quebec, Canada. Their first four albums are very good. Nevertheless, I was not sure if I wanted to review an album with three old Huis songs and eight cover versions. 

That is what we get on this seventy-six minutes long album.

Thankfully, the band has gone down the route of covering some pretty obscure songs from not the most obvious bands. The songs here are not exactly hits. None of the songs are the best songs from the respective bands either.

Bands covered here Genesis, Deep Purple, Arena, Marillion and Asia in addition to their fellow Canadians, Morse Code, Rush and Saga. That makes this album a lot more interesting.

The band does a very good job here. The covers really makes me appreciate the respective bands even more than I do. The best covers here are their version of Deep Purple's Perfect Stranger and Saga's Don't Be Late. The rest of the covers are good too. Their new versions of their three own songs feels a bit odd on this album.

I cannot stand covers albums. But Huis has done a great job here and this album is an exception from my dislike of covers albums. It is a good album in it's own right and an example for other bands. 

3 points  

   

 

Man - The Welsh Connection (1976)

 

The ninth album from this band from Great Britain.

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

A handful of guests added vocals to this album.

The band returned again after a two years long break. 

This forty-two minutes long album sees the band become more melodic again. There is still some good old hard rock here. The band is still exploring the psych rock genre a bit more.

There is indeed some West Coast psych rock here mixed up with some Americana and hard rock.

The music is melodic with some good vocal harmonies. The guests are both male and female vocalists and they are adding a lot to this album.

The songs are pretty good and they have some good details too. That makes this a good album and one to check out.

3 points  

 

 

Blood Incantation - Hidden History Of The Human Race (2019)

 

The second album from this band from USA.

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

The album clocks in at thirty-seven minutes and the music is mainly death metal. 

Early Morbid Angel is a good reference here. There are some psych rock influences here too and the music is therefore not straight death metal.

The music here is far more in the vein of straight death metal than than the music on their 2016 debut album Starspawn. 

The music is both fast and very brutal. The vocals are the usual death metal growls. The guitars are a bit dissonant at times.

There is not much progressive here and not many deviations from the death metal orthodoxy. This is still a decent enough album but just that. This is a too safe album from this band and a step in the wrong direction.

2 points 

 

 

 

Stud - September (1972)

 

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

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

I reviewed their 1971 self-titled debut album a couple of months ago, November 2025, in this blog and then noted that they had in fact released a second album. I got that album and decided to review this one too.

This album clocks in at forty-two minutes and the music is blues rock.

There are, weirdly, also some country'n'western here too.

There is a lot of Americana in their music, indeed. The music is also coloured by the West Coast psych rock sound.

The music is melodic and very in the 1970s tradition. The music is dated in other words.  

The quality is also melodic with some decent songs. This is indeed a decent album but nothing more than that.

2 points 

  

Strinx - Talk To The Wind (1973)

 

The one and only album from this band from Germany.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, violin, electric harp, piano, clavichord and electric piano.

This forty minutes long album takes us through a journey through the fusion and jazz landscape.

The music is really intense and fast with lots of violins and electric piano. Jean Luc Ponty is a good reference here. The many fans of his music will really enjoy this album.

There are also some gypsy music and eclectic prog influences on this album. The music is very much eclectic throughout this album.

The music is also a bit melodic although the music here is too eclectic to be called a melodic fusion album.

There are some rampant solos here and those makes this album a good album. There is a lot to really enjoy on this album, indeed. This album is one of these hidden gems from the 1970s European scene.

3 points 

 

 

 

 

Tavananna - Bir (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This band is from Liverpool in England and this album is clocking in at just over half an hour.

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

The music is also a blend of dynamic hard rocking pieces and some songs with female vocals. 

The vocals are great and performed by the main composer here. She, Embiye Adali, is also the keyboardist here.  

The music is quirky with some jazz and fusion influences. 

There are a lot of guitars on this album, supported by some keyboards. The sound is good and the band know what they are doing.

The album is a bit short. There is no surplus fat/tones here and this is a more than acceptable debut album. This is indeed a good album and I hope we will hear a lot more from this band in the future.

3 points 

Fleshvessel - Obstinacy Sisyphean Dreams Unfolded (2025)

 

The second album from this band from USA.

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

Four guests added daf, clarinet, bassoon and vocals.

After a two years long break, the band returned again with this fifty minutes long album.

The music here is extreme metal with some psych rock and rock opera influences. The music has some avant-garde structures too.

The vocals is a blend of death metal growls, black metal shrieks and clean vocals.

The music is big, bold, complex and fast. The music sounds like death metal songs with some added rock opera structures.

There is also some psych rock influences here on the two ten minutes plus long songs. The music is also complex and intricate. 

The result is a pretty good album. I am not entirely won over. Nevertheless, I have added the band to my list of bands I want to follow up in the next years and future.

2.5 points 

 

 

Arka'n Asrafokor - Dzikkuh (2024)

 

The second album from this band from Togo.

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

The band returned again five years after their debut album Za Keli. That was a good album indeed.

Dzikkuh is a three quarters of an hour long album. 

The music is a again a blend of progressive metal, extreme metal, nu-metal and folk music.

Their roots are in the local folk music scene. The Western African folk music scene. Hence their performances on the ethnic folk music festivals in Europe last summer. I think they are more suited for the many metal festivals instead of the ethnic folk music festivals. That is based on the music on their two albums.

The music is pretty extreme and dissonant throughout most of this album (and the debut album). Extreme metal springs to mind. Then throw in some rap and we are in the nu-metal territory.

The music becomes more like progressive metal at the end of this album (as it was at the end of the debut album too). There are some melodic pieces here too. 

The band is clearly onto something here and this album is a fresh breeze in the pretty stagnant, conservative metal scene. Not everything is good here and this album is not as good as their debut album Za Keli. That said.... this is still a good album. Metalheads should and must check out this band.

3 points  

Jakszyk. Jakko M - Son Of Glen (2025)

 

The seventh album from this artist from Great Britain.

Jakko Jakszyk did the guitar and vocals here.

He had help from some guests who added drums, bass, cello, keyboards and backing vocals.

Jakko Jakszyk is or has been a member of Level 42 and other bands for some time. His debut solo album was released back in 1990. The three quarters of an hour long Son Of Glen is the only one of his solo albums I have heard though so I don't know much about his solo-career.

The music on this album is a blend of neo-prog and mainstream rock.

The music is very melodic. There are some pop sensibilities here and some quirky melodies.

The vocals are very good throughout. Ditto for the musicianship. The music is driven by a blend of guitars and keyboards. The flutes are also present in the music here.

The quality is pretty good throughout. The songs are a bit missing in the quality department and I am not really falling for this album. Sorry....

2.5 points 

 

 

Uriah Heep - Sweet Freedom (1973)

 

The seventh album from this band from Great Britain.

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

The band returned again with this forty minutes long album.

The music on this forty minutes long album is again 1970s hard rock.

There is also a lot of psych rock in their music too.

The music is pretty melodic despite of being pretty hard and heavy.

The vocals are good throughout and the band does a good job on this decent enough album.

This album is not among their better albums. It is still a decent enough album and well worth checking out.

2 points 

Carpani. Alex - Waterline (2007)

 

The debut album from this artist from Italy.

Alex Carpani did the keyboards here.

He had help from numerous guests who provided drums, percussion, bass, guitars, saxophones, flutes and vocals.

Alex Carpani has so far released seven albums and I am reviewing all of them this winter, starting with this album.

The music on this fifty-three minutes long album is melodic symphonic prog with some RPI and cinematic rock influences.

The music is more melodic than technical. There is still some interesting details here. There is a lot of flutes and some saxophones which makes this album a bit spicy. This in addition to Alex own piano and keyboards. 

There is not much vocals here though as most of the album is instrumental. Instrumental with some good guitars. 

The music is pretty good without really being impressive. This is still a good debut album and I am really looking forward to reviewing his other albums. 

2.5 points