Relayer - Facade (2008)

 

The fourth album from this band from USA.

The band was a quartet with a line-up of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

The band returned again after a nine-year album break.

Facade clocks in at sixty - five minutes.

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

The music is melodic, a bit epic and very much in the 1980s British neo-prog tradition at times. That means some poppy songs too.

There are also some more symphonic pieces here. Some symphonic prog pieces.

The vocals are a bit too screaming and tiresome. The vocals are the biggest weakness on this album. 

I am not convinced about this album. There are some good and some decent stuff here. I am not won over.

2.5 points 

 

 

Ashada - Circulation (2006)

 

The one and only album from this band from Japan.

The band was a female duo with a line-up of mandolin, piano, accordion, programming and vocals.

A number of guests added percussion, drums, bass, guitars, violins and programming.

This duo is one of the oddities in the progressive rock scene. An oddity that makes these scenes so interesting. It makes running this blog a lot more interesting.

Circulation clocks in at thirty-seven minutes.

The music is a blend of folk rock and dream pop.

The vocals are Japanese female vocals. These vocals are supported by some sparse instruments. Mostly piano. 

Minimalistic music, in other words.

The music is pretty cinematic too and it has a good ambience.

This is a pretty interesting album from the rather, for us Westerners, the unfamiliar Japanese tradition. Most of the music here is good and the vocals is really good. This album has grown a lot on me. Hence, this is a good album.

3 points 

 

Albion - Lakesongs of Elbid (2024)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a quartet with a line-up of drums, bass, guitars, mandolin, programming, flute and vocals.

Three guests added drums, flute and female vocals.

This is a new band to me. They have just released their second album and I will review it in some days time.

Lakesongs of Elbid clocks in at seventy minutes.

The music is folk rock.

The music is indeed folk rock.... but there is also a lot of chugging metal guitars here. Their take on folk rock is therefore muscular and pretty commercial. 

The music is also epic and progressive. There are indeed a lot of symphonic prog influences in their music.

The guitars are very good here. The vocals are also very good.

There is a lot to like here and there is no doubts this band is very talented and may go far. This is indeed a very good album.

3.5 points 

Ahoora - We Were Here Tehran 2011 (2026)

 

The fourth and final album from this band from Iran.

The band was a duo here with a line-up of bass, guitars, keyboards, synths and programming.

One guest added bass and keyboards.

This is a posthumous album from a band whose members had left the country and now live abroad. This album are released on their Bandcamp page as a name-your-price album.

This album clocks in at thirty-five minutes.

The music here is a blend of cinematic rock and electronica.

There are some new music here from 2010-11 and some odds and ends from other sessions too. 

There are some piano, guitars and sampled voices here in between the synths. The music is surprisingly organic and not as machines/synths dominated as I expected.

This is quite an interesting album and a decent album in its own right. If cinematic rock is your thing, this is an album worthy of your attention.

2 points   

Althea - Memories Have No Name (2017)

 

The debut album from this band from Italy.

The band was a quintet with a line-up of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, synths, fx and vocals.

This band released two albums before they went quiet and probably split up as nothing has been heard of them this decade. I will post a review of their second album in some days time.

Memories Have No Name clocks in at fifty minutes.

The music here is a blend of progressive metal and heavy prog.

The two references here are Dream Theater and Porcupine Tree. 

The album starts out as a progressive metal album before it mellows out a lot and become much more a heavy prog album. 

The music is muscular, epic, symphonic and a bit post-rock too.

The musicians do a good job. The vocals are good too.  

Not everything here is good. There is some good stuff here and some decent stuff here. On balance, this is an acceptable debut album. Unfortunate for the band, this scene was and still is overcrowded and I suspect this album drowned in the flood of similar sounding albums that year.

2.5 points 

Countdown - Chains Of A Martyr (2006)

 

The third album from this band from France.

The band was a quartet with a line-up of drums, bass, guitars and vocals.

The band released four albums 2000 - 2007. I have yet to sample their first two albums. A review of their fourth and final album will be published next week. There is not much known about this band and I have next to nothing to go on here.

Chains Of A Martyr clocks in at fifty-two minutes.

The music is progressive metal.

The sound is pretty poor here as this is supposed to be a demo-album. But I have heard a lot better sound on other demo albums. My guess is that the studio they used was pretty poor.

The music is technical progressive metal with some power metal influences. 

The guitars and vocals are pretty decent. The music too is decent.

The result is a pretty decent album. I cannot recommend this album at all, I am afraid.

1.5 points