Hadal Sherpa - Void Weaver (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Finland.

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

I had the joy of reviewing their 2017 self-titled debut album for # 2 of this blog back in December 2017. It was a very good album. Hence I jumped on the chance to review the follow-up album too.  

The music on this three quarters of an hour long album is space rock.

The band has incorporated a lot of Arabic and Asian folk music and popular music into their take on space rock. This is still not a raga-rock album, though.

The music is dynamic, psych rock at times and colourful with a lot of, for us here in the west, foreign sounds and instruments.

The vocals here work as an instrument and not much else. Good vocals, though.

The music is lively and full of interesting details. 

The music is also good throughout and this makes this album an album well worth checking out.

3 points 

 

Papir - IIII (2014)

 

The fifth album from this band from Denmark.

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

A guest added synths on one track.

This is the fourth band album but the fifth album taken into the cooperation album with Electric Moon from the year before. Hence a bit of confusion... Just a bit...

The band's first albums were some fine, elegant space rock albums. 

Most space rock albums has dirty sound and distortions. Papir has gone for a cleaner, more elegant sound.

The music is still outer space rock based on bass and guitars. The guitars are at times half-accoustic too. The music on this forty minutes long album still has a bite. This is not easy listening, pretty music.

The quality is good throughout and this is another good album from a band who surely must be regarded as one of the best space rock bands now.

3 points  

 

Pallas - XXV (2011)

 

The sixth album from this band from Great Britain.

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

Two guests added additional male and female vocals. 

This is the follow up album to their best album so far... the 2005 opus The Dreams Of Men. That was a truly great album and one of the better albums in the neo-prog genre.

The band returned six years later with the one hour long XXV opus.

We are still deep into the neo-prog territory. No less and no more.

Some of the music sounds like it has been hibernating for the last quarter of a century too. Some of the music is big, bold and heavy too. It is theatrical too with some narrations and rock opera stuff.

Then we get some 1980s like thin vocals which is not particular good. The sound also leaves a lot to be desired.

There are some good stuff here. But most of this album falls flat on it's face and this album is one big disappointment.

2 points

 

 

Celeste - Anima Animus (2025)

 

The eight album from this band from Italy.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, organ, minimoog, keyboards, mellotron and flutes.

Some guests added percussion, guitars, piano, woodwinds and vocals. 

This band started out in the 1970s, then took a long break but have released albums on a regular basis in the last ten years. That includes an album last year which I reviewed earlier this month. See the review.

The music on this one hour long album is a blend of symphonic prog, neo-classical music and cinematic rock. 

Most of the music is instrumental. 

The music is also complex. It still has some melodic pieces of music.

The flutes and synths is the leading instruments here. Some of the pieces here are dominated by some dark woodwinds.

The vocals here, female vocals, is added as an extra instruments who works as jazzy scatting. They are wordless.

The overall quality is good. The music is eclectic and a bit of a mouthful. It is an album fans of instrumental, eclectic prog should check out.

3 points 

Brass Camel - Camel (2025)

 

The second album from this band from USA.

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

This is their follow up album to the pretty good Brass album from 2022. That was an album with a lot of promise.

Hence, I was looking forward to sinking my teeth into their new album Camel.

This forty minutes long album really throws a punch with it's 1970s hard rock. 

Yes, this is good old US hard/arena rock from the 1970s with it's riffs and hooks. It is hard rock, not heavy metal, though. That is an important difference here as their music never strays into heavy metal.

The music is nostalgic and retro. It has a very good ambience and sound.

The vocals are good and very much mirrors the big vocalists from that era. The music is also good and this is an album fans of vintage US hard and arena rock should check out. 

3 points

   

Hiccup Heart - Gravity Racer (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Norway.

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

The band comes from Oslo in Norway and this short album has been released both on Bandcamp and through Appollon Records in Norway. Hence, I got a download promo copy of this album. 

This album is clocking in at twenty-eight minutes and that is well short. Too short in my opinion.

The music is a blend of dream pop and indie rock. There are some psych rock influences here too.

The vocals are mostly female vocals. They are good.

The songs are decent enough. The music is not particular interesting and this is an album only the indie and dream pop crowd will find enjoyable. This is not for me.

2 points

 

 

 

Lux Terminus - The Courage To Be (2018)

 

The debut album from this band from USA.

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

Some guests added guitars, cello and vocals.

This band has released two albums and both of them are up for review in this blog this summer. 

This album is an one hour long album and the music is eclectic...

Take cinematic rock, add in a lot of jazz and then some neo-prog at the end of the album.

The piano is the dominating instrument here and it is driving the music forward. The music is very elegant and classy most of the time.

The music is mid-tempo too and pretty bold and epic at times.

Anneke Van Giersbergen's (The Gathering, solo) vocals at the end is very good. So are the strings too scattered around this album.

The result is a pretty good album and one that should interest those into elegant instrumental music. Check out this album.

3 points  

Leprous - Aphelion (2021)

 

The eight album from this band from Norway.

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

Some guests added cello, violin and woodwinds to this album.

The band did not let up on their schedule. Something that were to the benefit of us all as this is a serious interesting, exciting band.

This just under one hour long album delivers more of what is the trademarks of this band....

..Which is operatic progressive metal with some djent and some operatic pieces of music too.

The music is very complex and at times, very eclectic and a bit esoteric too. 

The contrasts between the extreme metal and the more softly operatic progressive metal is what drives their music forward. This an the excellent vocals from Einar Solberg.

The songs on this album is perhaps not as good as on their best albums. Well, they are not that good. The band still manages to add some good strings and the excellent vocals to these songs. That elevates this album to a higher level again. 

This is another very good album from these masters of progressive metal.

3.5 points 

Somewhere - Bridges (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Sweden.

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

This band was formed in the Stockholm area by five men who had an interest in the 1970s prog scene and who wanted to play this type of music. To my knowledge, the band members have no experience from other bands.

The result is this thirty-five minutes long album.

The music can best be described as softly spoken symphonic prog. There are some good mellotron and vocals here. The guitars too are good.

There are some Kaipa and Genesis influences here. Pretty strong ones too. 

The music is medium complex. It is not an easy listening album.

The quality is pretty good throughout. I am not entirely won over by this album but it is still an album well worth checking out.

2.5 points 

Kraan - Psychedelic Man (2007)

 

The 12th album from this band from Germany.

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

Their previous album Through from 2003 is one of their best albums and I was very impressed by it as I expressed in my review last month. Hence I had a great deal of hopes for this album.

The first impressions, the first listening sessions, led me to believe this album was a huge disappointment. But it has grown on me and it has become better...

The music on this fifty minutes long album reminds me how similar Kraan really is to Gong from Great Britain. You get some funk, jazz and then some naive pop music here. 

This is a weird combination and only Gong has done the same type of music. Hence, in the case of this album, we are somewhere between Canterbury scene and krautrock.

The vocals and the band does a good job. The music is a blend of some really good jazz and some not so good pop tunes. 

This is indeed a weird album. It is more weird than good as some of the pieces of music here is not up to an acceptable standard. Nevertheless... check it out.

2.5 points

  

McKendree Spring - Spring Suite (1973)

 

The fifth album from this band from USA.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of bass, guitars, violin, viola, synths and vocals.

The band continued on with releasing some pretty succesful albums. 

Spring Suite is a thirty-three minutes long album.

The band had scaled back to a more pure folk rock sound and soundscape this time around. The lush cover art-work is therefore misleading. 

There is a lot of violins and acoustic guitars here in addition to the vocals and vocal harmonies.

The music is still a bit on the bare-boned end of the folk rock spectrum.The music is not particular complicated.

The songs are decent enough and the vocals is good. 

The result is a decent enough album and one to check out if folk rock is your passion.

2 points 

Celeste - Echi di un Futuro Passato (2024)

 

The seventh album from this band from Italy.

The band was a quintet with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, piano, organ, minimoog, mellotron, keyboards, recorders, saxophones and flute.

A handful of guests added violin, piano, saxophones and female vocals.

This band album debuted back in 1972 with their semi-classic album Principe Di Un Giorno. They split up for a while before they returned again in 2016 and started to release albums on a regular basis. I have reviewed most, if not all of them, and will later this month also publish my review of their brand new album.

Echi Di Un Futuro Passato is a one hour and four minutes long album. 

The music is in the instrumental RPI and symphonic prog genre. There are some female vocals towards the end of the album. 

The music is also quite leaning toward cinematic rock. It is mellow and pastoral. 

Some of the music is good and the rest is just decent enough. This is by no means their best album and I hope their new album is better than this album.

2.5 points 

Brass Camel - Brass (2022)

 

The debut album from this band from Canada.

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

Four guests added guitars, grand piano, saxophone and vocals.

This band from Vancouver on the west coast of Canada has so far released two albums and both of them are up for reviews this summer in this blog. 

The band has really done a good job of marketing themselves in the social media and that caught my attention. Hence my reviews of their albums.

The music on this forty minutes long album can best be labeled as heavy prog. 

There are some Deep Purple, arena rock bands and 1970s pop/rock influences here. Even the first Elton John and Queen albums spring to mind here. Yes, this Canadian band has taken a lot of inspiration from both Queen and Elton John. 

The vocals is good and the band does a good job on some pretty good songs. Some of them are a bit below an acceptable standard, though. Nevertheless, this band has something to offer and this album should be checked out.

2.5 points

 

 

Selvini. Phil & The Mind Warp - Tetrus (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Italy.

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

This is a new band to me. The respective members in this band has got a lot of experience in the scene before the joined forces and became this band.

This one hour long album is the first album from this band. The first of many albums, I hope.

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

References are Marillion, Gazpacho and Porcupine Tree. 

The music is mid-tempo with some sporadic faster pieces of music too.  

The vocals is really good and distinctive as they are giving this band their own identity.  

The overall quality is good throughout and this is a debut both the band and the scene should be happy about. Check out this album.

3 points

 

Gongzilla - Thrive (1996)

 

The second album from this band from Great Britain.

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

One guest added guitars and loops.

This fifty-five minutes long album is the follow up album to the Suffer album (1995) which I gave a good review last month.

The band is a Gong splinter group where the jazz/fusion elements from that band has been carried over into Gongzilla.

That means off course a bit quirky jazz and fusion. 

Allan Holdsworth has left the band by now and has been replaced by two different guitarists. One as a permanent member and one as a guest here. That is a loss to this band as Allan Holdsworth, who sadly left us a few years ago, was a great guitarist. The same cannot be said about the two replacements. Hence, no great guitar solos here. 

The music is pretty funky and it has some avant-garde elements too.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. This album is a step backwards compared to Suffer, I am afraid.

2.5 points

  

  

Afforested - Moss Covered And Time Worn (2025)

 

The fifth album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This their follow up album to their 2022 album Ancient Healing Oakwood Journeys. An album I reviewed last month and was not particularly impressed by. 

The music on the 2022 was pretty cheesy... too cheesy for my liking. The band's music is still a blend of Trace, which means synths based symphonic prog, and folk rock.

The music is a bit more folk rock orientated this time around. 

The music is still instrumental and is based on accordion, guitars, synths.

The music is mid-tempo and melodic.

The music is not particular good although this album is a slight improvement on the 2022 album. There is still some cheese here too. This makes this a pretty decent forty minutes long album who may appeal to the folk rock crowd. 

2 points

 

 

Magic Pie - Maestro (2025)

 

The sixth album from this band from Norway.

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

The band returned again after a six years long break. 

I have reviewed their first five albums and very much liked them. The band is one of the pioneers in the Norwegian prog rock scene, having released their debut album twenty years ago.

Maestro is fifty minutes long and it starts with a twenty minutes long opus.. Opus Impferfectus. That sets the tone for this album.

The music is a blend of hard prog and symphonic prog. There are some 1970s blues and hard rock influences here too. Rather lots of it too. Queensryche anno Operation Mindcrime also pops up as a reference here.

The music is pretty epic and bold. It has this 1970s hard rock sound and attitude. The vocals is very good, delivered by one of the better vocalists in Norway Eirikur Haukson, an Icelandic vocalist who debuted well over thirty-five years ago on Artch's debut album.

Maestro is not their best album. It is still a good album who will satisfy their fans and everyone into heavy prog.

3 points

  

 

Perilymph - Deux (2019)

 

The second album from this band from France.

The band was a duo where Fabian Sliwka did the drums and Fabian De Menou did the bass, guitars, synths and vocals.

Their debut album I from 2017 was a pretty good, promising space rock album as I wrote in my review earlier this month.

Deux is the thirty-five minutes long follow up album. 

The music is still dreamy space rock with some dream pop influences. There is also some post-rock influences here.

The space rock here is softly spoken. The synths, guitars, bass and electronics is gentle, but still dynamic. The few vocals are more in the back of the mix and works as an extra layer of instruments.

There are a few guitar solos here who adds some quality and spice to this album. 

There is a lot of small details here who spices of the pretty good melodies. Melodies elevated to good melodies by these small details.

The result is a good album and one space rock fans should check out.

3 points

  

Qumma Connection - Arabesque (2008)

 

The debut album from this band from Finland.

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

Some guests added a female choir.

This band has so far released six albums and they are all up for reviews in this blog in the coming weeks.

..Starting with this, the debut album..

The band's appeal to me was it's inclusion in the neo-prog genre, according to ProgArchives. That is not the case for this seventy-two minutes long album.

Take eclectic prog, King Crimson from their Red era, blend it with some fusion and cinematic prog. That is when you get these seventy-two minutes.

The first one hour is instrumental eclectic prog. The final twelve minutes has a female choir with wordless vocals as in a funeral dirge.

The music is indeed dark and brooding. It even has some hints, menacing zeuhl influences.  

The music is pretty sparse on original, interesting details and themes. It sounds too much run-of-a-mill. The cello is cool and ditto for the female choir. 

The result is a decent enough album. I hope the five remaining albums are better than this album.

2 points 

Cormorano - Obliquizioni d'Autunno..... (2023)

 

The second album from this band from Italy.

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

This band were active in the 1970s RPI scene before they took a break and then album debuted in year 1990 with EP Verde Azzurro and in year 2000 with the full-length album Giro Tondo. Two releases very difficult to find and I have now given up on them.

Folk rock and jazz influenced RPI is what we get on this almost fifty minutes long album. 

The music is very flowery with some Dimitri Stratos influenced vocals. A bit over the top at times, but still very good vocals who adds a lot of colours and quality to this album. The keyboards and guitars are good too.  

The music is melodic and mid-tempo without being hard. Neither is it particular soft and pop orientated.

Lush RPI is the best label here.

This album is sadly a bit overlooked. Nevertheless, this is an album RPI fans should check out. 

3 points 

Balloon Astronomy - Balloon Astronomy (2011)

 

The one and only album from this band from USA.

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

The band had some good help from some guests who added percussion, drums, guitars and clarinet. 

This duo recorded this album and has later released three singles between 2021 and 2022. Their further plans is not known.

Mike Keneally and Nick D'Virgilo were among the guests on this fifty minutes long album. The music is melodic neo-prog. US neo-prog, that is. Which means lots of symphonic prog and some art-rock influences. 

Both Neal Morse and Genesis is good references here, indeed. 

The music is also pretty complex and symphonic at times. The vocals is good and ditto for the keyboards.

This album is a bit of a hidden gem, in fact. There is a lot here to be very pleased about. 

This is indeed a good album and one to check out.

3 points

 

Edensong - Our Road to Dust (2025)

 

The third album from this band from USA.

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

The band returns nine years after their last album Years In The Garden Of Years. A pretty good album according to my review in # 2 of this blog. I have yet to review their 2008 debut album The Fruit Fallen. A review of that album will follow before the end of the year.

The music on the forty minutes long Our Road To Dust is eclectic to put it nicely...

Take some 'Tull like folk psych rock, add in a lot of vaudeville pop/rock, add in some progressive metal and americana too and you get this album. 

There is a lot of pretty wild vocals here on an album where the music is kicking in all different directions.

The music is not particular logical or linear, let me put it like that. Neither is it melodic as the chaos prevents it from being melodic.

There is some pieces of music which is working here. And some pieces falls a bit short. I am not entirely won over by this album. Check it out if eclectic music is your thing.

2.5 points

 

 

Gongzilla - Suffer (1995)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a sextet with a lineup of drums, percussion, vibraphone, marimba, bass, ebow and guitars.

Three guests added drums and vocals.

This band was a Gong side project that released four studio albums and a live album between 1995 and 2008. I got their first two album for review this summer.

Hansford Rowe, Benoit Moerlin and Allan Holdsworth is three of the members here. The music on this one hour long album is fusion.

...Which does not come as a surprise....

There is still some Gong-like whimsical Canterbury scene stuff here in the fusion. The band is very much true to the Gong ethos.

Allan Holdsworth's guitars are really smoking hot here.  The vibraphones and marimbas are also smoking red hot here.

The result is a playful fusion album and a good album too. This is an album well worth checking out and essential if Gong and their jazz/fusion era floats your boat.

3 points 

 

 

Afforested - Ancient Healing Oakwood Journeys (2022)

 

The fourth album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a duo with a lineup of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, mandolin, keyboards, vocoder, whistle and voices.  

This is a band I have been following for a while (see reviews in # 2 and # 3 in this blog). They have just released their fifth album. An album I will review this weekend/next week. But before that, it is only right to first review their fourth album.

The music on this fourty minutes long album is a blend of psych rock, folk rock and symphonic prog.

The music is instrumental and has a lot of Trace, Jethro Tull and ELP references.  

The music, which is one long piece, fourty minutes long, has a lot of guitars and whistles too. The music is pretty heavy at times. This is by no means a gentle hippie album. 

Some of the pieces here are pretty cheesy and not really up to an acceptable standard. Too much of this album is cheesy.

This is a decent album and well worth checking out. This album is far from being their best album.

2 points 

 

 

Flower Kings. The - Love (2025)

 

The 17th album from this band from Sweden.

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

A handful of guests added percussion, accordion and vocals.

The masters of the Scandinavian symphonic prog scene returned again with this, a seventy-two minutes long album.

The music is again symphonic prog with some folk rock influences. This is the brand of symphonic prog this band debuted with after Roine Stolt left Kaipa and this is what the band now, thankfully, has returned to. Love is a back to basics album. 

There is not so many jazz and fusion influences on this album as on previous albums. Well, there is none of those influences whatsoever here.

The sound is very good and as expected from this band... the band who, together with Kaipa, invented the Swedish symphonic prog sound.  

The vocals and the guitars, everything here is very good. The music is good to very good. This is still a very good album from the maestros of this scene. 

3.5 points

 

 

 

Magnum - Vigilante (1986)

 

The sixth album from this band from Great Britain.

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

Two guests added saxophones and backing vocals.

The album is partly produced by Roger Taylor from Queen too.   

This is the follow up album to their breakthrough album, the 1985's On A Storyteller's Night. That was a good album, indeed.

The three quarters of an hour long Vigilante sees the band change a bit direction again. AOR and arena rock is their new direction. Add in some pop and some pomp rock too and you get the drift.

The music is in short very melodic and based on catchy, shorter tunes.

The title track is pretty good and the best song here. The rest of the songs is of a decent quality and not bad at all. 

Those into AOR and pomp rock should check out this album. An album not living up to the expectitons set on their previous album On A Storyteller's Night. 

2 points

 

Leprous - Pitfalls (2019)

 

The seventh album from this band from Norway.

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

Some guests added cello, violin and a female choir.

The band returned two years after their very good Malina album.

This album clocks in at around one hour. 

It is really difficult to label the music on this album and the band's music in general. Melodic, theatrical progressive metal is my latest attempt on labeling this unique band and their music.

Einar Solberg is one of the best vocalists in the progressive metal genre... and indeed in the progressive rock genre. He is a massive part of their sound and music.  

The music is both very complex and a bit melodic. This is not easy listening. The music is though engaging and fascinating. 

While this album scores high on originality, the quality of the songs is not always great. Nevertheless, this is a very good album and another proof that Leprous is one of the more exciting bands in the scene.

3.5 points 

Artnat - The Mirror Effect (2021)

 

The debut album from this band from Portugal.

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

This band has just released their second album. I hope to review that album later this year. In preparations for that, this is a review of their debut album.

The band's and ProgArchives claim that this is a symphonic prog album made me get this album. We can never get too much symphonic prog.

Hmm...

This album clocks in at one hour and one minute. The music is much more eclectic prog than symphonic prog.

For a start, the vocals are female vocals. The music here has got folk rock, jazz and art rock influences. There are a few symphonic prog influences too but this music is too esoteric to really be labeled symphonic prog.

The music is very, very complex and bold. Hence the esoteric tag this music deserves.

The guitars are also esoteric with some wild solos. They are also good....very good at places. The vocals is also very good.

I really want to give this album a good rating. There are some substandard pieces here I cannot ignore.

This is a very promising debut album and I hope their new album sees the band grow and writing better pieces of music. Check out this album.

2.5 points  

 

Armoury Way - The Ram (2024)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

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

This band comes from the south coast of England.... Southampton to be more precise. The band's probable average age is around fifty years.

This album is sixty-three minutes long and the music is a blend of neo-prog with some early symphonic prog and folk rock. Genesis, Marillion, Jethro Tull and Ange springs to mind when it comes to references.

The vocals, English vocals, still reminds me a lot about Ange's and Magnesis vocals. Yes, two very different languages but the style of vocals is pretty similar. And that is a compliment to Ashley Stone, the vocalist in this band. His vocals are indeed very good.

The music is both epic and a bit complex. There are some nice keyboards generated organ and church organs pieces here too.

The songs are long and twisting.

The music is rather good with the keyboards being the stars here. This is very much a promising debut album and I hope we will hear a lot more from this band in the future.

3 points 

 

  

 

 

Miller. Rick - Perspective (2025)

 

The 19th album from this artist from Canada.

Rick Miller did the keyboards, electronics and vocals here.

He got help from a handful of guests who provided drums, percussion, bass, guitars, cello, violin, oboe and flute.

I have had the joy of reviewing all his albums in # 3 of this blog and that was a journey. 

Last year's record One Of The Many was one of his best albums... if not his best album. The music can be compared to the Anthony Philips era Genesis with some folk rock and americana influences.

It was a positive development. A development which continues on this album, the follow up album. 

We get fifty minutes of clever music in the early symphonic prog era. This comes with some very good vocals, guitars and strings. The sound and production is first class. 

Most of the music is hymn like and slow. Slow and elegant with the very good vocals on the top.

The quality of the music is very good and this album is among his three best ever albums. Check out this album.

3.5 points

  

Random Earth Project - Changes (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a trio with a lineup of bass, accordion, keyboards and vocals.

Some guests added guitars, vocals and drums programming.

This band has so far released two albums. A review of their fairly good debut album was added some days ago in this blog.

The music on this one hour long album is mainstream rock with some folk rock and psych rock influences.

The music is melodic and has some good musicianship and vocals. The keyboards is very good at times. It even has some vintage organ sound now and then.

The sound is also good here.

The songwriting is better this time around and to a good standard.

I just wish the band had moved their songwriting more towards progressive rock.... That aside...

3 points 

 

 

 

Penguin Cafe Orchestra. The - Union Cafe (1993)

 

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

The band was a ten plus pieces big orchestra with a lineup of percussion, strings, piano, electronics and woodwinds.

The band was still on Virgin Records and they were still a disciple of Brian Eno. That makes me believe that the band was not exactly Richard Branson and his Virgin Records top priority.....

We get one hour and fifteen minutes worth of chamber orchestra neo-classical music. There is a nice blend of woodwinds and strings, with the occasional help of piano, on this album. 

The music is melodic and a bit naive. It lacks a lot in complexity.

This band's name is more exciting and interesting than their music is my conclusion based on their five albums and my reviews of them.

This is a decent enough album but just that.

2 points 

 

Zio Crocifisso - Campana di Legno Trappola.. (2025)

 

The debut album from this band from Italy.

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

A dozen guests added vibraphone, violin, saxophone, vocals and choir.  

This new band includes members of SKE, Not A Good Sign and Yugen. 

It is disputed if this is their debut album or the second album. A half an hour long EP named Campana Di Legno was released last year. That EP is indeed included in this album and twenty minutes of additional songs has been added to make the album I am here reviewing. Confusing ? Yes, indeed. 

The music on this fifty minutes long album is a blend of RPI, avant-garde prog and post-metal. If pressed, I would still label this as RPI taken into account that Picchio Dal Pozzo and Area is regarded as RPI bands. That again is nitpicking and pedantic. 

The music is very complex. It has a lot of metal and indeed extreme metal stuff too. This in addition to some avant-garde prog and...wait for it.... melodic RPI like pieces.

This is not easy listening, the music here.

The quality is good and this is an engaging and pretty fascinating album well worth checking out. I sincerely hope we will hear a lot more from this band in the future.

3 points 

 

Papir Meets Electric Moon - The Papermoon Sessions (2013)

 

The fourth album from this band from Denmark.

This cooperation between Papir and Electric Moon had a lineup of drums, bass, guitars and synths. Altogether six musicians was involved here.

Papir and Electric Moon had released some albums on their own before they decided to combine their talents and record an album together.

The result is two long songs and one shorter song. Altogether, we get three quarters of an hour long album here.

The music is space rock. This is the more outer space variant of space rock.

Long pieces of music with guitars and some sound effects where the bass and the drums are thundering along. The music is neither songs based or melody based. 

The sound is good. The music is really groovy throughout this album.

The music is off course a more compromise between Papir's more structured take on space rock and Electric Moon's more improvisations based space rock.  

The result is still a very good album and one to check out if space rock fuels your spaceship. Check it out.

3.5 points

 

 

 

Pallas - The Dreams of Men (2005)

 

The fifth 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 fiddle, male and female vocals. 

This band from Aberdeen up in the far north-east of Scotland returned again after a four years long break.

This time with a seventy-two minutes long opus. The music is a crossover between neo-prog, symphonic prog and heavy prog.

The music is very muscular at times. It is also epic and very complex most of the times. It has some good Scottish folk rock influences on a couple of tracks, mostly on the great Ghostdancers track. 

The other great track here is Invincible, an eleven minutes long epic symphonic prog piece of music.

The vocals is great and ditto for the guitars.

This is by far their best album so far and a great album in it's own right. This is also one of the better albums ever to come out of Scotland.

4 points

  

 

Apokalypsis - 1975 (2005)

 

The one and only album from this band from Brazil.

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

This fifty minutes long album is the only sign of life from a pretty influential band in the prog rock scene in Brazil. The band has later surfaced and released three more albums. The last one only some years ago.

The music is a mix of psych and space rock.

The sound is pretty poor and most of this album is a live recording. I believe every single minute of this album is a live album, although this is not stated at all in the blurb around this album.

The music is hard rocking and a bit improvised at times. 

The music is decent enough with some decent vocals. The sound is pretty bad and a big downer. 

This is an archive album, just to prove that this band, who are still active I have been told, were there and alive in the 1970s. That is mostly the only value this album has got.

1.5 points

Alpha Centauri - Walk Into Light (2014)

 

The debut album from this band from Argentina.

The band was a one-man-band with Cristian Abaca on drums, percussion, synths and computers.

Some guests contributed with bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

Cristian Abas has released some albums under this name through Bandcamp. I only got this album and I don't think I will get his other albums.

It is pretty obvious from the chosen bandname that Tangerine Dream is a big inspiration for this thirty-five minutes long album.

There is a lot more to this album than progressive electronics. A lot of space rock, in fact. The label I would put on this album is still progressive electronic with some avant-garde and space rock influences.

The music is still pretty melodic, though.

The music is decent enough, but just that. If Tangerine Dream is your thing, this album may be a good purchase.  

2 points

 

Paatos - Ligament (2025)

 

The sixth album from this band from Sweden.

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

Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth added guitars and vocals on one song.

The band returned again with this three quarters of an hour long album after a thirteen years long album break.

Paatos has so far delivered five good albums. And then there was total silence from the band after their V album in 2012. The band probably split up.

They have now returned with some fresh sounding music. Music which is a mix of art-rock, neo-prog and dream pop.

Petronella Nettermalm's vocals is excellent. The music is complex and intricate. The addition of Mikael on one track and his clean vocals is very good. The sound is good and the band does a very good job on some songs which is pretty good.

The result is a good album. It is great to have this band back again as they are one of the better bands from Sweden. 

3 points 

 

Random Earth Project - Airwaves (2023)

 

The debut album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a trio with a lineup of bass, accordion, keyboards and vocals.

Two guests added guitars, vocals and drums programming.

This band has so far released two albums. A review of their second album will be added in some days time.

The music on this one hour long album is basically straight forward rock with some blues, psych rock and some neo-prog influences incorporated into their take on mainstream rock.

Amanda Lehmann does vocals on one track. They are great. The regular vocalist Kym Blackman also delivers some very good vocals. 

The music is melodic, mid-tempo and pretty muscular. There is one blues track here among these ten tracks.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. This album is a Bandcamp album and worth checking out.

2.5 points

 

 

Penguin Cafe Orchestra. The - Signs Of Life (1987)

 

The fourth album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a ten pieces big band with a lineup of percussion, bass, guitars, ukulele, strings, piano and whistle.

The band returned again three years after their last album. That album, Broadcasting From Home, was a bit of an underwhelming album.... see my review.

Signs Of Life is a fifty minutes long album in the chamber orchestra mould. With exception from some percussion, piano and whistle.. the music is performed by strings. That also means guitars and bass. 

The music is very esoteric. It is also melodic and in the neo-classical mould. There is no rock, pop or progressive rock here. Not even some jazz....OK, there are some traces of gypsy jazz here. Django Reinhardt springs to mind on a couple of the tracks here.

The music is also pretty avant-garde at times.

The quality of the music here is decent enough. Their neo-classical music is a bit too esoteric and therefore not really more than decent enough. Hence...

2 points

 

 

Great Wide Nothing - A Shout Into the Void (2025)

 

The fourth album from this band from USA.

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

This band album debuted back in 2019 and I have reviewed all their albums in # 2 and # 3 of this blog. Their albums has got favourable, good reviews too. They are all good albums.

This three quarters of an hour long album starts out as a djent album with some extreme metal vocals before the album reveals it's true colours..... neo-prog. 

The band is a neo-prog band and that is what we get here. Early 1990s British neo-prog.

The music is not particular complex. Neither is it poppy or teenybopper as some of the neo-prog albums from that scene were (too) full of. 

The music is melodic, a bit complex and has this naive type of neo-prog we found in the 1990s. The vocals is very good and the best thing here. The songs are a bit on the sub-standard side of the spectrum. This album is their weakest album so far, I am afraid to report. It is still worth a punt.

2.5 points

 

Kraan - Through (2003)

 

The 11th album from this band from Germany.

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

This is their comeback studio album after a twelve years long break. Yes, yes... The band released the Berliner Ring album in 2001. That was a stop-gap studio leftovers album from sessions going back to the 1970s. See my review of that album.

Through is a fifty minutes long album and the music is fusion. There are some minor funk and krautrock influences here too.

The band sounds very refreshed on this album. The music is positive and elegant. This is indeed sunny music and perfect for a sunny day in June... but it is raining here tonight. Still...

The sound is excellent and the vocals is good. The guitars are great and the keyboards is adding a lot to this album too.

The fusion here is very elegant. It is also pretty complex, besides of being melodic. The vocals also gives the music some good teeth. The vocals reminds me a lot about The Tangent. There are indeed some good The Tangent references on this album.... although this album was released before The Tangent album debuted.

The result is a very good album and one of their best ever albums. I am impressed, indeed.

3.5 points

 

 

McKendree Spring - Tracks (1972)

 

The fourth album from this band from USA.

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

A couple of guests added pedal steel guitars, woodwinds and vocals.

This forty minutes long album is the second album they released that year. Third (3) was their first album that year and it is a decent enough album. See the review from the 30. May this year.

The music this time around is a blend of country'n'western, folk rock, country rock and psych rock.

Yes, the band branched out and developed their music between these two albums. This album is a bit more hard edged rocking. It is a harder rocking album. The music has some edgy, wild guitar riffs and solos.

The sound and vocals is good. The band does a good job on some decent enough material. There is no prog here but the music is still pleasant enough.

Folk rock fans should check out this album.

2 points

 

 

 

Prowlers - Orchidea (2024)

 

The seventh album from this band from Italy.

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

A handful of guests added acoustic guitars, violin, cello and vocals.

The band returned again after a seven years long break. 

I have in ProgArchives and in # 1 and # 2 reviewed their previous three albums. I have yet to find and review their first three albums and will try to do this now for reviews later this year.

This is album is an almost one hour long album in the good old RPI genre & tradition.

The music is very lush and some of this can be credited Ms. Christina Lucchini's great vocals. 

The music is very much in the same vein as good old Banco and PFM. It is lush with some hints of Italian folk rock and pop. The music is also very complex at times.

The music is good throughout without really delivering great pieces of music. This is an album which is on par with their previous good albums. RPI fans should check out this band.

3 points

 

 

Plackband - After the Battle (2002)

 

The one and only album from this band from The Netherlands.

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

This band was pretty active in the 1970s but did not release anything as they did not get a record deal and the underground scene was not particular big... or healthy enough to sustain self-released LPs. Hence, the band only album debuted a quarter of a century after their best days.

The band and this album has therefore got a semi-classical status. 

The music on this one hour long album is pretty similar to what Genesis did on Trick Of The Tail and that era.

The music is mid-tempo, mellow and pretty complex. It is also melodic and it has got a good ambience. 

The vocals are decent enough but the weakest link on this album. The other musicians does a great job though.

The sound is very good and is adding a lot of quality to this album.

The music is good throughout this album. Genesis and melodic symphonic prog fans should check out this album. It is a semi-classic album and I totally get why it has this status. A status it deserve.

3 points

 

 

 

Ghost - Skeletá (2025)

 

The sixth album from this band from Sweden.

The band has numerous members with a lineup of drums, bass, guitars, synths, electronics, choirs and vocals. 

The band returned again after a short break to release this fifty minutes long chart topping album. It has topped the Billboard charts in USA and numerous other charts. It is a best selling album.

We still get some satanic imagery on the top of some boyband and arena rock like music. Well, not so much arena rock as there is substance in arena rock. The music is more boyband like than arena rock.

The music is flat and just based on cheap and nasty verses and choruses. There are some guitars here but most of the music is nasty and cheap vocal harmonies in the vein of Westlife. 

Ghost is a hype and a money printing machine. Ghost is everything progressive and art rock is not. Ghost is everything I do not like about the music business these days. 

There are a few decent pieces of music here. The rest is pretty poor and this is an album well worth avoiding like the plague for those into fusion, art rock and progressive rock.

1.5 points

 

Yuka & Chronoship - Ribbon Butterfly (2025)

 

The fifth album from this band from Japan.

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

This band is no doubts one of the finest/best melodic progressive rock bands ever to come out of Japan. Something they also proved on their fourth album, Ship from 2018. See my review from last week.

Ribbon Butterfly is a fifty-five minutes long album which again bring us some very elegant symphonic prog.

References here are Genesis, Pink Floyd and in particular ELP.  

There are some sporadic vocals here and most of the album is instrumental. Instrumental with a lot of keyboards and guitar solos. The keyboards sound is the 1970s organ, moog and mellotron sound.

The quality of the song writing is pretty good. The stars here is the keyboards and guitars who adds a lot of extra quality to this album.

This is a band everyone into melodic symphonic prog should check out.

3 points

 

 

Winter of Our Years. The - The Winter of Our Years (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Puerto Rico.

The band is a duo with a lineup of bass, guitars, violin, keyboards, vocals and a drum machine.

Their 2024 debut album In The Edge Of Sanity was pretty good with a blend of Kansas and Genesis inspired symphonic prog. I reviewed here last week.

On the follow up, this one hour long album, the hard edged Kansas influences has gone. It has been replaced by some neo-prog in addition to still retaining the symphonic prog influences.

Melodic symphonic prog is what we get here. 

The sound is still too thin and flimsy. That is my major gripe with this album. The drums are far, far too watery and thin/flimsy. 

The female vocals here are good and suits the music. The music is melodic but it is also at times pretty complex. 

It is difficult to ignore the far too thin sound. A sound that is letting this album down. The music itself is pretty good. Nevertheless..... this album is another victim of "the difficult second album" syndrome which has been a plague in this business since long play albums was invented in the 1950s. 

It is an interesting album which just falls a bit short.

2.5 points

 

 

 

Soft Ffog - Focus (2025)

 

The second album from this band from Norway.

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

This is the followup album to their self-titled 2022 debut album. I reviewed this album three years ago, in July 2022 for # 3 of this blog. I gave it one of my few great album ratings. It was indeed one of 2022s best albums.

It is with sadness I have just learnt that their drummer Axel Skalstad passed away last week. He was also the drummer in Krokofant and a great drummer. Rest In Peace, Axel.

Their debut album was a fusion/jazz attack with high energy fusion. A very refreshing album that impressed a lot of people.

The tempo has been taken down a notch on this forty minutes long album, the follow up album. Their take on fusion is more mellow this time around. 

All four band members does a good job on some very good stuff. The music is not as immediate and fresh as on their debut album. The quality has dropped a notch too. Nevertheless, this band has on this album established themselves as one of the best new fusion bands from Scandinavia, dare I say Europe too. 

This is an album well worth checking out.

3.5 points

 

Perilymph - I (2017)

 

The debut album from this band from France.

The band started out as a one-man-band with Fabien De Menou doing the bass, guitars, keyboards, electronics and vocals himself.

A guest added drums to this album.

This band has so far released four albums and they are all up for reviews in this blog during the remaining weeks of this summer.

The band's music on this half an hour long album is psych space rock with some strong dream pop and cinematic rock influences. There are also some notable post-rock and avant-garde influences here too.

The music is pretty laid back and not so intense. It has some good dream pop vocals here. The half-acoustic guitars and the keyboards is good too.

The music is pretty melodic. The opening piece of music has copied the middle part of Led Zeppelin's masterpiece Stairways To Heaven. A good piece of music and opening track.

The rest is not on par with the opening track. The quality is not bad at all and the sound is very good.

This is an acceptable debut album and one that makes me wanting more. Lots more.

2.5 points