(64:20; Tonzonen) Although I have reviewed both the album before this, ‘Shum-Sir’, and the album after, ‘The Four Zoas’, I had somehow missed this 2018 release so now is the time to rectify that. Formed in 2003 in Astrakhan (south of Russia), they have been not only a prolific outfit (this was their ninth full studio album), but also incredibly stable with Alexander Kuzovlev (guitars, mandolin), Alexey Klabukov (keyboards, synthesizer), Arkady Fedotov (bass, synthesizer, noises) and Ivan Fedotov (drums, percussion, сajon, wave drum) there from the very beginning, while Vitaly Borodin (violin, accordion) joined in time for 2016’s ‘Lique Mekwas’. Over the years they have experimented with singers and other instruments, often bringing in guests, and that is the same this time with Pavel Alekseev providing tenor saxophone. It is impossible to break down this album into individual tracks, but instead far better to let the whole experience just wash over you. There are some interesting bring...

(48:07; Bad Elephant Music) Whitewater was formed in 2013 by Stuart Stephens (guitars, keyboards, bass, vocals) and Paul Powell (drums, percussion, programming) and here they have been joined by Mike Kershaw (vocals on 3 tracks), Gareth Cole (guitar on 4) and Clare Stephens (backing vocals on 1). This feels like an incredibly fractured album, as there are times when it is all comes together such as on the title cut which is an absolute delight, yet there are others where the drums are way too high in the mix and the vocals just don’t work at all. “Freefall” is monotonous, and I would much have rather heard this as an ambient/New Age instrumental without the vocals. The guitar solo on this song is just right, a nice amount of distortion and cut through without ever being a shred, so one wonders what might have happened if this number had been treated quite differently. I found myself thinking back to their last album, ‘Universal Medium’, which I enjoyed more as a whole, yet there are so...

(52:47; Yes) Everyone surely knows the story about the original album by now. Chris Squire re-discovered the song “Fly From Here” from the ‘Drama’ sessions, and was talking to Trevor Horn about it. They agreed to record the song with the current line-up, with Horn producing, but when they commenced doing a full album, a decision was made to replace keyboard player Oliver Wakeman and bring back Geoffrey Downes as he was closer to the original material. In other words, it was the ‘Drama’ line-up except with Benoît David on vocals. For some fans, such as myself, this was the best album the band had released in many years, and actually became the first I spent a lot of time listening to since ‘Drama’ itself, which I always felt was a massively overlooked and castigated release. In many ways it is no surprise that we now have this new version, and there must have been conversations at the time of having Horn sing lead vocals and fully resurrecting the ‘Drama’ line-up, but given this would h...

(64:44; Deko Entertainment) I am not going to repeat the whole sorry saga behind the original ‘Imaginos’ album, but it is well worth googling. In short, ex-Blue Öyster Cult founder member and drummer Albert Bouchard started working on songs for this as far back as 1972, based on some ideas from Sandy Pearlman. Following on from his leaving the band he and Pearlman worked on recording the first part of what was going to be a trilogy. It was never finished, due to multiple reasons, but in the Eighties BÖC were going through a fallow period, and somehow Pearlman managed to convince both the band and the label to finish the album and release it under their name. There were also plenty of guest musicians involved, but with Bloom and Roeser re-recording all the vocals there was enough there for it to be a somewhat valid release, although as one may expect there were various lawsuits. Over the years, “Astronomy” has become a firm favourite of their live sets, but perhaps unsurprisingly Boucha...

(42:29; Cuneiform Records) The second solo album from Pirog finds him of course providing guitar and electronics, and here he is joined by Michael Formanek (acoustic and electric bass) and Ches Smith (drums, percussion and electronics). Pirog is another alumnus of Berklee College of Music, where he specialized in jazz guitar, and NYU, where he received a degree in jazz performance and progressive jazz. He first came together with Formanek and Smith for his previous solo album, 2014’s ‘Palo Colorado Dream’, so it made sense for them to return to the studio where he decided to expand the trio's palette by mixing modern technology with vintage guitar synthesizers. "The use of guitar synths by John Abercrombie and Allan Holdsworth is very interesting to me," he says, "and I wanted to explore the timbral possibilities available using these instruments in the recording process." The press release has a quote which for me really does sum up what is going on here, where...

(42:13; Aviations) Aviations is a Boston-based progressive metal band, formed in 2011 when drummer James Knoerl and guitarist Sam Harchik were attending Berklee College of Music. Singer Adam Benjamin joined soon afterwards, and alongside some guest musicians they released their debut album, ‘A Declaration of Sound’ in 2012. It took until 2018 for their next album to be released, ‘The Light Years’, during which time the trio had expanded to a sextet. The band have continued to go through some line-up changes since then, and apart from the original trio only pianist Richard Blumenthal is still there from that album, and they have now been joined by Eric Palmer (guitar) and Werner Erkelens (bass). As one may guess from the title of the EP, what we have here are some reworked versions of old songs, so we have newly recorded takes on “Outliers” and “Nineties Nine Ties” from the debut, plus instrumental versions of both, and a live acoustic performance of “Two Days” which appeared on the sec...

(67:55; Prudence/BSC Music) Here we have the fifth album from Thorsten Sudler-Mainz, who again has brought in guests to assist him in achieving his aim of paying homage to the formative influences of the likes of Dead Can Dance, Pink Floyd and Depeche Mode. He provides keyboards, vocals, frame drum, guitar, bass guitar, percussion, and programming, and I presume what he is calling a frame drum is what I think of as a bodhran which provides a dramatically different sound to other forms of percussion and is a major element in this music. The use of different singers also adds to this, and there is no doubt that while Pink Floyd in particular are a major influence, the use of bodhran changes the atmospheric dynamic so that it is both familiar and quite strange at the same time. While held-down keyboard chords are often in favour, as is electric guitar, there are times when an acoustic makes its presence felt in a very dramatic way. The vocals are sometimes at the fore, yet at others are b...

(46:02; Dusan Jevtovic and Vasil Hadzimanov) Track list: 1. Searching for New 6:02 2. Olas de Anhelo 6:10 3. Coming Back from Yesterday 4:36 4. El Raval 5:04 5. Space Salchicha 5:33 6. Carried by the Wind 4:16 7. Mente Pura 4:46 8. Third Second Step 4:25 9. Gipsy 5:10 Line-up: Dusan Jevtovic - guitars, effects Vasil Hadzimanov - piano, Fender Rhodes, Korg MS20 Prolusion. Serbian musicians Dusan Jevtovic and Vasil Hadzimanov are both well established musicians with decades long experience, with Jevtovic nurturing a solo career for the past decade or thereabouts while Hadzimanov has his own band that has been going since the late 1990's. They have worked together on previous occasions, and on the album "Duo" from the summer of 2021 they also combine their talents in a directly collaborative manner. Analysis. Just where and how to categorize this production isn't the easiest of tasks. Experimental, improvised music may well be the best general description, but what main ...

(37:43; Moonjune Records) Track list: 1. Intro 1:28 2. Sleeping Beauty 6:00 3. The Man with the Harmonica 7:04 4. Guchi 6:46 5. Andreas 2:15 6. Rues des Balkans 5:41 7. Sleeping Beauty (solo guitar) 2:12 8. A l'Aube du Cinquieme Jour (Gott Mit Uns) 4:38 9. Outro 1:39 Line-up: Srdjan Ivanovic - drums, keyboards Andreas Polyzogopoulus - trumpet Federico Casagrande - guitars Mihail Ivanov - bass with: Magic Malik – flute Prolusion. Currently based in France, the band BLAZIN' QUARTET have a history that goes back to 2009 or thereabouts, with drummer Srdjan Ivanovic as the band leader if I have understood the band history correctly. From 2010 and onward they have released new material every few years, with four albums to their name so far. "Sleeping Beauty" is their most recent studio album, and was released through the label Moonjune Records at the start of 2021. Analysis. While this latest album by Blazin' Quartet can be described and categorized in a few different m...

(56:38; Progressive Promotion Records) Track list: 1. Dark World 7:39 2. I'm Not a Hero 6:16 3. Little Stars Desintegrate 7:26 4. When Life Starts Again 3:41 5. More Is Less 6:43 6. I Will Leave Tonight 6:44 7. Leftovers 7:02 8. So Now What 4:16 9. So Hard's the Road 6:51 Line-up: Jean-Pierre Schenk - vocals, keyboards Olivier Guenat - guitars, bass Alain Widmer - drums Prolusion. Swiss band METAMORPHOSIS was formed back in 2001, and in their initial phase they released new material at a steady pace. In later years their production speed have slowed down a bit, with their previous album appearing back in 2016. "I'm Not a Hero" is their latest studio production, and was released in the summer of 2021 through German label Progressive Promotion Records. Analysis. The music of Metamorphosis is a dark and atmospheric laden one, and the latter aspect is such a dominant presence throughout that a neo-progressive rock categorization is one that comes rather natural. As wi...

(62:40; Victor Go) Track list: 1. Perfect Time 5:56 2. Prelude 3:42 3. Shallow Water 4:38 4. Water Ripples 2:40 5. Pelican 8:02 6. Flares 1:48 7. The Eve 7:20 8. Fancy Town Renaissance 5:27 9. In a Torrent 3:43 10. Your Day 4:02 11. Anything You Dream Of 8:38 12. Postlude 3:14 13. Fresh Start 3:30 Line-up: Victor Go - vocals, instruments with: Gennady Grosfiler - drums Viktor Syrotin - drums Prolusion. Ukraine artist VICTOR GO has been an active creator of music as a solo artist at least since 2017, and in 2018 he released his first solo albums. "Tales From McIntyre Lake" is his fifth and most recent production, and was self released in the spring of 2021. Analysis. The music of Victor Go is unmistakably atmospheric laden and in a carefully flowing manner at that. With layered keyboards as a defining trait, pulling out the neo-progressive rock description comes rather natural for this album as I regard it. Thant being said, there's a love and passion for classic era progr...

(53:28; Grain(s) de Riz) Track list: 1. Collapse 3:19 2. Cello Man 5:53 3. Dark Water Falls 7:54 4. Fractales - Ouvertures 6:03 5. La Fabrique du Trouble - Fractales 2 3:12 6. Reflets sur l'eau qui dort - Fractales 3 4:00 7. Dying Stars Suicide Club 7:36 8. Eyjafjallajökull 7:23 9. Moonfall 8:08 Line-up: Robin Jolivet - guitars Jerome Masco - saxophones, clarinets Alexandre Aguilera - flutes Alexis Cadeillan - bass Nicolas Girardi - drums Prolusion. French band ROBIN & THE WOODS have a history that goes back to 2017 or thereabouts. They released their debut EP "Dark Water Falls" in 2019, and this year it was time for the band's proper debut album, "Moonfall", which was released through French label Grain(s) de Riz (the label division of Manag'Art) in the spring of 2021. Analysis. It doesn't take all that long to be able to place Robin & the Woods inside a progressive rock context. Jazzrock is what this band is all about, it's just as easy...

(61:20; Echo Us) Track list: 1. We Seek the Descending Levers 8:06 2. If You Can Imagine 5:29 3. The Night Sky 3:18 4. When the Windsong Spires 5:49 5. Squals 3:52 6. Fly You Home 4:40 7. And When They Dance at Dusk 4:15 8. I'll Wave You In 4:53 9. And Acquiesce 5:41 10. If We Can Breathe Again 3:38 11. Under The Smallest Sky 11:39 Line-up: Charlotte Engler - vocals Andrew Greene - drums, percussion Ethan Matthews - vocals, guitars, hammered dulcimer, glockenspiel, percussion, synthesizers Prolusion. US band ECHO US is the creative vehicle for composer and musician Ethan Matthews, and for the last 20 years or so he has written and released a total of six studio albums with his specific take on the progressive rock genre, usually with additional musicians contributing with their specialties to help bring Matthews visions to life. "The Windsong Spires" is the most recent Echo Us album, and was self released in the summer of 2021. Analysis. Echo Us has by and large been rega...

(56:51; Methexis) Last year I came across the debut album by Jargon, ‘The Fading Thought’, which featured among the musicians Nikitas Kissonas on guitar. Like John 'Jargon' Kosmidis, Kissonas has also been with Verbal Delirium but for me he was Methexis, whose debut album ‘The Fall of Bliss’ I had reviewed some years earlier. That led me to contacting him after a period of some years and discovering that he had released two more albums under that banner since then. ‘Suiciety’ was released in 2015 and saw a dramatic change for Nikitas in that he brought in other musicians, and while he arranged everything, he actually only played guitars. The most obvious difference was the introduction of John Payne on vocals, who at the time was with The Enid. Apparently Nikitas was hugely impressed with the vocals on ‘Invicta’, which is why he got John involved. The other musicians were Linus Kåse (keyboards, Brighteye Brison, Änglagård), Walle Wahlgren (drums), and Brett d’Anon (bass), while...

(40:20; Methexis) Nikitas Kissonas returned in 2018 with his third release under the Methexis banner which saw him return to his way of working om the debut, providing most of the music himself. He is joined by Konstantinos Kefalas (trumpet), Nikolas Nikolopoulos (flutes) and Theodore Christodoulou (drums) while pianist Panagiotis Krabis features on one track, but Nikitas provides guitar, bass, and keyboards. This album contains two instrumental tracks, both approximately 20 minutes long, so this fits quite nicely on the vinyl release. It is a very long way from the previous album, as for the most part this is bridging progressive rock with classical, with some wonderfully dated keyboards melding together with the brass. One of the highlights is the way that the symphonic darkness can just blast into guitar runs, or a trumpet can take the lead, and one is never sure where the musical path is going to take us. This is progressive music which can be bombastic one second and drop into qui...

(54:19; Compagnie 4000) This is the third album by Polymorphie, yet another member of the Lyon-based experimental collective Grolektif which includes the likes of PoiL, Chromb and ni. It is only in the last few years that I have started investigating these bands, when my musical tastes finally became broad enough to gain some sort of understanding (a bit like when I finally told my dad I liked Guinness, or broad beans, things I didn’t appreciate when I was younger). Composer, saxophonist, and keyboard player Romain Dugelay is yet again at the helm, assisted by Marine Pellegrini (vocals), Simon Girard (trombone), Damien Cluzel (guitar) and Léo Dumont (drums). It has been six years since their last release, ‘Cellule’, and each album has so far seen a slightly different line-up, but only Simon was not there on the debut, and it is actually the first time they have used a trombone. In some ways, Polymorphie can be seen as an extension of Kouma, which is a trio combining Romain, Damian and ...

(41:13; Pyramid Theorem) There is no doubt that even after so many years of reviewing, one of the real delights for me is to be contacted by a band to listen to their latest release, and then realise that it is masterpiece which otherwise I would have never come across. Now, in this case Pyramid Thoerem is something of a rediscovery for me, as singer/bassist Christian Di Mambro actually contacted me at the time of the debut back in 2012, but I can’t find the CD in my collection nor a copy of the review in my files, which makes me think it possible that it went missing in the post (which is sadly not unusual – especially with NZ being at the end of the world). Anyway, the quartet are completed by Stephan Di Mambro (keyboards, guitar, vocals), Sam Ermellini (guitar, vocals) and Vito De Francesco (drums, percussion), and they have kept the same line-up throughout. The result is something which mixes prog metal with mathcore and neo-prog to create something that is both incredibly high in ...

(63:59; Moonjune Records) On August 18th, 2019, three musicians went into Shapeshifter studios with the aim of creating some special, and when one considers the trio were Markus Reuter (touch guitar, electronics), Tim Motzer (guitars, bass, electronics) and Kenny Grohowski (drums) it is not all surprising that is exactly what they achieved. All three are well-known in the scene, not only for their musical techniques but also the way they bend and move music in a live environment when they are improvising with others, and that is exactly the case here. One never knows where the music is going to lead, because at that point neither do the players, who are looking for visual and audio cues as to where to go next. The result is something which is far removed from mainstream, music which is created as a one-off, never to be repeated. Luckily for us, this took place in a studio, so it is now available to those who were unable to witness the actual event itself. In these Covid-wary times it i...

(59:28; Frontiers Music) Collins is back with his fourth solo album, which in some ways is a progression on from Sound of Contact’s ‘Dimensionaut’ album, in that he again provides drums and vocals and has been joined by ex-SoC colleague Kelly Avril Nordstrom (guitars). The line-up for this release is completed by Robbie Bronnimann (keyboards, programming, sound design), Gaz Williams (bass guitar) and renowned session man Robin Boult (electric and acoustic guitars). Given that there are two guitarists in the band I would have expected a much heavier aspect to the overall sound, but instead what we have is something that has been massively influenced by the UK synth scene from the early Eighties, mixed with loads of pop and just some rock. It is a very polished album, and there are times when there are some brief forays into more progressive territory, but for the most part this is something I found quite unusual and strange to listen to, in that it is a style of music I tend not to enjo...

(59:13; Moonjune Records) The tale of the history of Soft Machine is complex, with spin-off bands aplenty, and a gap of 37 years between releases under the original name, yet in many ways that is somehow apt given the complexity and groundbreaking nature of their music. Three of this line-up were members of the band back in the Seventies, namely - John Etheridge (guitar), Roy Babbington (bass) and John Marshall (drums), while Theo Travis (sax, flute, electric piano) had been a member of Soft Machine Legacy since 2006. When Roy joined that band in 2009, the quartet formed such a bond that in 2015 they felt they could drop the “Legacy” element, and in 2018 released ‘Hidden Details’, the first new Soft Machine studio album since 1981’s ‘Land of Cockayne’. Recorded live at The Baked Potato, February 1st, 2020, during the Soft Machine's 50th Anniversary World Tour 2019/2020, this was their first return to LA since opening for Jimi Hendrix at the Hollywood Bowl on September 14th, 1968, s...

(46:01; Purple Pyramid Records) Alan Davey continues his work on providing new forms of space rock with plenty of guests on this Hawkestrel’s second album, released last year. Here we get a mix of covers and originals, and he has brought in many well-known musicians including Todd Rundgren, former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor, prog legend David Cross, electric violinist L. Shankar, Arthur Brown and MC5’s Wayne Kramer. The lead single from the album was “Day Of The Quake”, which is a revamp of a rare early ‘80s recording from Robert Calvert. Davey says, “This masterclass of English poetics gets married up to some up-tempo exciting music I wrote with the one and only Mick Taylor guesting on lead guitar and the legendary Nik Turner on sax.” Hawkwind have gone through one or two musicians, it must be said, and I think they have had 11 bassists since they were formed, but while Lemmy will always be the most famous, Davey has the longest tenure in that role (in two stints). While pla...

(24:30; Candlelight Records) What we have here is the second of two linked EP’s, the first being ‘Telemark’, but while that was deliberately darker and heavier, here we find Ihsahn taking a quite different route. As with the other EP, this contains three originals and two covers, yet no-one would imagine a musician who formed the mighty Emperor at age 16 would show a love for A-Ha and Portishead! Recorded at his home studio, additional drums were provided by Tobias Solbakk, with Ihsahn providing everything else. He says that opener “Losing Altitude” is “a song about choices. What´s worth holding onto and what´s just weighing you down”, while “Spectre At The Feast”, is described as “a fly on the wall perspective on the somewhat superficial aspects of society and all its fictional problems and fragilities.” The title cut itself brings together the likes of Radiohead and Elbow, with wonderful clear vocals and is about “finding guidelines, direction, goals and hope. The potential of being ...