(42:53; Norske Albumklassikere [2023 Edition] ) Track list: 1. Tröstevise 3:00 2. Tröstevals 1:16 3. Östenfor Ord 6:15 4. Mellom Oss 5:36 5. Hvem Snakker Til Meg 6:02 6. Elegi 3:28 7. Mens Tiden Forgaar 17:16 Line-up: Jostein Hansen - bass, guitars Tore Fundingsrud - drums, percussion Harald Lytomt - guitars Halvard Haugerud - organ, piano, vocoder, synthesizers Trond Böhn - organ, piano, vocoder, synthesizers with: Trygve Lahn - violin Kirsten Böhn - vocals Lars-Thore Lande - bass (various people) - backing vocals, handclaps Prolusion. Norwegian band Kerrs Pink started out back in 1973, and while the band had spells of inactivity for a bit in the 1980's and onward they are still an active band as of 2023 with a total of 8 albums to their name at the time of writing. Their second album "Mellom Oss" appeared back in 1981, with a remade version of the same album appearing as their third production in 1992. The original version hasn't been available for some time, but th...

(54:20; Is It Jazz? Records) Track list: 1. Kime 3:34 2. Flor 6:04 3. Vann 3:11 4. Tendril 5:47 5. Nihkui 5:30 6. Vind 3:29 7. Pripyat 5:39 8. Geo 2:32 9. Mykorrhyza 4:25 10. Eallin 6:38 11. Sol 2:19 12. Hyperion 5:12 Line-up: Herborg Rundberg - piano Kristian Svalestad Olstad - guitars with: The North Norwegian Jazz Ensemble Prolusion. Norwegian duo Leagus can trace their roots back to 2013, when this project was formed by composer and musician Herborg Rundberg while she was studying in northern Norway town Tromsö. Alongside fellow composer and musician Kristian Svalestad Olstad the twosome have three albums to their name at the time of writing. "Flora Eallin" is the most recent of these, and was released through Norwegian label Is It Jazz? records in the spring of 2023. Analysis. It would appear that one of the aims for the label Is It Jazz? Records is to release the material of artists that in some manner or other challenges the borders and conception of what jazz is, eith...

(54:22; Cuneiform Records) December 21st, 2014, saw composer, bandleader, and percussionist Adam Rudolph convene 11 of New York City’s finest and most adventurous guitarists in a New Jersey studio.  In attendance were guitarists Rez Abbasi, Nels Cline, Liberty Ellman, David Gilmore, Miles Okazaki, and Marvin Sewell, all on electric guitars and effects; Damon Banks on bass guitar; Marco Capelli on acoustic guitar, effects; Jerome Harris on electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and lap steel guitar; Joel Harrison on electric guitar and national steel guitar; and Kenny Wessel on electric guitar and banjo. Rudolph provided some charts, and then conducted and directed a performance which was a combination of somewhat structured and improvised music, with himself at the helm. This is the tenth album in the series he began developing in 2001, Go: Organic Orchestra, but this is the first time he used just guitars. The result is a combination of modern classical, electronic and avant garde...

(54:15; Autumn Electric) This was the fifth album from Seattle, WA, based prog quintet Autumn Electric and was released in 2015. Apparently, the concept behind it came from being  inspired by a trip through the petroglyphs of New Mexico, and explores the mythology of Star Beings, the plight of Earth's environment, and spiritual awakening. The line-up was the same as for the previous year’s ‘Flowers For Ambrosia’ with Michael Trew (vocals, guitar, flute), Naomi Adele Smith (keyboards, vocals, melodica), Max Steiner (lead guitar), Chris Barrios (drums, bass, guitar), and Johnny Unicorn (bass guitar, saxophones, vocals). Somewhat surprisingly there is a cover on here, which is somewhat unusual in what is something of a concept, but even more so given it is by folkie Tom Paxton. But in many ways, it also makes perfect sense, as although Autumn Electric are included on PA as a progressive band, it must have been a fairly borderline decision as many would probably disagree with that as t...

(61:00; Progressive Promotion Records) Elleven were formed in 2001 by ex-Chandelier bandmates Tom Jarzina (drums) and Stephan Scholz (bass) along with singer Julia Graff. I remember hearing Chandelier on an SI sampler some 30 years ago with “Itai”, which came from their second album, ‘Facing Gravity’. They invited Armin Riemer (keyboards, piano, organ, synthesizers) and Carsten Hütter (guitars) to complete the line-up, and in 2007 released their debut album, ‘Insight’. Both Jarzina and Scholz left the band before their next release, this 2015 album, and were replaced by Herry Rubarth and Roger Weitz respectively. It is interesting to realise the band originally came together to provide a progressive rock platform for Julia’s vocals, as to me she is the weak point in the whole band. Her vocals are deliberately quite frail, and while there are times when she works well, there are plenty of others where she quavers off key. This may be seen as being a positive by some, and I am sure her v...

(58:34; Cuneiform Records) 2015’s ‘Wild Man’ was the third release for Swiss quintet Le Rex, and their first for ground-breaking American label Cuneiform Records. Unusually for most jazz bands, they are heavily dependent on different types of horns and apart from drummer Rico Baumann each of the soloists is a master of brass, so we have alto saxophonist Benedikt Reising, trombonist Andreas Tschopp, tuba player Marc Unternährer, and primary composer, tenor saxophonist Marc Stucki. “Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five wasn’t a direct influence, but I can see the connection,” says Unternährer. “You could say there’s an influence from Stevie Wonder and other groove music as well. All of this comes together in this band. We don’t want to copy American jazz. We’re big fans, but we want to make our own European version. We want to show our own roots too.” In some ways this has relationships with the Golden Age, Armstrong being an obvious reference, but in other ways there is more in common with the av...

(41:13; Cuneiform Records) This 2015 album was the third from Norwegian jazz quartet Pixel, following on from their 2014 breakthrough ‘We Are All Small Pixels’ and 2012’s debut ‘Reminder’. They comprise double bassist and vocalist Ellen Andrea Wang, drummer Jon Audun Baar, trumpeter Jonas Kilmork Vemøy, and saxophonist Harald Lassen (with everyone contributing vocals), and they are attempting to blend together indie rock with jazz in a way that is most unusual, and in a manner which is virtually guaranteed to upset purists from both genres. The main songwriter is Wang, who write three of the songs by herself, one with Lassen and one with Baar, with each of the others contributing two solo pieces each. With everyone coming to music from very different musical directions, it is no surprise that the songs are quite different with the writers often taking the lead on their own compositions and the others sitting in behind to provide the support. They are sympathetic with each other, and Wa...

(48:13; Progressive Promotion Records) This Italian group originally started life as a trio called Mardi Gras Experience, but they changed to Profusion, a combination of 'Progressive' and 'Fusion', in 2002 and at that time also expanded into a five-piece. This is the follow-up to 2012’s 'Rewotower’, which I really enjoyed, and was released in 2012. Previously, the band had been through some line-up changes but am pleased to note this is the same core group as we had on the previous release while there are just a few changes in the guests. Singer Luca Latini has a nice clear vocal style which makes her feel incredibly inviting when she is giving us a ballad, such as on “Free Fall”, yet can also punch through with power when the band moves away from piano into something which is more metallic. As one might expect from their name, they are rarely happy to stick in any particular musical form for too long and bring together rock, prog, metal, pop, fusion, symphonic and ...

(76:42; Cuneiform Records) Sonar continues to have a major impact on the avant garde and improvisational areas of music and have been doing so ever since guitarists Stephan Thelen and Bernhard Wagner met when taking part in King Crimson co-leader/guitar icon Robert Fripp's Guitar Craft. They soon recruited bassist Christian Kuntner and drummer Manuel Pasquinelli, taking the name Sonar as an abbreviation of SONic Architecture, alluding to the highly structured, polymetric rock they aspired to construct. This was their third album (there have since been more) and was the first time they worked with an outside producer, David Bottrill (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, Tool), who recorded them live in the studio (no overdubs). There is no doubt that King Crimson are a major impact on Sonar, as are the likes of Trey Gunn and Marcus Reuter, while Thelen also references the compositional rigour of Nik Bärtsch, and minimalist composer Steve Reich, but surely the most apposite quote must be whe...

(41:15; Cruz del Sur Music) Track list: 1. Condemned to Darkness 9:24 2. Burn the Witches at Dawn 2:42 3. Apophis 10:41 4. Solomon's Key 4:07 5. Horns 3:43 6. Into a Dark Divinity 10:38 Line-up: V-P. Varpula - vocals Count L. F. - guitars Kasperi Puranen - guitars Wicked Ischanius - bass, organ, Mellotron, synthesizers, piano Oscar Razanez - drums, timpani, percussion with: Toni Pentikäinen - backing vocals Prolusion. Finnish band Mausoleum Gate was formed back in 2009, and after an initial demo, a single and a compilation featuring both of these initial forays into the world of recording artists the band launched their debut album "Mausoleum Gate" back in 2014. "Into a Dark Divinity" is their second and most recent album to date, and was released through Italian label Cruz del Sur Music back in 2017. Analysis. While Mausoleum Gate is a band that by and large is described inside of a traditional heavy metal context, the material we get on this second album of th...

(44:24; Telescope Road) Track list: 1. Crystal Revenge 8:01 2. Serpent 8:19 3. Gut Metal 5:08 4. Fireworks and January Skies 8:19 5. Moonfever 8:27 6. Eat Your Heart Out 6:10 Line-up: Alain Chiarazzo - guitars, keyboards, backing vocals William Kopecky - bass, vocals David Lillkvist - drums, percussion, vibraphone, keyboards, backing vocals with: Sibongile Mbambo - vocals Cleo - vocals Nabankur Bhattacharya - tabla, vocals Prolusion. France based, multinational band Telescope Road has been an active unit since at least 2015, and from what I understand they made quite an impact when performing at the ProgSud festival in 2015 as well as at the Crescendo Festival the following year. In 2016 they also self-released their debut album "Telescope Road", with a CD edition of the album appearing in 2017. The band is, from what I understand, preparing material for a second album at the time of writing. Analysis. In terms of a broader placement inside a progressive music spectrum, this ...

(39:09; Xavi Reija) Track list: 1. Martina 3:03 2. Reflections 3:52 3. Capella (We Still Dance) 3:32 4. Reflections (Long Trip) 3:47 5. Childhood Dream 3:21 6. Ausencia 4:54 7. We Keep Walking 3:56 8. Thy Remembrance 3:10 9. Letter from the Aegean 3:11 10. Serenity 3:06 11. Capella 3:17 Line-up: Xavi Reija - drums Nitai Hershkovits - piano Pau Lligadas - bass Prolusion. Spanish composer and musician Xavi Reija has released solo albums for more than 15 years in various constellations and exploring various subsets of jazz and jazzrock along the way. This in addition to being a sought after drummer for other people's musical excursions: The list of all the artists he has worked with in some capacity or other would probably be longer than this review. As a solo artist / band leader he has at least nine albums to his name at this point. "Reflections" dates back to 2017, and was self released by Reija. Analysis. While Xavi Reija has made a name for himself also in progressive r...

(55:07; Bajkal Records) Track list: 1. Prelude: Incipit 3:20 2. The Clock Unwound 15:57 3. Fade Away 7:24 4. Smother 8:48 5. Plans Askew 9:22 6. Resignation 10:16 Line-up: Astraea Antal - flutes, saxophone, bagpipe chanter Paal Björseth - keyboards, flügelhorn, trumpet, viola, recorder, backing vocals Odd Grönvold - bass Thomas Hylland Eriksen - saxophone Veronika Hörven Jensen - vocals Haakon Kavli - vocals, guitars Eivind Lorentzen - guitars, synthesizers Charlotte Valstad Nielsen - saxophpones Ove Christian Owe - guitars Ole Martin Svendsen - drums, percussion Brian M. Talgo - samples, vocals Prolusion. Norwegian band Gentle Knife started out back in 2014, and in the five years they were active the band released two critically acclaimed albums, had a quick growth of stature in the progressive rock scene with a booking for the Night of Prog festival in Germany in 2018 as one of the natural highlights of their career and then opting to conclude the band activities the following year. ...

(39:00; OctoberXart Records) Track list: 1. Golden Path 2:58 2. Stone Trees 5:49 3. The Smoke of Your Fire 4:56 4. Tunnels 3:27 5. Eye of the Desert 3:14 6. The Lure and the Coordinates 5:47 7. Beehive on the Wall 3:04 8. Free in the Dark Hills 3:16 9. A Wide Vessel 3:53 10. The Place Where You Were Born (Without a Trace) 2:36 Line-up: Víctor Rodríguez - keyboards Ivan Fedotov - drums, percussion Angel Ontalva - guitars, bass with: Vitay Borodin - violin Markus Breuss - trumpet John Falcone - bassoon, clarinet, saxophone Prolusion. Spanish composer and musician Angel Ontalva has a couple of decades behind him as an active creator inside the field of progressive rock, and has released a number of albums since he launched his solo career back in 2012 with "Mundo Flotante". Including live albums and collaborations he now has at least 20 albums to his name. The most recent of these is the studio album "A Haunted, Hidden World of Caves", which was released in the spring ...

(51:54; Unicorn Digital) Track list: 1. Protocole 3:51 2. Decollage 5:53 3. Contemplation 8:49 4. Alerte 0:19 5. Risquer l'Adieu 30:22 6. Le Salut 2:40 Line-up: Marco Paradis - guitars, piano, keyboards, vocals Serge Tremblay - vocals, bass, piano, keyboards, vocals Jean-Claude Tremblay - drums Merci Cyr - backing vocals Elisabeth Cyr - backing vocals Prolusion. Canadian band Direction started out some 25 years ago, and released their first studio album back in 2002. For the next decade or so the band was an active unit, releasing new albums every few years at a regular pace, and then they disappeared from view as far as a recording band were concerned for a decade and a bit. This year Direction returned with the album "Ailes", their first studio album in 12 years, and like with the majority of their previous productions the album was released through Canadian label Unicorn Digital. Analysis. It is the progressive rock aspect inside the progressive music universe that is ...

(58:47; Progressive Promotion Records) It is unusual to read a booklet and realise this is the final album from the artist, as usually they are on a high when their art is finally being made available to the public, and that decision is made at some point in the future. However, Gerd Albers decided some time ago that his project was going to have a life span of three albums and as this is the third, he is sticking to that. While Gerd provides guitars, drums & percussion, backing vocals, he brings in other musicians and singers to assist him in fulfilling his dream, and it would be easy to list who they are and what bands they play with, but instead let us just say there are multiple guitarists, keyboard players and singers, plus a few others. I mean, the name gives it away in that this a project bringing together lots of different pieces which Gerd then puts together as a complete whole. Instead of containing the lyrics, the booklet instead explains the rationale behind each song, ...

(48:20; Cuneiform Records) Electronic music pioneer Richard Pinhas first came to prominence with Heldon, but he has also had a substantial solo career where he often combines forces with different musicians. On this release he co-credits guitarist and innovator Barry Cleveland, but the rhythm section is deservedly mentioned on the cover as they are none other than acclaimed bassist Michael Manring and drummer Celso Alberti. These four instrumentals were all improvised, with one of them more than 25 minutes in length, and the move through jazz and avant garde into areas more often considered to be the realm of space rock but can also drop into ambient. The result is something which does need a few plays before the listener starts to get some sort of understanding of what the quartet are achieving, and it would be very easy indeed to write this off unless one is prepared to do just that. It can be challenging, with all four moving in quite different directions, but Alberto’s dramatic dru...

(236:45; Purple Pyramid Records) There are some people in this world who just cannot get enough of Rick Wakeman, and I must confess I am one of those. I have no idea how many of his albums or DVDs I have in my collection, but the official number is probably “lots”. So, when I saw that Cleopatra was releasing a four CD set from his most prolific period, I was very excited indeed. Apparently, this comes with an informative booklet but without that to hand I can only comment on the four discs themselves. I don’t believe any of these are full concerts, and I would not be surprised if any of them are cleaned up bootlegs as the sound is not always as good as one might expect, but that could always be due to poor recordings at the time. Although there are some overlaps in terms of tracks, it is not too bad, but any fan will be glad to hear these, although I cannot be confident they have not already been made available elsewhere. Take for example the last CD in the set, which was recorded at T...

(39:56; Glassville Records) What originally started as a one-man project by Erlend Aastad Viken (vocals, keyboards, guitars) back in 2004 is now very much a full-fledged band with Orjan J Langnes (guitars), Oystein Megard (guitars), Jan Tore Megard (bass) and Espen Berge (drums). They have also been joined here by Giant Sky Orchestra who are Liv Brox (violins), Ivan Ushakov (flutes) and Emil Emilson Holemsland (trumpet). This is Soup’s sixth album, and is deemed Crossover Prog by PA, and that is probably the best place for it, while there are no doubts they have been heavily influenced by the slower and more orchestral elements of Radiohead while also containing some of the more pastoral elements of classic Genesis (especially ‘Selling England’ period). They also bring in some aspects of Sixties psychedelia, and certainly never sound Norwegian, as they feel British to the core. The problem with music which contains so much drama and is played often quite slowly, is that if one is not r...

(43:21; Celtodelic) I have had a soft spot for Tempest ever since I first heard them back in the early Nineties, and here they are with what I think is their 12th studio album. Lief Sorbye (vocals, mandoguitars, mandolins, mandolas, harmonica, bodhrán) and Adolfo Lazo (drums) are still there, as they have been since the very beginning in 1988, but they have had numerous line-up changes over the years and recent times have seen no difference. None of the others appeared on their last album, ‘Thirty Little Turns’, namely  Lee Corbie-Wells (vocals, fiddle, hurdy-gurdy), Nikolay Georgiev (guitars)and Hugh Caley (bass, vocals) but there is some continuity with an appearance yet again of Robert Berry (keyboards) who has been guesting with them for years. This is celtic rock with some progressive overtones, for those of you who have not previously come across them then think of some of the music being produced by Jethro Tull in the late Seventies and you will not be too far from the mark,...