(49:04; Our Recordings) Track list: 1. Prelude 3:58 2. Songs in the Air 7:33 3. Postlude 5:02 4. The Stones Make Sand Slow 9:23 5. If You Want to Hurt Someone 9:01 6. You Have Only Seen How I Begin 8:42 7. Rain Falls 5:25 Line-up: Jakob Buchanan - flugelhorn Marilyn Mazur - percussion Aarhus Jazz Orchestra Copenhagen Royal Chapel Choir Prolusion. Danish composer and musician Jakob Buchanan has been an active part of the Danish music scene for at least a couple of decades, and released his first solo album all the way back in 2003. Following many of years of self-released productions Buchanan have released his later albums on different labels, and this fall his most recent album "Song & Wind" appeared on the Danish label Our Recordings. Analysis. While we normally focus on progressive rock at the progressor website, we do make the occasional exceptions as far as style is concerned. Sometimes due to an artist having a past attachment to the progressive rock genre, and somet...

(44:33; Greydisc) On 20th August 2021, Kevin Kastning (36-string Double Contraguitar) and internationally acclaimed Boston-based jazz pianist and composer Laszlo Gardony (Professor of Piano at Berklee College of Music and also teacher at Harvard University’s Jazz Combo Initiative) entered a studio to undertake some musical adventures. It was the first time they had played together, although they had studied each other’s work, and was the first time Kevin had paired the double contraguitar with a piano, but very quickly they realised they had each found a kindred spirit and were able to bounce ideas off each other. One album has already been released featuring recordings from that day, ‘Levitation I’, and now we have the second, again with no overdubs whatsoever. Due to the improvised and experimental nature of his music, I always find the full joy and beauty of Kevin’s albums only let themselves be known after repeated plays, and there is certainly a great deal in here to be discovered...

(74:00; Unicorn Digital) I have been reviewing guitarist Michel St-Père’s band for quarter of a century now, and there is no doubt in my mind that the third iteration of the band is the finest yet. Singer Jean Pageau sounds like he has been there forever, having long moved past the efforts of those who wanted to compare him with previous incumbent Benoît David (of Yes fame), while Sylvain Moineau (guitar),  François Fournier (bass, keyboards) and Jean-Sébastien Goyette (drums) are all here for their third album and Antoine Michaud (keyboards) has returned for his second so there is now strong continuity. Here is a band who are confidence in what they are doing, clear in their direction and with the ability and strengths which enable them to continually deliver. This is soaring progressive rock, symphonic with swathes of keyboards, yet with a twin guitar attack which enables them to provide bite and power. Then at the front they have one of the finest singers around in Pageau, who c...

(139:00; Inside Out Music) Recorded in Hamburg on their 2022 tour to promote the ‘Innocence & Danger’ album which was released the previous year, we again find Neal Morse Neal Morse (vocals, keyboards, guitar) in the company of Eric Gillette (guitar, vocals), Bill Hubauer (keyboards, vocals), Randy George (bass, bass pedals, vocals), and Mike Portnoy (drums, vocals). Of course, this being a live album we expect it to be fairly lengthy, and we are not disappointed as this is a triple CD set with a running time of nearly 2 ½ hours. The gig itself was divided in two, so we get eight shorter songs (seven of which are from the latest album ) followed by the two epics from ‘Innocence & Danger’ before it  concludes with the “The Great Similitude Medley” which features highlights from the band’s previous two records ‘The Great Adventure’ and ‘The Similitude of a Dream’. This means that anyone into Morse is going to find plenty on here to enjoy. I was lucky enough to see the origina...

(38:39; Original Music Records) Here we have the debut album from French progressive band Oiapok, but they actually see themselves as the logical next step from the band Camembert who released two albums with some of the same members. They have a very interesting line-up in Etienne Agard (trombone), Fréderic Durrmann (trombone, whistling), Mélanie Gerber (vocals), Guillaume Gravelin (harp),  Clarissa Imperatore (xylophone, vibraphone, flutes, percussion), Matthieu Lenormand (drums), Valentin Sylvain Metz (guitars), Pierre Wawrzyniak (bass) and Paolo Ske Botta (additional keyboards). This is RIO and jazz influenced Canterbury which has been massively influenced by Zappa, and the band name is apparently a neologism, a semantic shifting between the Guyanese river Oyapock, the cradle of fearless adventurers, a wild, exciting and dangerous place, and the belt of the Chariclo asteroid, Oiapoque, whose orbit crosses that of the outer planets of the solar system.   If that sounds like...

(53:29; Pledge of Healing) This is the debut album by French duo Cyril Delvallez (guitars, keyboards, programming, bass, vocals) and Claire Sergue (vocals) who were assisted by some guests in the form of David Hazak (bass), Alex Soubry (guitars), Cedric Argoff (guitars) and Laurent Leyder (bass), and they have combined to produce an album which is both atmospheric and, at times, incredibly powerful, always designed to show off the vocals of Claire. This is progressive rock music as a genre, as opposed to an ideal, which also brings in elements of symphonic rock, theatricality and New Age to create something which is very interesting indeed and there are times where it sounds as if they have been heavily influenced by Evanescence. The drum programming is not intrusive, and while fairly basic it does fit in well, while there are passages where there is no drumming at all, and Cyril happily switches between rock guitar and more ambient styles, piano and keyboards, all of which is designed...

(63:00; Giant Electric Pea) It has been five years since the last Southern Empire album and is the first to see a change in line-up as singer Danny Lopresto has departed to be replaced by Shaun Holton. The rest of the line-up is still Cam Blokland (electric and acoustic guitars, lead and backing vocals), Jez Martin (fretted and fretless bass), Brody Green (drums, hand percussion, and ridiculously high backing vocals (it says here)), and of course Sean Timms (keyboards, programming, lap steel guitar, backing vocals). I don’t know why Lopresto left the band, but apart from two tracks which were solely written by Cam all the songs are credited to the group when Lopresto was still there, and he also provides some of the backing vocals and guitar. It has always been incredibly difficult for any bands to get traction in this part of the world, due not to musical quality but rather the difficulty in gathering enough people to play in front of, and there being very little in the sense of a pro...

(135:18; Giant Electric Pea) On 16th September 2022 IQ stepped onstage in Barcelona and performed the concert we now have here, celebrating 40 years as a progressive rock act. That it was a year overdue was caused by the pandemic of course, but that it was a special night was never in doubt. Mike Holmes has been the only constant throughout the band’s career, but Paul Cook, Peter Nicholls and Tim Esau were all there at the beginning as well, it is just that they all had some time off for good behaviour. The line-up is, of course, completed by Neil Durant, who has now been there for more than a decade, and it is strange to think that at one time he was an avid fan of the band he now plays in (as with Mike Varty in Credo, one of Neil’s key roles is reducing the average age of the band). I first saw IQ when they supported Magnum some time a million years ago, and unless one was heavily involved in the prog scene back in 1993 it is hard to understand just how huge ‘Ever’ was when it was re...

(73:54; Jam Records [2017 Edition] ) When I returned home recently, I was surprised to receive an envelope containing a large number of discs from my old friend Jeremy Morris, so many that I knew I would never be able to do them all justice if I reviewed them all at once, so have spread them across my reviewing lists, two at a time, in the sequence they were released. This means the first one on my player is 2017’s ‘Invitation’. However, this is actually a reissue of a cassette which was released in 1993 and I originally reviewed just four years later. But even then, the date is wrong, as what we have here is a collection of demos and material recorded by Jeremy when his father first purchased a 4-track tape recorder in the mid Seventies, and all of these date between 1975 and 1979. Looking at my review from 1997 I see I said that Jeremy was doing himself something of an injustice by saying this was for collectors only, and all these years later I do feel the same way. Anyone who has f...

(50:04; Jam Records) Here we have the third release by The Jeremy Band, featuring multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Morris along with drummer Dave Dietrich and bassist Todd Borsch, who apparently passed away just as this album was released. Lyrically this is very much a worship album, but the twelve songs are all wrapped up in wonderful power pop psychedelia, while Jeremy himself says it is an amalgam of The Byrds, The Beatles, Big Star, The Who, and Teenage Fanclub. It certainly does not at all sound as if it was released in 2018 but takes us on a journey back 50 years to a far simpler time. It is packed full of hooks, while any album which includes the use of a Mellotron is always likely to find favour with me. Jeremy has always had a major work ethic, never content with releasing an album every twelve months, and generally has multiple on the go at the same time, but do not fall into the trap of thinking that just because he releases a lot of material there is no quality control as this ...

(42:53; Norske Albumklassikere [2023 Edition] ) Kerrs Pink are a Norwegian band who have been going in one form or another since 1972, although there have been multiple line-up changes and gaps when the band have not been active. ‘Mellom Oss’ was their second album, originally released in 1982, and it has now been remastered and made available as part of the Norske Albumklassikere series, a crowdfunded label which reissues classic Norwegian albums. Note, there was a version of this album released by Musea in 1992 with additional tracks, but here we have the original seven. The band at the time were Harald Lytomt (guitars, flute) (who is still with the band to this day), Jostein Hansen (bass, guitars, vocals), Halvard Haugerud (keyboards, bass, vocals), Tore Fundingsrud (drums) and Trond Bøhn( keyboards, guitar – who only played on two tracks before leaving). They also had a few guests in Kirsten Hognestad Bøhn (vocals), Lars-Thore Lande (bass), Trygve Lahn (violin) and Chris Dankel, fa...

(35:20; Shunu Records) Swedish band Lieder Distortion are out with the album "The Age of Art", and a good, old fashioned rock opera is what we get with this album. Whether or not the material here falls inside of or outside of a more strictly defined progressive rock tradition is perhaps more of a secondary issue here, but for the purists I guess the more straight forward hard rock and metal passages may not be inside of their definitions. But this isn't a straight forward affair of combining operatic vocals and vocal traditions to a hard rock and metal foundation, as we have orchestral textures used as overlays to a varying degree whenever a hard rock or a metal section is explored, but we also get a number of interludes with either a bare bone rock arrangement combined with orchestral features as well as strict orchestral interludes with as well as without operatic vocals applied. This gives many of the compositions a more distinct ebb and flow nature that...

(38:31; Fett Gung Studios) Swedish band Stone of Duna are out with the album "Moonsplitter", and this is a production that might also be of interest for a more progressive rock interested audience. Not due to the landscapes explored being all that close to the progressive form, spirit or tradition, but rather due to some interesting elements here and there. The main orientation of this band appears to revolve around the hard rock based stoner tradition, but with the band making use of some riff patterns and a guitar sound that for me at least comes with associations towards a band like Tool. That the band adds a bit of a psychedelic touch to the proceedings is often a natural component among bands exploring the stoner tradition, but we get a few cases here where these details are lifted up to a more elevated position and explored a bit more in depth, in length and with a bit more of a progressive execution too, which is the second elements here that may be of in...

(57:36; FTF-Music) French band Nine Skies are out with the album "The Lightmaker", and progressive rock is the style explored on this production. It is an accessible and atmospheric laden variety of the form we get on this occasion, and I suspect many will categorize this album inside the neo-progressive tradition due to the extensive number of floating and elegant landscapes with smooth and careful layered keyboard textures being a prominent and dominant aspect of the arrangements. We do get callbacks to the more dramatic and elaborate symphonic progressive rock tradition along the way though, and occasional side steps into harder edged and more vibrant displays of progressive rock is a recurring element too. A bit more prominent than those are careful and delicate interludes with a bit more of a folk music vibe to them though, and we also get a few token flirts with jazzrock along the way here. But most of all this is an album for those fond of the more elega...

(57:52; Starlit Melancholy) US artist Starlit Melancholy is out with the album "To Wilt Beneath the Stars", and progressive metal is probably the best manner in which to categorize the landscapes explored on this production. This is an album that combine three different elements: Extreme metal, orchestral arrangements and ambient music. The extreme metal aspects are toned down, other than the distorted vocals that are placed fairly high in the mix to provide a more disruptive end chaotic element to the compositions. The orchestral arrangements are partially used as overlays for the extreme metal sections and partially featured as standalone elements, and this is the case for the more ambient oriented constructions too. The compositions explore the contrast between the more dark and ominous metal landscapes and the melancholic to jubilant moods of the orchestral and ambient sections in a good manner. The quality of the mix and production does leave a bit to be de...

(31:36; Wormholedeath) French artist Angel Rising is out with the album "Afterlife", and this is a production that might also be of interest for a progressive metal interested audience. The main style explored on this album is a combination of thrash metal and extreme metal however, with the songs seamlessly shifting between these two forms for greater parts of the playtime. While the artist have opted for a more rough and primal sounding mix and sound aesthetic, there are a number of quirky and technical details in most of the songs that contrast this more primal sound they are a part of. In between we also get some elegant flowing passages, a slight flirt or two with jazz comes calling, and folk and world music oriented details will appear from time to time too, alongside some gentler passages with a bit more of an ambient character. All of which adds a progressive orientation to the album experience. If you tend to enjoy a more primal sounding but also techn...

(61:00; NoiseArt Records) Danish band Mercenary are out with the album "Soundtrack To The End of Times", and progressive metal is arguably the best classification for the landscapes explored on this production. It is a high impact and high intensity take on the tradition we get here, and one that comes with a liberal inclusion of extreme metal escapades. Just about everything here is served with something of a bombastic grandiosity, with pounding riffs and rhythms alternating with rich, majestic and grandiose constructions that weave in and out of the extreme metal landscape. Nods and inclusions of more regular progressive metal is a part of the experience too, with occasional side steps into both contemporary melodic metal and flirts with quirkier movements along the way, and with some space and room for more elegant and flowing details to make their way into these landscapes on occasion too. But this is a powerful, high impact and high intensity variety of pro...

(44:45: Small Stone Records) US band Haurun are out with the album "Wilting Within", and it will be a question of subjective perception when it comes to the music on this production being classified as progressive rock or progressive metal I guess. There is a bit of a doom metal undercurrent that is ticking in the compositions here, with a little bit of a side serving of atmospheric laden metal to boot. But gentler but dark toned psychedelic landscapes are perhaps an even more defining trait throughout, with moods and atmospheres that often come with a borderline ethereal veneer to boot. A case can be argued for some of the songs to have a little bit of a Gothic presence, or perhaps a slight touch of a post-punk vibe, with post-rock and post-metal tendencies also being a part of the experience here. If a psychedelic and otherworldly variety of progressive psychedelic rock with a doom metal undercurrent and a bit of a post-something swagger strikes you as an int...

(37:56; Argonauta Records) Finnish band Orbiter are out with the album "Hollow World", and this is a production that might also be of interest to fans of progressive rock and metal. The core foundation of the style explored on this album is doom metal though, and it is a slow, distorted and often fuzzed out variety of that style that comes with similarities in sound, approach and execution to the earlier albums by bands such as Electric Wizard. What makes this album interesting also from a progressive perspective is the regular inclusions of delicate psychedelic passages and acoustic or semi-acoustic folk music inspired interludes, with some of the songs revolving around an ebb and flow structure between these and the band's primary doom metal orientation, as well as a few instances of the band's gentler side being explored in more of a purebred manner. The sleepy, relaxed female lead vocals also adds an additional dimension to the proceedings here, prov...

(46:02; Lone Figures) UK project Hidden Orchestra is out with the album "To Dream Is To Forget", and this is a production that may be of interest also to a progressive rock interested audience. The landscapes explored here really defies any specific categorization, and while it is instrumental in form and revolve around many electronic impulses that only tells half the story, and perhaps not even that. A bit of dub and other elements from electronic music is something of a backbone here, set to escapades that include more ambient landscapes with score like qualities, gently cosmic excursions as well as world music flavored constructions that both share a few select properties with a few different generations of music a band like Ozric Tentacles have crafted over the years. In between this, and to some extent blended with this, are escapades that adds elements from jazz to the proceedings too. Everything is smooth and elegant, fairly broadly appealing too, but al...

(38:27; Drops) German band Urban Project are out with the album "All Up", and progressive rock is probably the best categorization to use when defining the music we find on this production. It is a playful and quirky affair this one, where the compositions are executed with an expressive attitude yet also retaining a high degree of pop music sensibility. Many of the songs incorporate and make use of subtle funk elements, with various jazz-oriented details following closely behind. But we get a number of side steps here too, with the good, old blues given some solid nods along the way, other songs may feature a little bit of a folk music presence, or a touch of hard rock, and a little bit of soul manages to sneak in on an occasion too. This is catchy music with plenty of hooks, but also unpredictable music that moves about in a quirky manner you won't encounter all that often when a band explore landscapes that also comes across as being fairly broadly appea...

(40:57; Subsound Records) Swiss band The Land of the Snow are out with the album "As Within, So Without", and progressive metal is probably the best manner in which to describe the landscapes explored on this production. On this all instrumental creation, it is clear that doom metal is the core foundation that defines the ground and centre for these excursions, and while the compositions will wander in a few different directions most of them will return to base at some point or other. The majestic and powerful doom metal escapades are flanked by many other orientations though, from ethereal post-rock inspired escapades to haunting and alien sounding post-metal style textured displays. Electronic effects and a bit of a cosmic presence is another dimension the band will move towards and carefully explore on occasion, and a little bit of noise rock and a touch of hard progressive rock also makes it inside of the boundaries of this pocket universe. If a doom-laden ...

(15:10; Archery Kitchen) Russian artist Sergey Kornilov is out with the EP "Quartet for the Strings", and classical music is the style explored on this production. Given the title of the EP I presume that a string quartet was in action for the recording of the material here, and the three short compositions here all have a more traditional and romantic attitude at heart where flowing melody lines is something of a cornerstone and a defining element. This is particularly the case for the concluding 'Lento, Flautando', which is the calmest and most careful of these compositions. On the previous to creations the landscapes explored are delivered with a bit more of a dramatic and expressive flair, with what I believe is one or more instances of the cello having a much more aggressive role in creating and exploring a more dissonant and disruptive element set against the otherwise more romantic landscapes present. A production to seek out by those with a stron...

(50:21; Archery Kitchen) Russian artists Sergey Kornilov & Alex Bel are out with the album "Sectum", and progressive rock is probably the best description to give the landscapes explored on this production. The main association I get when listening to this album is that, apart from the more distinct folk-music oriented opening song, these are compositions written in a similar manner as a classical symphonic orchestra work but performed by electronic instruments and rock music instruments and also rearranged for those instruments. I believe I can hear the calling cards of elements that could have been performed by an orchestra throughout, but with synthesizers, guitars, programmed rhythms and regular drums delivering the goods instead. Sometimes in an ambient and futuristic manner that gives me associations to Vangelis and his science fiction inspired landscapes in particular, but more often than not with a dark and industrial vibe as an ongoing feature, with...

(64:41; Sergey Kornilov & Misha Berkut) Russian artists Sergey Kornilov & Misha Berkut released the album "Karzer" back in 2021, and progressive rock is probably the best manner in which to describe the landscapes explored on this production. In essence one might say that the compositions at hand here mix and blend elements from five different types of music in different manners. Classical music and folk music are the dominating aspects here, with ambient music, rock music and electronic music as the additional providers of elements to a lesser or greater degree. The folk music aspects are primarily present by way of melodies and motifs, and explored in a classical music tradition, while the rock, ambient and electronic music elements more often than not will be additions to a classical music foundation. We do get creations that operate out from a rock music and electronic music foundation too however, with the classical music or folk music elements bein...

(42:18; Salome) French band Salome are out with the album "White Flag", and progressive rock is the style explored on this production. It is an accessible variety of the form we get on this album, and one that mix and blend elements in an interesting manner throughout the playtime of this production. While a sort of foundation here may be a more accessible variety of neo-progressive rock, this is a band that reach out from this foundation in a few different and interesting manners. Sometimes with a bit more of a delicate indie rock manner, in other cases with a more vibrant and haunting post-punk attitude on display. More atmospheric laden landscapes with a bit more of a Floydian feel to them is a part of the experience too, but perhaps most of all this is a band that specialize in adding a bit of a hard rock punch to their dreamladen neo-progressive landscapes. While also retaining a bit of a pop music sensibility as something of a recurring element. An album ...

(40:50; Morpheus Project) UK band Morpheus Project are out with the album "On The Edge", and progressive rock is the style explored on this production. This album pretty much comes across as a blend between a few different traditions and orientations that makes use of elements from inside as well as outside of the progressive rock universe. Classic era hard progressive rock with the classic organ and guitar combination is one of them, with more atmospheric laden sequences with more of a Floydian feel to them alongside more careful and dreamladen landscapes with a bit more of a neo-progressive orientation representing the gentler sides of the band's expression. Some classical guitar and jazz references are brought into play too, but also a more bombastic and vibrant variety of hard rock that is a bit more of a nod back towards the kind of hard rock Rainbow popularized back in the day but explored and executed with a bit more of a contemporary vibe in this cas...

(33:48; Wanikiya Record) Italian band Maybe Later are out with the album "After All These Years", and progressive rock is possibly the best manner in which to define the landscapes explored on this production. The majority of the songs on this album explore an ebb and flow approach, structure and execution of the landscapes explored. Most typically with a delicate, dreamladen sequences that tend to have a psychedelic dreamladen elements included on one hand that alternates with a passage that revolve more closely around a vibrant, hard rock core. Often with a quirkier element as an aspect of this latter and more dramatic part of the songs, with occasional references in the direction of a band like Tool and the odd side step into progressive metal territories being a part of the package too. A production to seek out by those with a general fascination for a more alternative variety of hard progressive rock with gentle psychedelic tendencies being a distinct prese...

(39:38; Doc Gator Records) Serbian band Quasarborn are out with the album "Novo Oruzje Protiv Bola", and this is a production that might also be of interest to fans of progressive metal. The foundation of this band is probably best described as thrash metal, as thrash metal oriented riff cascades is the common denominator throughout this album. But we also get a fair few instances of quirkier instrument movements, adding a slight touch of the impulses a band like Voivod have been known for to the landscapes explored, and we also get quite a few sections with a more gliding, flowing and elegant orientation applied to the arrangements. Further expanding the scope of this album are choppy start and stop like features more commonly found in alternative metal bands, and the clean and melodic part of the lead vocal spectrum used also come with sensibilities from this part of the metal universe. In sum this adds up to a thrash metal band that incorporate both alternat...