(45:02; Garden Records) Track list: 1. The Edomite (Hate) 8:23 2. The Gentrification of Charlie Blint & the Great Unwashed (Self Control) 6:44 3. Midnight Gardeners (Crime) 6:14 4. And Soon the Darkness (War) 5:35 5. The Nail That Sticks out Must Be Hammered Down (Rebellion) 4:02 6. Rain Beneath the Umbrella (Peace) 3:20 7. Diamond Queen (Love) 6:31 8. Chelsea High (Hope) 4:13 Line-up: Jon Buxton - vocals, guitars Colin Edwards - guitars Andy Cooke - bass Ashley Buxton - drums with: Aurora Feliusa - vocals Sienna Harris - voice Terry Boazman - drums Richard Wise - drums Jez Nutbean - keyboards Prolusion. UK band Heronimus Fin have been around in one form or another for 30 years and a bit at this point, and are generally considered as being a psychedelic rock as well as a progressive rock band. In the two distinct phases of the band's existence they have released 5 studio albums, of which three have appeared in the last decade. The album "And Soon the Darkness" is the ...

(42:57; Pvrs) Track list: 1. Shadow 7:08 2. Ablaze 4:37 3. Echoes 5:39 4. God 5:17 5. Solstice 4:37     6. Tomorrow 5:58 7. To dust 4:03 8. Desapear 5:38 Line-up: Jean Pierre Mottin Twan landrin Prolusion. Belgian band PVRS is a duo consisting of Jean Pierre Mottin and Twan landrin. The twosome joined forces back in 2023, and a few months later the duo were ready with their debut album  "Solstice". Initially released on cassette through Belgian label Deathfarm Records and made available as a digital release through Bandcamp and various streaming services. Analysis. I suspect that this is one of those bands were some may question why they are covered by a website focusing on progressive music. While there is a bit of a progressive spirit and execution to the landscapes explored by this twosome, the primary and defining qualities of the band may be argued to lie elsewhere. For me, at least, I do find this to be an album that merits attention also by a progressive music...

(68:28; Psychiatric Records) Here we have the second release from The Haas Company, which is based around the compositions and playing of drummer Steve Haas and keyboard player Pete Drungle. The debut, ‘Galactic Tide’, featured guitarist Andy Timmons (Danger Danger), and now they are back with ‘Celestial’ where they have paired with a very different musician indeed, guitarist Frank Gambales (Chick Corea). While jazz rock fusion is the genre, the foundation is set on the polyrhythmic drumming of Haas, and although the compositions have been scored the expectation is there is lots of room for improvisation and that is what we get with Drungle and Gambales bouncing off each other while the bassist (there are three involved at different times on this set) playing rhythmically to keep everything going while those at the front go off tangentially. However, this is one of those albums when the musicians are obviously talented and masters of their craft but the music doesn’t really live up to ...

(62:00; FTF-Music) Here we have the debut album by a new French outfit who have delivered us a concept album based on the story of lifelong soulmates Charlie and Hope, who had always spent their lives together. One day, Charlie wakes up alone in the middle of a completely different and devastated world and this is the story of his adventures as he attempts to find his partner. The idea of loss and searching is not new, but this story takes on real poignancy when one realises this is a new project by Anne-Claire Rallo (Nine Skies, Solace Supplice) who has delivered this following on from the death of her husband Eric Bouillette (Nine Skies, The Room, etc.) in 2022. She has been joined on this personal quest by friends and colleagues of them both, so she has been assisted by Alexandre Lamia (Nine Skies, Ingaro), Alexis Bietti (Nine Skies, Genesya), Johnny Marter (Nine Skies, Marillion, Mr. Big, Brian May, Peter Gabriel, Annie Lennox, etc...), Martin Wilson (The Room, Grey Lady Down), Hel...

(31:00; Exhibit A) Although this was written in 2015 it was only released in 2024, and contains just five tracks. For the most part it is the same line-up as the 2020 album apart from the first song, “Light A New Fire”, which has Neil’s cousin Paul Foss on drums. These five tracks were played live but not previously recorded and the sound quality is not quite as good as MMAL, but this is still a wonderful release. Back in the day when I was living in the UK I always felt I had a finger on the pulse, but now I am the other side of the world I confess I have no idea what is going on in the scene unless someone contacts me, but I do find it difficult to understand why Exhibit A are not more well known. Their highly commercial take on prog rock straddles Neo and AOR, but to these poor abused ears it is a load of fun.  Dave still has a nice voice, Neil often provides layers of backgrounds when Nick crunches the lead, the two Paul’s fill in the space on the drums while Steve provides run...

(49:02; Exhibit A) Okay, time for a quick history lesson. Exhibit A came together in 1984 out of the remnants of Mishra and by the time they recorded their debut tape in 1990 their line-up was Dave Foss (vocals), Neil Foss (keyboards),  Steve Watts (bass), Nick Hampson (guitars) and Tony Robertson (drums). I reviewed the album in 1993 and found it very enjoyable indeed and was stoked when they then released the CD ‘Out There’ the following year, saying that I had no hesitation in recommending the CD to everyone. Now, that was a time in the UK when there were loads of bands in the underground prog scene, with some classic albums being released, but apart from a few fanzines there was no way of getting news out there and many of these bands folded way before they reached the fanbase they deserved.  I hadn’t thought of the band in ages until Neil contacted me earlier this year to let me know the band had actually reformed and recorded some new material, and would I be interested ...

(407:00; InsideOut) I’ve said it before, and I will probably say it again, but it is all Ian Anderson’s fault. An unhealthy obsession with Tull in the Eighties led me to writing to Record Collector to see if anyone knew anything about Carmen, which in turn had me asked to write a piece on that band for the Tull fanzine ‘A New Day’, which then had me thinking this writing lark was quite fun. Thousands of hours and millions of words later and I’m still at it. What we have here is a reissue of the 2003 release, ‘The Jethro Tull Christmas Album’. It has been expanded so it has the original album, a complete remix by Bruce Soord (which is what I am listening to), the ‘Christmas Live at St. Bride’s 2008’ album (again remixed by Soord), the previously unreleased ‘Christmas Live at St. Bride’s 2006’ along with a Blu-ray featuring more remixes. When the album was originally released it featured no less than seven re-recordings of old Tull numbers such as “Ring Out, Solstice Bells”, Weathercock”...

(49:22; Melodic Revolution Records) Here we have the second album from the duo of Corey Stano (author, vocals) and Juan R Leõn (all music), following from last year’s excellent debut, ‘Myths Retold & Other Lies To Tell Your Children’. When I reviewed that release, I mentioned Hibernal, as Mark R. Healy have been undertaking similar works for more than a decade now, but the major difference between the two is Mark always brings in professional voice actors to take on the roles, where here Corey speaks her own words. That aside, we are in a futuristic world of robots, and one that is becoming sentient as it has started dreaming (perhaps of electric sheep?). What makes this album work so incredibly well is that it is an amalgam of two very different styles, namely the spoken word, which is often in the first person of 5-E, and soundscapes of music. Each of these could stand on their own (and there is a version of this album available which contains demos, unused and unfinished tracks ...

(178:06; Djam Karet) All the way back in 1984 four musicians from Topanga, California, started a new band, none of them ever thinking that forty years later they would still be going strong. There have been some guests here and there, but guitarists Gayle Ellett and Mike Henderson, bassist Henry J. Osborne, and drummer Chuck Oken, Jr. were there for 1985’s ‘No Commercial Potential’ and were still around for 2022’s ‘Island In The Red Night Sky’, and this collection brings together a track from all eighteen studio albums and two live, hence the witty title. At three hours in length, this is a collection of uncompromising music which may be too much for the unwary or is it? To celebrate their soon to end fortieth anniversary the guys are currently making this available free of charge from their Bandcamp site, but this is a limited time offer so get in fast as this not something you will want to miss out on. I first came across Djam Karet back in the Nineties when Cuneiform sent me an albu...

(44:16; Nuclear Blast)  In 1992 Blind Guardian released their fourth studio album: it was their major label debut and launched them into the world as they had hit the right formula of speed, heaviness, melodies, drama and choruses on 1990’s ‘Tales From The Twilight World’ and here they honed it even further. Fast forward to 2022 and the band planned to play the whole album live, in sequence, but then they started to worry about what might happen if the shows didn’t happen. Perhaps they should ought to record the rehearsals just in case? That led to the realisation that fans would not be happy with such an approach to what is viewed by many as a classic so why not go the whole hog and record it anew, compensating youth with experience but maintaining the hunger of yore. The basic tracks were recorded live, and then the harmonies and melodies were added on top to create something which is vital and true to the original but also feeling like it is from today, although with somewhat le...

(46:30; Bird's Robe Records) To celebrate their 20th anniversary as a band, and 15 years since they released a concept album as their debut, Sydney-based Anubis have returned to the concept theme again for their seventh. The story here is about a young man joining, and then escaping from a religious cult in the American Midwest known as The Legion of Angels. It is designed as a single piece, split into ten parts, which fits neatly over two sides of vinyl at 47 minutes running time.  One of my favourite sayings is “too much music, too little time”, but I must confess I am somewhat surprised to have only now come across this band as this is modern prog which is very palatable indeed.  The band comprise Robert James Moulding (vocal, guitar, percussion), David Eaton (keyboards, soundscapes, 12 string, bass pedals, vocal), Douglas Skene (electric and acoustic guitars, vocal), Dean Bennison (electric and acoustic guitars, vocal), Anthony Stewart (bass, vocal), and Steven Eaton (drum...

(27:32; Grim Day Records) In August and September 2023, Norwegian rock quintet Dim Gray toured the UK and Europe, playing 15 dates across nine countries as special guests of Big Big Train. Each show was recorded and now we have a six-song 28-minute-long EP which for me is a great introduction to the band as I have somehow missed out on both their albums to date. They were formed in Oslo by Oskar Holldorff (keyboards, vocals), Håkon Høiberg (guitar, vocals) and Tom Ian Klungland (drums), with Milad Amouzegar (guitar, keyboards) and Kristian Kvaksrud (bass) becoming permanent members in 2023 and that is the line-up on this set. Given there are two songs from London, and then one each from Oslo, Stuttgart, Veruno and Pratteln, I am guessing they took the best performance of each song on the tour and there are no overdubs. I don’t know if this is the complete set they played each night or not, but unless they screwed the same song up every night, I would imagine this is it. Oskar Holldorff...

(162:00; InsideOut) ‘A Flare On The Lens’ features the band’s full show at Cadogan Hall from the second of their two nights there last year and also includes seven songs which were played only on the first night, which means we have eighteen songs and a total running time of more than 160 minutes (note, this has been cut back on the double vinyl release). From some comments and fades it is obvious this is not a complete set run through as such, something I always like my live albums to be like, but the performances from all those involved are so sumptuous I am prepared to overlook it. The line-up for these shows was Alberto Bravin (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards), Nick D'Virgilio (drums & percussion, vocals), Rikard Sjöblom (guitars, keyboards, vocals), Greg Spawton (bass, bass pedals), Oskar Holldorff (keyboards, vocals), and Clare Lindley (violin, vocals) along with Maria Barbieri (guitars) and The Big Big Train Brass Ensemble which takes me back to the days when prog bands ...

(73:25; Melodic Revolution Records) For those of you who have somehow not yet heard of Melodic Revolution Records, they are an independent label based in the USA who have been releasing music for more than 17 years. They are music fanatics and musicians who aim to deliver music which inspires...music that will stand the test of time, hence the title. This fifteen-track set contains 12 songs from this year’s releases along with three “hidden” bonuses and is designed to show just how vital and important MRR in the current musical landscape. The set starts with The Gardening Club and the excellent “Mr. Forster Reflects”. In an ideal world Martin Springett would have been recognised as much for his music as his art long before now, but the reissue of his 1983 album in 2017 has finally seen a wider public understand his talent, since when he has been releasing one gem after another. But as well as his Camel/Roy Harper approach we get the out and out modern prog of Overture, the delicate ref...

(70:36; Melodic Revolution Records) Nick Katona at Melodic Revolution Records also has a tradition of releasing a Christmas compilation, and here he is back with the eighth in the series. Unlike most compilations like this, there are no reworkings of classics (I hate to think how many versions of “Baby, It's Cold Outside” I have in my collection), but instead each of the ten tracks is an original recording, and only Juan R Leõn gets more than one as he has been allowed two in this 57-minute-long set. This is not an album aimed at the mass public, but for those who wish to sit a little outside the mainstream. While most people will enjoy the poppy style of giGO (Nick – I owe you an apology, I may not have enjoyed the album but “Christmas Bells” is delightful and caused me to have a rethink), Orchestre Celesti is much more for those who enjoy following the twisting paths of music which is beautiful and moving in multiple directions, truly progressing. We also get songs like the wond...

(43:24; Nuclear Blast) Gentle piano, with lovely use of the sustain pedal, leads us delicately into the clear soprano of Veronica Bordacchini as she commences the journey which could easily be the opening of an opera. Strings come in, and we sit back, relax, and bask in her wonderful vocals, so much so that when she hits the high notes and demonstrates her training we reach over and turn it up just a little more, so the music becomes all encompassing. It may be only just over two minutes long, but it is transformative, and then there is a slight gap, and the choir are back with Francesco Paoli singing the words “I Can Never Die”, which leads us into the 10-act story inspired by the tragic mountain climbing accident which nearly killed him in 2021.   I actually think this album is a step up from the last two, which is not something I thought could happen as they have mixed the symphonic death with styles which are more classical and one can imagine fans of Nightwish or Epica en...

(79:10; Cuneiform Records) It is only two years since Frédéric L'Epée (guitars, synth, chorus), Laurent James (guitars, chorus), Nico Gomez (bass, chorus), and Volodia Brice (drums) released their last album, ‘Designed for Disaster’, which makes their fifth album the fastest to follow another yet. That might have something to do with the review of that release which Frédéric read where it was compared to America’s Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. That led him on a voyage of discovery as that band was new to him, and he realised their singer, Carla Kihlstedt, would be perfect for the work they were doing so he invited her to take on lead vocals. He found himself writing with her voice in mind and providing lyrics with meanings as he wanted her to be driven by them the same way he was. There is no doubt that many will think of Yang as followers of King Crimson, and their complex, syncopated and polyrhythmic guitars certainly brings to mind Fripp, but only in the sense that they are incredi...

(92:00; Gentle Art of Music) What I have here is the audio of the latest release by Sylvan, which has been released on Blu-ray, double vinyl, double CD and streaming on all platforms. It is a record of their performance on 23rd October 2024 at the Poppodium Boerderij, NL-Zoetermeer, and I expect the film is quite spectacular as the music is pretty special on its own. The line-up has been consistent for quite some time, although they often have additional musicians in the studio, but here we have just the core quintet of Marco Glühmann (vocals), Johnny Beck (guitars), Volker Söhl (keyboards), Sebastian Harnack (bass & bass pedals), and Matthias Harder (drums). It had been two years since the release of their last album, ‘One To Zero’, and given it had been sixteen years since their only other official live release, ‘Leaving Backstage’, it was deemed appropriate to capture the night and I am very glad they did. Sylvan have long been known for releasing wonderfully emotional albums ba...