(43:02; Regal Crabomophone) Track list: 1. The Eternal Dance 7:52 2. Become Sun 5:46 3. House of Ra 4:55 4. Forever Knowing 4:08 5. In Love with the Sun 5:58 6. Season of Fasting/Call for the Equinox 6:20 7. Even Winter 8:03 Line-up: Nicholas Whittaker James Howarth with: Luke Foster Dave Wileman Will Howes Prolusion. UK band Fifth Daughter is a new constellation, revolving around the creative talents of Nicolas Whittaker and James Howarth. After enlisting the skills of fellow musicians Luke Foster, Dave Wileman and Will Howes, the band were ready with their debut album "Stellar Season" at the start of 2025, an album that was released through UK label Fruits de Mer Records and their Regal Crabomophone imprint. Analysis. While Fruits de Mer Records specialize in psychedelic music rather than progressive rock per se, there will always be a considerable overlap between those types of music. Hence it is not all that unexpected to see that a majority of the people involved with th...

(56:27; Frontiers Music) OK, now this is getting ridiculous. When I reviewed 2020's 'Tragic Separation' a year after it was released, I said I could not believe it had taken ten albums for me to come across them, as here was a band approaching the genre from AOR and with a heavy appreciation of Stratovarius. I put the review on ProgArchives and was amazed to see it was the only review of the album there. Fast forward to 2023’s ‘Separation’ and when I placed that review on the site, I noticed there were still no reviews for the former album, and none for this one either. Now here we are with what is probably their best album I have come across and yet again no review for this one yet, and still none for the others, what is going on? Imagine if you will an Italian prog metal band who are not taking any influences from their own country but instead are taking the metallic approach of Stratovarius and then blending it with classic Spock’s Beard and Kansas to produce something w...

(49:44; ArtBeat Music) Compassionizer are back with their fourth full-length album, with the same core line-up as the last one, namely Serghei Liubcenco (guitars, bass, rubab, drums, doira and other percussion), Leonid Perevalov (bass clarinet), Ivan Rozmainsky (spinet, synths, kalimba) and AndRey Stefinoff (clarinet) along with some guests. The only way to describe this is by saying it is progressive, truly progressive, as there is an awful lot going on. In fact, so much I am not even sure how to start. It’s instrumental, classical (with a concentration on chamber music), contains Russian folk and ethnic influences, avant garde and so much more. It is also incredibly enthralling as one never knows where the journey is going to lead, just that it is going to be fascinating. I have followed Ivan Rozmainsky and his musical outpourings for many years and his relationship with Serghei and Leonid has created something very special indeed. It is music which must be played on headphones and o...

(37:48; Castle Records) 1979 saw the release of the second album, originally titled ‘Clef de Ciel’ (‘Key of Heaven’). Yet again this reissue has been retitled, the running order changed, and a track dropped, which all seems very strange indeed to me, making me wonder if there was some sort of licencing issue. While the Llabador brothers were of course at the helm, bassist Barreda had departed while drummer Catlado is credited now with percussion. The rest of the band at this point were Michel Montoyat (bass), Joel Allouche (drums) and Olivier Chabrol (saxophone, piano). The guys were obviously looking to switch musical tack at this point as the keyboards are becoming more dominant, while percussion is also very important as they try to bring in more of a South American and Latin feel. However, the lack of musical direction hurts them as there is no way I can imagine the band from 1973 playing “Si T’es Reggae / Digging Reggae?”. It is almost as if they have heard “Dreadlock Holiday” and...

(28:12; Castle Records) By the time of the debut album in 1977 there had been some changes in that they were now wholly instrumental and had dropped to a quartet of Jean-Pierre (guitars), Jean-Claude (keyboards, guitars) Jean-Pierre Barreda (bass) and Jacky Cataldo (drums). When it was released, it was self-named, but for some reason it has now been given the title ‘Put On Your Glasses And Listen To How Good It Smells Vol.1’ and a new cover, and I have no idea why. Also, not only has the sequence been amended but we now have just six songs instead of the original seven, with what was the longest track on the album, “Il Pleut Sur La Ville”, being inexplicably missed off so the total length of this is just 28 minutes. This album feels far more polished and controlled than the live one, which is probably to be expected, but the lack of woodwind definitely strikes into its enjoyment as I miss the additional melodic interplay. Cataldo is a fine jazz drummer, while Barreda is a superb bassis...

(49:28; Castle Records) Coincidence were a jazz rock fusion band formed by the Llabador brothers, Jean-Pierre (guitars, vocals) and Jean-Claude (guitars, keyboards, vocals) in France in the Seventies. They released two studio albums, but Jean-Claude was sadly killed in a car accident which led Jean-Pierre to then work as a solo artist, his debut solo album being called ‘Coincidences’ to show where he came from. Now, more than 40 years since that release, Castle Records are looking back at the legacy of the band with a previously unavailable live recording plus a reissue of the two studio albums. I have no idea why there are six people on the cover of this release, as according to the label the rest of the band at this time were Dominique Frasson-Cochet (flute, saxophone, vocals), André Simantirakis (bass, vocals) and René Mirguet (drums, percussion). The highlight of this set is opener “Glimpses” which is more than 30 minutes in length, containing lots of influences by Focus, Soft Mach...

(39:33; Unit Records) Track list: 1. Plato’s Clave 4:24 2. Ancestral Drift 6:20 3. Sao Paulo 4:37 4. Helio 4:09 5. Wren Song 6:26 6. Radar 4:14 7. Winged Travelers 4:43 8. Mr. Busyman Goes On Holiday 4:40 Line-up: Charley Rose - saxophones Fabio Gouvea - guitars Jeremie Krüttli - bass Lorenzo Vitolo - fender rhodes Marton Juhasz - drums Prolusion. Hungarian artist and composer Marton Juhasz has a career that goes back 15 years and a bit, and have participated on a number of different recordings over the years in addition to releasing solo albums along the way. His latest solo album is called "Metropolis", and was released through the label Unit Records in February 2025. Analysis. While it is safe to state that jazz is the main style explored on this instrumental production, this is also a creation that ventures into the jazzrock realm on regular occasions. While perhaps not a purebred example of the latter, depending on subjective point of view, it is most certainly a product...

(48:08; PeacockSunrise Records) Track list: 1. The Illuminating Sands of Time 12:28 2. Deep Waters Glow Brightly 14:30 3. Frequency Modulation 10:39 4. The Rhodes to Discovery 10:31 Line-up: Gayle Ellett - keyboards, guitars, sitar, bouzouki, soundscapes, effects Mark Cook - bass, Warr guitar, soundscapes, effects Craig Kahn - drums Prolusion. US band Gayle Ellett & The Electromags is the latest venture by US composer and musician Gayle Ellet, which in progressive rock circles may be better known for being a central member of long lasting US progressive rock band Djam Karet. Since 2002 this latest venture of Ellet has released three studio albums. The most recent of these is called "The Painted River of Light", and was released through US label PeacockSunrise Records at the start of 2025. Analysis. Instrumental progressive rock is the name of the game for this production, and in this case with long, complex compositions being the default feature: All of the compositions c...

(20:53; Unicorn Digital [2022 Edition] ) Back in the Nineties, before the internet and email (yes, there was such a time), the only way for fanzine editors and bands to communicate was through snail mail and by sending physical CDs through the post. I have no idea who contacted who first, but Michel St-Père and I were “talking” to each other in that manner back then, which is how I came to review the first two Mystery albums. It could be argued that Mystery have had three distinct phases to their career, defined by three different singers and the gaps created when one left. The current singer is, of course, Jean Pageau, while the singer prior to that was the one pinched by Yes, Benoît David. But when I first came across the band they sounded quite different, and the singer was Gary Savoie. There was a break of nine years between ‘Destiny?’ and ‘Beneath The Veil of Winter’s Face’, while there had only been two between the latter and the debut, ‘Theatre of the Mind’, but what I had not r...

(22:20: Hydrogen Band) Here is the third in a series of releases from Hydrogen Band, the name given to Barney Jones (guitar, bell tree, tape machine, metal clarinet), Dave Newhouse (e piano, organ, bass clarinet, flute) and Bev Stephenson (synth, bell tree, organ, penny whistle) who recorded these sessions in 1980. Barney and Bev are no longer with us by Dave has worked in Ian Beabout to bring to life these old recordings and make them into something new. This time we have just one long track, “3 Eye”, which is actually four sections edited together from two separate sessions, with some overlaps/fades.     Given it is from the source, it is no surprise that this is a logical follow-on from the other two EPs in this series, with all three musicians heavily into experimental improvisation, going where the mood takes them. The different multi-instrumentalists switch between what they are playing with an almost hypnotic repetition on keyboards at times and is definitely one o...

(71:00; Barock Project) The last album I heard from this Italian outfit was 2017’s excellent ‘Detachment’, at which time the core quartet brought in three singers to help out. However, by the time of the next album, 2019’s ‘Seven Seas’ they had brought in one of those singers, Alex Mari, firmly into the fold and now the quintet is back with the next. The rest of the band is still Luca Zabinni (keyboards, backing vocals, acoustic guitars), Eric Ombelli (drums), Marco Mazzuoccolo (electric guitars) and Francesco Caliendo (bass), so there is real continuity in the line-up. I am pretty sure if I played this to a proghead and they did not know the country of origin they would never pick Italy, as what we have here is a band who are bringing in multiple elements of the American AOR scene with more in common with the likes of Timothy Pure than the classic RPI outfits we all know so well. Now, that is a style of music I have long enjoyed, but while this is pleasant there is always the feeling ...

(43:04; Alberto Nemo / Claudio Milano / Niccolo Clemente) The latest release featuring Claudio Milano finds him again working with electronic artist Borda (Teo Ravelli) plus two pianists/electronic artists, Niccolò Clemente and Alberto Nemo. In English, the title means ‘Fracture/Appearance/Fade’ and it is worth understanding the concept behind this, which is that it is a  “musical and scenic action on a text by Niccolò Clemente aka Whale, which stands outside space and time, creating a world of its own, liturgical, cathartic, therapeutic, 'other'. It places conscious man at the centre of a sonic display without latitude or time (Western and Eastern modes, ancient and contemporary), without any pretence of clamour.” Given there is also a statement that the value of history “has lost the value of spirituality and a consciousness of the Jungian archetype in order to overcome its own limit” we can also state this is not a ‘normal’ release. However, I firmly believe that anything in...

(55:31; Off - Record Label) Although The Wrong Object were formed in the early 2000’s, it was not until 2006 that their first album came out, when they collaborated with the iconic and legendary Elton Dean on ‘The Unbelievable Truth’. A couple more albums followed in quick succession, but then there was a gap until 2013, and releases have been somewhat sporadic since then, but given how the musicians are also involved in other bands that is not surprising at all. What we have here is not a new album, but rather a collection ten previously unreleased or unavailable compositions, most of them rescued from flash drives, minidisc recordings and reel-to-reel tapes. Some of it was recorded in the studio, some at gigs, and while they are often planned recordings there are also some here which were recorded by a fan. According to the label these recordings are mostly before the band began to stabilize around founder Michel Delville and drummer Laurent Delchambre, but what it doesn’t tell me is...

(40:44; Wormholedeath) The Wring were brought together by guitarist Don Dewulf in 2015, since when they have had a different line-up on each album, this being the fourth. Bassist Reggie Hache played on the last release, 2022’s ‘Spectra’ and he returns, adding vocals and keyboards as well while on drums there is new member Kyle Brian Abbott who has quite a seat to fill given that Marco Minnemann played on the last album. Mind you, if he has any nerves, he certainly does not show it, as this is a blast from beginning to end. What we get here in the eight songs, just over 40 minutes in length, is a band who are coming at this from heavy rock roots with progressive and jazz influences. There is something about this band which reminds me of a combination of Mastermind and Rush, but given they are Canadian it is perhaps not surprising that they have picked up some of those influences along the way. There is no room to hide in a trio, and each of these guys are on fire, happily blasting away ...

(55:17; Freia Music) It may have taken six years, but Tumbletown are back with their third album. It is the same line-up as previously, so we have Aldo Adema (guitar, bass, keyboards) who I will always think of as being part of Egdon Heath, Han Uil (lead & backing vocals, keyboards, harmonica) who was with Also in Seven Day Hunt, Erik Laan (piano, organ, keyboards, backing vocals) from the wonderful Silhouette while the drums are provided again by Arjan Laan.  This album has been out just over a year, yet there is not a single review on ProgArchives which is something of a shame as in many ways this is an improvement on the last one. Back then I was not a fan of the vocals or the way the lyrics scanned, but it is much better this time and is often now a benefit as opposed to a distraction, although it must be said they come across better when the band is moving rapidly as opposed to ballads. Erik has a much higher profile on this release, often providing multiple layers at the ...

(57:19; White Knight Records) Stuckfish were formed in 2017 by guitarist/producer Adrian Fisher and vocalist/lyricist Philip Stuckey, both of whom had been in the  1980's NWOBHM Wallsend-based band 'Overkill' (note, this is not to be confused with the other NWOBHM band of the same name who were also known as Dream Overkill). Since then they have released three albums and have been through more than their fair share of line-ups, including some who sadly passed away due to Covid. They came to the recognition of many with their third album, 2022’s ‘Days of Innocence’, and now they are back with their fourth. Alongside Ade and Phil are Paul McNally (keyboards), Adam Sayers (drums & percussion) and Phil Morey (bass) and this album includes not only their shortest song ever but also their longest (which is less than ten minutes, so is it really long?). If ever a band could be classified as the definition of crossover prog then this is it, as here we have a melodic rock band w...

(60:00; Seventh Dimension) This Swedish progressive metal outfit is new to me, but they have been around for more than a decade, and this is their fifth album. The line-up has been incredibly stable with  Rikard Wallström (bass), Marcus Thorén (drums), Luca Delle Fave (guitars, vocals) and Erik Bauer (keyboards) playing on all releases, while this the first with new singer Markus Tälth, who replaced Nico Lauritsen. What we have here is polished metal which straddles the line between prog metal and melodic metal so that it is really blurred, sometimes feeling more one than the other. Mind you, anyone who is going to put their neck on the line and cover Dream Theater, as they did in 2020 when they released “A Change of Seasons”, all 23 minutes of it, has a lot of confidence in their own abilities and rightly so. This is one of those releases when one does not have to think too hard about it, just sit back and enjoy it. This is designed to be fun and all one has to do is ensure there ...

(43:43; Freia Music) It has been quite some time since I last came across Dutch outfit Nine Stones Close. They were originally a solo project by Adrian Jones (guitar, bass), who brought in other musicians to create a band in time for the second album, 2010’s ‘Traces’, and I reviewed both that and 2012’s ‘One Eye on the Sunrise’. Mind you, there has been a gap of eight years since their fourth album, and this time around we see a return for keyboard player Brendan Eyre (Riversea) who played on those two, plus vocalist Adrian “Aio” O'Shaughnessy (Psychic For Radio), Christiaan Bruin on keyboards (Sky Architect) and new rhythm section Joachim van Praagh (bass) and Lars Spijkervet (drums). I was quite enamoured with the two previous albums I had come across, but there is something about this one which feels somewhat soulless and almost by numbers. It has little in the way of joyousness and warmth and consequently comes across as quite a cold release. This does not feel like a band, but...

(60:09; Karisma Records) Here we have the third album by the Norwegian octet fronted by brother and sister Johanne-Margrethe Kippersund Nesdal (lead & backing vocals) and Knut Kippersund Nesdal (lead & backing vocals, keyboards) who are joined by  Eivind Strømstad (electric & acoustic guitars, electric baritone guitar, keyboards, programming, backing vocals), Åsa Ree (violin, backing vocals), Ingvild Nordstoga Sandvik (viola, backing vocals), Ole Gjøstøl (acoustic grand piano, keyboards, programming, electric organ, church organ, backing vocals), Morten Strypet (bass, backing vocals) and Mats Fjeld Lillehaug (drums & percussion, backing vocals). Of course, as there are not enough of them in the band, they also have some guests as well. I must confess to being somewhat at a loss as to why this is the first time I have come across them as what we have here is a crossover progressive pop band with wonderful vocals, hooks, and songs which are immediate and grandiose. Th...

(48:17; Dark Essence Records) It is a long time since I last heard the band led by siblings Agnete Kirkevaag (vocals) and BP M. Kirkevaag (guitar, vocals), in fact more than 20 years ago when I reviewed ‘All Flesh Is Grass’. I lost track of them after that but when I was offered the opportunity to hear their eighth studio album I jumped at the opportunity. Only drummer Mads Solås is still there from the old days, with the rest of the band now comprising Anders Langberg (guitars) and Tormod L. Moseng (bass). Having not heard the recent releases I cannot say if this is a continuation or not, but whereas the first five albums came out in fairly quick succession there was a gap of seven years to the sixth, and there has been six years between this one and the last. Classified as a tech/extreme prog metal band, these guys have progressed since their goth metal start as Mystery Tribe, but there is a still a darkness within their souls. This Is not an album which bears being split apart but i...

(49:16; Lion Music) Multi-instrumentalist Lars Eric Mattsson is back with his (I think) sixteenth solo album, again aided and abetted by Andy Falconetti on drums while the strings and orchestral choirs are performed by the Astral Strings: given this is not his only project (there are plenty of others, such as Astral Groove, Eli, Lars Eric Mattsson’s Vision, Condition Red, Book Of Reflections) that is quite some output. This is the follow-up to the previous year’s ‘Evolution’, which was the first release I had heard from Lars in some years even though I first came across his music decades ago. Lars is widely regarded as a Malmsteen-style shredder, but as with his last album what immediately strikes me is the quality of the vocals and the way the material is arranged to keep them at the forefront with all the guitars histrionics and nuances on sitar, keyboards etc designed to highlight them. This is all about ensuring everything is about the song as opposed to the ego, which is refreshin...