(48:19; Karisma Records) ‘A Pact With Nature’ was recorded live at Oslo’s biggest independent record store Big Dipper, as part of Tusmørke’s 25th anniversary celebration last October. Somewhat incredibly this is their first ever live release, even though they have released eleven studio albums (and also is the first I have heard so am not sure how similar this is to their normal output). The line-up of Benediktator (bass, vocals), Krizla (flute, vocals), Herjekongen (keyboards) and Kusken (drums) were expanded for this event by guests Dauinghorn (guitars) and Åsa Ree (violin, backing vocals), and given the importance of those instruments to the overall sound one can see the need for them to be involved. I love the following comment from Benediktator, “Is this Folk Horror? Silly question, perhaps, but we need you to mutter certain phrases while listening: Bucolic, acoustic, ancient, uncanny; acid, pagan, peasant, occult; wildness, wilderness, wilderness, Wicker Man…We ask you to close y...

(146:00; Inside Out Music) I have said it before, and will say it again, but my favourite period of Genesis was the one which contained Steve Hackett, and since his departure he has done much more to keep the original style alive than any of his ex-bandmates, even when they were still called Genesis. Anyone who has seen him perform in recent years will be comfortable with the way he spends roughly half the set performing songs from his solo albums, and the other playing Genesis material with which he was originally involved. There is no doubt it is always a magical night out, and he has been one of the few prog musicians to find Aoteaora on a map, so I have been fortunate enough to see him twice in the last decade or so. I would still like to hear him perform a complete set of his own songs, as when I first saw him some 30 years ago that was what he was concentrating on, but I fully understand why he feels he needs to keep the Genesis flame burning. Captured at The Royal Albert Hall la...

(38:10; Cuneiform Records) There is no doubt that Cuneiform are one of the most important labels in the world as they continue to make available music which otherwise would have been lost, and here we have a fine example in The Reference Group who were only around in 2007/08, played just one gig and recorded just eight tracks (all collected here). The group was formed by Ralf Nygård (digital bass with a Zanzithophone or Casio Digital Horn) and Michael Maksymenko (drums, some vocals) who we then joined by Jimmy Ågren (slide guitar) and Mathias Danielsson (guitar). Four of the songs were recorded under normal studio conditions, while the others were recorded with a digital hand-held recording machine which only had two channels, so this sounds rawer. The band were geographically separated which made it difficult for them to rehearse which led to the dissolution of the band, which is a real shame as this is a very powerful and enjoyable album indeed. They were a rock band but definitely c...

(37:52; MGP Records) Some years back Swiss guitarist Nicolas Meier was playing a show with violinist Lizzie Ball when he realised Jeff Beck was in the audience. Beck enjoyed it so much that he invited the pair for a jam, which turned into sessions, which led to Meier touring the world with Beck for the next two years. Last year he decided to revisit all the compositions he had written for Beck, some of which they had performed live, and record a new album with the assistance of Lizzie Ball on violin, Gary Husband on drums, Jimmy Haslip on bass, Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, Richard Jones on violin, Arran McSporran on bass and Nicolas on electric guitars, acoustic nylon and steel guitars, 12 string guitar and synth guitar. There are also a couple of guest guitarists in the wonderful Dewa Budjana (on two tracks) and Krissy Matthews (one). Vinnie and Jimmy both played on his last album, ‘Infinity’, which was distributed by Favored Nations (Steve Vai's Label) and saw the band open for Vai ...

(57:31; Cromosoma M) In June last year Massimo brought together a band to play his debut solo album, ‘A New Beginning’, all the way through. That release consists of 15 tracks through which Massimo demonstrates his point of view on society by reflecting back on his own personal problems and life experiences, and it originally took more than 30 musicians to bring his dream to reality. That would not be possible for this event, so he used some of his Noage bandmates in singer Germana Noage (Aetherna), drummer Andres Gualco (Darker, ex-Tersivel) and bassist Michele Raspanti (Graal, S.O.S., ex-Tular, ex-Secret Rule), along with guitarists Roberto Falcinelli (who played on the debut) and  Simone Cozzetto while Massimo of course provided keyboards. I really enjoyed the album but given the depth of talent available on that (which included no less than 12 singers of different styles, both male and female), it was always going to be a hard ask to bring that to life, but overall this has gon...

(46:51; Quadrifonic) As well as the reissue of Jean Pierre Louveton’s third solo album, ‘Cannibales’, to celebrate its 20th anniversary, we also now have his twelfth. He has again been joined by ex-Nemo bandmate Jean Baptiste Itier on drums, but this time he only plays on the last four songs, with the first three instead featuring Florent Ville who also played on the last album, ‘Sapiens Chapitre 3/3: Actum’. Elise Bourg guests on vocals on six of the songs, while pianist Stephane Vouillot is on three, with JPL of course providing everything else. It has been three years since his last new album, but during that period he released the wonderful triple CD compilation ‘1994-2024’ as well as working on ‘Cannibales’ so he has been rather busy. JPL is one of those musicians who define the Crossover sub-genre in that his style of progressive rock is always highly melodic with some commercial influences, but he also likes to use elements of symphonic while he is also never afraid to bring his...

(69:39; JPL [2025 Edition] ) Originally released in 2005, what we have here is the third solo album from JPL, released between the third and fourth Nemo albums. JP provides vocals, guitar and bass and he is joined by bandmates Guillaume Fontaine (keyboards) and bassist Lionel B. Guichard (who had just joined Nemo and would appear on the next release) and a few guests. What we have here is a reissue, 20 years on, which has been remixed and partially re-recorded. It contains two versions of “Le Prix de l'Exil” and both the original and new versions of “St Pétrole”. I was not aware of either JP or Nemo when it was originally released, as it was only with being sent a copy of ‘Immersion Publique – Live’ and reviewing it in 2006 that I came across them, so this is the first time I have heard this. What is obvious from the off is just how forward the guitars are in the mix, much more than one would normally expect from a prog release, as JPL has obviously been influenced by shredders and...

(124:00, Frontiers Music) It is not the first time there have been two versions of Yes doing the rounds: the last time was when we had both ABWH and Yes, which eventually saw the bands come together for ‘Union’. For some reason, Yes were unable to find New Zealand on a map until fairly recently, and I count myself lucky to have seen the Davidson, Howe, Squire, Downes, White line-up twice. However, I do also think there has only been one truly enjoyable album since ‘Drama’ (which is one of my favourites – I don’t care what anyone else says), which is 2011’s ‘Fly From Here’. There is something about the Seventies and Anderson, Wakeman, Howe, Squire, Bruford/White which was truly remarkable, and they have never been able to truly recapture that, which means in all honesty we now have two cover bands on the circuit, and which is the better? True, I would go and see either if they discovered where Aoteaora is on a map (something which map makers themselves seem to often fail at), but if I h...

(21:23; Cuneiform Records) I have not seen the physical CD of this release, but I can only hope it includes the notes from each member of the band, as they are incredibly interesting. After the 2014 ‘Minimal Gods’ tour they needed a break, and somehow that break lasted for ten years and could still be going on until today if not for Cuneiform Records’ boss  Steve Feigenbaum asking the guys if they would like to be involved in the fortieth anniversary of that august label. Consequently Kenichi Morimoto (keyboards), Takahiro Izutani (guitar), Hidemi Ichikawa (bass) and Keiichi Nagase (drums) found themselves in a rehearsal studio for the first time in ten years and it was as if they had never been apart. The title comes from the 40 years of Cuneiform, along with the 37 years of Happy Family (although in fairness they had a 15-year break before the last album, so plus the ten from recently they have been apart from than they have been together), and the concept was that each of the ba...

(34:02; Half Past Four) Back in 2018 I reviewed the 2016 mini-album by this Canadian outfit and asked the question “where have you been?”. The reason for that statement was although their debut was released in 2008, and the follow-up in 2013, this was the first time I had come across them, and given I think I have a fairly good idea on what is happening in the progverse it was a surprise to find such an amazing outfit who had pedigree. The thing is, I am obviously not the only one, as upon looking on ProgArchives I notice there has not been another review of that release, 9 years after it came out! They are now back with their third full-length album, released in May, and yet again I find myself the first person to write about it, which is nothing short of astonishing. There has been a line-up change since the last one but given that has been nine years it probably is not too surprising, with Kyree Vibrant (lead vocals, backing vocals), Dmitry Lesov (bass, backing vocals) and Igor Kurt...

(71:00; Inside Out Music) The Flower Kings are back with their 17th studio album, following on from 2023’s ‘Look At You Now’ with Roine Stolt (vocals, electric, acoustic, 6- & 12-string guitars, ukulele), Hans Fröberg (vocals), Michael Stolt (bass, moogbass, vocals) and Mirko DeMaio (drums, percussion) now welcoming Lalle Larsson (grand piano, Rhodes piano, Hammond B3, synthesizers) as a full member after guesting on one track on the last one. Roine and Hans have been with the band since it was formed by Roine in 1994 as a way of performing his solo album of the same name, while Michael came back to the fold in 2021 after more than 20 years away, so they certainly have strong ideas on what they want to achieve, with 10 of the 12 numbers composed by Roine. I will always have a soft spot for this band, as they were the first group my youngest daughter ever saw play, sat on the stage in awe of Roine. But we all know that they can have an annoying tendency not to edit where they should...

(73:11; Cuneiform Records [2025 Edition] ) Here is the 1977 debut album from Patrick Forgas, which was only available on vinyl until it was released on CD by Musea in 2008 with an additional 13 tracks taking its running time up to 73 minutes, and now that has been picked up and reissued by Cuneiform. This is the first time I have come across any of Patrick’s solo albums, but following this release there was a gap until 1990 when he released the next, and then later formed Forgas Band Phenomena, and I have reviewed a couple of theirs which also follow his heavy influence of Robert Wyatt. If we take the original album first, excluding the additional tracks, it is something of quite a strange beast in that Side A and Side B are very different indeed. The first side contains 9 tracks, of which only three are more than two minutes long, and some sound finished while others are more like demos. Patrick is primarily a drummer and singer, although here he provides many other instruments as wel...