(33:27; Chaos Over Cosmos) Track list: 1. Nostalgia for Something That Never Happened 4:32 2. When the Void Laughs 9:13 3. Event Horizon Rebirth 8:31 4. The Cosmo-Agony: Requiem 9:47 5. The Fractal Mechanism 1:24 Line-up: Rafal Bowman - guitars, programming, vocals Taha Mohsin - vocals Prolusion. Poland based band Chaos Over Cosmos started out back in 2015, and in the decade that they have been active they have released a good handful of albums and EPs, with their first output appearing in 2018. Their latest production is the album "The Hypercosmic Paradox", which was released in the fall of 2025. This is their fourth full length album, and was self released by the band. Analysis. While I describe this venture as a band, it would appear that Chaos Over Cosmos first and foremost is the creative vehicle of composer and musician Rafal Bowman. But whether the case is this or that, it is a strikingly singular creation we get in this case. With a very defined and distinct sound. Pr...

(61:45; Weltenblau) Track list: : One Life 1. The Spirit Of Nature 6:49 2. The Spirit Of Man 1:40 3. Magic Eyes 4:49 4. Another Life 11:43 5. The Same Old Way 5:26 : Two Steps Ahead Of Time 6. F.M. 1916 1:27 7. Dolphin's Ride 5:25 8. A Pair Of Hands 6:15 : Challenge Of The Unknown 9. In The Dark 6:01 10. Greater Unknown 2:14 11. Now And Here 3:02 12. In Every Stranger's Eyes 6:54 Line-up: Eva-Maria Baumann - flute, vocals Hartwig Dieterich - bass Thomas Glönkler - guitars Ralf Grossmann - vocals, guitars Steffen Herrmann - keyboards Joachim Lauber - drums Prolusion. German band ICU was formed back in 1989, and until the band disbanded in 1997 they released three studio albums. Their arguably most renowned album was their second one, "Now and Here", which dates back to 1995. In the second half of 2025 this album was given an anniversary reissue through German label Weltenblau. Analysis. In the liner notes of the album, it is described that there was a disagreement with...

(44:30; Giant Face) Formed in 2023, UK band Giant Face describe themselves as a prog metal outfit, and a few months ago released their debut album. All four core members of the band are multi-instrumentalists, but on this release provided the following, Freddie Whaley (drums), Will Herrick (bass), Charlie Hilton (keyboards) and Ben Walker (guitar). However, this is not an instrumental album, and lead vocals were provided by Adam Pugh on a session basis but surely he will become a full member as his vocals are key to this. I am not surprised to find these guys have all been studying music at university as the band they remind me of is Mr. So & So who had a somewhat similar background. Sadly they are long gone although guitarist Dave Foster is still very active in the scene (Steve Rothery, Big Big Train, Legend and many more), and while that band was heavily based around the complex basslines, here we have an outfit who are precociously young and bringing together complex threads in ...

(40:34; Compassionizer) I spent a lot of the Eighties listening to hard rock/metal and heading back into the Seventies to listen to classic prog as I just didn’t get much of what was going on in the pop charts, and consequently while I was certainly aware of Depeche Mode, I never voluntarily listened to any of their music and own none of their releases. In the UK they have had 54 songs in the charts, 17 Top 10 albums, and have sold more than 100 million records worldwide and are still a working entity more than 40 years after they originally started, but I can’t name a single song of theirs so to be presented with a tribute EP containing six songs and lasting 41 minutes is somewhat difficult to review. Or is it? As I don’t recognise any of the songs all I can do is treat this as an EP of new material, as I cannot comment on whether the interpretation adds anything to the original, shines a new light or brings to the fore some unrecognised hidden beauty. Mostly instrumental, we have Ser...

(47:16; Karisma Records) Here we have the follow-up to 2023’s ‘Fire Fortellinger’, and again Frøislie has been joined by Nikolai Hængsle (bass guitars) while  Ketil Einarsen (flute, recorder) has also been involved. Frøislie provides vocals, drums and a wonderful array of keyboards,  Hammond C3 with Leslie 147, Mellotron M400, Minimoog Model D, Chamberlin M-1, Hohner Clavinet D6, Yamaha CP70B, William de Blaise spinet, Arp Pro Soloist, Arp Axxe, Solina String Ensemble, Tremoloa, Rhodes mkII, Wurlitzer 200, recorder. Anyone using a Hammond C3, Mellotrons, Moogs and Hohner are going to be producing sounds evocative of a certain period and yet again we are in a time machine, heading back to the Seventies. I find it fascinating that some bands get huge amounts of reviews and a real groundswell of opinion while others struggle, and there is no doubt that this album falls into the former. The title itself is derived from the ancient oak tree Den Gamle Mester, which can be found at K...

(46:46; Karisma Records) This is the second album from Wobbler (and White Willow) keyboard player Lars Fredrik Frøislie to be released this year, but I am reviewing it first as this is actually a new version of his 2023 debut, now with Italian vocals provided by Stefano "Lupo" Galifi (Museo Rosenbach). Apart from bassist Nikolai Hængsle, all music is provided by Lars, and it is basically a huge list of keyboards: Hammond C3, Mellotron M400, Minimoog D, Chamberlin M1, Hohner Clavinet D6, spinet, Yamaha electric piano, ARP Axxe & Pro Soloist synths, Solina String Ensemble, Rhodes MKII, Wurlitzer 200, tremoloa (zither), recorder, drums. I have not heard the original release, ‘Fire Fortellinger’, but I can certainly hear why Frederik wanted the mighty Galifi involved as this is solid RPI as opposed to symphonic, and the Italian vocals make that even more so.  It contains just four songs, with two six-minute pieces bookended by two sixteen-minute numbers, although I must say t...

(50:36; Cobalt Wave) Formed in Gdańsk, Poland, in 2022 the current line-up came together the following year and features Arkadiusz Biskup (drums), Kuba Łopatka (vocals, guitars), Mikołaj Piotrzkowski (keyboards), Daniel Wicenty (bass) and Marcin Zazoniuk (guitars). I have long been a huge admirer of the progressive rock which comes out of Poland – they have a rich heritage and a very deep well of talent, much of the time performing in a very Western style with English lyrics, and that is what we have here on an album which is highly themed on the fear and fascination with technology. I am particularly taken with opener “New Religion”, which in many ways reminds me of Ben Elton’s wonderful (and frightening) 2007 novel, “Blind Faith”, with their view that social media is now being worshipped like a cult and that we must always remember to “like, share and subscribe”. Musically this is a mix between crossover and neo, very much in a modern progressive style, often with piano at the base, ...

(5xCD Box Set, Esoteric Recordings) I have long had a soft spot for Tangerine Dream’s wonderful sixth album, so was really intrigued when I heard there was going to be a 50th anniversary 5-disc set being released, and I was definitely not disappointed. Nearly five hours in length, disc one features the remastered original stereo mix, along with an extended introduction of ‘Rubycon’ which has been mixed by Steven Wilson, while the next two discs contain the complete concert recorded at The Rainbow in London in October 1974 while the last two contain the complete concert at The Royal Albert Hall in April 1975 (which featured Michael Hoening replacing Peter Baumann). As well as the music, there is a fascinating booklet containing loads of photos and press snippets as well as a new essay by Tangerine Dream expert Wouter Bessels. Unless you already love this album this is not a set you will be purchasing, no matter what I say, but if you are already a fan then then this is a wonderful colle...

(85:00; Valetes Records) Six years on from their debut, ‘Out of the Loop’, Brazilian retro proggers Atomic Time are back with their second. I have seen a lot of positive commentary about this album so decided to seek it out for myself and see what all the fuss is about. Comprising Roger Lopes (vocals), Gabriel D'Incao (keyboards, synths), Pedro D'Incao (guitar), Fernando Lima (bass), Humberto Zigler (drums) and Kim Chandler (backing vocals), here we have a band who obviously do not believe the last 50 years have happened and instead have rooted themselves deep in the Seventies. Different reviewers seem to hear different influences, but we do all agree that Pink Floyd is very much in the mix, yet for me the most obvious influence is Barclay James Harvest, plus some Camel while Tangerine Dream and Eloy also have small parts to play. It is an incredibly laid-back album, and consequently there are few in the way of dynamics and contrast to really make this stand out as the band ple...

(47:22; Greydisc) Before I had the opportunity to review Kevin’s latest album with Sandor Szabo a new one arrived, this time featuring Carl Clements on their eighth outing together, so it is only fitting to review this one at the same time. This is a very different release to the one Kevin recently completed with Szabo as he provides 17-string Sub-contraguitar, 18-string Contraguitar, 24-string Double Sub-contraguitar, 30-string Double Contraguitar while Carl is on Tenor and Soprano saxophones plus Alto flute, so a very different musical offering indeed. Also, it follows the normal way of Kevin’s recordings in that it was undertaken in just one day, 23rd January 2025. Here we find Carl often taking the lead, with Kevin providing support in very unusual manners and configurations, allowing Carl to develop his sound and motifs, knowing that Kevin is there with his multi-stringed instruments to assist him in taking the music in directions which are both unusual and powerful. It is music w...

(52:03; Greydisc) Somewhat incredibly, here we have the 17th album from Kevin Kastning and Sandor Szabo. Longtime readers of my reviews will know how much I enjoy Kevin’s collaborations, as the emphasis is always on live composition between participants, and when two people have worked together in that fashion for so long then the results will always be fascinating. Here Kevin provides 17-string Sub-contraguitar, 18-string Contraguitar, 30-string Contra-Baritone guitar, 30-string Double Contraguitar, 24-string Double Sub-contraguitar while Sandor is on 16-string Classical guitar and 6-string Classical guitar and one thing I immediately noticed when looking at the press release was the length of time the recordings took. Normally Kevin will book just a day, or two, to record yet here we have an album which commenced in December 2024 and was not completed until the following June. The instruments played by Kevin are of his own design, so he can play the music he has long been hearing in ...

(16:30; The Bob Lazar Story) It has been way too long, but Matt Deacon (guitars, anything else he fancies) and drummer Chris Jago are back together for the first time since 2022, and if that wasn’t enough they have somehow convinced bassist Mike Fudakowski to again put his reputation on the line and return for the first time since 2019’s ‘Vanquisher’ while saxophonist Gareth Wyn Jones also plays on two numbers. As Matt says, ‘From Mouth To Ear’ “brings you a heady blend of wonketprogmellowmathcore, which has always been your favourite genre.” So now you know. What you might not understand, apart from Matt having a very British sense of humour (except like me he now lives in New Zealand), is that The Bob Lazar Story are one of the most under-rated instrumental bands around. In some ways they are a logical extension of Cardiacs, and I am sure that if Matt was in any other country than Aotearoa the band would be a major player in the scene, even if he does have any unhealthy fascination w...

(72:00; Giant Electric Pea) What we have here is a very interesting compilation, or possibly a sampler, of IQ’s music from the last 30 years, going all the way back to ‘Ever’ which was released in 1993. The idea behind this was to provide a distilled essence of the band with a series of edits so there is no song longer than five minutes, which is quite an achievement. Going through the song titles I think we have at least one song from each of the last nine albums, including this year’s ‘Dominion’, which means we also have performances from every member of the band who has ever been on a studio album in the last 40+ years apart from Paul Menel. I must confess I was not too sure what to expect, as some of the edits have been quite brutal. For example, “The Darkest Hour” has shrunk from 10:52 to 3:34, yet it still works and although we do have some fades in places, overall this album is a huge success. Somehow the songs have more intensity, and although I will always prefer the “full” ve...

(77:00; Esoteric Antenna) It is always unfortunate when main songwriters in a band have a disagreement and decide to split, never to work together again, and sadly that is the case with BJH when John Lees and Les Holroyd broke up the band in 1998. The other two founder members took a side each, Woolly Wolstenholme (who had previously left the band nearly 20 years earlier) joined with John while Mel Pritchard went with Les, since when we have had two different versions of the band doing the rounds, although both Mel and Woolly are sadly no longer with us. I always felt it was the balance between John and Les which made BJH such a vital outfit, but the spark had gone long before they finally went their separate ways, with the last truly essential BJH album being probably 1976’s ‘Octoberon’, and the final album of theirs I bought on release was 1984’s ‘Victims of Circumstance’. In my view all their albums had some excellent songs, but newer releases had fewer and fewer, so although I stil...

(111:00; InsideOut Music) King Crimson are/were a band who have continued to reinvent themselves, always with Fripp solidly at the helm. He decided in 1974 that the band was over forever, and went away and did different things, including a lot of session work, but by 1980 he decided it was time to form a new band, which he was going to call Discipline. Bruford was back onboard,  and was soon joined by Adrian Belew (Bowie, Zappa), the first time Fripp would be working with another guitarist, with the line-up finally being settled by the addition of Tony Levin who Fripp had played with in Peter Gabriel’s band. Of course, the name was soon changed to King Crimson, and this quartet recorded three groundbreaking albums in quick succession before Fripp again shut down the band, ‘Discipline’, ‘Beat’, and ‘Three of a Perfect Pair’.  In 2024 it was announced a new band had been formed by Adrian Belew and Tony Levin to recreate the songs from that period. Apparently both Bruford and Fri...

(79:08: Aural Hallucinations) Here we have the third album from Dr. Space (Øresund Space Collective, Doctors of Space, Black Moon Circle, etc.) and Matthew Couto (Kind, ex-Elder), following on from 2020’s ‘Alucinações Auditivas’ and 2021’s ‘Hearing What You See’. Scott flew to Massachusetts in March this year to record with Matt, and it was actually the first time they had even been in the same room together, with the other recordings completed remotely. Due to the two musicians working together instead of remotely the music took twists and turns they did not expect, with the heavily layered instruments also having field noises added by  Lúis Antero not far from where Scott lives in Portugal. Talking of the instruments, on this release they utilised Pittsburgh Modular, Custom Modular, MOOG Spectravox, MOOG Opus 3, Jen SX1000 synthesizer, Bastl Kastle, Bastl Drum Kastle!, MFOS mini-modular, multiple guitar effects pedals (MXR-Reverb, Phaser, Carbon Copy, RAT, Snare Trap). I have list...

(37:44; Esoteric Antenna) I surely cannot be the only person who was stunned to hear that a brand-new Atomic Rooster album was being released as I had thought the band had broken up in the Eighties, being permanently laid to rest with the death of Vincent Crane in 1989, as how could there be a band without him? Through all the membership trials and tribulations he was the only constant, and I consider myself highly fortunate that the band played the student union at my university more than 40 years ago when he was again joined by John Du Cann and Paul Hammond (and were incredible). In 2016, Vincent’s widow apparently let ex-members Pete French (‘In Hearing Of Atomic Rooster’) and Steve "Boltz" Bolton (‘Made In England’) resurrect the name, even though the former was in the band only in 1971 and the latter 1971-1972. Since then they have been touring and there have been some changes with the current line-up now Bolton (guitars, vocals), Adrian Gautrey (keyboards, vocals), Shug...

(5xCD Box Set; Hear No Evil Recordings) I have always had a huge soft spot for this band, as they refused to die when Mick Box should have given it up many times, and they are still going today! Arguably, the line-up from 1972-1974, which produced four studio and one live album, namely David Byron (vocals), Mick Box (guitar, vocals), Ken Hensley (keyboards, guitar, vocals), Lee Kerslake (drums, vocals) and Gary Thain (bass, vocals), is the one which many think of as the premier band. However, I have always felt it is better to think of Heep by albums, and to me it is the first five plus ‘Abominog’, ‘Head First’, and ‘Sea of Light’ which are the ones to go for. What we have here is a five CD set containing music recorded in 73-74, so we get ‘Sweet Freedom’ and ‘Wonderworld’, both with additional  cuts, and the set opens with the 2003 expanded version of the 1973 live album which includes film mixes of material recorded at a special set in 1974. So there are four discs, and then ther...

(62:00; Karisma Records [2025 Edition] ) Here we have the last in the White Willow remaster and reissue series from Karisma with their sixth album, 2011’s ‘Terminal Twilight’. Following from 2006’s ‘Signal to Noise’ the band felt somewhat burned out and Jacob Holm-Lupo took a break to work on his art pop band The Opium Cartel and other projects and it was only after this that he decided to work again on White Willow (the next album took even longer, and there has been nothing since 2017). This time the band decided to record and produce the album on their own while ex-drummer Mattias Olsson returned for the first time since 1998’s ‘Ex Tenebris’.  Holm-Lupo later stated that prior to working on the material he had been gorging himself on Italian prog rock, especially Le Orme, and that some of those influences came into his writing.   I wonder if he had also been listening to no-man, as is somewhat surprising to find Tim Bowness guesting on lead vocals on “Kansas Regrets”, ...

(44:41, Friends of the Fish) A small child has fallen asleep in the safe embrace of cuddly toys, a lamp provides light to the darkness, removing all thoughts of monsters and instead imbuing a gentle and calming glow to the scene. Even before I started listening to the fourth album from Swedish duo Britt Ronnholm (vocals) and Anders Haakanson (instruments) I was intrigued to hear it, and for the most part I was not disappointed. I have long been a fan of folk, folk rock and folk psyche, loving the vocals of such great singers as Sandy Denny, Jacqui McShee, Judy Dyble, Maddy Prior and more, and when the arrangements are atmospheric there is something beautiful taking place, and that is what we have here. Anders is a master of multiple instruments, and he takes care to build fragile tapestries for Britt to place her vocals against, structures which are barely there, but provide just the right amount of support for us to fall under Britt’s spell. This never sounds like an album from 2025, ...

(62:00; Roxx Records) I don’t think I will ever get fed up of being contacted by musicians who have been told to get in touch with me by another musician, and that is the case here when Jef Bek told Thomas McKeown to send me his debut release. Here Thomas provides lead and backup vocals, guitar, bass, piano, organ, synth and percussion and he is joined by Patrick Culligan (drums), Heather Humphrey (choir vocals) and Gary Jacklin (violin and viola). Apparently, Thomas used to be in a progressive rock band called Damascus, and he says this is a return to his progressive roots, and it seems to me that he has been listening to a great deal of Neal Morse, as well as some of Neal’s influences (particularly Kansas). Somehow this album has passed PA by as he is not listed there (I’m doing something about that) which shows just how hard it can be for quality music to get to the right areas, even in the small world which is progdom, as this is a delight from beginning to end. It never sounds lik...

(150:00; Cherry Red [2025 Edition] ) There is no doubt that the original line-up of The Pentangle were hugely influential, releasing six albums between 1968 and 1972, with this being the final one until the band reformed in the Eighties and then went through different iterations. Jacqui McShee (vocals), John Renbourn (vocals and guitar),  Bert Jansch (vocals and guitar),  Danny Thompson (double bass) and Terry Cox (drums) had a very English sound, and instead of folk rock described it themselves as folk jazz (while they are also regarded as prog folk by some). The interplay of Jansch and Renbourn was intense while Thompson has long been regarded as one of the finest double bassists ever, Cox was a widely sought after drummer (later spending years with Charles Aznavour!) and McShee was one of the most important singers in the scene. I am sure that most people who enjoy this style of music already have this album in their collection, but this has been put together in such a mann...