(40:47; Melodic Revolution Records) Back with their third album, there has been yet more significant line-up changes in this project which continues to evolve and delight. Drummer and songwriter Derek Ferguson and producer Ian Beabout (Colouratura) are still there of course, with Mitch Lawrence (clarinets and saxes) now being promoted to full band member after guesting on 2024’s ‘Intourist’. This time around there are two new special guests who have had a huge impact on the overall sound, namely bassist and vocalist Jan Christiana and keyboardist and vocalist Dyanne Potter Voegtlin (both from Potter's Daughter and  Octarine Sky), and if that was not enough there are also a series of guests including  David Jackson (VDGG),  Rick Witkowski (Crack the Sky), Joe Deninzon (Kansas)  and Jerry King (Cloud Over Jupiter) among others. The result is an album which sits somewhere between pomp rock, prog rock and AOR and there are times when we are transported back to the late S...

(38:50; Regal Crabomophone) The way Icarus Peel (guitars) describes it, is that he was having a lovely dinner with his old friend Steve Palmer (soundscapes) and by the time they got to the cheese course they had decided they would create a new musical project containing four 10-minute-long instrumentals. It was only a matter of time until Jay Tausig (drums) and Rob Gould (keyboards) were persuaded to donate their time, talents and names to the project which they have described as being like a lost Harvest album from the Seventies, or possibly it is reminiscent of Gong or Barclay James Harvest. The band themselves say they may have been influences by Tangerine Dream, Burnin' Red Ivanhoe, The Damned, Steve Hillage, Jeff Beck, Krautrock, Canterbury Rock, Vertigo, Vegetarianism, Arthur Koestler and Gustav Klimt (although not all at the same time). I was intrigued to note that as well as a writer and a painter they have referenced an obscure (at least to me) Danish band who were formed ...

(72:00; Discus Music) This is the seventh album from OOTUA and is also planned to be the last, ending a journey which started all the way back in 2012. There have been a few line-up changes over the years,  but the one which appears here has been constant for a while, namely Martin Archer (woodwind, keyboards, software instruments), Steve Dinsdale (drums, keyboards), Lorin Halsall (acoustic and electric double basses, electronics), Yvonna Magda (violin and electronics), Andy Peake (piano, keyboards), Walt Shaw (drums, percussion, electronics), Jan Todd (vocals, voices, melodies, electronics, guzheng, electric Harp-E, lute harp, cross strung harp, hulusi flutes, metal Noisebox, waterphones, found sound recordings, electronic samples) and Terry Todd (bass guitar). As with previous releases, basic tracks, either using simple compositional ideas or freely improvised, were recorded live in the studio by the full band over a two-day period. These were then radically edited and collaged b...

(55:56; Reichenhall) Here we have the latest release from German Krautrock electronic keyboard band Reichenhall who feature Bernhard Wöstheinrich (sequencer, keyboards & synthesizer ), Lukas Radiomodul (loop machine, editing & production), Mathieu Sylvestre (looper and electronics, real-time sound transformations) and Volker Lankow (soundscapes & loops) along with guest Uschi Hugo (who provides voice on one track). Here we have a band who on this release have been heavily influenced by Tangerine Dream and early Kraftwerk, as they provide us with a concept album about traffic in many different forms of motion, including being stuck and no moving at all. In the middle of the album is the title cut, which is about a mythical creature that has lingered for aeons in the fog of the traffic jam between Kamen and Bergkamen and includes spoken word, radio noises etc. In many ways this divides the album into two halves, something which is accentuated by the opening and closing tracks...

(78:22; Invisible Hands [2026 Edition] ) What we have here is an extended reissue of 2018’s ‘The Sessions IV’ which is now more than 80 minutes in length and has just been released on double green vinyl. Captured at three different festivals on their 2018 tour, these four numbers are all “live composition” as Ulrich Schnauss (synth, sequencer), Hoshiko Yamane (electric violin, viola) and Thorsten Quaeschning (synth, piano, sequencer) bounce ideas off each other in the traditional Tangerine Dream manner. I must be honest, I wasn’t sure how this would work given that Edgar Froese died suddenly in 2015, but both Thorsten Quaeschning (who joined in 2005 and was named by Froese as his successor) and Hoshiko Yamane (2011) had played extensively with Froese and are now working with his widow to continue his legacy, and to my ears this is very fine indeed. The only way to truly listen to this is on headphones when one will not be disturbed and it is quite a shock to return to the real world wh...

(43:07; Moon Letters) Seattle-based psychedelic progressive quintet Moon Letters are back with their third album and have maintained the same line-up of John Allday (keyboards, vocals, trumpet), Mike Murphy (bass, vocals), Kelly Mynes (drums, percussion), Michael Trew (lead vocals, flute, congas) and Dave Webb (guitars, percussion). I thoroughly enjoyed their second album, ‘Thanks You From The Future’, but must admit this one does not hit me as strongly and I am not really sure why. They are very much a regressive band as opposed to progressive in that they are firmly rooted in the late Sixties/early Seventies period with some deliciously dated wonderful old school keyboard sounds, and there are not many keyboard players who can switch to a trumpet midway through a run, for which Allday should be applauded. I mentioned Gentle Giant in my review of their last album, but that influence is far more subdued this time around, apart from the harmony vocals, and there are times when this feel...

(45:57; Cuneiform Records) Mike Johnson will always be associated with the band he co-founded more than 40 years ago, the hugely influential Thinking Plague, so why pick 2026 to release his first ever solo album? The reason was that he wanted to do something which was deliberately more orchestral, using real musicians as opposed to sampling, and felt the name Thinking Plague may be too restrictive (which is quite a statement given just how groundbreaking they have been over the years). The result is a hugely expansive release which features performances by 19 musicians, some based in the States (Johnson, several Thinking Plague alumni, and more) while other are in Canada (Kimara Sajn), Portugal (Nuno Mourão), Spain (Pau Sola Masafrets), Sweden (Simon Steensland, Morgan Ågren) and The Netherlands (Oene van Geel, Pablo Rodriguez, César Puente Sandoval, George Dumitriu). The result is something which will of course be closely linked to Thinking Plague given it is such a core part of Johns...

(79:42; Myth Of Logic) I must admit that part of me was hoping this was a new album by Mythologic, the quartet which was the Rodler brothers (i.e. Drama) plus singer Melissa Rodler (i.e. the trio which was Leger De Main) and Andeavour’s guitarist Steve Matusik, but instead this is the fourth release by multi-instrumentalist Scott David (keyboards, bass, electric & acoustic guitars, vocals). He  is joined by a few guests, including drummer Louis Alexi, but it is basically a solo release (apart from the excellent decision to bring in a human to hit the skins instead of programming). Violinist Chris Barbosa is only on a couple of tracks, but whenever he comes in the songs immediately veer much closer to Kansas than anything else, whereas for most of the time Scott is taking a multitude of Seventies classics bands as influences. I like his voice, and he is a fine musician, but there is something about this release which leaves me somewhat cold and finding it difficult to get inside...

(44:20; Lost World Band) Here is the third in series of reissues/re-recordings from LWB, and although this was originally issued on cassette in 1996, much of it originated between 1993 and 1994. Most of the arrangements are as they were, but Andy decided to revisit both “As Darkness Falls” and “Galloping Past” for this album. The flute tracks have been transferred from the 1996 sessions, “Unbounded” was re-recorded in 2010 while everything else was recorded in 2025. This time around Vassili Soloviev (flute), Andy Didorenko (violin, guitar, bass, backing vocals, harmonica) and Alexander Akimov (keyboards, bongos) are again joined by singers Brian Paley and Phoebe Carter, drums are shared between four musicians (Ben Cooper, Veniamin Rozov, Jordan McQueen, Francesca Pratt) while Yuliya Basis provides piano on one song and Manuel Trabucco saxophone on another. Of the three reissues, this is the most complicated to listen to, as it is quite complex and also somewhat disjointed, which probab...

(40:41; Lost World Band) ‘Remission’ is the second re-recorded album originally from 1996, and joining Vassili Soloviev (flute), Andy Didorenko (violin, guitars, backing vocals) and Alex Akimov (keyboards) we again have singer Brian Paley along with singer Phoebe Carter and drummer Jordan McQueen, both of whom were also on LWB’s 2024 album ‘A Moment of Peace’, plus Sergey Didorenko (saxophone) and Yuliya Basis (backing vocals). This is actually not the first time this album has been revisited, as it was originally released in 1994 (the band’s only concept to date), but back then it was felt it didn’t truly work as intended so was re-recorded in 1996 with Aleksei Rybakov on vocals. This time around the flute and saxophone are preserved from the 1996 four track tapes, but the rest has been totally rerecorded and the lyrics translated into English. This album feels very different indeed from ‘The Dawn’, which presumably is because the original was released somewhat earlier, and feels far ...

(36:26; Lost World Band) All the way back in 1990, three music students met, Andy Didorenko, Vassili Soloviev and Aleksandr Akimov, and they decided to form a band together which soon gained the name Lost World. As with many groups they wrote and recorded music, releasing them on cassette, and it was only in 2003 that their debut CD was released, ‘Trajectories’, which is where I came across them for the first time. However, in 1996 they released a trilogy of cassettes which were only known to a few, and they have now decided the time is right to re-record them and make them available for the modern fans of LWB (they added the word ‘Band’ in time for their third CD, 2009’s ‘Sound Source’). The first thing one must remember is that although these are old songs, these are brand new recordings plus they now have more than 30 years of experience behind them, so I am sure these are very different indeed to the originals. Here Vassili Soloviev (flute), Andy Didorenko (violin, guitar, bass, ba...

(36:24; Melodic Revolution Records) One is never sure quite what we are going to get from Alvarado, apart from knowing it will always be enjoyable, and while his last album was quite Floydian in its approach, here we have him taking a close look at Rabin and Horn-period Yes. I know he always provide drums and keyboards but it was only when coming to write the review that I checked the rest of the musicians, and I was not surprised to see both Billy Sherwood and Jon Davison providing guitars/bass and vocals respectively, while the rest of the band is Johnny Bruhns (guitar, sitar) and James Griggers (additional guitars on one track). This means we have two key musicians involved who also played on ‘Mirror to the Sky’, and I must confess this is by far the more interesting. Sherwood has been around the scene forever, while I have always enjoyed Davison’s singing, both with Yes and Glass Hammer, but to my ears the last good Yes album was ‘Fly From Here’, and neither of them were involved w...

(49:06; Kashgar) Kashgar are back with their third album which features the same core line-up as the last one, namely Marcus Taylor (guitars, bass, keyboards, percussion), Ben Bell (Hammond organ, keyboards) and James Chapman (drums), which for those paying attention is also the same line-up as Broken Parachute. There are three guests, cellist Raphael Weinroth-Browne who plays on one track, saxophonist Steffen Davidson who is on three and singer Jaasmaan Rathore who is also on one, but none of them overlap. When I reviewed their last album I said I felt it was good, but that it was somewhat fragmented and should have stayed more focused on the prog/world/fusion style which appeared, and I am glad to say that is exactly what has happened this time around, and the result is an album which is bright, fresh and invigorating. There are too few bands who look to John McLaughlin and Santana as influences, but it is obvious their legacy has had a large part to play on this album which combines...

(42:42; Season of Mist) It is quite a while since I last heard anything from Green Carnation, in fact it was all the way back with their third album, 2003’s ‘A Blessing In Disguise’, and now they are here with their seventh, which is the first of three albums which were all recorded at the same time. Apparently Tchort had presented the concept to the band just when they were announcing to the world they were breaking up for the second time, so when they decided to reform again in 2014 this was part of the five-album deal agreed with Season of Mist. The vast majority of the material was recorded between April and December 2024, and this was released in September 2025 with the next instalment, ‘A Dark Poem, Pt. II: Sanguis’, released on 3rd April 2026. It is strange to think that these guys started as a death metal act and have since then have been progressing through many different styles, so while many now describe them as progressive metal, they also fit into melodic metal, symphonic,...

(43:45; Kscope) It is strange to realise that it is now more than ten years since the death of Daevid Allen, yet the group he formed all the way back in 1967 is still going, with Allen giving his blessing to this line-up, asking they continue without him and suggesting that Torabi be the new leader. Lead guitarist Fabio Golfetti (since 2012), bassist Dave Sturt (since 2009), saxophonist/flautist Ian East (since 2010), drummer Cheb Nettles (since 2014) and vocalist/guitarist Kavus Torabi (also since 2014) have somehow maintained the longest (by far) running line-up of the band, during which time they have released four albums, with this being the third in the trilogy which started with ‘The Universe Also Collapses’ (2019) and continued with ‘Unending Ascending’ (2023).  Like anyone who is interested in this band I have albums and DVDs by multiple different entities of the Gong family, including Acid Mothers Gong, Pierre Moerlen’s Gong and others, and like many feel the climax of the...

(51:12; Melodic Revolution Records) JoJo Razor describes herself as a dark progressive art musician whose work emerges from an alchemical, otherworldly landscape shaped by personal myth, performance art, and progressive rock. This is the first solo album of hers I have come across, but I do know her as singer with Gekko Projekt with whom she performed on their second album, ‘Reya of Titan’. There are a few guests providing some instrumentation here and there but for the most part this is very much a solo album where the voice is very much to the fore, and the accompaniment are there just to provide a structure for the vocals to be placed against, often minimalistic with space being the biggest component. It took me a little while to think who she reminds me of, and in some ways it is Maryen Cairns (who will probably be best remembered by many for performing with Fish but who has also released a series of wonderful albums) and others it is Cary Grace, and at times it feels almost medita...

(42:58; Mysthicon) Track list: 1. Shapes 6:47 2. Unbearable Silence 7:38 3. We Are The Worms 6:41 4. Na Naszej Krwi 6:55 5. The Storyteller 7:33 6. Creation 7:24 Line-up: Adrian Miesowicz - vocals  Andrzej Czujko - drums Grzegorz Kaplon - guitars Szymon Hadala - guitars Mateusz Zawada - bass Tharthaq - keyboards with: Jacek Glod - guitars Marcin Chatys - bass Wojciech Miller - hurdy-gurdy Prolusion. Polish band Mysthicon has been around for a decade and a bit at this point, releasing their first initial EP back in 2019 with their debut album appearing the following year. In the fall of 2025 they were ready with their second studio production "Biesn", which was self released by the band. Analysis. This production is among the many I encounter that explore the extreme metal tradition in a more expressive and creative manner, thus creating an experience that will have its appeal also among fans of progressive metal. Some might state that this is an album they would sort under th...