Graham Thomas

Blue Oyster Cult - Curse of the Hidden Mirror

Blue Öyster Cult – Curse of the Hidden Mirror

Curse of the Hidden Mirror was Blue Öyster Cult’s last studio album, released originally in 2001, and re-released in remastered form earlier this year. Given that we are now expecting the long awaited follow up, it seems timely to remind…

Flying Colors – Third Stage: Live In London

There’s something which sets Flying Colors apart from the other bands in which the Neal Morse and Mike Portnoy axis feature. Whilst both the Neal Morse Band and Transatlantic are undeniably prog, featuring as they do long complex songs or…

Stirrup+6 – The Avondale Addition

A squeak, a muffled belch, some scrapings and scrabblings on strings, more guttural grunts, and gradually, very slowly, we ease into something that sounds like ensemble coherence, a tune even! The instruments begin to play a wonky march, at first…

IZZ – Half Life [EP]

Although having been in existence for more than twenty years, IZZ improved their profile considerably with their last album, the excellent and well received Don’t Panic in 2019. Whilst working on the follow up album, they unearthed an old unrecorded…

Zorbonauts – The Unobserved Beaver

I’ve approached this album knowing nothing of Zorbonauts, but frankly intrigued by the line-up. With a reunited Spock’s Beard rhythm section (Nick D’Virgilio and Dave Meros), and Geoff Downes on keyboards, one might expect some prog greatness. The prime mover…

Rikard Sjöblom’s Gungfly – Alone Together

Alone Together might sound an appropriate title for an album in these weird times, but the themes that make up this latest Gungfly effort have little to do with the global situation. According to Rikard Sjöblom, the inspiration comes from…

Soft Machine – Live At The Baked Potato

Soft Machine are a band with a complex fifty year history which I will make no attempt to précis here, but the current incarnation has just released a new live album recorded during their 50th anniversary tour last year, and…

Vulkan – Technatura

I don’t know if it’s something they add to the water supply in Sweden, but it has been a hotbed of great new progressive music for years now, with a seemingly endless list of new bands emerging each year to…

That Joe Payne – By Name. By Nature.

This debut from That Joe Payne seems to have been a long time coming. Since leaving The Enid, there have been singles and EPs previewing songs, teasing us almost, and he has been playing some of this material for some…

Trey Gunn – Punkt / Firma

Trey Gunn should be a very familiar name in Progressive Rock circles, mainly because of his involvement with King Crimson during the ‘double-trio’ years. Since then he has been involved in various projects (including the Security Project, a re-imagining of…

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Author: Graham Thomas