At the end of last year I reviewed the first two fruits of Esoteric’s remastered reissues series of the complete works of Sky, the Anglo-Aussie classical/rock crossover band formed in 1978 by classical guitar maestro John Williams. Probably the zenith…
View More Sky – Sky 3 / Sky 4: Forthcoming / Sky Five Live / Cadmium / The Great Balloon Race / Mozart
With a US tour starting in July and European dates scheduled for the end of the year, Messrs Govan, Beller and Minnemann return with the third studio instalment of their mind-bendingly dextrous outings as The Aristocrats. The album is well…
View More The Aristocrats – Tres Caballeros
Mike Judge’s 2011 album as The Nerve Institute, Architects of Flesh-Density, really impressed me when it was released. Now, four long years later, a second volume has emerged on AltrOck entitled Fictions (originally recorded under Mike’s previous working name of…
View More Mike Judge – The Nerve Institute
It is an impressive fact that Tennessee’s Glass Hammer are now on seemingly their 17th studio album since their debut in 1993, the core duo of Steve Babb and Fred Schendel still at the heart of it all. With vocalist…
View More Glass Hammer – The Breaking of the World
From the Hieronymus Bosch cover art you know that the contents is likely to be something unusual, and so it is as Mike Judge takes us on another journey into some strange but very satisfying musical coves. A Kansas City…
View More The Nerve Institute – Fictions
Cadogan Hall, London 8th May 2015 ‘Unique’ is a word that is used far too often but for the creative wonders of Christian Vander and Magma it is spot on. This music is unique, and when delivered with the power…
View More Magma
Mellotrons. They’re bloody great aren’t they? And guitars, big drums and massive amounts of in-your-face bass. And Mellotrons. Mmmmmmellotrons. Lots of ’em. I’m a sucker for the old “Orchestra in a Drinks Cabinet” but despite being known for their use…
View More Anekdoten – Until All The Ghosts Are Gone
Drummer Gavin Harrison, best known for his work with Porcupine Tree and currently one of the three drummers in King Crimson, has played on recordings too numerous to mention over more than 30 years. On the eve of the release…
View More Gavin Harrison
Of this new reboot of The Tangent, Andy Tillison says “After all the different things we’ve done, this time it seemed right to come back to our prog roots and ‘stock in trade’”, and that they have certainly done. Although…
View More The Tangent – A Spark In The Aether: The Music That Died Alone, Volume II
This review is a little overdue after the 2014 release of this third album from the extravagantly named The Samurai of Prog, but it is certainly well worth investigating. Whereas the multinational collective that make up The Samurai have concentrated…
View More The Samurai of Prog – The Imperial Hotel