A gentle piano intro, and the voice intoning a complex and odd melody, “picking melodies out of the black and fumy air” indeed. Then, something stirs, crashing chords, strident bass and drums, and a synth melody soaring aloft; yes friends,…
View More I Am The Manic Whale – Things Unseen
New music from Green Carnation has long been awaited by many. It’s been twenty years since their debut, and almost fifteen since their most recent release. Leaves of Yesteryear is an absolutely outstanding return to form, and a major statement…
View More Green Carnation – Leaves of Yesteryear
Marco Minnemann has been my favourite drummer for many years now, always exciting, everything he does is worthy of attention, and this debut album with guitarist and songwriter Randy McStine is no exception. The duo take on multi-instrumentalist roles to…
View More McStine & Minnemann – McStine & Minnemann
There is lots to be excited about with classic rock veterans Kansas’ latest effort, The Absence of Presence. First, the album marks a milestone in that it’s been 50 years since the band formed in 1970 in Topeka, Kansas. Second,…
View More Kansas – The Absence of Presence
With a band name like that, it’s easy to get attention, and for all the wrong reasons. Admittedly, I only gave this a once over because of the name, half expecting to turn it off once the Bible-thumping started. The…
View More Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus – Songs Of Yearning/Nocturnes
I’d never heard of Norwegian band Bismarck before. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, and was even a little wary based on the cover art. Truth be told, if Oneiromancer were not released on Apollon, I might not have…
View More Bismarck – Oneiromancer
Chris Squire’s endorsement of Frost* in issue one of ‘Classic Rock presents Prog’ magazine pointed out that the genre had indeed progressed with such music that their album Milliontown had presented to the world. Not bound by what had gone…
View More Frost* – Others [EP]
Much of the first wave in the late ‘60s of what has come to be known as prog was a fusion of classical and jazz music. Something that sounds like it should be an eclectic mix, perhaps, but only when…
View More Eishan Ensemble – Afternoon Tea At Six
Levelled: Emotional Creatures, Part 3 is the sixth album by Englishman Steve Thorne, the successor to Island of the Imbeciles (2016) and the third part of his trilogy Emotional Creatures. With some imagination you could call Thorne a (prog) singer/songwriter.…
View More Steve Thorne – Levelled: Emotional Creatures Part 3
It’s been a good year for Norwegian record label Apollon. I’ve already enjoyed some wonderful and wonderfully varied releases from the label, including Aadal, The Thank Yous, Bismarck, Weserbergland, The Opium Cartel, Kryptograf, and Professor Tip Top. Now it’s the…
View More Simen Lyngroth – Looking for the Spark like It’s Just Around the Corner