Translated as ‘The Call of the Void’, L’appel du Vide is a French existential phrase that does not quite exist in the English language, although can be best explained as the urge some people get to jump when they are close to the edge of a cliff. A fitting title when juxtaposed with the music, more specifically the orchestral and piano arrangements laid out in L’appel du Vide, as these emotions are masterfully conveyed throughout the album and it is obvious a lot of thought has gone in to the arrangements on each and every track.
Read the full review at metalrage.com
It’s tempting to categorize this as jazz, if only because of its improvisational nature. But, really, The Return of the Sons of Ra has more to do with the endlessly inventive free-form weirdness of Frank Zappa on albums like Shut Up ’n Play Yer Guitar. Tracks like “Aludra,” with its girder-shaking bass lines from Ruin, octopus-armed rhythmic explosions from Horder and bloody-fingered riffing from Kristian are simply too rock-focused – too completely heavy – to have a reference point in the world of jazz, even during the 1970s heyday of fusion.
Read the full review by Nick DeRiso at somethingelsereviews.com
During the late 80’s and early 90’s, Varga was one of the better Canadian metal acts to find success on a major label and getting heavy rotation on Much Music. They played a hybrid style of prog/thrash/industrial metal, releasing the album Prototype in 1993 and Oxygen in 1996 before leaving the metal scene behind.
The members of the band went on their separate ways, continuing to perform in various other projects until reuniting in 2012. The group recently entered the studio with producer Julius Butty (Hypodust) to record 6 new songs that hark back to their progressive/thrash metal roots. The album is appropriately called Enter the Metal and that is exactly what you get here; 6 tracks of progressive metal, crazy time changes, a plethora of riffs and multi-layered vocals to top it all off.
Read the full review by Kenneth Gallant at horrormetalsounds.comMedia/Samples
A concept album that explores the validity (or even the necessity) of violence and conflict as ways to change our reality when it becomes unbearable and oppressive.
Possible causes, consequences and responsibilities are depicted in this 45 minute work that tries to capture the zeitgeist of our time.
In this collaboration, Smith’s unique fusion approach to the new Zendrum EXP MIDI percussion controller, splash blends with Wright's inspired guitar work and looping mastery to create music swirling between the subtle, the beautiful, the incendiary. The result is Quantum, a mix of progressive rock and jazz with ambient and otherworldly sounds.
Following last year’s “Selenelion” release, Vaura take their unique style of combining progressive metal and classic ‘80s goth/darkwave into more defined and dense territory with “The Missing”. With a sound and aesthetic influenced by the darker and more brooding moments of the aforementioned styles when they came to fruition in the ‘80s, Vaura also incorporate sounds also reminiscing the likes of post punk, early ‘90s indie rock, and shoegaze respectively along with some intricate moments found on “The Missing” that even hark back to the heyday of classic-era Queensryche and “Grace Under Pressure” era Rush.
Here is an album from a band who get it, a band who understand what they want to do, and do it in an intelligent and logical manner such that we get a record that mixes cleans and growls but comes off as entirely appropriate for the scene, metal for a new generation.
Read the full review by Matt Baggins at twoguysmetalreviews.com
Listeners have come to expect a lot from Secret Chiefs 3, and for “Book of Souls”, second in the band’s mega-trilogy (first being “Book of Horizons”, 2004), they expect nothing less than a vertigo-inducing follow up. True to expectation, "Book of Souls: Folio A" is a full-length album densely-packed with musical skyscrapers. Over a decade in the making along with "Folio B", "Book of Souls" is Secret Chiefs 3’s most elaborate work yet. Following the 7-band schemata laid out in Book of Horizons, both Folios of "Book of Souls" thoroughly establish the depth of SC3’s journey into otherwise lost musical possibilities.“Book of Souls: Folio A” is evidence that Secret Chiefs 3 continues to operate in blissful ignorance of current musical fashions, remaining enchanted only by what can be unlocked in modern mediums by applying a specific recipe of ancient and a-linear processes.Links:
The album represents the kind of titanic, almost Faustian undertaking that one would expect, something uniquely appropriate to Secret Chiefs 3. But for all that pomp it’s easy to forget that everything having to do with a SC3 recording is DIY to the core. “Book of Souls: Folio A” is a fully organic production. Everything is honed with love in one of the last-standing hermetically-sealed laboratories. Some may snort at the notion that there even could exist such a cauldron of limitless fascination extending so rigorously beyond the time/space boundaries of modern occidental groupthink; a place in-between, suspended, where the simplest motifs have the freedom either to radiate upward into geometric complexities that are beyond description, or to refine downward to a state of simple musical essence. But it's the usual thing at the SC3 lab.
Musically speaking, New Jersey’s East of the Wall are a pretty weird bunch. It might seem that the band deliberately takes on the purpose of perplexing listeners and antagonizing critics alike, because it’s rare to find a review of any of their past releases which doesn’t emphasize just how difficult it is to grasp their sound (our own reviews included). This difficulty stems from a number of factors, not the least of which is the quintet’s off-kilter approach to the three-guitar attack, or their eclectic blend of post-metal, prog, sludge, and post-hardcore. While it seems the band does take pride in this enigmatic nature, it is a role which has thus far taken the backseat to that of, y’know, making killer fucking music. This trend certainly continues on their latest album Redaction Artifacts.
Read the full review by at heavyblogisheavy.com
CD 2 is a collection of recordings from The Heads' rehearsal room.Links:
"Prologue: The Blackboard" kicks things off like any good epic should…at the seashore. Wind, waves, seagulls and the pounding surf. Ready for the journey? No blast off into space this time. No, this trip takes place on earth, through the mind of Man. A man. A Prodigy who can assemble the world's mathematical equations and algorithms unlike anyone before him. Janne "JB" Christoffersson, "The Teacher" opens the story, "Will we ever understand this complex genius? This visionary thinker?" Sara Squadrani, as "The Girl", sings, "Will we ever understand his isolation or his sense of wonder?" The left and right brain introduced, as deep bass chords, keyboards, acoustic guitar and whispering voices fill the soundscape. Meanwhile the traditional Aryeon theme drifts off to sea.Read the full review by Mark Johnson at seaoftranquility.org
Despite all of those influences, though, “The Earls of Mars” is probably the most original thing you’ll hear all year. At their heart, the band are a 70’s-influenced rock band bringing together jazz, prog, space rock, doom and blues and forming it into a barking mad noise that you’ll either get or you won’t. If you don’t get it then close the door on your way out of the spaceship, as those of us who want to stay are off on a fantastical journey to who-knows-where, with The Earls of Mars steering the ship.
Read the full review by Chris Ward at thisisnotascene.com
Taking rock music as a starting point, the group’s members have created an alternative album, which is both intense and melodic. Sebastien’s powerful lyrics, allow the personality of each to reveal itself through the melancholy and sensual image of the group. If the sound of The Morganatics manages to enter those yet to explore areas of Rock, then the human and musical experiment (as the band wishes to develop around the human aspect rather than around a musical genre) will be achieved.
A collection of works by artists inspired by the music of Gentle Giant
Based on Terry Pratchett’s Wintersmith novel.
Melodic passages and conventional pop structures are framed by striking changes in dynamics, to create a dramatic sonic palette which ranges from the barely audible to the wildly loud and back again (often within the same track).
The album also has a slightly warmer, less alien feel than NAO recordings, with instruments less likely to be heavily treated and distorted beyond recognition.
1974 & The Death of the Herald exists to be heard from start to finish. In true prog fashion, there are odd time signatures, vast tempo changes, and flourishes of the musical absurd that often times is best enjoyed by only lovers of the genre. But the difference between 1974 and the other bands of prog is in the voices. Four different singers, all gifted, always catchy. Not since Queensryche’s Operation: Mindcrime has there been a concept album with so much guitar balanced with so many sing-a-long moments that will find you humming the melodies endlessly.
Read the full review by Christopher Aloysius Mariotti at lonesomenoise.com
Bathed in the warm, fuzzy cocoon that can only come from analog recording, Second Sight consists of five of some of the most potent and epic rock jams ever committed to tape. The album begins in grandiose fashion with the twenty minute opening track “Lost Are The Years”. The first half featuring dreamy Mellotron passages and other subtle, psychedelic textures, blending seamlessly with Pink Floyd inspired guitar work and laid back vocals, before the whole thing morphs beautifully into a searing jam in the second half, that features some great keyboard work and scorching wah-wah drenched guitar soloing overtop some absolutely frenetic work from the rhythm section of Smith and Bailey.
Read the full review by Ryan Sparks at classicrockrevisited.com
As an eventful, symphonic and bombastic album full of fine details, it is a strong plea for versatile, profound music off the beaten mainstream track. All songs tell a piece of the story - sometimes gloomy and ominous, sometimes phantastic or bizarre.
A side project of Sithinia members, more in singer/songwriter vein
