This psychedelic instrumental rock album epitomizes an emotional sojourn into an atmospheric soundscape, which is populated with a collection of guitars and horns plus a few sliverings of eclectic instrumentation. You get a great feeling of warmth and darkness coming through, with plenty of Greek musical influences.(succinctmusic.wordpress.com)
The fun begins with The Craeft Worker, an electro pulse driven tune with an underlying Kraftwerky, but also space-jazz feel, and a simple yet oh so beautiful guitar, bass and sax melody. The groove goes Motorik on Master Benjamin Warned Young Albert Not To Step On the Uninsulated Air, sounding like a spaced out Neu!, with robotic blazing guitar chords and jazzy saxophone. But as this 12 minute piece progresses the guitar and sax start to dominate, with the guitar ripping off wild Psych solos and chunky metallic blasts, and the sax swinging away. Eventually it all starts to gel and we’re grooving along in heavy Space-Kraut-Jazz rocking heaven. Really killer tune. The Pillar Of Delhi is another song with a simple yet seductive melody, being a lusciously floating deep space dream sequence. I love the mélange of guitar and synth effects and from beginning to end it feels like I’m being gently swept along and at the same time gradually dissolving.Read the full review by Jerry Kranitz at aural-innovations.com
A progressive blend of rock / jazz / fusion featuring some of top musicians from the Los Angeles area along with British-born Peter Matuchniak. Eleven songs of varying lengths and with long instrumental passages follow a lyrical theme from the album title, Destiny.
2 instrumental tracks and 4 songs in Russian.
A Nice Day For An Earthquake is a recently formed three piece band from Spain. Each of band members has different tastes in music (metal, rock, indie, etc.) which converge into an instrumental mix with relaxing and heavy moments.
The Apple Zed‘s debut album overflows with images of love, loss, life, and death. It is a concept album that intertwines two shaggy dog stories (one about an explorer seeking a change of occupation, and one about a veteran facing his mortality).
This up-and-coming quartet from Croatia have a touch of the Psychedelic, Krautrock, and Space Rock influences that makes it a sonic adventure into space and time. It is a combination between Ash Ra Tempel, Pink Floyd, Gong, Hansson & Karlsson, and Steven Wilson.Read the full review by Zachary Nathanson
T Minus None opens the set with an electro groove pulse that lays the rhythmic foundation for a variety of alien and melodic synths, plus a killer combination of spacey, Bluesy rocking and melodic jazzy guitar, all building up to a high intensity space rocker with delicious guitar from Gary “Moonboot” Masters. The Golden Rule is next and hits the ground running with a quick paced beat and a deep space Pink Floyd-ish atmospheric aura. I like the combination of drumming and frantic electronic pattern, and the music really hits its stride when Cyndee Lee Rule comes charging in with one of the most intense yet passionately rocking violin solos I’ve ever heard from her. Mellifluo is a lovely melodic piece that makes me feel like I’m at an extra-terrestrial Hawaiian luau. Clouded is a spaced out soundscapes excursion with tasty keys from Jez Creek. At over 12 minutes The Great Retsina Jam is the longest track of the set. I love the combination of classic Prog keys and majestic space synths. There are lots of fun embellishments as the music progresses, including a totally trippy Arabic flavored and slightly Bluesy stringed instrument, shooting star synths, cavernous drones, barren windswept planet effects and much more. This is symphonic Space-Prog at its very best. Pstrings is like a more groove rocking version of Steve’s Blue Lily Commission project and is led by another killer guitar solo, this time from Alex Pym. A steady rocking beat propels the music as Pym cranks out Bluesy licks while a banquet of alien synths swarm about. Finally, Another Time, Another Place is the sole song of the set, being a seductively melodic bit of Space-Pop with mind-massage vocals from Bridget Wishart.Read the full review by Jerry Kranitz at aural-innovations.com
An Italian prog-rock album which put togheter typical sweet Italian vocal melodies with intense rock and prog atmosphere. Lyrics cover love, fantasy legends and politically issues. Dream to change is the concept core of this album.
Roland Buehlmann is a guitarist, composer and producer from Switzerland.Media/Samples
After years spent performing and recording with other artists and groups,
he found his own voice with his solo debut, Aineo, an instrumental album
recorded in his home studio with different guitars and stringed instruments
as well as with various effects and sounds, with diverse musical influences
between progrock, modal music and the music from Josquin Desprez, the master
of the high Renaissance style of polyphonic music.
Sophomore effort from Turkey's leading progressive death metal band. Tons of riffs, melodies and complex song structures. Band's debut was regarded as the best metal album from Turkey for the last 10 years and the new album certainly surpasses the debut.Media/Samples
Ali Neander from Frankfurt / Germany is a great guitar player . He has been one of the few who can consistently make you leap off your seat and whoop. Neander is not only a virtuoso improviser who doesn't seem to know what a cliche is, he is a natural contrarian who bucks prevailing trends and still trying to recall the passion of early jazzrock and combine it with contemporary sounds. There`s a little prog and kraut and ambient included his time for your enjoyment.Links:
“Confrontation” - the second longplay from State Urge - is a concept album about difficultiesMedia/Samples
of making important life decisions. It’s a story of a man, who is in conflict with himself, trying to
solve inner dilemmas, which leads to an open confrontation with his surroundings, as well as
with his personality. Will he find balance between expectations and reality or will he give into
temptation of running away from responsibility? After all, from every battle, even those lost, one can rise even stronger.
Memory Babe richly celebrates the traditions of symphonic rock, folk and jazz fusion. Glenn Thomson has produced a work of rare beauty with a deep and lasting value.
The album opens with "Who's Going To Say", a magnificent long form symphonic journey that combines powerful melodies with a startling fusion of styles, reminding us in part of Pink Floyd, Bowie and the best of sixties, psychedelic folk.
"Wishes Of The Earth" is a memorable anthem with sophisticated lyrics and contrasting, jazz inflected verses leading to an open, driving chorus with a beautifully cinematic sound. "Walk The Course" is Glenn Thomson showing us again how pop and electronica can combine into concentrated, symphonic rock that is bound to win new fans.
In "Common Ground" we have a ballad of delicate beauty resolving into a powerful and original hammond, choral rock out that will leave you inspired and wanting more. The title track, "Memory Babe", is another symphonic masterpiece. The instrumental fuses mediterranean folk with evocative middle eastern flavours, echoing Vangelis and Peter Gabriel, before resolving into an uplifting, high geared, virtuoso rock out, with incredible melodies and driving beats. The piece, a meditation on memory and its power to transport and transcend, concludes with a stunning orchestral coda.
"Holy Bright" is a jazz fusion sensation. The Rhodes solos are some of the most inspired we have heard, leading to a magnificent and elevating conclusion. "Babylon" takes a collaboration with the Welsh born, Paris based artist and poet, Panmelys, to a whole new level. Panmelys is the legendary host of the Sunday afternoon tea parties at the Shakespeare and Company bookshop in Paris. Featuring an extract from her work, "The Chant", Glenn Thomson has created a progressive pop portrait of language and its power to inspire.
After the tributes to Genesis solo careers of Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett, now the last double hommage to solo careers of: Tony Banks, Anthony Phillips, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Ray Wilson.Media/Samples
After a solid 20 playbacks, this will probably be one of the favorite ANGRA records in their discography due to the quality and dynamic diversity for these 10 tracks. Those who expect Fabio to soar to high heavens solely on this record, well expand your minds because he truly delivers one of the best performances of his career – stretching out his lower and middle registers more so on this record than ever before. Check out opener “Newborn Me” and the serene ballad “Silent Call” for new facets to his range – emotionally connecting like never before. Musically you can hear a lot of the South American nuances plunging head first into more New Age/ jazz-like Progressive textures on highlight “Upper Levels”, something I would appreciate more from DREAM THEATER and helps ANGRA achieve that surprise element necessary beyond their obvious instrumental talent level.Read the full review by Matt Coe at metal-temple.com
A solo project of Alessandro Seravalle (Garden Wall), self-exploratory journey supported by a radical-size ambient-electronic.Links:
From the thumping drums opening the title track, to the intense delicacy of “Swan Song“'s last notes, “Mercury“ takes you on a ride, leaving no corners unexplored. With the punch of the epileptic “White Chalk“, the sexy grooves of the infectious “Little Invisible“, the fat, throbbing tremolos of “Spellbound Lily“, contrasting with the slow-motion echoes of the aptly named “Water and a Sigh“, Chapel’s intention was to make the most panoramic collection of songs he could. “The albums I love the most are like that, constantly shifting gears and directions, with no consideration for genres, like Neil Young’s “Harvest“ or Jeff Buckley’s “Grace“ “
We’ve seen several masterful instrumental albums during this fantastic year but few of them flow as well as Terrapin does. Perhaps this has a lot to do with the three opening tracks, operating as one suite. ‘Laughing With Such Abandon’ is the heaviest of the trio, splicing the post rock influences of the entire suite with heavier, faster riffs and drums. ‘Where Every Word Spoken, Speaks’ is easily comparable to sleemakeswaves, invoking the same heady and dynamic approach to the ambient post rock sound as those Australian magicians. Finally, ‘And Every Glance Has Only One Meaning’ opens with a bass line so natural, so right for where it’s placed, that it brings in an instant smile to one’s face. The sleepmakeswaves sound is retained, with the guitar chiming in the background, accentuating the entire track as it works its away to its slower, emotional closing.Read the full review by Eden Kupermintz at heavyblogisheavy.com
The opening bass notes of “The Dawn Thief” set the album into motion, and it never lets go. The forward propulsion is such that one expects something new to happen around every bend. When the trumpet enters, one thinks of Morricone, mariachis and the Old West, but with a modern bent. A guitar and glockenspiel breakdown envelops the third minute, setting up a slow build. The band is in no hurry, and even if it were, the journey across the Madrean will be long (okay, 57 minutes). But the album really kicks into gear with “I Shall Sail No More (No More Shall I Sail)”, which is also graced by the album’s best artwork. The trumpet has been given new prominence, and a 5-note staccato blast is echoed by the drums in the triumphant finale. This is what post-rock is all about.Read the full review by Richard Allen at acloserlisten.com
The band mixes an eclectic brew of metal which is hard to define; the bands influences range from power metal to thrash metal to progressive metal and more. With all due respect to “From the End”, “Innerpretations” definitely represents a step forward for Edenial.
The power thrash of the opener “Soul Echo” is an excellent way to begin things. Next is “Wrath” which begins with a doomy rapid fire guitar riff as the song goes off into some intricate technical directions. “Red Rum” has a great big melodic metal sound. Edenial slows the pace a bit for the ballad “Ni En Mil Anos”. The track “Fragile Shell” begins with a haunting melody before the band ramps up the pace again. Other highlights include: “Evolved”, “Disease” and “Secret Garden”. With “Innerpretations”, Edenial has released a blistering, no holds barred metal record that shows that the band does not adhere to limits or boundaries. (Tony Cannella at femmemetalwebzine.net )
mOVEABLE wALLS is a 50 minute album diving into thoughtful slightly progressive music ala Pink Floyd/Bowie. The storyline takes you on a journey of being drawn into the corporate world, the gratification, the loneliness, the depression and the will of one man to claw his way out to find love, happiness and redemption once again. It’s a psychological metaphor for the walls we put up emotionally that fortify over years of ignoring what a human being can become if they allow themselves to be overcome by the lust for money, power and greed.Media/Samples