.......................................A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FEATURED ARTIST AND CD REVIEWS - 2012
Progressive Rock & Progressive Metal - Logo
.
LAST UPDATE 05/10/2012..
. VERBAL DELIRIUM - "So Close and Yet So Far Away"
Story of Verbal Delirium begins back in the summer of 1999 when keyboard player and vocalist Jargon (John Kosmidis) went to form a band along with bass player Nik Michailidis. Though starting with an obvious commitment to the progressive rock and psychedelic sound of the 60’s n’ 70’s, the band came soon to realize that the addition of more modern elements was something more than a necessity. However, the presence of numerous changes in the lineup delayed the band’s plan for an album. After trying many different people, things finally seamed to fit at 2005 with guitarist Giorgos Maniatis and drummer Lazaros Papanastasiou. Conclusion of this effort was the recording and distribution of a demo album under the title of “The imprisoned words of fear” witch took place in 2007. At that time the album still reflected the band’s admiration for the progressive and psychedelic sound of the 70’s with big arrangements and complex chord progressions. After that, the band moved on to a more alternative rock style, though still preserving much of the progressive elements. Another change in the lineup went on, introducing Nikitas Kissonas on guitars and drummer Tolis Liapis. As a result, first official album entitled “So Close And Yet So Far Away” was introduced. Now the band is in the process of extending its horizons, experimenting with new forms of arrangement, seeing the music as a hole and not as distinctive genres. Till now the “So Close...” album has met an overall cordial correspondence by the critics and this has played a major role in the band's eagerness to continue its effort. The greece has never been a reference in the style of progressive rock, few bands and musicians were, or, still are well remembered on the world stage, as an example we can mention "Aphrodite’s Child", "P.L.J. Band", "Apocalypsis", "La Tulipe Noire", "Vasilis Papakonstantinou", "Demis Rousos" and "Vangelis". Around the 90's, new bands have emerged, but with a greater focus on the heavier musical style, where It was dominated by some Heavy Metal bands and Epic Metal groups. At this periodo, for the first time in Greek rock history, names like "Diafana Krina", "Endelekheia", "The Flowers Of Romance", "Nama", "Pyx Lax", "Katsimihas Brothers", become famous there, so, thousands of fans cheered these groups, at this time Greece become a great place, musically. Then, today, at this time, I´d like to introduce you a new musical generation, Verbal Delirium, a new group formed by three young and experienced musicians. Really, the band's themes are more diverse, which seems that the musicians got many influences from old Progressive Rock bands, but adding some hints of Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Alternative Rock, Art-Rock and a smooth smells of Progressive Metal with epic textures, as a reference, or rather the musical style of Verbal Delirium may be divided between Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal, Classic Rock and Art-Rock. The three founders of the band, together with guest musicians, know how to create incredible arrangements on the compositions, this means that the musicians has full control of each instrument, the arrangements and instrumental performances among guitar's solos, keyboards, bass and drums are very well interlocking and the vocals are very consistent. "So Close and Yet So Far Away" is their first album, also is the gateway to this amazing group in the progressive world scenario. Every one of the songs on this album will certainly have something you like, no matter what musical style you prefer, Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal, Art-Rock or Hard Rock, all tracks follows with a very smooth melody brilliantly played and produced, but blending hard elements, driven by well played guitars, keyboards, bass guitar, adding a beautiful vocal harmony, in fact, the music contained on this album delivers a variety of genres and styles, that is, unquestionably exciting completely different and absolutely unforgettable. "So Close and Yet So Far Away" album was recorded between January and March 2009, mixed by Leonidas Petropoulus & Jargon, mastered at MI studio Leonidas Petropoulus. Words & Music by Jargon. Arranged by Jargon/ Kissomas/ Michailidis, except "So Close and Yet So Far Away" & "The Scene Remains" arranged by Jargon/ Kissonas/ Michailidis/T herios and "Ervelet", "They", "Reprise" arranged by Jargon. Management - Christine Maragou. All songs have a consistent instrumental,  which are even impressive well crafted and diverse in tempo and structure, however I have a special and particular to the songs "So Close and Yet So Far Away", "Lullaby" and "The Scene Remains" this last one is the best song on the album. If you like bands such as "Spock's Beard", "IQ", "Genesis", "Marillion", "Pink Floyd", "Camel", "Porcupine Tree", of course you will like Verbal Delirium. The main musicians on Verbal Delirium are: Jargon - Keyboards, Piano,Lead and Backing Vocals, Nikitas Kissonas - Guitars, Nik Michailidis - Bass. Guest Musicians: Elsa Papeli - Cello on "They" & "Erased" and Tolis Liapis - Drums. Musicians on stage: Anastasis Chamilakis - Piano and Keyboards and Grigoris Pavlakos - Drums. Also you must visit Verbal Delirium's MySpace Site. Brilliant, amazing and an indispensable work, highly recommendable...  (Comments by Carlos Vaz)		 .
01/29/2012.....Is there an interested to know more about them? Then you must visit VERBAL DELIRIUM HOME PAGE...
. TRIP WAVE - "A Retrospective Collection of Russian Psychedelic Progressive Music"
Trip Wave is a compilation of Russian Psychedelic and Progressive music that was released by independent label Trail Records (2011). The record offers a good panorama of Russian Music in the genres of Psychedelic, Progressive, Folk, New-Wave, Trip-Hop, Alternative Rock, and Avant-garde, which, in spite of its long history, was still unknown to the Western audiences. Trip Wave includes 11 compositions (many previously unreleased) that were recorded over a 20-year period by 11 different bands from different regions of Russia (total time: 79:40). The tracks were selected according to the criteria of musical originality, and arranged on the CD in chronological order to make it easy to the listener to grasp the development of those musical genres in Russia; becoming a valuable source for the worldwide fans of unconventional music. The album begins in 1989, with the opening track “Celt” (by “Eastern Syndrome”) - a psychedelic tour-de-force driven by hypnotic bass, dissonant guitars, lysergic tenor-saxophones, and idiosyncratic vocals that have much in common with seminal “Hawkwind”. The following tracks cover a turbulent historical period, when the former Soviet Union dissolved into the independent Republics: “Moon Dream” (1990, by “The Moon Pierrot”) is a New-Wave very reminiscent of “DEVO” and “Japan”, including blasé vocals; while “To Rake Your Fingers Through The Grass” (1992, by “Do Major”, the former band of guitarist Andrei Suchilin) is a sophisticated piece featuring original vocals and progressive soaring guitars opposed to a ahead-of-the-time bass & drums rhythmic section, with influences of “Sigur Rós”. The decade of the 90’s is closed by the track “Dream #5:Love” (1999, by “Decadance”) - one of my favorites – which is driven by supplicant female vocals, gothic keyboards, and Heavy-Metal styled guitar solo, reminding me of “Massive Attack” and Polish band “Artrosis”. The remaining 7 tracks cover a recent period of time, from 2004 to 2010 – and show the greatest changes regarding the musical evolution of Russian Psychedelic Movement, now matured and widened also to include Ethno-Folk, Trip-Hop, Avant-garde, and Post-Rock elements. The exception is the instrumental “Solaris” (2004, by “Disen Gage”) – a retro-Psychedelic-Space-Rock wrapped in cosmic sounds and vintage keyboards, specially tailored for fans of early “Pink Floyd“ and Kraut-Rock bands like “Can”, “Faust”, and “Ash Ra Tempel”. Mixing Folk, Trip-Hop and Avant-garde, the song “Interlude” (2004, by one of Russia’s pioneering bands: “Rada & Ternovnik” a.k.a. ”Rada & Blackthorns”) combines psychedelic bass and acid-jazz guitars with substantial ethnical percussion – forming the background for the amazing female ethno-singer Rada to perform her ritualistic and mesmerizing vocals. Track 8 - “Happy End Is Inevitable” (2006) – is another favorite, and counts as another example of that Folk-Psychedelic trend. Performed by the remarkable Russian-Armenian band “Deti Picasso“ (a.k.a. “Picassos's Children”), this strong song combines somber psychedelic moods, heavy  guitars and mysterious ethnic percussion under the leadership of expressive female singer Gaya Harutyunyan – being recommendable for fans of “The Gathering” and “Porcupine Tree”. Strongly contrasting with those two tracks, “Soda” (2006, by “KRTL”) is a vertiginous instrumental Techno-Trance that reflects the technological rush of our modern lives. An other song that captured my attention was “Inna Burst Into Tears” (2007, by “Vespero”, another exponent of Russian music, very influenced by bands like “Pink Floyd”, “Amon Düül II”, “Can”, “Faust”, “Agitation Free”, “Gong”, and “Soft Machine”). It is a Trip-Hop with Space sounds marked by strong guitars and agile bass and drums, all driven by soaring female vocals (recalling me of “Anneke van Giersbergen”). The last two tracks of the record are contributions of two bands that have recently appeared in the Russian musical scene, and point out for the future in two possible, yet opposite directions. Will the new trends of Psychedelic music develop toward the Jazzy sophistication of “Entrance To Invisibility” (2009, by “Kafedra”), in a cosmic convergence of floating keyboards, clean guitars, and sensual female vocals? Or will the bands dig deeper into the past to drink from the dualism generated between ethnical primitiveness and futuristic experimentalism, as did “Pink Floyd”, “King Crimson” and “Amon Düül”, and is now also doing the inventive band “Liompa” on their track “Thee” (2010)? The future will tell. Trip Wave is an excellent compilation; a bold release by Trail Records that unveils a growing musical scene in Russia by introducing the listener to many creative and original bands and instigating him or her to learn more about them. Highly recommended for fans of Psychedelic Music and music researchers.  Trip Wave “A Retrospective Collection of Russian Psychedelic Progressive Music” was mastered and edited by George Dugan (I-Heights Studio, New York); with Trail Records production and design by Alexander Tsalikhin and Vlad Milyavsky. The song lyrics were translated from the Russian by Alexis Rodimsev  “Liverpoolets”. Bands and songs featured on Trip Wave are: 1. Eastern Syndrome (“Celt”, 10:22, 1989, previously unreleased, remixed in 2010); 2. The Moon Pierrot (“Moon Dream”, 5:09, 1990, released previously only on vinyl); 3. Do Major (“To Rake Your Fingers Through The Grass”, 7:08, 1992, Anima Vox); 4. Decadance (“Dream #5:Love”, 4:54, 1999, Musea); 5. Disen Gage (“Solaris”, 5:26, 2004, R.A.I.G.); 6. Rada & Ternovnik (Rada & Blackthorns) (“Interlude”, 7:05, 2004, RADA); 7. KRTL (“Soda”, 5:23, 2006, unreleased edited version); 8. Deti Picasso (Picassos's Children) (“Happy End Is Inevitable”, 8:24, 2006, edited version); 9. Vespero (“Inna Burst Into Tears”, 8:01, 2007, R.A.I.G.); 10. Kafedra (“Entrance To Invisibility”, 9:21, 2009, previously unreleased); 11. Liompa (“Thee”, 8:27, 2010, previously unreleased)...    (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
01/29/2012............................................,.....Interested to know more about the Band? Visit TRIP WAVE HOME PAGE...
. BY BLOOD ALONE - "Thunderbirds"
By Blood Alone is a Gothic-Metal band from Portland, the Maine (U.S.A.). The line-up consists of Cruella (vocals), John Graveside (guitars), Jack Doran (bass), Jen Williamson (keys), and Runtt (drums). Band members gathered together in 2004 with the aim of forging their own sonority and identity within the Progressive and Gothic Metal circle. The band released two independent records – the EP “Eternally” (2005) and the full-length “Seas of Blood” (2007) – that were included in Portland’s arts weekly “The Phoenix” in their year-end Top-10 list. The band has been nominated for two “Portland Music Awards” in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010, with wins in 2009. They also made live performances, supporting “Joey Belladonna” (“Anthrax”), “Michale Graves” (“Misfits”), “Seven Witches”, “Goatwhore”, and “Ocean”. After a long hiatus, By Blood Alone returns with the release of “Thunderbirds” (2011, Jericho Hill Records; distributed by Relapse Records). The album comes after a long battle of singer Cruella against breast cancer, a personal experience that she transported to the lyrics. In terms of sound, By Blood Alone practice what they preach: complex and original songwriting that try to avoid stylistic clichés. Their songs are long (some lasting 10 minutes), and have so many internal changes that it is difficult to restrict the band to a particular style. They frequent cross the borders that confine Metal subtypes such as Doom, Gothic, Epic, Prog, Power, Folk and Traditional. The highlights go for the dramatic performance of Cruella and the eclectic guitar work of John Graveside. Meanwhile, keyboardist Jenny Williamson provides a symphonic background by adding pianos, church organs, and violins to the music creating somber atmospheres that oscillate from the gothic-romantic to the melancholic. The rhythm section formed by bassist Jack Doran and drummer Runtt keeps the Metal energy flowing, going from the slow and heavy cadences of Gothic-Doom to the faster beats of Power-Metal and NWOBHM styles. The mixture makes the songs to sound with distinctiveness, at the same time retaining some stylistic cohesiveness. Hence, By Blood Alone occupy their own niche in parallel to other “Female-Fronted Metal” bands, such as “Nightwish”, “Forgotten Tales”, “Syrens Call”, “Xandria”, “Visions of Atlantis”, “Leaves’ Eyes“, “Flowing Tears”, “Elis”, “Nemesea”, “Doro”, “Chastain”, “Rain Fell Within”, “Legend”, “Aesma Daeva”, “Evanescence”, “Amartia”, and “Within Temptation”. The album “Thunderbirds” contains 7 songs. The fast-paced opening track “Drive All Night“ (9:06) brings to mind the Power-Metal bands “Forgotten Tales” and “Syrens Call”, including epic keyboards, high-spirited vocals and melodic guitar solo. A break for insertion of pianos and violins changes the mode to a Symphonic part, recalling “Evanescence” and “Nightwish”. Also the title track “Thunderbirds“ (10:03) brings a violent storm full of Power and Thrash-Metal drumming and powerful “Chastain”-like guitar-riffs, unless by the middle part that slows down to a mournful Gothic-Doom, driven by the whispering voice of Cruella, who chants a funeral tune (recalling me of band “Rain Fell Within”). The songs “Night Terrors“ (6:55) and “Stalking“ (7:00) combine the Gothic-Metal impact with the energetic “rocky” beats of Metal, recalling “Nightwish”, “Xandria”, “Elis”, “Visions of Atlantis” and “Doro”. “Night Terrors“ has church organs on the background, amazing gothic-romantic duel of pianos and vocals, and a middle part with Doom-Metal guitar riffs. The last vocal part is followed by Spanish guitars, adding a Dark-Progressive tint to the song. “Stalking“ has accelerated Folk-Metal parts driven by Celtic violins, recalling bands “Skyclad” and “Leaves’ Eyes”. In between, “Having Tea“ (5:25) is a singular track that features a surprising blend of Prog, Jazz, and Gothic elements, tribal drumming, bass solo and ritualistic vocals (almost paralleling Dark-Progressive and Zeuhl bands). The remaining two tracks - “I Bleed“ (10:05) and “Misfit“ (7:48) – begin with slow Gothic-Doom cadences, have Epic and Folk Metal parts, and accelerate by the end to faster cadences in NWOBHM-style. “I Bleed“ has epic war-marching guitars (that recall me of “Chastain”) and symphonic keyboards supporting Cruella’s voice, which is loaded with sadness. “Misfit“ closes the album, beginning with a remarkable guitar riff followed by minimalist pianos – Cruella’s soulful vocals are firstly melancholic and helplessly, but later become vivid and full of hope, turning the song into an epic victorious hymn. Although still needing better record production to fully develop their musical potential, By Blood Alone is highly recommended for fans of “Nightwish”, “Forgotten Tales”, “Syrens Call”, “Visions of Atlantis”, “Elis”, “Xandria”, “Leaves’ Eyes“, “Flowing Tears”, “Doro”, “Nemesea”, “Rain Fell Within”, “Legend”, “Aesma Daeva”, “Evanescence”, “Amartia”, “Chastain”, “Within Temptation”, and so on. Band members and collaborators involved in By Blood Alone are: Cruella –Vocals; John Graveside – Guitars; Jack Doran – Bass; Jenny Williamson – Keys; Runtt – Drums...    (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
01/29/2012......Is there an interested to know more about them? Then you must visit BY BLOOD ALONE HOME PAGE...
. MACHINE MASS TRIO - "As Real As Thinking"
The Machine Mass Trio was formed by Anthony 'Tony' Bianco (drums, loops, percussion) and the Belgian musicians Michel Delville (electric guitar, synth guitar, bouzouki, electronica) and Jordi Grognard (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, flute, bansuri, electronic tempura, and assorted wind instruments). This new trio originated as a side-project of Doubt; a project that Bianco and Delville shared with keyboardist Alex Maguire (see under “Reviews 2010”). Tony Bianco was born in New York City and has played and recorded with many influential Jazz musicians (“Dave Liebman”, “Evan Parker”, “Paul Dunmall”, “Elton Dean”, “Alex von Schlippenbach”, “Simon Picard”, “Reggie Workman”, “Keith Tippett”, “Luther Thomas”, “Jay Oliver”). Michel Delville: was born in Liege, Belgium. He has been performing and composing alternative music since the mid-1980s. His most recent projects include the Jazz-Rock quintet “The Wrong Object” (since 2003); the Belgian-Swiss punk-jazz combo “TZGIV”,  the Belgian-Dutch rock quintet “The Moving Tones”, the “Alex Maguire Sextet”, and “Comicoperando” (a tribute project to “Robert Wyatt”; featuring “Henry Cow” members “Chris Cutler” and “Dagmar Krause”). Delville's guitar playing is influenced by “Bill Frisell”, “Phil Miller”, “David Torn”, “Robert Fripp”, “Zappa”, “Allan Holdsworth”, and “Terje Rypdal”. Other influences are “Stravinsky”, “Trane”, “Mingus”, “Threadgill”, “Pärt”, “Squarepusher”; the Canterbury Scene bands “The Soft Machine”, and “Hatfield and the North”; and the R.I.O. acts “Univers Zéro” and “Henry Cow”. Jordi Grognard has studied at the Flemish Conservatory in Brussels, and became an expert in wind instruments, including a variety of Western and Eastern woodwinds. He has performed with many Jazz ensembles in Belgium (“Moker”, “The Friendly Dogs”, the “Nicola Lancerotti Quartet”), and is a versatile musician, also playing Rock, Electronica, and World Music. The Machine Mass Trio’s debut is “As Real as Thinking” (2011, MoonJune Records). The album was recorded live in the studio with no overdubs in 2010 by Sacha Symon (Dans Ma Cabane Studios, Liege), mixed and mastered in 2011 by David Minjauw (Studio Simonne, Brussels), and produced by Mass Machine Trio and Leonardo Pavkovic. The sonority of the Machine Mass Trio combines influences of Canterbury Style, R.I.O., Jazz-Rock, Modern Jazz and Middle Eastern Music. The compositions are all instrumental, being most of the time structured along lines of jazzy drums, unusual guitar and synth-guitar chords, and saxophone-driven tunes. Free improvisation is frequent, as the three musicians work in unison, mentally anticipating the musical themes and phrases of each other. As in a collage, they progressively combine, permute and adjust their tunes and solos in a constructivist way, making them fit perfectly together, so that each composition sounds with uniqueness. The mood varies from cool, soft and jazzy to groovy and explosive, as the music may either get immersed in mysterious atmospheres, or reflect stormy moments of cerebral complexity. “As Real as Thinking” contains 8 tracks. For lovers of the smoothness and elegance of “Soft Machine” and “Terje Rypdal”, tracks “Cuckoo” (9:26), “Knowledge” (6:11), and “Hero” (10:16) – combine the jazzy drumming that grows gradually in complexity with random chords, sensual melodies, and saxophone solos that recall “Soft Machine” (pre-“Bundles”-era) – all joining forces with guitar free-improvisation. My favorites, however, are the fast-paced tracks that irradiate energy, fusing Jazz-Rock and Progressive as a mix of “Colosseum”, “King Crimson” and “Zappa”. These are “Let Go” (4:56) – a powerful Jazz-Rock with massive attack of Hard-Rock guitars, thunderous drumming and sharp-cutting crazy “elephantine” saxophone solo – crowned with distorted guitar solo at the end; and “UFO-RA” (6:46) – a hybrid piece that melds traditional jazzy drums and bass and “whirling”-saxophone with strange progressive “flying-saucer” cosmic sounds. In turn, the serene tracks “Khajuaro” (5:23) and “Palitana Mood” (3:06) appeal to the mystery that comes from the Middle East, employing Arabian traditional instruments and percussion accompanied by soft flutes. Tending to the experimentalism of “Henry Cow”, the gigantic “Falling Up” (18:03) begins chaotically - with random sounds and cosmic noises, growing violently to include distorted guitar riffs and solos – to finally gain a logical structure amidst a fierce duel between Bianco and Delville. Featuring solid work and consistent instrumental interplay by great musicians that have a natural skill for improvisation, the Machine Mass Trio is highly recommendable for fans of “Soft Machine”, “Hatfield and the North”, “Henry Cow”, “Zappa”, “Colosseum”, “Terje Rypdal”, and other bands of the Canterbury, R.I.O. and experimental Jazz-Rock circles.  Band members involved in Machine Mass Trio are: Anthony 'Tony' Bianco – Drums, Loops, Percussion; Michel Delville – Electric Guitar, Synth Guitar, Bouzouki, Electronica; Jordi Grognard – Tenor Sax, Bass Clarinet, Flute, Bansuri, Electronic Tempura...    (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
01/29/2012...................................Interested to know more about the Band? Visit MACHINE MASS TRIO HOME PAGE...
. SYNE - "Boundaries of Hope"
The Syne project started in 2010 from the mind of Fabio Marchisio with the idea of combining many musical influences in an organic way to create different moods and feelings. From this concept comes the name Syne, short for Synesthesia, perception phenomenon that combines multiple sensory stimuli into one, creating different "sensory contaminations". The peculiarity of the band is to use open tunings tuned to 432Hz instead of 440Hz standard. This choice stems from the fact that the pitch to 432Hz allows the songs and instruments to have a wider and greater amount of harmonics, compared with standard intonation. In the spring of 2010 they released a self-produced EP. In October 2011 they won the musical contest "Rock Festival Cuorgnè" in Italy, resulting the winners for both the technical jury and for the popular one. Currently the band consists of four musicians with different musical backgrounds, some with international experience recording and touring ("Ian Anderson", "Martin Barre", "Barriemore Barlow" from "Jethro Tull", "Marco Minnemann", "Ephel Duath", "David Jackson" from "Van Der Graaf Generator" and others), and in January 2012 they released their debut album "Boundaries Of Hope" present on the major digital retailers like iTunes and Amazon and others. Since the first time, when I listened Syne's debut album, I'm increasingly convinced that Italy is, and will be always one of the birthplace of great and amazing Progressive Rock Bands from all times, which ensure that, the progressive rock scene will never die easily. Syne is a band with a basic instrumental configuration but with a potential to becoming a name that will be remembered pleasurably around progressive rock scenary, formed by four spectacular musicians and led by Fabio Marchisio, which I consider a magician of the guitar solos, who dominate all the compositions, his instrumental prowess is demonstrated by remarkable ability to blend styles such as Progressive Rock, Hard Rock, Art Rock, Heavy Metal adding hints of Melodic Classic Rock. Another very strong point on the band is the singer Eric Concas (singing in English), vocally he is influenced by the Hard Rock and also by Heavy Metal school, but ie, without an excessive aggressiveness on his vocals, normally found at many heavy metal bands, his vocals' tone fits perfectly with the music, sometimes using a melodic touch. Of course the drums by Sergio Ponti has a strong affect on the compositions and also a powerful driving force on the musical arrangements, together with the bass player by Fulvio Bosio, who complements with a grandiose attendance into all musical arrangements. "Boundaries of Hope" is the name of the band's album, which is brimming with wonderful and mature Progressive Rock, divided into ten tracks, totalizing almost 45 min from a natural, intelligent & passionate music manner. All songs and lyrics written by Fabio Marchisio, Self-Recorded and Self-Produced, except vocals recorded as Rock Lab Studios Turin, Italy. The album start with "Room 432", an introduction to the second song named "So What", potentially formed by some strong guitars solos and powered vocals in the style of Heavy Metal, the same applies to the track "Brand New Breathe", but with some hints of Hard Rock, "Hurting Words" is a fantastic song, one of my favorites on the album, full of guitars solos adorned by hard rock vocals, followed by "Another Day", another fantastic track, a beautiful melodic hard rock song, nice vocals and drived by  symphonic instrumental. "Sleepless" is another masterpiece on the album and fatally the second song on my preferences. "No Use In Wonders" this song follows in the fields of progressive rock style, another fantastic song. "Slow Me Down" is very melodic, the musical bases consist around melodic vocals with a sweet instrumental, "No More Clouds" and "Boundaries Of Hope" close the album like a "Gran Finally", both describe perfectly the musical trends of the musicians on the band and may be the main influences for next album. As references, there are some musical evidences of their influences, where as you can hear touchs of "Porcupine Tree", "Whitesnake", "Led Zeppelin", "Deep Purple", "RPWL", "IQ", "Marillion", "Vangough", "Blind Ego" passages in some arrangements. Syne has everything exactly what people want to hear from this kind of band, I'm sure it will please all enthusiasts of styles such as progressive rock, hard rock, heavy metal and art rock, who likes dynamic and bombastic music with lots of strong vocals, perfect bass, marcant drums and amazing guitar solos.  The main musicians on Syne are: Eric Concas - Vocals, Fabio "FaZ" Marchisio - Guitars, Programing and Backing Vocals, Fulvio Bosio - Bass and Sergio Ponti - Drums. Also you must visit Syne's MySpace Site...  (Comments by Carlos Vaz)		 .
02/15/2012..................For more information about the musicians and their history, you must visit SYNE HOME PAGE...
. ADRIAN WEISS - "Big Time"
Adrian Weiss was born in Germany in 1976, and began to play guitar at the age of 15. From 1996 to 2002 he was a member of band "Thought Sphere", and recorded four albums with them. Since the end of 2000 he has been playing with the Progressive Metal band "Forces At Work"; appearing on their releases "Coldheart Canyon" (EP 2003); "Forcilized" (EP 2004), and “Reverse Feng-Shui Audio Guide“ (CD 2006). Weiss had made a guest appearance on the solo CD of Victor Smolski (of “Rage”), “Majesty & Passion” (2004); and since 2009 he also performs at various Guitar-focused events and Conventions. In 2007 Adrian Weiss began to record his first solo album with songs that he had been writing since 1999. Released in 2011, the album is titled “Big Time”, and contains 11 instrumentals tracks. The record has participation of many guest musicians, such as Victor Smolski (“Rage”), Joachim Kremer and Björn Sondermann (“Assassin”), Demian Heuke (who co-wrote a few tracks) and Lars Zehner (“N-Jected”, “Mercury Arc”); Jan Ristau (“Thought Sphere”); Sabir Salkic, Mischa Blum and Marcel Willnat (“Forces at Work”); and others (see list below). The production was completed in March of 2011 and was engineered by drummer Björn Sondermann in his studio in Duesseldorf. “Big Time” is a precious iten that cannot be overlooked by guitar fans. Adrian Weiss is an experienced player and talented composer, ranking in musicianship, technique and style with guitarists such as “Jason Becker”, “Marty Friedman”, “Steve Vai”, “Scott Henderson”, “Alex Skolnick”, “Steve Stevens”, “Tonny MacAlpine”, “Greg Howe”, “Vinnie Moore”, “Joey Tafolla“, “Marc Bonilla“, “Todd Grubbs”, “Glen Drover”, and “Jarle Olsen”, having minor influences of “Jeff Beck”, “Gary Moore”, “Al Di Meola”, and “Yngwie Malmsteen”. His music is impregnated with melody, sensibility, and energy, blending doses of Rock, Classical, Jazz, Fusion and Metal with perfection. Bass, drums, and acoustic guitars have equal importance on his work, reaching a precise balance with the electric guitars, and resulting in a tasty brew of textures, styles and insightful harmonies. The compositions also recall the work of bands and projects like “Cacophony”, “Liquid Tension Experiment”, “CAB”, “California Guitar Trio”, “MGM”, “Niacin”, and “Bozzio Levin Stevens”. The opening track, “Summer Drive“ (3:53), has a melodious beginning that recalls me of “Henderson” and “Vinnie Moore”, and get heavier later, recalling the duo “Jason Becker” and “Marty Friedman” (“Cacophony”). The Fusion tracks “Easy on the Ice“ (3:23) - driven by a funky swing and clean jazzy guitars – and “Estimated Time of Arrival“ (3:30) are comparable to sophisticated works of “Greg Howe”, “Henderson”, “Vai”, “Skolnick”, and “MacAlpine”. Counting as the very best of the album, “Tough Luck“ (6:26) has a beautiful bluesy guitar on the first cut, changing for a Fusion driven by demolition bass and drums, followed by a sequence of igneous guitar solos performed by 4 soloists (Weiss, Praest, Smolski, and Dring); while “Egyptian Inscription“ (4:23) is an Oriental Fusion Metal reminiscent of “Becker” and “Vinnie Moore”. Other highlights go for a bunch of tracks that blend both acoustic and electric guitars with originality and good-taste: the extraordinary “Desert Sanctuary“ (5:23) (with classical acoustic guitars opposed to electrified solos, reminiscent of a mix of “Marc Bonilla” and “Al Di Meola”); the ballad “Disappear“ (4:16) (with sensible solo); and the superb “Bright Awakening“ (5:03). The last one features ultra-fast scales that prepare the listener for the following “Morning Run” (2:32) – a pulsing Neo-Classical Metal piece that will please fans of “Malmsteen”, “Becker”, “Friedman”, “Vinnie Moore”, and “Tafolla”. For listeners with a preference for Progressive Metal, the powerful “Liquid Pension Embellishment“ (4:09) brings blasting Space-Fusion bass and fast odd-metric drumming, in an obvious reference to the sonority of “Liquid Tension Experiment”; while the heaviest track “The Progressive Society“ (3:48) closes the album with punching Thrash-Metal guitar riffs, insane distorted solos, and explosive drumming, recalling “Cacophony”. Member of a new generation of excellent guitar players that focus on both composition and technique, Adrian Weiss is ultra-highly recommended for fans of “Jason Becker”, “Marty Friedman”, “Steve Vai”, “Scott Henderson”, “Alex Skolnick”, “Steve Stevens”, “Tonny MacAlpine”, “Greg Howe”, “Vinnie Moore”, “Joey Tafolla“, “Marc Bonilla“, “Todd Grubbs”, “Al Di Meola”, “Yngwie Malmsteen”, “Glen Drover”, and “Jarle Olsen”.  Band members and collaborators involved in Adrian Weiss are: Adrian Weiss – Guitars; Guest Guitarists: Demian Heuke (Acoustic, Rhythm and Solo - tracks 1, 5, 8, 10); Thorsten Praest (track 3) Victor Smolski (track 3), Daniel Dring (track 3); Mischa Blum (track 11). Bassists: Jan Ristau (tracks 1, 8); Goran Vujic (tracks 2, 6, 7); Joachim Kremer (track 3 ); Marcel Willnat (tracks 4, 9, 11); Michael Schröder (track 5); “Mf-C” (Fretless Bass, track 10). Drummers: Lars Zehner (tracks 1, 5, 8); Björn “Burn” Sondermann (tracks 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9); Sabir Salkic (track 11)...    (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
02/15/2012..............Want to learn everything about the musician and his history, go to ADRIAN WEISS HOME PAGE...
. FURYU - "Cio’ Che L’Anima Non Dice"
The Furyu Metal project was born in Bologna (Italy) in 2000, founded by Michele Zappoli (bass) and Matteo Migliori (guitar, vocals). The word Furyu means “elegant” in modern Japanese, and was employed in Japanese Poetry during the late Heian period (795-1185) to refer to life under an aristocratic and nostalgic point of view, meaning literally “flowing wind and water”. Soon the guitar players Giulio Capitelli and Federico Melandri joined in, and Furyu began to record demos and play alive around Bologna. After several line-up changes, the project solidified in mid-2009 when remaining members Zappoli, Capitelli and Melandri, joined forces with drummer Riccardo Grechi (“Lacerater”, “Cruel Face of Life”) and sampler Damiano Storelli (“Dim Arcana”). They started then to write and produce their first album: “Cio’ Che L’Anima Non Dice” (2010, self-produced). The record was mixed and mastered by Massimiliano Canali and Simone Mularoni at Fear Studio in the spring of 2010. “Cio’ Che L’Anima Non Dice” is a concept album containing five tracks. The synthetic lyrics characterize the emotional experiences of the protagonist during his own inner journey, and are performed by guest vocalist Giovanni Notarangelo, who narrates the story either as a declamatory or by imposing theatrical tones to his voice. Furyu‘s intention is to create new music, free of preconceived ideas, by using the accumulated background of all band members. The ample tag of Heavy Metal can define their sonority, with the subdivisions of “Progressive Metal”, “N.W.O.B.H.M.”, “Thrash-Metal”, “Tech-Metal”, and “Post-Metal” being the most evident. The music is lively, fluent, dynamic, and powerful. Guitar riffs recall either early works of Thrash-Metal bands of the 80’s (“Megadeth”, “Annihilator”, “Death Angel“, “Heathen” and “Hades”), or the Proto Prog-Metal of the 80’s to early 90’s (represented by bands like “Helstar”, “Griffin”, and “The Quiet Room”). The strongest point of Furyu is their solid work of bass and drums: interspersed within the metallic frame, dazzling battles of steel-sounding bass against rumbling drums occur frequently, emulating the Tech-Metal metrics of “Watchtower”, “Spiral Architect”, “Cynic”, “Event”, “Primus” and “Tool”. The intricate instrumentation often recalls “Iron Maiden”, “Megadeth”, a Tech-Thrash hybridization of “Annihilator” and “Watchtower”, or early “Dream Theater” and “Rush”. When supported by electronic effects, the music delves into the psychedelic density of “Porcupine Tree” and “Tool”. Vocals punctuate the instrumental parts with whispers, desperation, and angry screams. The combination of musical elements aligns Furyu with recent bands such as “Outopsya”, “Le Maschere di Clara“, “Dialeto”, “Dynahead”, and “The Elephant Parallax”. The first track, “Illusioni Dei Miei Giorni” (6:13), is fast, flowing and furious, driven by potent bass and drums, being permeated by dramatic sad vocals and Prog-Metal guitar riffs that recall me of “Helstar”. The longest track -“…E Poi La Luce“ (8:43) - combines the fast paces of “Iron Maiden” and “Megadeth” with various Tech-Metal blocks, and ends in a Death-Metal rumbling drumming. The cadenced Un Momento: "Vado a Fuoco“ (4:10) initially recalls me of “Iron Maiden”, but then engages into a Fusion-Metal that breaks into a insane Tech-Metal (like “Watchtower”). The last two tracks show a stronger tendency toward Prog-Metal: “Finalmente Io Sono“ (5:36) begins recalling a soaring “Dream Theater”, having more keyboard-like effects, and turns later into a “Tool”-“Porcupine Tree” mode, by including psychedelic effects and whispering voices. “La Vastità Del Mio Tempo“ (6:57) has somber atmospheres like “Iron Maiden” and parts that recall “Rush” and “Dream Theater”. In also includes a melancholic interlude and an acoustic guitar finale. Although Furyu‘s debut is a consistent work, I still miss more remarkable guitar solos and, perhaps, a permanent vocalist to sing longer lyrics. Anyway, Furyu is a potentially emergent band in the Prog-Metal universe, because it has the ability to unify several different kinds of Metal into a single bombastic, explosive, substance. Furyu is especially recommended for fans of “Iron Maiden”, “Megadeth”, “Annihilator”, “Hades”, “Watchtower”, “Spiral Architect”, “Cynic”, “Event”, “Porcupine Tree”, “Helstar”, “Griffin”, “The Quiet Room”, “Dream Theater”, “Primus”, “Tool”, “Outopsya”, “La Maschera di Clara“, “Dialeto”, “Dynahead”, “The Elephant Paralax”, and so on...  Band members and collaborators involved in Furyu are: Giulio Capitelli – Guitar; Federico Melandri – Guitar; Michele Zappoli – Bass; Riccardo Grechi – Drums; Damiano Storelli – Sampler Effects. Guest Musicians: Giovanni Notarangelo - Vocal Performance. Former member: Matteo Migliori - Guitar, Vocals. Also you must visit Furyu's MySpace Site...    (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
02/15/2012............Want to learn everything about the band and more about their history, go to FURYU HOME PAGE...
. OCEANS OF NIGHT - "Domain"
Oceans of Night - the Ambient Progressive Metal project led by the independent musician and multi-instrumentalist Scott Mosher - is back to this webzine (see under reviews 2009). Mosher had already released four solo albums in his career, until in 2009 he joined forces with vocalist Scott Oliva (”Wind Wraith”, “Live After Death” - “Iron Maiden” tribute) to launch a new project called Oceans of Night. Their debut album, “The Shadowheart Mirror”, featured an original style dubbed by Mosher as “Ambient Progressive Metal” – which is characterized by blending the softness and ambience of Electronic Music with the energy and heaviness of Progressive Metal in order to create a deep sonic contrast. The influences are later works of “Fates Warning” and “Queensreÿch”, early “Dream Theater“, “Vicious Rumors”, “Iron Maiden”, “Rush”, “Journey”, “Tangerine Dream”, “Eloy”, “Kitaro”, “Alan Parsons“, “Mike Oldfield”, “Jean Michel Jarre”, “U2”, and “Depeche Mode”. Oceans of Night thus combines elements of Ambient, New Age, Space Rock, Symphonic Prog, Classic Rock, Melodic Metal, and Prog-Metal, matching the sonority of bands like “Redemption”, “OSI”, “Sieges Even”, “Ayreon”, “Star One”, “Evergrey”, “Porcupine Tree”, “Jupiter Society“, and “Everon”. Oceans of Night has just released a second album: “Domain” (2011, Allaroundniceguy Music). It was mixed and engineered by Joey Vera (“Fates Warning”, “Armored Saint”, “Engine”), and the line-up has Mosher (guitars, bass, keyboards and programming), Oliva (vocals, harmony vocals) and new member Alan Smithee (drums, percussion). Although the sonority of “Domain” still retains that unique “Ambient Progressive Metal” approach of the previous album, the compositions have been hardened, focusing on Prog-Metal. Mosher is still influenced by his favorite guitarists (“Steve Vai”, “Tony MacAlpine”, and “Greg Howe”), and adopts a playing style that transits around the Melodic Metal, the Classic Rock, and the Neo-Progressive. Scott Oliva, whose vocals were initially Metal-oriented (recalling “Bruce Dickinson”, “Geoff Tate”, and “Rob Halford”), is more reserved now, but has gained in emotion, having and introspective vocal inflexion reminiscent of “Ray Alder” and “David Bowie”. Alan Smithee on drums is a powerful driving force of Oceans of Night, and keeps the band’s Metallic heart pulsing at the same tempo and cadence of bands like “Queensrÿche”, “Fates Warning”, “Evergrey”, “Star One”, and “Redemption”. Electronic keyboards are still a trait of the band, introducing soaring and symphonic backgrounds (like “Eloy”, “Mike Oldfield”, “Tangerine Dream”); cosmic solos (like “Rush”, “Ayreon”); rhythmic pulses (like “Alan Parsons”); and ambient sounds (like “Sigur Rós”, “Porcupine Tree”). “Domain” has 10 tracks. As a perfect example of the “Ambient Progressive Metal” style, the astonishing title track “Domain” (17:39) opens the album combining slow pounding guitar riffs and space-symphonic keyboards to create a dark atmosphere, emphasized by Olivas’s sad and powerful vocals. The solo guitar work is amazing, flowing through many different nuances, until the last crushing moments, when accelerated drums hurl the listener into a cosmic black-hole. Similar models are “Seven Days of Rain” (6:12) (with initial keyboards that recall “Oldfield” and “Parsons” being replaced later by solid riffs and pulsing bass lines like “Star One” and “Redemption”, and having a cosmic-Progressive guitar solo); and “The Future Remembered” (4:20), which brings a deep contrast between the electronic-symphonic intro (reminiscent of “Tangerine Dream”) and the second part, marked by heavy cadenced guitars and gloomy voices (recalling “Star One” and “Jupiter Society”). The intense disparity of musical styles present on “Domain” can be evaluated by comparing its two instrumental tracks: the Progressive “Dreams in Artificial Sunlight” (3:32) (which goes from Ambient-Electronic sounds influenced by “Parsons”, “Tangerine Dream”, and “Oldfield” to hammered guitar riffs and space solos like “Star One” and “Porcupine Tree”); and the grinding “Instruments of Fear” (4:14) (that recalls the wildest moments of “Dream Theater”). With lesser presence of electronic effects and ambient sounds, the powerful tracks “So Near Yet So Far” (5:28), “The View to You” (8:28); and the fast-paced “Divisions of Time” (5:17) are plentiful of pounding riffs, bombastic keyboards, rumbling drums, epic emotional vocals, and melodic and epic guitar solos that will please fans of “Fates Warning”, “Redemption”, “Evergrey”, “Sieges Even”, “Star One” and “Ayreon” (last albums). The remaining tracks “Don't Look to Me” (5:10) and “Ghosts of the Past” (4:25) are excellent Classic-Rock songs with influences of “Journey”, “Asia”, and “Queensrÿche” (new albums). Restraining the original sonority featured on their first album, but without loosing it completely, Oceans of Night has made an excellent second album, rather oriented to the Prog-Metal community. Highly recommendable for fans of “Fates Warning”, “Queensreÿch”, “Redemption”, “OSI”, “Sieges Even”, “Ayreon”, “Star One”, “Evergrey”, and “Jupiter Society“ that also listen to “Porcupine Tree”, “Eloy”, “Rush”, “Journey”, “Alan Parsons“, and “Mike Oldfield”. Band members involved in Oceans Of Night are: Scott Mosher - Guitars, Bass, Keyboards and Programming; Scott Oliva – Lead and Harmony Vocals; Alan Smithee – Drums, Percussion. Also you must visit Oceans Of Night's MySpace Site...    (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
02/15/2012..If is there an interested to know more about them? Then you must visit OCEANS OF NIGHT HOME PAGE...
. IRON KIM STYLE - "Iron Kim Style"
Iron Kim Style is a Jazz-Rock quintet from Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. The line-up consists of two members of the band "Moraine" - Dennis Rea (6-string guitar) and Jay Jaskot (drums) – with Bill Jones (trumpet), Thaddaeus Brophy (12 string-guitar), and Ryan Berg (electric bass). Their influences come from "Olivier Messiaen", electric-period "Miles Davis", "Terje Rypdal", "John Abercrombie", heavy rock, and North Korean martial music. The band is named after the acrobatic martial arts approach espoused by Grandmaster "Iron" Kim, taking playful aim at North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. The musicians involved in Iron Kim Style have gained experience along many years of Jazz-playing. That experience helps a lot when they decided to embrace the spontaneous way of making improvised music, because their compositions sound as structured as if they have been composed. The resulting sonority is a collage of Jazzy improvisations, complex instrumental interplay, and free soloing of all instrumentalists, all suggesting different moods and surrounded by unusual atmospheres, sometimes evoking images of a film-noire. Under the point of view of the Progressive and Jazz-Rock enthusiasts, Iron Kim Style may sound equivalent to bands like "King Crimson", "Soft Machine", "Zappa", "Mahavishnu Orchestra", and "Colosseum". Iron Kim Style’s eponymous debut album "Iron Kim Style" (released in 2009, MoonJune Records) contains 10 tracks, and features bass clarinetist Izaak Mills on two of them (see below). The album opens with the ten-minute long "Mean Streets of Pyongyang", which replicates the hectic atmosphere of dangerous streets on the sound of its deep bass, nervous drums, schizoid trumpet, and heavy alarming guitars. Along this track, we witness a sensational street-fight between the trumpet improvisations of Bill Jones and the amazing bass clarinet of guest musician Izaak Mills. Ruthless guitar solos come on the last third of the track. A tension like that is comparable to the clashing instrumentation duels of bands like "Colosseum", "Mahavishnu" and "Zappa". "Mean Streets…" lead to the experimental "Gibberish Falter", a noisy track on which strident and dissonant sounds are produced almost at random, driven by psychedelic bass and jazzy drums. Then comes a sequence of three compositions that I regard as my favorites: "Po’ Breef" is a fast jazz marked by bass and cymbals. The improvised guitar solo reminds me of "Soft Machine", while the bass and drums sound like a juggler trying to balance himself on the back of a Jazzy Elephant that is trumpeting a "Miles Davis" classic with its trunk. "Don Quixotic" is a slow composition on which the guitars evoke the visionary character "Don Quixote" riding his horse and fighting against windmills. The delicacy of the melodies reminds me of early works of "Soft Machine", and "Terje Rypdal". Also on this line, the imaginary "Adrift" is closer to a Traditional Jazz. This time, the trumpet of Jones and the bass clarinets of Izaak Mills work together in a duo to produce melodies that evoke the images of a vast, wavy ocean. Following these tracks, there are two experimental compositions: "Amber Waves of Migraine" flows slowly and slippery, combining deep terrorizing bass with scary guitars and spooky trumpets, creating a typical atmosphere of a "Film-noire". The trumpet melody echoes in the distance, as the distant rumor of a siren’s call – a track for fans of "Art Zoyd"; "Pachinko Malice" is as turbulent as "Miles Davis", featuring skilled fingers that gradually plays faster on their instruments, going up and down and weaving frenzied scales. A sequence of three short compositions closes the album: "Dreams from Our Dear Leader" is grounded on echoing guitar phrases that are reflected back, creating a dreamy effect, while the trumpet drags the attention with a great solo; "Jack Out the Kims" is heavy, paranoid and noisy – an experimental track in the terrain of extreme Jazz-Metal; "Slouchin’ at the Savoy" evokes the image of some chic place stuck in the Forties that is visited by wealthy people who likes to listen to Traditional Jazz Music. With a proposal of making improvised music, Iron Kim Style is recommended for those who like either Jazz-Rock or unconventional sub-genres of Progressive Music (Avant-garde, R.I.O., Eclectic, Experimental), mainly who are fans of "King Crimson", "The Wrong Object", "Zappa", "Art Zoyd", "Colosseum", "Soft Machine", "Henry Cow", "Hatfield and the North", "National Health", "Spaltklang", "John Zorn", "Univers Zéro", "Moraine", and so on. Band members and collaborators involved in Iron Kim Style are: Dennis Rea – 6-String Guitar; Bill Jones – Trumpet; Jay Jaskot – Drums; Thaddaeus Brophy – 12 String-Guitar; Ryan Berg – Bass, Izaak Mills – Bass Clarinet on "Mean Streets…" and "Adrift". Also you must visit Iron Kim Style's MySpace Site...    (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
02/15/2012....................................,.....Interested to know more about the Band? Visit IRON KIM STYLE HOME PAGE...
. THE VOID’S LAST STAND - "Rakash"
The Progressive and Experimental Rock band The Void's Last Stand (TVLS, for short) is back to this webzine (see under reviews 2010). TVLS was founded in Aachen, Germany in 2007 by two ex-members of the band "The Void" - Jonas Wingens (lyrics, vocals, guitars) and Geoffrey Blaeske (lead guitar) - later joined by Ray Dratwa (drums) and Rachid Touzani (bass). With this line-up they released their debut album, “A Sun by Rising Set“ (2009). In November 2009, TVLS signed a deal with Malesch Records / Long Hair Music and began to record their second album, “Rakash”, which was released in November 2011. A vinyl edition is planed for release in early 2012. “Rakash” was recorded in Aachen (Germany), produced by R. Dratwa, written and performed by TVLS and Alex Stoll (keyboards, lap steel, and mandolin), and mastered by Jörg Scheuermann. The bizarre cover painting was made by Helmut Wenske. In the beginning, TVLS intended to unify the sound of bands like “The Mars Volta”, “Sieges Even”, “Spastic Ink”, “Birds and Buildings”, “Hella”, “Frost”, “Ungdomskulen”, and “Battles” with Classic Progressive bands like “Van Der Graaf Generator”, “Nektar”, “Eloy”, “Yes”, “ELP”, “Rush”, “Gentle Giant”, and “Magma”, also under the influence of the Krautrock tradition. TVLS’ sonority - as may be heard on their debut album, “A Sun by Rising Set“ - was experimental and chaotic, bringing together several different musical genres (even Rap and Math-Metal). My first impression of “Rakash” is that it is a much better album than the previous. The sonority is still weird, experimental and psychedelic, but the musicians are now more interested in the visceral sonority of the late 60’s to early 70’s than in modern musical trends. TVLS has returned to the raw material from which bands like “Zappa”, “Captain Beefheart”, “Gong”, “King Crimson”, “Pink Floyd”, “Nektar”, “Gentle Giant”, and “Genesis” have sprouted, focusing their music through the distorting glasses of Krautrock bands like “Amon Düül”, “Can”, “Guru Guru”, and “Pell Mell”. The instrumentation is rather intricate and unusual, and the compositions still have unpredictable curves and nuances, but are less chaotic and more controlled. Guitars are 70-texturized and predominate as the main solo instruments, treading the domains of Rock, Hard, Progressive and Jazz. Blaeske improved his technique, and now performs long and complicated solos, reminiscent of a “Zappa & Fripp” duo. Bass and drums are lighter now, and alternate different rhythms, forming a fluent and dynamic base for the other musicians to play free. The keyboards added by Alex Stoll set the right atmosphere for each song – cosmic, psychedelic, progressive or rocky. Wingens’ vocals are still a trademark of the band, as he shouts dramatic phrases that go from insane and crying to theatrical and burlesque. His temper has soothed a little however, and he has adopted an idiosyncratic way of singing that recalls the sarcasm of “Zappa”, the theatrical interpretation of “Peter Gabriel“, the irony of “Syd Barrett“ and the irreverence of 70’s Punk Rock. “Rakash” is a concept album made of 7 tracks. It opens with “Mother Sun and the other Son (Part III) - The Syrian Goddess” (16:18), which, together with track 3, “Cut Open Feet” (8:28), represent remnants of the first album, being very weird and chaotic. Both have many different parts running like a “Zappa-Crimson” rollercoaster on “fusion-jazzy-pop-punk-rockabilly” trails, with Wingens making many kinds of voices, and Blaeske performing from Hard-Rock licks to oriental solos and clean Jazzy guitars. Much softer and melodic – and therefore apt for appreciation by regular Prog-fans – are the tracks “Sail my Ship Achilles” (5:40) (amid Wingens’ falsettos, vintage Hammonds set a psychedelic atmosphere that reach a climax on an amazing guitar solo); and the Progressive ballad “She's a Ghost / They Shall Not Pass” (5:05), featuring soaring guitars, sad organ, and melancholic vocals. Another highlight is the instrumental “Land(e)scapes and the Beauty of No. 64” (10:33), closed in a folk sonority closed in string arrangements, but with some guitar cuts deliberately out of key, to mark the band’s taste for oddities. The last two tracks are “Glass Cabinet” (9:12) (which is closer to an Alternative Rock piece, but crowned with a really insane guitar solo); and “An Ode to Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud: Poesy in Asylum” (1:35) (a recited poem). Still defying regular tags, TVLS is definitely evolving to a style of their own, being especially recommended for fans of R.I.O., Krautrock, Avant-garde, and odd bands with original guitar work.  Band members and collaborators involved in The Void’s Last Stand are: Jonas Wingens – Lyrics, Vocals, Rhythm Guitars; Geoffrey Blaeske – Rhythm and Lead Guitars; Rachid Touzani – Bass; Ray Dratwa – Drums, Soundscapes. Guest Musician: Alex Stoll (Keyboards, Lap Steel, Melodica, Mandolin)...    (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
02/15/2012.......................,.....Interested to know more about the Band? Visit THE VOID’S LAST STAND HOME PAGE...
. ALEX SABA - "Electro Suite and Tributes"
The Brazilian composer Alex Saba is back to the pages of this webzine. Saba was born in 1958 in Rio de Janeiro, and began to play acoustic guitar at a young age, now being a multi-instrumentalist with experience on electric guitar, bass, keyboards, flutes, percussion and electronic gadgets. He is also a professional photographer, and takes care of the design of the covers of his albums. As a musician, Saba was inspired by "Chick Corea", "Philip Glass", "Mike Oldfield", "Frank Zappa", "Keith Jarrett", "Keith Emerson", "Peter Gabriel", "Philippe Saisse"; and by his favorite guitarists "Philipe Catherine", "Al Di Meola" and "Jan Akkerman". Saba’s discography includes the albums "Angel’s Dream" (1996) and "Missa Universalis" (2000). In 2010 I wrote a review about his album "Under All The Circumstances" (2007), which featured the original score music of a stage play. Now we are introducing to our readers Saba‘s album "Electro Suite & Tributes" (2009). The album was recorded and mixed by Ailan Partson at Aquilante Digital Studios; produced by Ahmed and Alex Saba, and released under his own independent label Brancaleone Records/Design. The music was entirely composed, arranged and performed by Alex Saba without use of any acoustic instrument. "Electro Suite & Tributes" is very different from "Under All the Circumstances". While "Under All…" relied on claustrophobic and distressful atmosphere created by unusual melodies, minimalist harmonies, and dissonances, "Electro Suite & Tributes" is completely surrounded by a bright-colored aura pervaded by lively rhythms and cheerful melodies that catch the listener at once. It still has the bonus of combining efficiently the mechanized and artificial mode of Electronic Music with the warmth and sensitivity of the human heart and soul. "Electro Suite & Tributes" brings 5 instrumental pieces. The tributes referred on the title are dedicated to men that have influenced Saba musically. The "Electro Suite" is a long piece divided in 5 parts. The opening track "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (by "Richard Strauss", arranged by Saba) was inspired on images of "Kubrick’s" motion picture "2001", and is dedicated to "Arthur C. Clarke". This piece was specially made for a Clarke’s tribute album coordinated by Norway keyboardist "Dale". It is a lively version of the Classic intro, updated to the 21st century, and reminds me of the work of "Wendy Carlos". The second track is "Prelude #1" (to "Mr. Bob Moog"). Alternatively marked by compassion and resignation, this beautiful piece is partially inspired on a prelude by "Chopin", and at the same time tries to capture the feeling inside Saba’s own heart for the loss of that important man. The sadness of the piece contrasts with the vigor and joy of the following "Remember JZ" (to "Mr.Joe Zawinul"), a short fusion song with bouncing piano, swinging bass, and cheerful synthesizer solo, that will please any fan of "Passport". Track 4, "The Charming Robots #1", was composed for a never released TV documentary about robots. One of the best pieces of the album, it is like a vivacious Fusion, making use of electronic bass and drums, jazzy pianos and free-styled synth solo, blending "Passport" and "Jean Luc-Ponty" with "Alan Parsons". The last 5 tracks compose the main suite of the album - "Electro Suite" Parts 1-5 – which is dedicated to "someone". It is inspired by a man that leaves his hometown in search for someone like him. After traveling through America, Europe and Japan, his journey ends inside his own inner self. "#1 Leaving Home" is a strong piece grounded on pulsing bass that reminds me of early "Alan Parsons" and "Mike Oldfield". "#2 America" begins with incredible realistic sounds of synthesized banjos and jazzy brass instruments, being immersed in a frantic atmosphere that reflects the typical progressive spirit of the American people. "#3 Europe" is a lively electronic brew that resumes many centuries of music of the Old Continent, employing a collage of "Mozart", "Beethoven", "Mussorgsky", and "Tchaikovsky". "#4 Japan" slows down the pace using ancient percussion, bamboo flutes, and traditional scales of the Japanese music, being highlighted by an improvised electric piano solo (as "Keith Jarret"). "#5 Inner Voyage" is a Progressive-structured piece immersed in a futuristic- electronic- psychedelic atmosphere that blends "Parsons", "Oldfield", and "Pink Floyd". Alex Saba’s "Electro Suite & Tributes" is an excellent work in Electronic Progressive & Fusion, being especially recommended for fans of "Alan Parsons", "Wendy Carlos", "Mike Oldfield", "Joe Zawinul", "Chick Corea", and "The Gak Omek".  A one-man project, Alex Saba is: Alex Saba – Electronic Instruments, Keyboards, and Synthesizers...    (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
02/15/2012............................................,.....Interested to know more about the Band? Visit ALEX SABA HOME PAGE...
. IVORY GATES - "The Devil’s Dance"
The Brazilian Prog-Metal band Ivory Gates (from the city of São Paulo) is back to the Metal scene, now promoting their newest and most amazing album – “The Devil’s Dance” (2011, MS Metal Records - Voice Music). Ivory Gates had released only two albums so far: “Shapes of Memory” (2002) and “Status Quo” (2005, Die Hard Records). At that time, the band was a quartet formed by Matheus Armelin (guitar), Hugo Mazzotti (bass), Fabrício Félix (drums), and Malagueta (vocals). Ivory Gates has now turned into a quintet, with the arrivals of Heitor Mazzotti (guitar) and of new singer Felipe Travaglini (who replaced the excellent Malagueta with honor). On their previous albums, Ivory Gates used to blend Progressive and Classic Rock with Traditional Heavy Metal and proto Prog-Metal, with influences of bands like “Kansas”, “Journey”, “Rush”, “Iron Maiden”, “Judas Priest”, “Dio”, “Saxon”, “Grim Reaper”, “Queensrÿche”, “Fates Warning”, and early “Dream Theater”. Although “The Devil's Dance” still retains that characteristic sonority, the new compositions are much more aggressive, dense and compact, with emphasis on the complexity of the arrangements. The new music of Ivory Gates is like a solid wall of granite stones or a smashing avalanche of metallic debris falling down onto you; and reminds me of bands like “Symphorce”, “Evergrey”, “Iced Earth”, “Nocturnal Rites”, “Dream Evil“, “Astral Doors“, “Morifade”, “Nevermore”, “Pantommind”; and the classics “Iron Maiden”, “Anvil“, “Picture”, “Jag Panzer”, “Omen”, “Liege Lord”, “Sanctuary”, “House of Spirits”, “Control Denied”, and “Hades”. The musicians are matured and experienced, and have reached a level of musicianship that ranks them with other international acts. The guitar players M. Armelin and Heitor Mazzotti add heavy riffs, elaborated harmonic solos, and velocity to the songs. Hugo Mazzotti has been converted into a maligning bassist, stuffing the music with opulent bass notes and pounding rhythms. Fabrício Félix is a monster Metal-drummer, a technical and powerful driven force of Ivory Gates. New singer Felipe Travaglini has a potent voice that, differing from Malagueta’s Hard-Rock vocal vein, is well adapted to the Prog-Metal style, fitting perfectly on the band’s new musical direction. “The Devil's Dance” is a concept album dealing with a dark theme: in a World of Dreams, Evil and Death are menaces that stalk the main character during his search for the meaning of life. The journey is told in seven tracks. The first three are compelling songs that immediately drag the listener into the record: “Beyond the Black“ (4:44) has the pragmatism of “Symphorce”; “Devil’s Dance“ (5:02) places the listener under the heavy load of combined attack of bass, drums and guitars, still driven by malign vocals and sticky chorus; while “Endless Nightmare“ (4:21) is a 80’s-styled raw metal song with steam-locomotive cadence and slicing guitar solos, on which Travaglini’s high notes recall “Rob Halford”. The following sequence comprises two slower Prog-Metal pieces enveloped in gloomy and fantastic atmospheres, with influences of “Fates Warning” and “Evergrey”: “Serpent’s Kiss“ (6:35) emphasizes instrumentation, including guitar harmonies, swirling pounding bass, surprising percussion (castanets), and a series of guitar solos; while “Under the Sky of Illusions“ (7:11) is a dark Metal ballad combining sad emotional vocals, great bass lines, and misty soaring guitars. Track 6 - “Imaginary World“ (6:03) - is outstanding because it hybridizes 80’s-Metal guitars and 90’s-Metal rhythms with Post- Metal corpulent bass, all this following a story-telling script on which great vocals contrast with heavy powerful riffs. The last track is the lengthy “Suite Memory” (21:45!). With a smoother temper and melodic nature, this song reunites influences from “Rush”, “Journey”, “Iron Maiden”, “Queensrÿche”, “Fates Warning”, and “Lemur Voice”, and brings out everything - from acoustic guitars to weird Tech-Metal metrics, emotional male and female singing, unexpected breaks in many different parts, and a final attack of massive guitars, corpulent bass and pounding drums - what converts this track into a real Prog-Metal opus. “The Devil’s Dance” is an exceptional work that qualifies Ivory Gates to represent Brazilian Heavy Metal worldwide, side by side with bands like “Angra“, “Imago Mortis”, “Thessera”, “Akashic”, “Khallice”, “Mindflow”, “Tribuzy”, “Nordheim”, etc. Ivory Gates is thus highly recommended for fans of “Iron Maiden”, “Queensrÿche”, “Fates Warning”, “Symphorce”, “Evergrey”, “Iced Earth”, “Nocturnal Rites”, “Astral Doors“, “Dream Evil“, “Morifade”, “Nevermore”, “Jag Panzer”, “Pantommind”, “Liege Lord”, “Anvil“, “Picture”, “Omen”, “Control Denied”, “Sanctuary”, “House of Spirits”, “Hades”, and their kind. Band members and collaborators involved in Ivory Gates are: Felipe Travaglini – Vocals; Matheus Armelin – Electric Guitars; Heitor Mazzotti – Electric and Acoustic Guitars; Hugo Mazzotti – Bass, Chapman Stick; Fabrício Félix – Drums. Guest singer: Jane Pereira (“Devil’s Dance”, “Serpent’s Kiss”, “Suite Memory”). Ex-member: Malagueta – Vocals. Also you must visit Ivory Gates' MySpace Site..    (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
02/29/2012.........................................,.....Interested to know more about the Band? Visit IVORY GATES HOME PAGE...
. IVAN MIHALJEVIC´ - "Sandcastle"
Ivan Mihaljevic´ is a guitarist, singer, and composer who was born in Croatia in 1986. Despite being so young he is already a busy musician, working in many projects at the same time. He is a component of the biggest Croatian Hard Rock band - “Hard Time"; he played in the Wacken Open Air – 2005 (then at the age of 18); played on stage with “Les Paul" himself in Iridium Jazz Club, Time Square, New York (November, 2008); collaborated with renowned guitarist “John Denner" on a CD; toured around Europe through 2007 and 2008; and was the opening act for “Paul Gilbert’s" show in Zagreb (2008), and also for “Scorpions" and “The Cult". Recordings include a live DVD "Hard Time & Friends Live in Boogaloo" (2006) and a live album "Live in Jabuka" (2008). His most recent project is a solo album. Titled “Sandcastle" (Attic Room / Ivan Mihaljevic, 2008), it has collaboration of Majkl Jagunic (bass), Craig Devine (drums); and guest musicians John Denner (guitar), Igor Tatarevic (keyboards), and Taher Sanuri (vocals). Mihaljevic influences include Rock in general (“Queen", “Toto", “Pink Floyd", “Keith Urban"); Hard and Alternative Rock (“Deep Purple", “Mr. Big", “Van Halen", “Pearl Jam", “Nickelback", “Forty Deuce"); Thrash and Progressive Metal (“Metallica", “Dream Theater", “Liquid Tension Experiment", “Mullmuzzler"); and have a strong lean towards the Instrumental Rock-Fusion-Metal practiced by famous guitar players, like “Richie Kotzen", “John Petrucci", “Steve Vai", “Paul Gilbert", “Joe Satriani", and “Steve Morse". I will add to this list the guitar players “Marty Friedman", “Jason Becker", “Yngwie Malmsteen", and bands like “Cacophony", “Dokken", “Ark", and “Talisman". Mihaljevic´ is really a gifted guitar player, possibly among the best of his generation. His acrobatic solos are like a combination of the styles of “Petrucci", “Gilbert", “Friedman", “Kotzen“, “Becker", and “Satriani". He is also an excellent vocalist, with a “Hard Rock" type of voice, going from soft and emotional to strong and raging. His eclectic musical taste helps him to compose songs and instrumental pieces that do not sound all the same, but maintain an “identity of their own", being always original, surprising, and technically refined. This becomes clear when one listens to the 14 tracks of “Sandcastle". Six of them feature vocals. If lovers of the Hard Rock of the seventies will prefer “Questions In My Mind part I“, those who are fond of most modern Hard Rock will pick up the excellent “Empathy“ (music and lyrics by Taher Sanuri). The listener who like ballads will choose among “Distant World“, “Questions In My Mind part II“; and the beautiful “Friend“. With a danceable beat, “The Road to Nowhere“ could be a radio hit. The best tracks of this album are, however, the instrumental pieces. Numbering eight, this assemblage shows a high grade of diversion within it. They can go from the Speed-Metal of “Sandcastle“ (a blend of “Petrucci" with “Marty Friedman") to the “New Wave" beat of “Cascading Mirrors“ (with influences of “Vai", “Kotzen" and “Satriani"). They may be heavy like “Bulldozer“ – a Prog-Metal in the verve of “Dream Theater" and “Liquid Tension Experiment" (with guest appearance by John Denner); or furious like “Macedonian War Song“ - an Epic Metal that reminds me of “Jason Becker" and “Cacophony". They can also sound less “metallic", like the Techno “Hi-Tech Orient“, or the groovy Prog-Fusion “Shimmering Karma“ (that will please fans of “Vai" and “Kotzen"). Those who are “hooked on Classics" will prefer “Spring“ (a Neoclassical version of “Vivaldi ‘s" Le Quattro Stagioni); while the serene ambience of “Raindrops“ will captivate Progressive fans. Since much is not know about the currently musical panorama in Croatia, Ivan Mihaljevic´ was for me a pleasant surprise. If Croatia may reveal more amazing musicians such as this gentleman, everyone should keep an eye on that country. Ivan Mihaljevic’s “Sandcastle" is a brilliant work, being highly recommended for fans of Prog-Metal-Fusion guitar heroes. Band members and collaborators involved with Ivan Mihaljevic are: Ivan Mihaljevic – Guitars, Vocals, Keyboards, Programming, Percussion; Majkl Jagunic – Bass; Craig Devine – Drums. Guest musicians: John Denner – Guitar solo on “Bulldozer"; Igor Tatarevic – Harpsichord on “Empathy"; Keyboards on “Raindrops"; Taher Sanuri – Vocals on “Empathy". Also you must visit Ivan Mihaljevic’s MySpace Site...     (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
02/29/2012..................Interested to know more about the Musician and Band? Visit IVAN MIHALJEVIC´ HOME PAGE...
. DJAM KARET - "No Commercial Potential - Rock Improvisations from 1985-2002"
The Californian instrumental band Djam Karet was founded in 1984 by Gayle Ellett (guitar), Mike Henderson (guitar), Henry J. Osborne (original bassist), and Chuck Oken, Jr. (drums). The name comes from the Indonesian language, meaning “elastic time”. In the beginning, Djam Karet was a “proto-jam band” that performed in the college circuit of the southern California/LA area. Along the following years, Djam Karet released an extensive discography comprising 15 full-length albums, EPs, live records, compilations, cassettes, and solo albums by its integrants. Djam Karet appeared in magazines such as “Billboard”, “Rolling Stone”, “Electronic Musician”, “Keyboards”, “CD Review”, and “Guitar Player”. Their combination of Progressive, Jazz, Psychedelic, Avant-garde, Ethnical Music and more, made the group to be compared to “King Crimson”, “Pink Floyd”, “The Grateful Dead”, “Ozric Tentacles” and “Porcupine Tree”. A partnership of Djam Karet with Cuneiform Records plunged the band into a period of great productivity, including reissues of old material and release of their best works: “The Devouring“ (1997); “Live At Orion“ (1999); “New Dark Age“ (2001) and “A Night For Baku“ (2003), which featured new bassist Aaron Kenyon and electronic musician Steve Roach, who had already participated on the album “Collaborator“ (1994). As a quintet, the band released their masterpiece “Recollection Harvest” (2005). Meanwhile, Djam Karet played in important Progressive festivals: Day Zero for 1999's ProgDay (San Francisco); NEARfest 2001; ProgWest 2001 (Claremont) and 2002's ProgDay (North Carolina). In 2009 the band took part on the annual Crescendo Festival (Bordeaux, France). To achieve full massive live sound, the group incorporated the guitarist Mike Murray to the line-up, allowing Gayle Ellett to focus on keyboards. In 2010 Djam Karet recorded “The Heavy Soul Sessions“; and in 2011, they founded their own record label (Firepool Records). The CD “No Commercial Potential - Rock Improvisations from 1985-2002” was released in 2004. It is a self-produced Double-CD that brings previously unreleased material from the original cassette “No Commercial Potential” (1985, Disc One) and from the unreleased album “…And Still Getting the Ladies” (2002, Disc Two). Each Disc features three tracks. The compositions of Disc One are born from initial ambient sounds and psychedelic melodies that progress slowly, supported by exotic percussion or rhythmic sequences played at random, being reminiscent of experiments of “King Crimson” and many “Krautrock” bands. After some time, the drums erupt powerfully in Rocky or Jazzy beats, taking the lead. The bass runs after, wild and psychedelic. The music gradually gains in intensity, and the guitars start to play endless improvised solos, full of virtuosity. This is what happens on track 1, “Where's L. Ron??!!” (16:52), which initially includes Indonesian percussion and sound effects that later get organized around a rocky drum pace, pulsing bass lines, and soaring space-rock guitars, recalling “Hawkwind” and the “Krautrock” style. “Dwarf Toss” (11:16) is an inventive Jazz-Rock with tightly interlocked bass and drums that tends to a Hindu-Rock in the beginning and a Space-Rock at the end, with a guitar solo reminiscent of “Mahavishnu Orchestra”. The gigantic “Blue Fred” (29:42) closes the album with improvisations based mostly on a dialogue of bass against guitars, like a psychedelic Blues-Rock. On the last third, the music enters a hypnotic loop of cosmic trip-like sounds that float on a relaxing cadence, with a final Hindu guitar solo. Disc Two: “...And Still Getting The Ladies” (2002) shows how much Djam Karet has evolved both individually and collectively in the time gap between the two records. Although the compositional style has retained its essence – the music begins slowly with ambient sounds and subtle melodies that aggregate and grow, being interrupted by the sudden appearance of potent drums and bass that forge the conductive line for long guitar solos – their music has expanded beyond improvisation, now featuring arrangements that include symphonic parts, anticipated changes of rhythm, and great use of contrasts. The improvisational skills of all musicians have increased manifold, and the synthesizers have widened the textural palette, providing a cosmic ambience that recalls early “Floyd”, “Eno”, and “Yes”. “The Building” (20:03) gets gradually organized in entropic levels, going from a Psychedelic Space-Rock lightness of “Floyd” to the energy of “Porcupine Tree”; “The Door” (7:56) also has a “Floydian” accent on the guitar, but wrapped in an almost gothic, atmosphere. The Electronic intro of “The Window” (27:22) echoes in the cosmic darkness with the amplitude of a Symphony - soon fended by rumbling drums that turn it into a heavy Space-Rock (like “Porcupine Tree”), while countless guitar solos cover the whole spectrum from Progressive to Blues. One of a kind, Djam Karet is a great band, essential for lovers of improvised Jazz-Rock and Space-Psychedelic Progressive Rock, specially who are fans of “King Crimson”, “Pink Floyd”, “Ozric Tentacles”, “Porcupine Tree”, “Sigur Rós”, and “Hawkwind”. Band members and collaborators involved in Djam Karet are: Gayle Ellett - Guitars, Devices, Voice; Mike Henderson - Guitars, Devices, Voice; Aaron Kenyon – Bass, Voice (Track 3 of Disc Two); Chuck Oken, Jr. - Drums, Percussion, Synths, Voice. Former member: Henry Osborne - Bass (Disc One and track 1 of Disc Two). Recent members: Steve Roach – Electronics and Mike Murray – Live guitar...    (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
02/29/2012..................Want to learn everything about the band and its members, goes to DJAM KARET HOME PAGE...
. AFTER... - "No Attachments"
The Polish band After... is back to this webzine once more. Born in 2002 from the disbanded band “Awake”, the original line-up had Sylwia Wojciechowska (vocals), Czarek Bregier (guitars), and Wojtek Tyminski (guitars), soon joined by bassist Mariusz Ziólkowski (ex-“Apogeum”), Radek Wieckowski (drums) and Tomek Wisniewski (keyboards). Preparations for a debut album began in 2002 at the Island Studio (Inowroclaw), with sound engineer Zbyszek Florek. Recordings were delayed, however, until 2005, the same year when original singer Sylwia Wojciechowska left the band and was replaced by Krzysiek Drogowski. Shortly after, After…’s debut album “Endless Lunatic” (2005, OSKAR) was released, featuring participations of “Colin Bass” (“Camel”), “Josef Skrzek” (“SBB”) and “Jacek Zasada” (“Quidam”). In the following years After… performed in Art-Rock festivals in Poznan (Poland) and Reichenbach (Germany), and shared stage with “Fish”, “Sylvan”, “Believe”, “Galahad”, “Antimatter“, “Mangrove”, “Pallas”, “Spock's Beard”, “Mostly Autumn” and “Blind Ego”. Their second album, “Hideout” (2008, OSKAR), was featured here in PR & PM as “Best of the Month” (December, 2008). In 2009 After... toured with “Quidam“ around Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany and Netherlands; and appeared on the festivals “Crescendo” (France) and “InRock” (Poland). In 2009, After… performed a show in their hometown Wloclawek, which was recorded and released as the live album “Live at Home” (2011). In between, keyboardist Tomek Wisniewski left the band in 2010. As a quintet, After... released their third studio album, entitled “No Attachments” (November 2011, Metal Mind Productions). It was produced in cooperation with Steve Kitch and Bruce Soord (“The Pineapple Thief”). After… has been tagged as a “Modern Progressive Rock” act, or a “Crossover Progressive Band”, combining diverse styles in their music (such as Symphonic Progressive Rock, Art Rock, Ambient, Melodic and Progressive Metal). Their main attribute was to create a balanced contrast between delicate melodies and symphonic parts (performed on synthesizers and vocals) and aggressive drums, heavy guitar riffs, and soaring-ambient guitar solos. The influences came from bands like “Pink Floyd”, “Porcupine Tree”, “Marillion”, “Peter Gabriel”, “Sigur Rós”, akin to bands like “Riverside”, “Believe”, “Paatos”, “Frost”, “Blind Ego”, “RPWL”, “Beardfish”, “Sylvan” and “Osada Vida”. “No Attachments”, however, points to a different direction. Greatly caused by the absence of Tomek Wisniewski on keyboards, the sonority of After… has lost in delicacy, and the contrast between soft melodies and diaphanous synthesizers against heavy instrumentation has diminished. Guitars are more compact and concise, but few soaring solos are present. The emotional ambience gives room to a sense of protest and discontented feeling. The musical menu was enlarged to include Alternative Rock, AOR, New Metal, and Post-Metal, still retaining influences of “Porcupine Tree”, “Riverside”, “Peter Gabriel”, “Sigur Rós” and “RPWL”,  but adding “Radiohead”, “Audioslave”, “Soundgarden“, “Foo Fighters”, “Maroon 5”, “Snow Patrol”, “Coldplay”, and even “Faith no More”, “Mudvayne”, “Deftones”, and “A Perfect Circle” (although not so brutal). The sonority of “No Attachments” is, overall, less dreamy and surreal then on previous albums, sounding now more realistic and down-to-earth, adapted to modern times, and more accessible to the larger Alternative Rock audiences. “No Attachments” contains 10 tracks. The tracks “All Left Behind” (3:18), the melancholic “Enchanted” (5:35), and “The Mention...” (5:23) are Alternative Rock-AOR songs that illustrate the band’s new musical disposition. Still with a lightness/heaviness contrast, my favorite tracks are “Carried By The Wind” (6:00), which brings great instrumental parts and guitar solo; “My Straight Path” (5:58), a dark intro with robotic vocals and great bass recalling “A Perfect Circle”; and “Resurrection” (5:14) which is like “Maroon 5” meeting “Mudvayne”. Pragmatic, the tracks “Good Things Are Worth Waiting For…” (3:33) and “Hope's Still Alive” (4:54) are hybrid and tormented, recalling “Faith no More”, and “Rage Against the Machine”. Still retaining the lightness of the past, the soft ballad “Summer Fuss” (4:56) and the closing track “Happiness” (6:08) are the most Progressive, recalling “Floyd”, “Sylvan”, “Porcupine Tree”, “Peter Gabriel” and “Sigur Rós”. “No Attachments” can let old fans a little disappointed, albeit others may absorb the changes enthusiastically (e.g. those who liked the raw energy of the live album). Anyway, if After… will be, from now one, a guitar-driven quintet, we must wait to see how their sonority will evolve in the future. For now, I recommend their record for fans of  “Porcupine Tree”, “Riverside”, “RPWL”,  “Sylvan”, “Osada Vida”, “Radiohead”, “Audioslave”, “Soundgarden“, “Foo Fighters”, “Faith no More”, “Deftones”, and “A Perfect Circle”. Band members and collaborators involved in After… are: Krzysiek Drogowski – Vocals; Czarek Bregier – Guitars; Wojtek Tyminski – Guitars; Mariusz Ziólkowski – Bass; Radek Wieckowski – Drums. Past members: Sylwia Wojciechowska – Vocals; Tomek Wisniewski – Keyboards. Also you must visit After...'s MySpace Site...    (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
02/29/2012............................Want to learn everything about the band and its members, goes to AFTER HOME PAGE...
. ECHO US - "Tomorrow Will Tell the Story"
Echo Us – the musical project of Ethan Matthews – is back to this webzine once more. Echo Us was created in 2000 by ex-members of Progressive band "Greyhaven", and disbanded in 2001 due to musical differences. In 2003 Ethan moved to Portland, Oregon, where he managed to release the eponymous debut album “Echo Us“ (2005). The second album, “The Tide Decides“ (2009), represented a transition to more conceptual music. The visitor may read about both albums on the Review sections of 2005 and 2009, respectively. In 2007, in parallel to the production of “The Tide Decides”, Ethan began to compose musical pieces that were later to appear on a follow-up album called “Tomorrow Will Tell The Story”. An abridged digital version of “Tomorrow…” was released in 2010, and the official CD with bonus track is to be released on March 20th 2012, by Ethan’s label Absolute Probability. “Tomorrow…” is the second of a multi-album conceptual work that began with “The Tide Decides” and will finish with the release of a third album in late 2012. “Tomorrow...” was produced, recorded, and mixed by Ethan in Portland and Eugene, OR. Artwork and design by Ethan and Brian Francis. Besides Ethan Matthews (vocals, voices, synthesizers, guitars), the album features guest musicians Henta (vocals) and Raelyn Olson (harp), and has participations of Rawn Clark (“Kabalistic” ‘canticle’) and Daniel Panasenko (harmonium). The music of Echo Us blends elements of Electronic, Ambient, and Progressive Music, creating celestial “soundscapes” that cause hypnotic and relaxing effects on the listener, being comparable to “Tangerine Dream”, “Mike Oldfield”, “Jean Michel Jarre” and “Alan Parsons Project”. “Tomorrow Will Tell The Story”, however, features a band that is trying, even more, to escape the chains of the conventional, and moreover, its own musical bonds. Echo Us uses the same elements of before (soaring guitars, electronic ambience, atmospheric keyboards, and light vocals). However, the music is less heavy and guitar-driven, and more loosely attached, weightlessness, immaterial and fluid. Fragments of melodies, free chords and notes, and sounds of harps, flutes, guitars, pianos and strings fall like rain drops accumulating on the translucent harmonic frame. Vocals & voices are more important now, and are heard in different forms and textures, being soaring, juvenile, whispered, electronically distorted, extraterrestrial, or appearing in Kabalistic canticles, eternally echoing in the vastness of the cosmos. The resulting sonority is instilled with a spiritual component, being alternatively sacred, esoteric, introspective, mystic, dreamy, peaceful, and transcendental; approaching the sound of New Age icons like “Era”, “Enigma”, “Kitaro”, “Gregorian Masters of Chant”, “Andreas Vollenweider”, and “Philip Glass”. “Tomorrow Will Tell…” brings 12 compositions (one bonus track).It opens with “Out of the Blue” (3:31), a kind of collage of what will be heard next. The following song, “Beyond the Horizon” (5:25), combines Chinese bamboo-like sounds, strong single guitar chords, soaring guitars, and Ethan‘s vocals amid fragments of angelic choirs; and ends up with “Docked at Bay” (1:05), with sounds of water, esoteric spoken messages, and Kabalistic resounding mantra. The following tracks make up a wonderful suite: “Archaeous of Water v.1” and “V.2”. “V.1” [i. the ears of eras (6:37) + ii. anchors away (6:10)], brings placid moments combining sacred vocals, celestial ambiences and hypnotic relaxing beats. Ethan sings softly, driving the tunes through a symphonic fabric of wavy pianos and diaphanous harps (recalling “Era”, “Enigma”, and “Mike Oldfield”). “Archaeous of Water v.2” [i. the light it moves, en vie est lumière (4:29) + ii. echoes of eras (9:01)] has a vivid, almost sensual electronic base, being driven by Oriental chants. The second part has long symphonic segments, flutes and pianos, and is highlighted by the Kabalistic IHVH-ADNI canticle, sung by Rawn Clark (recalling “Philip Glass” opus “Koyaanisqatsi”). “Iagla” (4:45) and “Waves of the Glacier” (“A View From a Pier”) (5:18) are Ambient pieces blowing out relaxing cascading sounds of harps and floating pianos. The dreamy “The Mirror in the Window” (5:30) brings a vocal duet of Hentha and Ethan, having aid of Daniel Panasenko on harmonium. The title track, “Tomorrow Will Tell the Story” (8:52), has a progressive development, as soft jazzy pianos and soaring guitars follow Ethan‘s optimistic anthem. The album closes with “Aureole [bonus track]”(3:49), an Electronic piece with Progressive vocals and soaring guitars. With its own and unique approach to Electronic, Ambient, New Age and Soaring Progressive Music in general, Echo Us is highly and especially recommended for fans of “Tangerine Dream”, “Mike Oldfield”, “Jean Michel Jarre”, “Era”, “Enigma”, “Kitaro”, “Gregorian”, “Andreas Vollenweider”, and “Philip Glass”. Band members and collaborators involved in Echo Us are: Henta – Vocals; Raelyn Olson – Lever and Pedal Harp; Ethan Matthews – Synthesizers, Guitars, Vocals, Voices (made possible by the Echo Us Intergalactic Federation). Rawn Clark - IHVH-ADNI canticle (A Bardon Companion); Daniel Panasenko - Harmonium on “Mirror In The Window”. Past Members: Matthew Cahoon – Vocals; Kai Kurosawa - Bass, Michael Van Dyne - Drums; Teri Untalan – Viola; Aaron Bell – Bass; Andrew Greene – Drums...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
02/29/2012................Interested to know more about the Band and musicians? You must Visit ECHO US HOME PAGE...
. FUNIN - "Unsound"
Funin is an Alternative and Experimental Pop-Rock group from Bergen, Hordaland (Norway). Funin started as an Electronic-Music duo founded by Marit Elisabeth Svendsbøe (vocals and flute) and Øyvind Vie Berg (keyboards, Rhodes piano). Along the years, the band’s line-up grew to an 8-piece chamber orchestra with extra live members: Gaute Stedje (vocals, guitar), Aleksander Tveit (guitar), Sissel Ørstavik (violin), Audun Berg Selfjord (cello), Edvard Mjanger (bass) and Hans Christian Dalgaard (drums). Funin believe that the best music is inspired by real life, and the feelings that come from being alive. Those feelings, either good or bad, form each person’s own emotional fabric that Funin tries to tear up, revolve, and make emerge. Hence their music evolves by confronting contrasting moods, being both dark and optimistic. Funin‘s debut album is called “Unsound” (1 November, 2010, Karisma and Dark Essence), and is reaching us only now. The sonority is like a blend of Symphonic Rock, Jazz and Folk Music framed in an experimental and non-mainstream Alternative and Avant-guard style. Their influences include bands and musicians of discrepant musical trends: “Bjørk”, “Radiohead”, “Robert Wyatt”, “Caravan”, “Landberk”, “Lamb”, and “Tom Waits”; with some resemblance with “Eurhythmics“, “Sigur Rós”, “Portishead”, “Frequency Drift”, and “Diablo Swing Orchestra“. Electronic layers spilled out by modern-sounding synthesizers, and ambient electric guitars divide the time space with organic sounds of violins, cellos, flutes, and the piano, sometimes giving to the music a Jazzy sophistication. Bass & drums are elegant; aligned with the most elaborated rhythms used by Alternative Rock bands from the 80’s to present days, also employing a vast range of ethnical beats borrowed from the World Music trend. Two members divide the task of singing. Marit Elisabeth Svendsbøe is the main singer, with a vocal tone and style that recalls immediately the voice of “Bjørk”. Male vocals are performed by Gaute Stedje. His voice is soft, soaring and slightly bittersweet, recalling Alternative Rock and AOR acts (“Radiohead”, “Coldplay”). Gaute sings on few tracks, in duets with Marit. “Unsound” features 10 tracks. The songs alternate moods from melancholic and upsetting to hopeful and optimistic, but are all infused by deep musicianship. The title track “Unsound“ (6:56) opens the album with beating sticks and mysterious tribal drums. The laud percussion merges with Marit’s siren-like vocals, being capable of revolving a person’s most hidden feelings. The slow “Wonderland“ (4:01) is also enveloped in a dark atmosphere, but has a cool-Jazz beginning that grows to a symphonic threshold that recall me of Progressive band “Frequency Drift”. The gloomy “Machine” (6:59), which combines emotional mechanic vocals and clashing electronic-metallic sounds into Industrial rhythmic violence, provokes a strange disturbing effect on the listener’s feelings. Those darker tracks are compensated with the optimism, hope, and spirit of songs like “Everything“ (5:31) (a fast Alternative rock with vocals by both Gaute and Marit, and symphonic strings on background, recalling me of “Coldplay”), and the unpredictable and contrasting “Tornado“ (4:05), which is driven by a hot Caribbean electro-rhythm that warms up amidst Marit‘s icy “Bjørk”-like vocals. Among my favorites, however, are the most soaring, placid and melodic tracks, such as “Last Day“ (4:10) (with vocals that slowly flutter over delicate guitars, violins and cellos); and the spiritual “Indestructible“ (3:32), driven by a thin layer of electronic beats and organs and flutes on the background, on which the confessional voices of Merit and Gaute reach their most sacred introspectiveness. Two interesting tracks are the “Inch of Me“ (6:31), with a heavy load of Electronica, sensual “Bjørk”-like vocals, and a second part with soft piano and jazzy bass reminiscent of compositions of “Robert Wyatt”, that ends up into a cacophony of strings; and the Avant-garde “Rocking Chair“ (2:43), which is weird, jazzy and boogie, sounding like a soft version of “Diablo Swing Orchestra“. The closing track, the beautiful “Sky Walkers“ (5:09), brings another sensitive Marit-Gaute duet supported by whale-whipping melodies, soaring cellos, and silky guitars, and fills the listener with a wonderful sensation of the vastness. Although not being a conventional Progressive Rock band, Funin really provides the listener with a sonic experience that is profoundly emotional and unique in its nature. Their debut album “Unsound” is really a distinctive and surprising work, full of remarkable music composed by talented musicians. Funin is highly recommend for fans of sophisticated music of the 80’s to 90’s, with either vanguard or electronic orientation, in special fans of “Bjørk”, “Radiohead”, “Robert Wyatt”, “Caravan”, “Landberk”, “Lamb”, “Tom Waits”, “Eurhythmics“, “Sigur Rós”, “Portishead”, and “Frequency Drift”. Band members and collaborators involved in Funin are: Marit Elisabeth Svendsbøe - Vocals and Flute; Øyvind Vie Berg - Piano and Rhodes; Gaute Stedje - Vocals and Guitar; Aleksander Tveit – Guitar; Sissel Ørstavik – Violin; Audun Berg Selfjord – Cello; Edvard Mjanger – Bass; Hans Christian Dalgaard – Drums; Mats Mæland Jensen – Drums on “Unsound”...		 .
03/30/2012.....................................................,.....Interested to know more about the Band? Visit FUNIN HOME PAGE...
. MISTHERIA - "Keys Of Eternity"
Mistheria is the artistic name of Italian keyboardist and composer Giuseppe Iampieri. Besides being a requested session musician, Mistheria writes soundtracks for video and theater, and works as keyboard demonstrator for Roland, CME and Yamaha. Mistheria began to learn music at the age of seven. At thirteen he was admitted at the Music Conservatory “A. Casella” (L’Aquila, Italy), where he graduated with honors on “Organ and Organ Composition” in 1995. Soon he was touring around Italy with Italian Pop singers and stage actors (“M. Cherubini”, “R. Cavalli”, “O.R.O.”, “A. Tatangelo”, “G. Sabani”, “S. Meogrossi”, “F. Bussotti”). In 1990 he formed his first Progressive Rock band, “Mirage”, which played in the style of “Genesis”, “Yes”, “Jethro Tull”, “Pink Floyd”, “Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso”, and released the album “Frammenti“ (1994, Mellow Records). The project Mistheria began in 1996, firstly as a global art show blending music, poetry, dance and image, and later as a solo project that employed computer music software. When Mistheria listened to “Yngwie Malmsteen’s” album “Trilogy”, he expanded his musical interest to Heavy Metal. In 2001 Mistheria moved for three months to the USA (Orlando and LA, California), where he met guitarist and producer “Roy Z”, who invited him to play on two albums of singer “Rob Rock”; and later on “Bruce Dickinson’s”, “Tyranny of Souls“ (2005). On the following years, Mistheria played in other Rock, Prog-Metal and Fusion bands and projects, like “Winterlong”, “Angel of Eden”, Greek Symphonic Metal project “Mythodea”, Serbian band “Atlantida”; and solo albums of “Lance King” (“Balance of Power”), “Tommy Vitaly” (“Seven Gates”), “Neil Zaza”, “Fabrizio Chiruzzi”, “Fabio Colella”, “Dino Fiorenza”, “Franck Ribiere”, “Citriniti bros & Fabrizio Leo”, and “Chris Catena”. Mistheria also took part on Lion Music tributes (“Shawn Lane Remembered” v.1, v.2; “The Spirit Lives On” v.1 – tribute to Jimi Hendrix; “Warmth in the Wilderness” v.1, v.2 - tribute to Jason Becker). In between, Mistheria records his own solos albums, which follow two opposite musical orientations.’s Albums ”Messenger of the Gods” (2004) and ”Dragon Fire” (2010), both Lion Music, blend Power, Progressive and Neo-Classical Metal like “Symphony X”, “Malmsteen” and “Artension”, and feature many guests (“Rob Rock”, “John West”, “George Bellas”, “Mark Boals”, “Lance King”, “Titta Tani”, “Matt Bissonette”, “Barry Sparks”, “John Macaluso”, “Jeff Kollman”, “Anders Johansson”, “Emir Hot”, “Neil Zaza”, “Roger Staffelbach”, “Alberto Rigoni”). Albums ”Soundtracks of Your Life” (2006, Kaosmos Productions) and ”Solo Piano” (2007, Videoradio & RAI) instead, feature Mistheria‘s most personal and nuanced musical side, one that seeks for artistic perfection amid the softness of Classical, New-Age, and Ambient Music. “Keys of Eternity“ (2011, Sifare Publishing, Italy) falls into the second category. Far from bringing the energy of Heavy Metal, this album trails the placid waters of Classical, Romantic, Impressionist, Modern, and Contemporary Music, with influences of composers such as “Brahms”, “Chopin”, “Liszt”, “Schumann”, “Schubert”, “Debussy”, “Saint-Saëns”, “Ravel”, “Philip Glass”, and “Mike Oldfield”. “Keys of Eternity“ has 11 piano pieces. Some are played on the classic piano alone, but others include an electronic rhythmic layer and a symphonic background that is synthesized by computer programming. This is the case with “Perigenia”, an Ambient intro with celestial keyboards; and the peaceful “Naibi”, on which the deep piano melody is driven by electronic pulses in New-Age style. Really symphonic are the vivid “Teslina Sonata”, which includes many textures of keyboards, fluid pianos and epic airs; and “Memory”, on which the piano flows, progressively merging with string arrangements and angelical vocal choirs, recalling works of “Philip Glass” and “Mike Oldfield”. On “One Day in Heaven”, the lonely piano is joined by fine electronic beats, the entire piece sounding like score -music. Contrasting with those electronic-symphonic pieces are those written exclusively for piano. “Voice of the Heart” recalls the bright sonatas of “Brahms” and the opulence of “Beethoven”; while “Song Without Words” hovers more diaphanous. The masterpiece “Frozen Keys” is a composition inspired on “Chopin” but blended with a “Mendelssohn” gothic mood. The melancholic introspective mood of “Chopin’s” Nocturnes is present on the nostalgic “Coming Back”, and on the shaded tones of “Lullaby for Simone”, which is also surrounded in a fairy-tale atmosphere of “Saint-Saëns”. “Chopin’s” “Nocturne in Em” closes the album, being brilliantly executed by Mistheria: with profound emotion and refined technique. Charming, romantic, and fascinating, Mistheria’s “Keys of Eternity” is a delightful work that will surely captivate all lovers of Classical Piano, New-Age and Ambient Music. Highly recommendable! Mistheria’s “Keys of Eternity“: recorded, mixed and mastered by Fabio Colucci and Mistheria at Musicando Production Recording studios - Sifare (Rome, Italy); Produced by Francesco Digilio (Sifare Publishing), with participation of: Mistheria – Music, Arrangements, Keyboards. “Teslina Sonata” written by Ivana Greguric, arranged by Mistheria. “Song Without Words” written by Guido Ruggeri. “Nocturne in Em” (op.72 n.1) written by Chopin...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
03/30/2012.....Want to learn everything about the musician and his fantastic projects, go to MISTHERIA HOME PAGE...
. EL TRIO - "Siempre Que Hay Un Corazón"
The amazing Dominican band El Trio is back to this webzine once more. This time we are presenting their debut album, "Siempre Que Hay Un Corazon" (independently released in 2008). El Trio consisted then of Jonatan Piña Duluc (vocals, guitars, saxophones, keyboards), Kilvin Peña (bass), and Pablo Peña (drums), who would be later replaced by Johandy Ureña. El Trio aims to promote the poorly known Dominican rock scene, being specially focused on the worldwide diffusion of the style known as "Dominican-Fusion" - created by the legendary "Luis Dias" – and that is characterized by merging the "American Rock, Jazz and Blues" with 40 different ethnic rhythms from the Dominican Republic and Haiti (including the "Merengue" and the "Bachata"). The songs are sung in Spanish, and speak about the social and political problems of the Dominican Republic. The compositions make use of Dominican traditional rhythms (provided by guest musician Eliezer Ramirez) and feature jazzy improvisations. Their influences, besides "Luis Dias", are "Jimmy Hendrix", "Santana", "Steely Dan", "Living Colour", "King Crimson", "Zappa", "Colosseum", "Soundgarden", "Fito Paez", "The Mars Volta", "Draco Rosa" (Puerto Rico), "Soda Stereo" (Argentina) "Tryo" (Chile), and "Maná". The musicians of El Trio know how to blend Rock and Jazz with Latin and Dominican Rhythms in their own distinguishing way – resulting in an urban cosmopolitan sonority that sounds familiar to any listener in the world. Duluc’s voice is really peculiar, and he ever sings with passion. His guitar solos are also precious. Pablo Peña’s drumming is alternatively rocky and jazzy. The groovy bass of Kilvin Peña is an important instrument in making the bridge that unites the Latin musical world to the Jazz-Rock universe. The Dominican rhythms and percussion are provided by guest musician Eliezer Ramirez. Other musicians – notably Patricio Bonilla (on trombone) and Iván Batista (additional guitar solos) - add much more spice to this Latin-Rock gravy. "Siempre Que Hay Un Corazón" was Recorded between 2005 and 2007 at Tijera Records, Santiago, Dominican Republic, and mixed by Iván Batista (who also acted as guest guitarist). Compared with the second album ("La Blanca y la Gris") the songs of "Siempre Que Hay un Corazón" are much more visceral and spontaneous, and the influence of Jazz-Rock is noticed with more intensity, mainly on the frequent improvised guitar solos and on the overall enthusiastic performance. The band was still exploring new paths and ideas, and had just begun to experiment with new ways of combining Rock and Jazz with their homeland Dominican Rhythms. The result was really original and luring. Along the 12 tracks of the CD, the music alternates from outbursts of vigorous Jazz-Rock to warm and sensual Latin moods, constituting genuine examples of what the "Dominican Fusion" really is about. On this way, songs like "Canción De los Callos" (opening track), "Como Un Mensaje", and "Elástica" (and its one-minute "coda" "Más Elástica") are impregnated with Latin sensuality, at the same time being extremely sophisticated on their rhythmic lines and harmonic frames. Showing strength and passion, the excellent chorus of "Te Quiero Para..." reminds me of "Fito Paez", at the same time having a shiny brass session on the background. The fast pace of "Outro Muerto" and "Punto Aparte" are marked by funky bass lines, groovy guitars reminiscent of "Santana", and hard riffs and expressive vocals that also remind me of "Fito Paez"; whereas "A Médio Vivir" – one of the top songs of this record – slows the pace to a cool mood, also having a remarkable guitar solo. Forgetting a bit their Latin roots, El Trio shows that may also work as a remarkable Jazz-Rock trio, bursting out energy and rocky guitar solos on "Crisálida" and "Vaina de Aqui", two songs that show influences of "Soft Machine", "King Crimson" (mainly on bass), and "Zappa". The peak of El Trio’s Jazz-Rock influences is reached on the amazing "Va a Llover" – a 10-minutes long track that features the most experimental side of the band, one that they would farther develop on their second album. Including long solos of bass, drums and guitar, this admirable piece blends Hard Rock, Jazz-Rock, Fusion and R.I.O., rivaling to bands like "Soft Machine", "Colosseum", and "Zappa". The album could finish at this song, but it still brings the light pop-song "Canción de Lulú", which closes the album with a lively dancing mood. As it was already said, El Trio cannot be tagged as Progressive. Nevertheless, a band having their musical quality should not be overlooked. Open-minded fans of Music that have a penchant for Latin-Rock, Jazz-Rock and Fusion should check El Trio out. It is highly recommended! Band members and collaborators involved in El Trio are: Jonatan Piña Duluc (Jonás) – Vocals, Guitars, Saxophones, Keyboards, Compositions, Production; Kilvin Peña – Bass, Backing Vocals; Pablo Peña – Drums, Backing Vocals; Johandy Ureña – Drums on "Otro Muerto". Guest musicians: Eliezer Ramirez – Bongos, Tambora, Güira, Maracas; Iván Batista – additional Guitars; Miguel Andrés Tejada – Organ on "Como um Mensaje"; Patricio Bonilla – Trombones on "Te Quiero Para.." and "Elástica"; Jorge Luis Mateo – Trumpet on "Te Quiero Para...". On "Elástica": Willy Cruz – French horn; Ivanova Casimiro – Violins; Raymond Félix – Cello...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
03/30/2012..................................................,.....Interested to know more about the Band? Visit EL TRIO HOME PAGE...
. NAUTICUS - "The Wait"
Nauticus is an Experimental Metal band from Finland. The line-up consists of Tuomas Rajala (drums), Juuso Jalava (bass), Markku Kastell (guitar), Juho Matilainen (guitar), and Jani Rämö (vocals). Nauticus’ discography includes the debut album “A Wave to Carry Us Out” (2009); and the recently released “The Wait” (February 2012). The album was recorded and mixed by Antti Loponen; drums were recorded by Artturi Laukkanen at Redhouse Studios; mastered by Sami Sarhamaa at Perfect Sound Studios, and produced by T. Rajala, Antti Loponen & Nauticus. The CD cover features superb art-work by Matador Gigante. The sonority of their first album was raw and crude, and much similar to “Tool”. On “The Wait”, Nauticus adjusted the compass to navigate across the seven seas of Metal, following a musical course of their own. In this new work, Nauticus experiments with Post-Metal, Psychedelic Progressive Metal, Thrash, Doom, Gothic Hard-Core, Sludge and Drone-Metal with influences of “Tool”, “A Perfect Circle”, “Mudvayne”, “Novembers Doom“, “Porcupine Tree”, “Riverside”, “Slayer”, “Saint Vitus”, “Earth”, “Sunn O)))”, and other of their kind. The music is propelled by the powerful combination of Rajala’s intense and unquiet drumming and Jalava’s dense and lavish bass – as in the manner of bands like “Tool” and “A Perfect Circle”. This Post-Metallic strong rhythmic layer supports the double attack of both Kastell and Matilainen‘s solid guitar riffs, which come in hypnotic waves that produce thorazine-dope psychotropic effects on the listener. Amid the cathartic storm, Jani Rämö shouts loud, desperate to be listened. As in most Post-metal acts, the vocals are painfully emotional, being melancholic and depressive in a moment, suddenly turning angry, furious or anguished in another. Nauticus’ sound is aggressive, tormented, distorted, and psychotic, impressing the listener with a sonic experience only comparable to being engulfed by the gelid dark waves of the Arctic Ocean. “The Wait” features 8 tracks. The opening track, “Constructing the Liquid Plains“ (8:28), is a Psychedelic Post-Metal driven by mesmerizing bass that recalls “Tool” and “Earth”. The echoing guitars splatter against the nervous drumming, as melancholic vocals are flooded by the "Sea of Sadness". The song gradually progress in intensity, until be lost in vast horizons. “Ascend“ (6:56) begins quieter, with pianos, but later reveals itself as being even stronger and more powerful. Rämö‘s voice is very emotional, the guitars, hypnotic, and the drumming, thunderous. “A Delayed End“ (7:59) combines ruffling drums, relaxing bass and clean vocals in a trippy atmosphere. The song grows with the coming of furious guitars. A second part features deep bass notes marching from the nowhere, whispering vocals, mechanical scary tunes and torpedo-drumming. The amazing tracks “The Route“ (7:42) and “Bone Dams“ (9:05) are separated from each other by the frightening sounds of the interlude “Their Whereabouts“ (2:47). Both tracks stand as album favorites, and bring many internal variations, of rhythm and style. “The Route” provokes a strange effect on the listener, by superposing fast drumming to slow, heavy guitars that echo in the distance (reminding me of “A Perfect Circle”). It follows with amazing Thrash-Metal riffs accompanied by anguished vocals. A scary part, driven by wavy bass, marks a surprising twist for a ritualistic Doom-Metal riff that is followed by a tenebrous Gothic chant. “Bone Dams“ is an Experimental Metal with great bass and drums and drowned vocals, all split in the middle by slow and heavy Doom-Metal riffs that recall old “Saint Vitus”. They open way for distorted guitar solos and more gloomy chants, now with an epic tone, as if Nauticus were summoning the dead to rise from their tombs to fight a last battle. This dazzling song is followed by the pragmatic “As Barriers Fall“ (5:44) – a wild and furious Thrash-Metal, reminiscent of “Slayer”, that scrambles down to a Psychedelic-Metal at the end. The album ends with the remarkable “Kalmisto“ (11:18) - a superb instrumental piece that includes pianos and strings that evolves like a Psychedelic Post-Metal symphony - a true Ode to the Melancholy. An impressive work, “The Wait” represents a step farther on Nauticus’ evolutionary path, being highly recommended for fans of “Tool”, “Earth”, “A Perfect Circle”, “Mudvayne”, “Novembers Doom“, Post-Metal and Experimental Metal in general. Band members and collaborators involved in Nauticus are: Tuomas Rajala – Drums; Jani Rämö – Vocals; Juho Matilainen – Guitar; Markku Kastell – Guitar; Juuso Jalava – Bass. Additional musicians: Antti Loponen - Backing vocals, keyboard & 12-string acoustic guitar; Kari Mäkiranta - Piano & organ; Satu Kastell - Violin & viola; Teemu Mastovaara – Cello; Tuomas Rajala - Percussion & Programming; Rämö, Loponen & Rajala – Chants. Also you must visit Nauticus at Bandcamp Page...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
03/30/2012..........................Want to learn everything about the band and its members? Visit NAUTICUS HOME PAGE...
. JACK JEFFERY - "The Constant That Remains"
Jack Jeffery is a guitarist, singer and composer from Virginia, U.S.A. Besides writing his music, Jeffery performs all instruments and vocals alone, and produces his own albums. His musical interests go around Progressive, Ambient, Psychedelic Music, and Folk Rock, with influences of bands and artists like “Pink Floyd”, “Alan Parsons”, “Brian Eno”, “The Beatles”, “The Moody Blues”, “Roger Waters”, “Syd Barrett”, “David Gilmour”, “Kraftwerk”, “Procol Harum”, “Nick Drake”, “Ash Ra Tempel”, “Manuel Gottsching”, “Tangerine Dream”, “John Lennon”, “Neil Young”, “Crosby, Stills, & Nash”, “Stephen Stills”, “Paul Simon”, “Simon & Garfunkel”, “Yes”, and “Rush”. Jeffery’s debut album “Passage to Agadir” (which was featured at this webzine under Reviews 2010) brought many songs played on acoustic guitars followed by calm vocals (recalling “Floyd”, “Roger Waters”, “Syd Barrett”, “The Moody Blues”, “Crosby, Still, Nash & Young”), supported by soft passages of electronic keyboards with influences of “Eno”, and “Alan Parsons”; all permeated with melancholic Folk-Progressive-Psychedelic ambiences. Jack Jeffery has just released a second album. Entitled “The Constant That Remains“ (2012), it was also all written, performed and produced by Jeffery alone. “The Constant That Remains“ contains 12 tracks that clock 48:39 altogether, and explores Jeffery’s style still farther. “The Constant…” opens with a series of ballads with predominance of acoustic guitars and bittersweet vocals: “We Need it Back (The Modern Dream)“ (7:01) combines relaxing echoing voices with sweet angelic choirs, ending in a melodic guitar solo; the whole song recalls a combination of “Pink Floyd” with “The Moody Blues”; “Rearranged“ (5:19) has folk guitars superposed to cosmic “Eno”-like synthesizers; and the soft “A Plea To A Dreamer“ (5:34) is marked by a sad piano, having more angelical choirs and light keyboard melodies – the melodious chorus reminds me of “John Lennon”, and the naive trumpets, of “The Beatles”. From this point on, the CD brings songs on which Jeffery blurs his musical influences even more, remaining, however, loyal to his original soothing style. He chains up a sequence of great songs, beginning with the delicate “Gavotte for African Steel Guitar“ (3:10) (an instrumental solo for Classical Guitar), going forward with the Progressive ballad “Fade Away“ (5:17) - on which tenor vocals and ethereal synthesizers meld with acoustic guitars and slow progressive bass notes, growing later in waves of cosmic intension (all resembling a mix of “Moody Blues” and “Eno”) – and, finally, the remarkable “The Sirius Wall“ (4:03) – an instrumental symphonic piece that confronts the future with the ancient, being driven by pulsing bass and electronic beats, in “Floyd-Parsons” mode, that support a psychedelic guitar solo that dominates most part of the track. Another great song is the somber “Everything Changes“ (4:12), which recalls me of “Roger Waters” at first, but gains in complexity by adding string arrangements, mid-tempo jazzy drumming, and minimalist piano solo. Then the CD enters a phase dedicated to Instrumental Electronic Music. The pair “Trust the Dial!“ / ”Valencian Cosmos“ (0:41 / 3:16) – forms an Electronic Progressive piece that combines the ambience of “Eno” with symphonic synthesizers like ”Tangerine Dream”, still having a beautiful Spanish guitar solo in the middle. Yet, the modern “Ascendancy“ (3:31) employs artificial electronic beats (like “Parsons”); guitar chords and slightly psychedelic-gothic organs (like “Ash Ra Tempel”) to deliver a tranquil and danceable Trip-Hop, which ends with angelical choruses that fade toward “The Constant in the Chaos“ (0:51) – a concrete piece that reunites wuthering winds, bells and noises of war. The last song, ”Carry On“ (5:44), closes the album majestically, by blending delicate acoustic guitars, clean electric guitars, and bittersweet vocals that, at first, recall “Pink Floyd”. The following segments, however, are instilled with an optimistic mood, brought by the progression of symphonic keyboards and melodies of hope that revive the atmosphere of old songs of “The Moody Blues”. Another solid album by Jack Jeffery, “The Constant That Remains” will satisfy his old fans, and call for new ones, coming from the trenches of Soft Progressive appreciators and Bittersweet-Ballad lovers, being therefore highly recommended for fans of “Pink Floyd”, “The Moody Blues”, “Alan Parsons”, “Brian Eno”, “No Man”, “Sigur Ros”, “The Beatles”, and so on… Only band member involved with Jack Jeffery is: Himself  – Vocals,12-String & 6-String Acoustic Guitars, Electric Guitar, Keyboard & Percussion Programming, Trumpets and Cornets...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
03/30/2012.............Want to learn about the musician and more about his history, go to JACK JEFFERY HOME PAGE...
. X-PANDA - "Flight of Fancy"
X-Panda is a surprising new band coming from Estonia. The present line-up consists of Kaarel Tamra (keyboards), Risto Virkhausen (guitars), Tamar Nugis (bass, vocals), and Karl-Juhan Laanesaar (drums). X-Panda was founded in April 2009, initially as a project to perform in a song contest. Founding members Tamra, Virkhausen and Laanesaar – with former bassist Liis Ring - won the competition with the song “Linnukesed Siristavad”. The audience’s positive reaction encouraged them to continue with X-Panda. In August 2009, bassist Tamar Nugis replaced L. Ring. Soon X-Panda was captivating audiences around Estonia, either presenting explosive concerts, or winning band contests (like the utmost “Noortebänd 2010”). This success resulted in the release of their first independent album: ”Flight of Fancy” (September, 2011). The album was mixed by Slim Mäesalu e X-Panda; mastered by Mika Jussila, and contains 11 tracks. The lyrics were written by Hanna Paal (for “Black” and “Revelation”); and Robin Juhkental (“Siren”). All other tracks are instrumental. The music of X-Panda blends balanced doses of Progressive Rock, Fusion-Metal, and Symphonic Progressive-Metal with tints of Epic Metal. Their influences are bands and musicians such as “Dream Theater”, “Planet X”, “Liquid Tension Experiment”, “Jordan Rudess”, “Virgil Donati”, “Simon Phillips”, “Joe Satriani”, “Porcupine Tree”, “Nightwish”, and “Rush”. They also recall me of guitarists “Steve Vai”, “Vinnie Moore”, and bands like “Symphony X”, “Altura”, “Lemur Voice”, “Shadow Gallery”, “Royal Hunt”, “Enchant”, “Cairo”, and “Explorers Club”. X-Panda‘s music evolves by means of alternating marvelous melodic and long guitar and keyboards solos that are supported by consistent bass and drums passages. Guitarist Risto Virkhausen is a master of the instrument, producing soaring solos with style and technique. Soulful melodies slowly progress from his guitar, telling a kind of Epic-Prog-Metal saga. Keyboardist Kaarel Tamra plays with mild temper, leaning to the Prog-Fusion. The arrangements are trapped in dynamic and complex structures that contain many rhythmic changes, jazz-fusion chord progressions and surprising melodic solutions, all surrounded by symphonic atmospheres going from dreamy to epic. When vocals are present, the music recalls “Shadow Gallery” (if sung by Nugis) or “Nightwish” (if supported by the Tartu Youth Choir, or sung by female singer Teele Viira); strongly following the trends of Symphonic Prog-Metal and Epic-Metal styles. The opening track “Intro”/“Black” (11:49); and the last, “Revelation” (6:24), blend epic choirs and symphonic arrangements, like “Nightwish” and “Within Temptation”, with the melodic and complex instrumentation of “Dream Theater” and “Symphony X”. The long “Black” (11:00) still contains musical arabesques, Progressive male vocals, bells, whipping guitars and impressive extra-long solos; while “Revelation” (6:24) brings a duet of male and female vocals and Celtic violins that instills in it an Epic-Folk spirit. The short “Siren” (4:22) is a version of “Malcolm Lincoln’s” song that represented Estonia in the Eurovision Contest, and features powerful vocal lines and drums, akin “Shadow Gallery” and “Dream Theater”, and a long part played on the piano. In opposition to the vocal tracks, the instrumental tracks show a stronger lean to Fusion Music, like the Fusion-Metal “Dickybirds” (7:01) (which alternates light and heavy parts, recalling “Planet X”, “Dream Theater”, “Liquid Tension”, and “Explorers Club”, being driven by guitars in the style of "Vai” and “Satriani”); the Prog-Fusion “Flight Of Fancy” (7:04) (based on a 12/8 time signatures inspired on “Alo Mattiisen”, and “Simon Phillips”, and driven by keys like “Planet X” and “Jordan Rudess”); and the powerful Prog-Metal-Fusion “Journey Of A Dream” (11:06), which includes experiments with 5/4 signatures, jazzy pianos, symphonic parts, and long passages of melodic synthesizers and guitar solos – all recalling “Rush”, “Liquid Tension” and “Dream Theater”. X-Panda boldly enters the experimental terrains on the tracks “Crystal Gazing” (8:16) (on which they test triplet rhythm figures and rhythmic illusions, inspired on “Gavin Harrison’s videos and book “Rhythmic Illusions”); and on “Rhythm Department” (5:58), which compiles musical ideas that could not be conveyed on an usual pattern: it is the darkest and heaviest song of the CD, bringing aggressive bass, drums, and guitar riffs that recall me of “Symphony X”. In contrast, the lightest tracks are the New-Age “Keyboard Solo” (3:20); and the Progressive “Calm Waters” (4:17), which blends acoustic guitars, diaphanous pianos and floating bass, all reminiscent of band “The Flower Kings”. Summing all up, X-Panda’s debut album is really a great surprise, being impregnated with a deep sense of melody that is lacking in most bands of today – indispensable for fans of “Planet X”, “Dream Theater”, “Explorers Club”, “Liquid Tension Experiment”, “Jordan Rudess”, “Satriani”, “Steve Vai”, “Vinnie Moore”, “Shadow Gallery”, “Symphony X”, “Nightwish”, “Royal Hunt”, “Enchant”, “Altura”, “Lemur Voice” and “Cairo”. Band members and collaborators involved in X-Panda are: Kaarel Tamra – Keyboards; Risto Virkhausen – Guitars; Tamar Nugis - Bass & Vocals; Karl-Juhan Laanesaar – Drums. Special participation: The Tartu Youth Choir conducted by Markus Leppoja, Kadri Leppoja and Riho Leppoja. Backing vocals: Teele Viira. Additional musicians: Toomas Vana – Trombone, Kreete Perandi – French Horn and Mihkel Kalip – Trumpet (all on “Black” & “Crystal Gazing”); Kristi Timma – Violin (on “Revelation”). Past member: Liis Ring - Bass...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
03/30/2012.................If you want know more about this amazing band and its members, visit X-PANDA HOME PAGE...
. DAYMOON - "All Tomorrows"
Daymoon, in the words of lead-musician Fred Lessing, is a “Regressive Rock” band that aims to produce incoherent music abridging the last millennium. Hailing from Portugal, Daymoon works in close collaboration with the best Portuguese musicians (the extensive line-up is listed below), and foreign ones, including guitarist Thomas Olsson, keyboardist Mats Johansson (of Swedish act “Isildurs Bane”); keyboardist and producer Andy Tillison (“The Tangent”, “PO90”), and Mark Lee Fletcher (independent singer). Daymoon began in early 80’s as a Portuguese band called “Dead Landscape”, later “Por Ter Lido Mal O Mapa” (“For Having Misread the Map”). Without reaching commercial success, the band disbanded after a few years. Lessing, however, kept on making fruitlessly “Regressive Rock” and worked hard in a regular job, until he eventually assembled a home studio. In 2009 a renovated Daymoon emerged in Lisbon, featuring the gifted musicians who helped to record the band’s official debut album “All Tomorrows” (2011, Mals Records). The title was inspired on William Gibson‘s novel “All Tomorrows Parties”. The album took almost seven years for coming out. It started off with song “Sorry”, which was produced, arranged, and mixed in 2004 by Thomas Olsson and Mats Johansson (of “Isildurs Bane”). Lessing then wrote and recorded the remaining tracks, all dedicated to his beloved wife Inês (who has passed away recently, victim of cancer). Those tracks were co- & post-produced, mixed and mastered by Andy Tillison. The tag “Regressive-Rock” used by Lessing to label Daymoon‘s sonority can be understand as “Retro-Progressive Rock”. In fact, the music of Daymoon sounds deliciously old-fashioned, albeit creative and timelessly fresh. The songs could be easily misled for something recorded along the 70’s by an obscured U.K. Progressive band, suddenly rediscovered as a pirate’s lost treasure. Lessing writes his lyrics in English, instilling his verses with poetry, irony and sense of humor. The compositions are complex, structured with unusual harmonies, using odd time signatures. The arrangements are rich, employing acoustic and electric instruments, wind instruments, ethnical percussion, and many kinds of keyboards. Melodies, textures and contrasts are well-balanced amidst unexpected twists and musical surprises. Their style blends Symphonic Prog and Canterbury Sound with influences of “Gentle Giant”, “Yes”, “Camel”, “Pink Floyd”, “Genesis”, “King Crimson”, “Barclay James Harvest”, “Caravan”, “Soft Machine”, “Hatfield and the North”, “Khan”, “Jethro Tull”, “Pallas”, “Mr. So & So”, “The Tangent”, “Isildurs Bane”, “The Flower Kings”, “Tantra”, and “Queen”. “All Tomorrows” has 10 tracks. “All Tomorrows“ (4:51) has vivid “Gentle Giant” and “Yes”-like modes. The final guitar solo recalls “Queen”, and was taken from a 19th-century operetta (“The Merry Widow” by “Franz Léhar”). “TranscendenZ“ (2:35) has jazzy guitars, clarinets, sax, and flugelhorn embedded into a 19/8 time signature, recalling “Soft Machine”. “Human Again“ (7:45) begins like a soft folk dance, recalling “Gentle Giant”, “Camel”, and “Caravan”. The second part includes Neo-Prog tints and a “Gentle Giant”-type of vocal chorus. “Marrakech“ (2:43) brings exotic atmospheres, keyboards, flutes, and Arabian ethnical parts. On “Sorry“ (11:05) Lessing’s vocals are ironical (like “Syd Barrett’s”), and driven by T. Olsson‘s entrancing guitars, M. Johansson‘s cosmic keys, medieval flutes, “Gentle Giant” vocals, and experimentalisms of “King Crimson”. The last part has a “Peter Gabriel” vocal accent. “Bell Jar“ (6:06) is the only track with an “electronic modern beat”, recalling “Radiohead”. “First Rain“ (5:30) is cradled in a sweet folk atmosphere, driven by delicate acoustic guitars and Hugo Flores’ soaring vocals (recalling “Barclay James Harvest”, “Mr. So & So”). “Arklow“ (6:58) employs flutes, clarinets, violins, and Canterbury guitars. M. Fletcher‘s voice recalls “Caravan” and “Hatfield and the North”. The following part grows with opulent Moogs and Hammonds (recalling “Pallas”, “The Flower Kings” and “The Tangent”). On “News From The Outside” (4:45), Fletcher‘s voice and Fernando Guiomar‘s great guitars add a “Floydian” touch to this beautiful ballad. The masterpiece “The Sum“ (13:48) closes the album bringing Canterbury-styled grandeur, blending mainly “Caravan”, “Hatfield and the North”, and “Khan” with “Gentle Giant”, “Camel”, and “King Crimson”. A surprising African part includes ethnical percussion, xylophone and chorus (with participation of Inês). A delightful album of Retro-Progressive music, Daymoon’s “All Tomorrows” is highly recommended for any orthodox fan of 70’s Prog-Rock in the style of “Gentle Giant”, “Yes”, “Camel”, “Caravan”, “Khan”, “Hatfield and the North”, “Pink Floyd”, “King Crimson”, “Barclay James Harvest”, “Genesis”, “Tantra”, “The Tangent”, “Isildurs Bane”, and “The Flower Kings”. Daymoon is preparing a follow-up album called “Fabric of Space Divine” (featuring old material), and a third one featuring new compositions by all band members. Band members and collaborators involved in Daymoon are: Portugal: Bruno Capelas - Acoustic & Electronic Drums and Percussion; Paulo Catroga - Keyboards, Vocals; Paulo Chagas (“Miosótis”, “Mispel Bellyful”) - Saxophone, Flute; Luís Estorninho - Bass Guitar; Hugo Flores (“Project Creation”, “Factory of Dreams”) - Vocals; Fernando Guiomar - Guitar; Fred Lessing - Guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Woodwinds, Flute, Recorders, Ethnic Percussion, Vocals; Inês Lessing - Backing Vocals; Adriano Pereira - Clarinet, Flute, Melodica, Keyboard, Sax, Percussion, Vocals - Maria João Tavares - Clarinet; Italy: Luca Calabrese – Flugelhorn; Sweden: Thomas Olsson - Guitar; Mats Johansson - Keyboards; UK: Andy Tillison - Keyboards, Cameo Vocals; USA: Mark Lee Fletcher - Vocals; Pete Prown (“Guitar Garden”) - Guitar; Jay Schankman - Keyboards. Live band: André - Acoustic & Electronic Drums, incidental vocals; Joana - Keyboard, Percussion, Vocals; Rodrigo - Electric Guitar; International Daymoon: Mark - Bass Guitar; Davis – Drums...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
03/30/2012..............................................,.....Interested to know more about the Band? Visit DAYMOON HOME PAGE...
. MOE TAR - "From These Small Seeds"
Moe Tar is a new band coming from the San Francisco Bay Area (California). The line-up consists of Moorea Dickason (vocals), Tarik Ragab (bass), Matt Lebofsky (keyboards), Matthew Heulitt (guitar), and David Flores (drums). Core members Dickason and Ragab had already been playing together since 2004 in the punk/funk band “No Origin”, that was oriented to political criticism. But before founding “No Origin”, Ragab had taken part in the art-rock band “E is for Elephant” (of guitarist “Brian Kenney Fresno”), which exposed him to the Progressive concept of using a Rock band as a chamber-music ensemble. When Ragab and Dickason founded Moe Tar in 2008, their main idea was to fuse the nonconformist temper of protest-music with the complex instrumentation of Progressive Rock. So, they completed the line-up with versatile and experienced musicians that could make their music sound more elaborated. Political messages would still be conveyed on MoeTar’s lyrics, but should appear less aggressive than in “No Origin”. Moe Tar’s performances around Bay Area led them to sign with Magna Carta Records, what resulted in the release of their debut album “From These Small Seeds” (2012, Magna Carta). Moe Tar’s sonority is difficult to categorize. It easily extrapolates the tag of Progressive Rock, even under the ample subtypes of “Eclectic Prog” and “R.I.O.”, which fit better, albeit not well-adjusted, to their music. Moe Tar blends Flower-Power Psychedelics, Pop-Rock, Electronics and Experimental Music within its music frame, but also Alternative Rock, Hard-Rock, Jazz and Blues. Sometimes the band sounds like a Retro-Rock band emulating the sound of the 60’s, an evaluation quickly destroyed by the modernity of their 21st century stamina. Influences are varied and discrepant (“Zappa”, “The Beatles”, “XTC”, “Gentle Giant”, “Stevie Wonder”, and “Laurie Anderson”), with roots on “Jefferson Airplane”, “Heart”, “Velvet Underground”, “Janis Joplin”, “Henry Cow”, “King Crimson”, and even “Supertramp”. The songs are born from the shock caused by the polarized personalities of the optimistic Dickason and the pessimist Ragab. The reflections of the impact are transposed to the instrumentation, which sounds odd, contradictory and incompatible but, at the same time, coherent and organized into original and creative arrangements. Moe Tar‘s music is so illogical that it could go wrong at any moment, but somehow it works properly – and that paradox is exactly what makes Moe Tar‘s music so attractive to the listener. Dickason‘s voice is astonishing, reuniting qualities of “Ann Wilson” (power), “Janis Joplin” (emotion), and “Grace Slick” (passion), bringing extra modulations from Jazz. Ragab, Heulitt and Flores embroider hundreds of notes in surprising and complex arrangements that recall “Zappa”, “Crimson”, and “Gentle Giant”. Lebofsky on keyboards alternates amazing piano parts with symphonic arrangements, or futuristic synthesizers with vintage keyboards. “From These Small Seeds” has 11 tracks. “Dichotomy” (3:57) opens the album alternating lively keys and cheerful vocals with bouncing pianos and bass. The punching “Infinitesimal Sky” (3:02) and the dramatic “Screed” (4:40) are seventy-styled Hard-Rock songs ornamented with Opera-Rock pianos and arabesque guitars, both driven by Dickason’s strong vocals (recalling “Heart”). The odd time signatures of the impossible-to-sing “Random Tandem” (4:12) and the twisting and Broadway-Jazzy “Ist or an Ism” (4:58) follow the experimental vein of “Zappa”, “Gentle Giant”, “King Crimson” and “Henry Cow”. The title track “From These Small Seeds” (5:20) is a powerful Space-Rock with “King Crimson” inspiration that merges heavy keys and frantic pianos into Acid-Jazz instrumental parts; while “Morning Person” (2:54) falls under the hard attack of Electronic keys and killing bass and guitars. In the realm of Moe Tar’s contradictions, the melodic “Butchers of Baghdad” (4:19) sounds like “Joplin” singing on “Supertramp”; the soaring “New World Chaos” (5:40) has angelical vocals superposed to chaotic and funny up-and-down scales; and “Never Home” (4:50) is a soft jazz ballad that looses its innocence to a corrupted lysergic-rock (like “Velvet Underground”). The fantastic “Friction” (3:08) closes the album with destructive vocals, choirs and drumming. Definitely a album full of fresh new ideas, Moe Tar’s “From These Small Seeds” represents a journey that leads to pleasant discoveries and unexpected surprises. A brilliant and outstanding work, high above the conventional, that I shall vehemently recommend for appreciators of Eclectic Prog, R.I.O., Retro-Rock, Psychedelia, and fans of “Zappa”, “King Crimson”, “Henry Cow”, “Gentle Giant”, “Heart”, etc. Band members and collaborators involved in Moe Tar are: Moorea Dickason – Vocals; Tarik Ragab – Bass; Matt Lebofsky – Keys; Matthew Heulitt – Guitar; David Flores – Drums...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
03/30/2012......................................,.....More information? Better check it out for yourself at: MOE TAR HOME PAGE...
. FUZZ MANTA - "Opus II"
Fuzz Manta is a Danish retro-rock band from Copenhagen. The line-up consists of Lene Hvillum (vocals, lyrics), Freddy (guitar), Morten (bass) and Pelle (drums), with contribution of Jesper Bo Hansen (organ). Their music oscillates from Psichedelic Rock to Hard Rock and Classic Rock of the Seventies, also following the modern tendency of the Stoner Rock. Their influences come from seminal bands like “Beatles”, “Jefferson Airplane”, “The Doors”, “Hendrix”, “Cream”, “Yardbirds”, “Mountain”, “Free”, “Vanilla Fudge”, “Blue Cheer”, “Led Zeppelin”, “Deep Purple”, “Black Sabbath”, “Budgie”, “Cactus”, “Whitesnake”; and Stoner bands like “Kyuss”, “Brant Bjork”, and “Fu Manchu”. Fuzz Manta’s debut album – “Smokerings” - was released in 2009. “Opus II” is the follow-up. It was released in March 2011 on a limited vinyl edition with gatefold sleeve, and on CD was released later under the independent label Bilocaton Records / Kozmik Artifactz. The album was recorded in the Fuzz Manta Headquarters in Copenhagen, from June to December 2010, by Pelle and Fuzz Manta. Dubs, vocals and mixing were done at Echo Studio, Copenhagen. Engineered by Anders H. Mortensen; and mastered by T. J. Lipple in Washington DC, USA. The sound of Fuzz Manta recreates with fidelity the typical atmosphere of the Rock musical scene that lasted from the late 60’s to the early 70’s. The songs feature wise lyrics written in English, being driven by the excellent vocal performance of Lene Hvillum. She sings with soul and passion, and the strength of her voice reminds me of “Grace Slick”. Another highlight of the band is guitarist Freddy, whose eclectic and deliciously retro-sounding guitar-style has incorporated the licks of many luminaries of the Classic Rock, such as “Hendrix”, “Clapton”, “Jeff Beck”, “Jimmy Page”, “Paul Kossoff”, “Leslie West”, and “Tony Iommi”. Lene and Freddy are escorted by the powerful rhythmic section formed by Morten on the bass and Pelle on the drums. Together, they build a solid rhythmic base that may go from the most impulsive and explosive cadences of “Deep Purple” and “Blue Cheer” to the elaboration of “Cream” and “Budgie”, adding either the Hard Rock swing of “Free” and “Zeppelin”, or the slow heaviness of “Sabbath” and “Kyuss” to the psychedelic paranoia of “Jefferson Airplane”, “Vanilla Fudge” and “The Doors”. The quartet, sometimes with contribution of the heavy and fleeing Hammond organs of keyboardist Jesper Bo Hansen (who recalls me of “Jon Lord”), performs the 8 high-spirited tracks of “Opus II”. The opening track is the heavy “Motumann“ (4:27), a substatial song with “Black Sabbath” -like slow guitar riffs. It is followed by the energetic and fast-paced “Man With No Face“ (4:51), a song the combines the bouncing organs of “Deep Purple” with the primeval beats reminiscent of “Blue Cheer”. Also on this line, the treack “White and More“ (3:57) begins with locomotive-speed, recalling a tempestuous “Deep Purple”, decreasing the cadence later to add an excellent “Cream” -like instrumental sequence, and to include some darker “Sabbath” guitars. Outside that 60’s-70’s atmosphere, the impressive “Turn Around“ (3:44) inserts slow and heavy guitar riffs into an solid Psychedelic frame, sounding like modern Stoner-Rock bands like “Kyuss” and “Fu Manchu”. In contrast, “Corrosion“ (3:35) has a cheerful disposition, and considerable more swing, being marked by pianos, cow bells, and great “wah-wah” guitar solo, showing influences of “Free”, “Zeppelin” and “Clapton”. Meanwhile, the acoustic ballad “Quiet Monday“ (4:45) appears as a serene island amidst the havoc, recalling folk moments of “Jefferson Airplane” and “Zeppelin”. Two songs called my attention for their boldness and long duration: “Lithia’s Box“ (8:37, available only on CD, or for download) and the extra-long closing track “Let Me Walk“ (11:23). “Lithia’s Box“ combines swing and energy with many instrumental moments of interlocked amazing guitar solos, psychedelic bass, and hard-rock drumming, recalling “Hendrix”, “Zeppelin”, “Free”, “Mountain”, and “Jefferson Airplane”. “Let Me Walk“ is the resume of Fuzz Manta’s sonority. Mixing organs and guitars, bass and drums, Psichedelia, Hard Rock and Blues, this song is divided in two parts. The first part is a vibrant and electrified Hard Rock, in the style of “Free”, “Cream”, “Yardbirds”, “Purple” (those Hammonds again !). The second part is introduced by a tribal drum solo that leads to a Psychedelic-Blues on which Lene explores the best of her vocals and guts, and Freddy drains his rootsy-bluesy vein to the last drop of blood – to reach the level of “Cream”, “The Doors”, and “Mountain”. A great band of Stoner-Rock, Fuzz Manta is highly recommended for lovers of Classic, Psychedelic and Hard Rock, in special fans of “Jefferson Airplane”, “Hendrix”, “Cream”, “Yardbirds”, “Mountain”, “Free”, “The Doors”, “Vanilla Fudge”, “Blue Cheer”, “Led Zeppelin”, “Deep Purple”, “Black Sabbath”, “Budgie”, “Cactus”, “Kyuss”, “Brant Bjork”, “Fu Manchu”, and so on. Band members and collaborators involved in Fuzz Manta are: Lene Hvillum - Vocals, Lyrics; Freddy – Guitar; Morten – Bass; Pelle – Drums. Jesper Bo Hansen – Organ on “Man With No Face”, “Corrosion”, and “Let Me Walk”. Check Youtube, Facebook and MySpace sites...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
04/03/2012..........................................,.....Interested to know more about the Band? Visit FUZZ MANTA HOME PAGE...
. FUSION POINT - "Morning Rain"
Fusion Point is an instrumental Fusion-Jazz Trio hailing from St. Petersburg (Russia). The line-up consists of Kirill Sokirko (piano); Dmitry Malygin (bass), and Roman Smirnov (drums). Fusion Point‘s proposal is to blend several sub-genres of Jazz, including Jazz-Rock, Smooth-Jazz, Funk, Trip-Hop, Nu-Jazz, Lounge, and even older genres like Cool, Be-Bop, and Mainstream/Swing into instrumental compositions that privilege melody over improvisation. The musical arrangements are thus planed to be transparent, and accessible to most listeners – either Jazz-lovers or not. When performing alive, Fusion Point stays in tune with the audience’s emotional response to the music – so that the musicians can grow and set new priorities when working on new material. Fusion Point’s music has been mainly influenced by “Esbjorn Svensson Trio”, “Hiromi Uehara”, “Michel Petrucciani”, “Niacin”, “Marcus Miller”, and others. Fusion Point has just released their debut album, entitled “Morning Rain” (2012, MALS Ltd, Russia). The record was mixed and mastered by Kirill Sokirko; and engineered by Viktor Prochorov, at the “Composer’s House” in St. Petersburg. Fusion Point is a trio of very talented and skilled musicians. The music is mainly driven by Kirill Sokirko’s vivid and opulent piano. His melodies are fluidal and bouncing, impregnated with joy. Dmitry Malygin on the bass makes a perfect counterpoint, either keeping the swing, or being classic and chic, or still engaging in outstanding solos. The equilibrium between piano and bass is kept by drummer Roman Smirnov, who is responsible for alternating fast tempos with slow cadences, so giving each musical piece its own mood – from cheerful to cool, refined to frantic. As a whole, the trio performs easily, with great integration, making the music to sound melodic, soft and easy-listening. “Morning Rain” features 8 instrumental tracks. My favorites are the fast and vivid, with stronger influence of Be-Bop Jazz, like the opening track “Mania“; the unpredictable “A Very Tough Day“ (with interchanging solos of piano, bass and drums); the cheerful “I Say Yes“; and the nuanced “The Brilliant Way“. Slower to mid-tempo, and recalling the work of “Michel Petrucciani”, are the cool and classic “Waltz’n’Blues“; the soft, bouncing, but somewhat sad  title track “Morning Rain“; the cool-styled “Japanese Girl“, (with great contribution of the bass); and the remarkable “9, 11, & 7“ (on which the piano themes soar over a Brazilian “Bossa-Nova” rhythmic line). Although I am not a Jazz aficionado – what hinders me from writing a better comparative review – I should say that Fusion Point’s “Morning Rain” is an excellent album, containing music performed by real professional musicians that will please all fans of Modern Jazz, being highly recommended for fans of “Chet Baker”, “John Coltrane”, “Charles Mingus”, “Thelonious Monk”, “Charlie Parker”, “Michel Petruccianin”, “Bill Evans”, “Keith Jarret”, and other jazz legends. Band members and collaborators involved in Fusion Point are: Kirill Sokirko – Piano; Dmitry Malygin – Bass; Roman Smirnov – Drums...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
04/03/2012...............Want to learn everything about the band and its members, goes to FUSION POINT HOME PAGE...
. ACID EMPIRE - "Acid Empire"
Acid Empire is a Symphonic Metal project founded by Mike Bridge (bass, acoustic guitar, lyrics, compositions, and production), a member of band “Season’s End“. The idea popped up after a show of that band that had been supported by a live symphonic orchestra. Feeling that complex orchestral music could greater contribute to the Metal genre, Mike saw the opportunity to come up with something new. For the task, he summoned Dave Stanton (electric guitar), Jack Lipinski (vocals), Hannah Bridge (vocals), and Damian Wilson (“Threshold”, “Ayreon”, “Rick Wakeman’s English Rock Ensemble”), who acted as guest singer on one track. Recordings and production of the eponymous debut album took two years, with final release happening in October 2011. Acid Empire conjures up with perfection the beauty and majesty of Classical Music with the energy and intensity of Heavy Metal. The music includes both string and wind sections, pianos, and orchestral percussion that are perfectly blended into heroic arrangements and melodies on which powerful guitar riffs, amazing neo-classical solos, and stormy bass lines gather together in obedience to erudite standards. The grandeur, drama, and adventurous disposition featured on all tracks are comparable only to the score-music of many epic and fantasy movies. The amazing vocals of both Lipinski and Hannah Bridge add a tint of Folk accent with a remembrance of Celtic ancestry to the music. The resulting sonority is reminiscent of many Metal-Opera projects, Symphonic Metal, and Symphonic-Prog bands (e.g. “Aina”, “Epica”, “Kamelot”, “Ayreon“, “Missa Mercuria”, “Nightwish”, “Therion”, “Magni Animi Viri”, “Falconer”, “Adventure”, “Genius“, “Avantasia“, “Soulspell”, “Rhapsody of Fire”, “Symphony X”, “Rick Wakeman”, “Mandalaband”, “Renaissance”, “Uriah Heep“, “Rainbow”, “Deep Purple”), playing in communion with soundtrack composers such as “John Williams”, “Trevor Jones”, “Randy Edelman”, “Klaus Badelt”, and “Danny Elfman”. The most symphonic parts are inspired by the Masters (“Bach”, “Beethoven”, “Liszt”, “Debussy”, “Dukas”, “Saint-Saëns”, “Dvorak”, “Prokofiev”, “Tchaikovsky”, and “Mussorgsky”). “Acid Empire” is a Magnum Opus performed in 11 pieces. The instrumental “Prelude“ (06:04) opens the album with astral sounds, oriental metal riffs and orchestra, and ends with a gothic piano tune. “Only the Weak“ (06:19) is a potent Power-Prog driven by Lipinski’s epic Folk-Metal vocals, balanced by wind instruments and string arrangements and crowned with wonderful melodic solo (recalling “Kamelot” and “Falconer”). “Denial“ (05:55) also has that epic Celtic vein, but brakes to a surprising Blues guitar solo supported by organ. Lipinski’s emotional vocals take the lead amidst amazing “Beethoven”-inspired wind instruments. A sequence of three tracks follow: the acoustic guitar instrumental prelude “Theme“ (01:57) precedes “Would You Do It Again“ (05:18) & “Would You Do It Again (Reprise)“ (04:56). That pair is slower in tempo, albeit bringing vigorous guitars that tackle soaring strings. Epic vocals by Lipinski are accompanied by epic chorus. A waltzing guitar solo flies over powerful drums and pulsing bass, finishing in a magical fairy-tale orchestral interlude. A guitar riff erupts, and the soulful, mesmerizing voice of Hannah Bridge is heard for the first time. Track 7, “1000 Days“ (05:08), begins with Baroque harpsichord, acoustic guitars and soft orchestrations. The highlight is a vocal duel between Hannah‘s sad voice and Lipinski‘s majestic entry amid strong guitars, leading to a gorgeous neo-classical solo. Hannah‘s voice returns, growing stronger until the great final chord. Track 8 ”Into the Void“ (04:54) is an epic and dark Power-Prog. Guitars and orchestra attack since the beginning, as an amazing Damian Wilson sings with strength and metallic attitude. He makes a fantastic duet with Hannah, while guitars, bass and drums join in an apocalyptic end. The twin tracks ”The Return (Prelude)“ and “The Return“ reveal more of the awesome music of this record: ”Prelude“ (04:05) is an instrumental piece with lute and flutes inspired on the Renaissance epoch. The metallic segment has astonishing guitar and bass, ending with Arabian-sounding orchestra. The main piece “The Return“ (04:50) is a song with orchestral background reminiscent of “Ayreon”, and brings another duet of Lipinski and Hannah intercalated with amazing guitar solos – epic, melodic, and neo-classical. Closing the album, the instrumental postlude “Finale“ (07:38) is a Symphonic Prog-Metal piece that rivals the best score music ever written, featuring free-flying guitars, space solos, and heroic orchestrations. “Acid Empire” is a superb Epic album, awesome and spectacular – a must-have item for fans of Symphonic Metal, Power Prog-Metal, and Epic Folk-Metal who also appreciate score-music, specially fans of “Aina”, “Epica”, “Kamelot”, “Ayreon“, “Nightwish”, “Magni Animi Viri”, “Adventure”, “Falconer”, “Avantasia“, “Genius“, “Soulspell”, “Rhapsody of Fire”, and so on.  Band members and collaborators involved in Acid Empire are: Mike Bridge - Author, Composer, Bass Guitar, Producer, Acoustic Guitar; Dave Stanton - Electric Guitar; Jack Lipinski – Vocals; Hannah Bridge – Vocals; Damian Wilson - Guest vocals on “Into The Void”...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
01/18/2012...................................For more details and in the meantime please check out ACID EMPIRE HOME PAGE...
. VAIPING - "Industrial Workers Of The World"
Vaiping is an Industrial-Electronic Rock band from Stavanger, Norway. The line-up has Eirik Steffensen (vocals, synthesizers), Håkon Landmark (guitar), Per Magnus Johnsen (bass), and Rune L. Horvei (drums, programming). Regarded as one of the most exciting groups of the genre appearing in Norway’s underground musical scene, Vaiping aims to transpose the Norwegian borders with their frozen Nordic sound – to conquer audiences internationally. Visually, Vaiping reinforce the industrial aspects of their music by appearing on stage dressed as old-fashioned boilermen, smeared with coal and oil - something that really makes an impression in a concert scene. Their discography includes the debut album “The Great Polar Expedition” (2007), and the follow-up “Industrial Workers of the World” (2009); both released on Karisma Records. Their music is a blend of Electronic and Industrial Music, largely influenced by “Massive Attack”, “Tool”, “Bjork”, “Tom Waits”, “Kraftwerk”, “Rammstein”, and other German Electronic bands. Vaiping’s industrial way of making music is reminiscent of a great power-plant inside which musical bricks are produced in series, and brought to the listener on a slow conveyor belt. Each instrument is a gear of the entire Vaiping automatic engine, the working rhythm of which is unstoppable, steady, repetitive, tribal and danceable. The sonority is metallic, mechanical, geometrical, angular, dark, and smoky. Vocals are impersonal, robotized, monochord, and icy-polar. The album “Industrial Workers of the World” contains 11 tracks. Some are short experimental tracks, made of industrial sounds, noises, electronic effects and voices, like “Land for Sale“ (1:17), “Street Talk“ (0:20), ”Salvation Army“ (0:57), and “Listen Up“ (3:47) (that sounds like a worker’s strike speech. My favorites are the strongest tracks, which employ heavy percussion and hammered guitars and bass amid a dense metallic wall of electronic rhythmic blasting: “Iww“ (4:10) (driven by robotized machine voices); “The Blue Ribbon“ (3:32) (which combines heavy guitars, slow metallic beats, and ghostly symphonic samples into a breath-sounding machine, and recalls the compact sound of “Rammstein”); and the pounding “High Hopes“ (4:33), made of distorted metallic guitar sounds that contrast amazingly with the seductive and innocent voice of Mina Steffensen. Another favorite track is the instrumental “Victory“ (5:54), which is surrounded in polar temperatures, being strangely tranquil sometimes, and hazel-stormy in other moments. Slower, dark and gloomy, the tracks “Transatlantik“ (4:43), driven by the android-voice of Ann Karin Bäde; and “Wind Will Blow“ (4:18) are particularly weird, psychedelic and entrancing, albeit still dance-bouncing. The only track that differs from the others by shifting from the Electronic-Industrial mode to a more organic quality is “Pie In the Sky“ (4:21), a slightly cheerful ballad, with normal vocals and agreeable tunes that slips latter to the gothic – and ends up with a vivid post-rock attitude. “Industrial Workers of the World” is, from the beginning to the end, a record aimed for the Industrial-Electronic enthusiast, and I shall recommend it for the appreciators of that Musical genre, specially fans of “Massive Attack”, “Bjork”, “Kraftwerk”, and “Rammstein”. Band members and collaborators involved in Vaiping are: Eirik Steffensen – Vocals, Synths; Håkon Landmark – Guitar; Rune L. Horvei - Drums, Programming; Per Magnus Johnsen – Bass. Additional musicians: Mina Steffensen – Vocals (on “High Hopes”); Ann Karin Bäde – Vocals (on “Transatlantik”); Hans Edward Hammonds – Voice (on “Street Talk”, “Iww” and “Listen Up”); David Bowen – Voice (on “Street Talk” and “Listen Up”)...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
04/03/2012..................................................,.....Interested to know more about the Band? Visit VAIPING HOME PAGE...
. IVORY GATES - "Status Quo"
“Status Quo” is the second album of Brazilian Heavy Metal band Ivory Gates (see the review on the band’s third album: "The Devil’s Dance”). “Status Quo” was released in 2005 under Die Hard Records, and was the follow-up to Ivory Gates’ debut album “Shapes of Memory” (2002). At that time, the band’s line-up formed with Malagueta (vocals), Matheus Armelin (electric guitars), Hugo Mazzotti (bass, cello), and Fabrício Félix (drums). The album had guest appearances by Jane Pereira (female vocals) and Renato Guizeline (guitar solo on “Betrayal of the Heart”). The sonority of “Status Quo” brings strong influences of the Classic Rock, Progressive Rock, Traditional Metal, NWOBHM, and the proto-Progressive-Metal of the period spanning the 70’s and the 80’s. Influential bands are “Kansas”, “Journey”, “Rush”, “Iron Maiden”, “Dio”, “Judas Priest”, “Picture”, “Accept”, “Grim Reaper”, “Queensrÿche”, “Fates Warning” (“Ray Alder” phase), and early works of “Dream Theater”. Overall, the sonority is full of calm passages with melodic instrumentation (recalling “Queensrÿche” and “Fates Warning”), coupled with slower but pulsing “Iron Maiden”-like bass lines. Drums are technical, being either cadenced (recalling “Queensrÿche”, “Iron Maiden”, and “Picture”) or rocky (like “Journey” and “Dio”). Many guitar riffs recall the Traditional Metal of “Judas Priest”, “Accept” and “Dio”, but sometimes are soaring like “Fates Warning”, “Queensrÿche” and “Dream Theater”. Solos are elaborated, ranging from Melodic Metal and Hard Rock to the proto-Prog-Metal. Over the instrumentation, Malaguetas’s amazing vocals drive the songs with power and emotion, like a blend of “Bruce Dickinson” with “Dio”. The songs are occasionally adorned with cello harmonies, keyboards, and female vocals. “Status Quo” is based on “George Orwell’s” book “1994”. The album features 9 excellent tracks that cover an ample palette of Heavy Metal styles, and can all be listened to in a row. The instrumental “Overture 2084“ (2:09) recalls the sonority of early “Fates Warning”, “Dream Theater”, and “Rush”; while “System of Power“ (7:37) is a blend of NWOBHM with Hard Rock and Classic Rock, sometimes recalling “Iron Maiden”, other times, “Journey”. Under the influenced of the trio “Queensrÿche“, “Fates Warning”, & “Dream Theater“; the songs “One Of These Nights“ (5:33) (with great guitar solo); “Shelter From the Rain“ (4:27) (aggressive and head-banging, with intricate bass and guitars); and “Betrayal of the Heart“ (6:41), with melancholic vocals, keyboards, and the great guitar solo (courtesy of guest musician Renato Guizeline), are among the best of the album. Leaning to the Hard Rock and Traditional Metal, the all-favorite ballad “We Are the Dead“ (6:02) has a Bluesy intro with amazing female backing vocals, and emotional Hard-Rock vocals by Malagueta, who sings like “Dio” (on “Rainbow”); while “Kill the Giant“ (7:14) brings a “Judas Priest” kind of riff, before turning into a rock ballad with clean, non-aggressive vocals (like “Journey” and “Dio”), and has surprising string arrangements before the guitar solo. Another highlight is the title track “Status Quo“ (6:53), which begins as a dark slow ballad reminiscent of “Iron Maiden”, and grows later to attain epic “Fates Warning”-like guitars. The closing track is the remarkable “Closed Eyes“ (8:03) - the great Prog-Metal song of this record – with influences of “Journey” (on chorus), great vocals of Malagueta, and instrumentation that recalls early “Dream Theater”, “Queensryche”, and “Fates Warning”. Although Ivory Gates has shown much more progress on their most recent album (“The Devil’s Dance”), what has dimmed a little the brilliance of “Status Quo”, this album is still an excellent endeavor of the band, and I should strongly recommend it for fans of Classic Rock, Hard Rock and Heavy Metal of the 80’s, in special fans of “Queensrÿche”, “Iron Maiden”, “Fates Warning”, “Dio”, “Judas Priest”, “Accept”, “Picture”, “Grim Reaper”, and of early works of “Journey”, “Rush”, and “Dream Theater”.  Band members and collaborators involved in Ivory Gates are: Malagueta – Vocals; Matheus Armelin – Electric Guitars; Hugo Mazzotti – Bass, Cello; Fabrício Félix – Drums. Guest musicians: Jane Pereira – Choir on “We are the Dead”; Renato Guizeline – Final solo on “Betrayal of the Heart”...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
04/03/2012.........................................,.....Interested to know more about the Band? Visit IVORY GATES HOME PAGE...
. 25 YARD SCREAMER - "Until All Are One"
25 Yard Screamer is a power-trio hailing from the city of Carmarthen (South Wales). The line-up consists of Nick James (guitars, vocals, and keyboards), Matt Clarke (bass), and Donal Owen (drums and percussion). The band was formed back in 2002, and since then has recorded 3 self-produced CD’s. The best was “Cassandra” (2007), which by its sonority and thematic (based on the Greek Mythology), called the attention of the Progressive community and received several flattering reviews (also here in "PR&PM" webzine – see under “Reviews 2008”). On “Cassandra”, the band presented a perfect blend of Progressive Rock, Symphonic Rock, Classic Rock and Hard Rock with touches of Metal, largely influenced by the Progressive Rock of “Rush” and the sensitive sound of modern-day “Marillion” (Nick’s voice was even compared to “Steve Hogarth’s”). Other influences are “King Crimson”, “Yes”, “Queen”, “Porcupine Tree”, “The Mars Volta”, “Riverside”, and many Metal bands of diverse styles, from Thrash and Prog-Metal to Experimental and Post-Metal (“Iron Maiden”, “Dream Theater”, “Opeth”, “Meshuggah”, “Morbid Angel”, “Anthrax”, “SikTh”, “Tool”, and “A Perfect Circle”). “Until All Are One” (2011, 2112 Recordings) is the follow-up to 25 YS’s acclaimed “Cassandra”. Featuring 7 tracks, the new album brings a sonority that tends less to the Classic and Progressive Rock, being impregnated with the metallic nature of the Prog-Metal, Experimental Metal, Post-Metal, and Atmospheric Heavy Progressive. Similarities with the soaring sound of “Marillion” are limited, but Nick James still sings with a clean, soft and melodic voice. Most tracks on “Until All Are One” employ an instrumental frame that sounds like a blend of “Rush” with “Iron Maiden”, but played in a lower key, an option that made the music to sound darker, immersed in a gloomy atmosphere. Nevertheless, the music is still solid, mature and impressive, for the three musicians are able to interlock their instruments with rigid mathematical precision. Even though there are some moments of thrashing spontaneity, their music is always calculated, cerebral, and creative. 25 YS steadily unfolds unexpected instrumental parts on each track, always finding a breach to escape monotony throughout. The longest tracks are outstanding. “Jeremiah“ (14:14) opens the album with that “Rush–Maiden” low key, then engages in guitar riffs that recall “Dream Theater”, coupled with bittersweet vocals. A middle instrumental part is driven by gloomy bass and guitars, growing to a violent drumming (now recalling “Opeth”). A long guitar solo marks the return of the song to its initial key, with vocals becoming more hopeless until being engulfed by a distorted guitar solo. “Train“ (13:08) is vigorous, heavy, and dark, and contains many different parts. The whirlwind instrumentation comes and goes in stormy waves, recalling “Tool” or “A Perfect Circle”. They are sometimes soothed by calm vocals and subtle string plucking. Phantasmagoric vocals, acid-distorted guitar solos, and rumbling bass and drums indicate that the influence of “Marillion” is almost relegated to the void. Two of my favorite tracks are the instrumental “Whorus“ (4:20) (driven by fast riffs like “Rush”, “Megadeth”, and “Dream Theater”); and the experimental ”The Waiting Room“ (6:04), with weird metrics and “King Crimson” - “Opeth” twisted guitar riffs, passing through an unexpected segment for soaring emotional vocals, and going back to the madness by entering the Psychedelic mode of “Porcupine Tree” (and finishing with a Fusion-Metal solo). Back into the “Rush” stylistics, the album still brings the rocky ”All God’s Toys“ (4:54) and “Parade of Souls“ (5:40), which retains 25 YS’s original proposal of blending “Rush“ with “Marillion” (albeit occasional thrashing drums and devious guitar solo may say the contrary). The last track, “The Thirteenth Bell“ (16:04), obeys the Progressive principle uniting with perfect balance the hardness of “Rush” with the subtleness of “Marillion”, and having a Space-Rock middle part and mellow vocals followed by Progressive soaring guitar solo. This song fades about 8:15, but contains a surprise-track that begins at 11:00 – a beautiful acoustic ballad, for fans of “Marillion”. With “Until All Are One”, 25 Yard Screamer has strayed a little from the original sonority, but the new material indicates that the band will have no difficult to find a place among lovers of Atmospheric Heavy Prog, Prog-Metal, Experimental and Post-Metal, in special fans of “Rush”, “King Crimson”, “Porcupine Tree”, “Tool”, “A Perfect Circle”, “The Mars Volta”, “Riverside”, “Iron Maiden”, “Dream Theater”, and “Opeth”.  Band members involved in 25 Yard Screamer are: Matt Clarke – Bass; Nick James – Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals; Donal Owen – Drums...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
04/03/2012...............................,.....Interested to know more about the Band? Visit 25 YARD SCREAMER HOME PAGE...
. CANADA - "ReCycled"
Canada is a power trio based in Rimini, Italy. The present line-up consists of founder member and multi-instrumentalist Massimo Cillo (bass, vocals, keyboards, percussion), and new components Massimo Arke (electric and acoustic guitars) and Tiziano Fabiani (drums and percussion). On their own words, Canada is a Progressive-AOR power trio that plays a mix of 80’s Metal and Progressive Rock. The band began activities in 1984, during the British New-Wave and Neo-Progressive explosion, being influenced by bands like “Pallas”, “Pendragon”, “Twelfth Night”, and “IQ”. In 1986, their musical orientation changed for a harder sonority that was influenced by “Rush”, “Praying Mantis”, “Grand Prix” and “Stampede”. At that time, the nucleus of Canada consisted of Massimo Cillo and drummer Marco Casadei, around which gravitated many guitarists until 1995 (see below). Canada recorded a demo tape in 1987 and, in 1988, the never-released 12” EP “Endless Pictures”. Canada recorded then another demo that featured the song “Don’t Throw Your Heart”, which was included on the LP compilation “Surgery of the Power” (1989, Fireball Management). Another demo followed - “But for You” (1990) - but Canada disbanded. They would briefly return in 1995 with the Italian-language demo “Mr. Gone” before stopping definitively. But in 2010 the sparkling flame of Rock shone brighter, and Canada reformed again. Led by only original member Massimo Cillo (bass, vocals, keyboards), and with new members Massimo Arke (guitar), and Tiziano Fabiani (drums), Canada has made a great return. In June 2010, the band made a presentation on the Prog-Rock Festival “eXprog” in Mogliano, Veneto (Italy), opening for “Marillion”, “Tony Levin Trio” and “Le Orme”. They also released the CD “Afterimage” (2010, Andromeda Relix) - a collection of tracks released on cassette and vinyl between 1987 and 1995. The new EP “ReCycled” (2011, MySelf Music) features four songs of “Afterimage” that were totally re-arranged and re-recorded, plus one cover track (“Tom Sawyer”, by “Rush”). The artwork is a reinterpretation of the original concept depicted on “Afterimage’s“ cover. All songs were composed, arranged and produced by Massimo Cillo (except “Tom Sawyer”); mixed and mastered by Simone Mularoni. The EP has participation of additional musicians Johnny Petti (first guitar solo on “Eyes on You”), and Dario Ciccioni (drums on “Tom Sawyer”). Canada‘s sonority evolved along the years from a Neo-Progressive matrix to a 70-80’s Hard-Rock and AOR pattern with touches of 80’s Prog-Rock. Influences come from bands like “Rush”, “Triumph”, “U.F.O.”, “Asia”, “Boston”, “Van Halen”, “Kansas”, “Rainbow”, “Whitesnake”, “Scorpions”, “Mr. Big”, “Winger”, “Europe”, and “Deep Purple”, approaching the updated sound of modern acts like “Presto Ballet”, “Tiles”, “Enchant“, and “Unruly Child”. The predominant mood is lively, driven by swinging and groovy instrumentation. The powerful “Eyes On You“ opens up with strong vocals, rumbling bass & drums, corpulent keyboards, and N.W.O.B.H.M. guitar riffs. The highlights go for the great guitar solo by Johnny Petti, while the whole song recalls me of the best of “U.F.O.”, “Rainbow”, and “Whitesnake”. The following track “Don’t Throw Your Heart” tends to the AOR, being full of rock swing and driven by a sticky vocal chorus, recalling “Asia”, “Boston”, “Whitesnake”, “Winger”, and “Europe”. But the middle bass solo in “Geddy Lee” style, superposed by a great guitar solo, recall “Rush” in its best, revealing the high quality of Canada’s musicianship. The third track, “Angel of the City“ also appeals to the AOR format, slowing down to danceable beats of 80’s Rock, being however improved by a great solo sequence of 70’s styled guitar-Hammond-guitar. Track four, “Never Surrender“, is an instrumental piece with great influence of “Rush” on bass and drums, and surprising 70’s Hard-Rock bluesy guitar solos that dialogue with synthesizers solos like “Asia” and “Pendragon”. Closing the EP, the emblematic “Tom Sawyer“ (“Rush”) is perfectly performed with reverence & excellence: unless by Cillo‘s voice, which is stronger and deeper than “Geddy Lee’s” - the song sounds as being played by “Rush” musicians themselves!. Reuniting skill, musicianship and experience, Canada will be unquestionably appreciated by lovers of “Rush”, “Triumph”, “U.F.O.”, “Asia”, “Boston”, “Kansas”, “Rainbow”, “Whitesnake”, “Mr. Big”, “Winger”, “Europe”, “Van Halen”, and so on. Canada is already recording new songs for a first full-length album, entitled “Of Once and Future Kings”, that it will be released in 2012. Excellent work, highly recommendable.  Band members and collaborators involved in Canada are: Massimo Cillo - Bass, Vocals, Hammond Organ, Mellotron, Piano, Synthesizers, Moog Taurus Bass Pedals and Percussion; Massimo Arke - Electric and Acoustic Guitars; Tiziano Fabiani - Drums and Percussion. Additional musicians: Johnny Petti - First guitar solo on “Eyes on You”; Dario Ciccioni - Drums on “Tom Sawyer”. Past members: Marco Casadei - Drums, Percussion, and Backing Vocals; Guitarists: Luca Villani (1987); Massimiliano Corona (1988/1989); Roberto Macrelli (1990); Matteo Macalli (1995). Annamaria Arcangeli – backing vocals on “Afterimage” (2010)...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
04/03/2012..................................................,.....Interested to know more about the Band? Visit CANADA HOME PAGE...
. TOXIC SMILE - "I’m Your Saviour"
Toxic Smile is a German Progressive-Metal band that was founded by keyboard player Marek Arnold (also on Crossover Prog band “Seven Steps to the Green Door”) and drummer Daniel Zehe, in January 1996, in Leipzig. The simple reason for starting the band was that they were fed up with playing student jazz. The line-up was completed with guitarist Uwe Reinholz (May 1996), vocalist Larry B. (1998) and bassist Robert Brenner in January 2000. In September 2004 original drummer Daniel Zehe suddenly left the band, being subsequently replaced by Antonius Gruetzner (who appeared on the 2006 DVD “Toxic Smile In Classic Extension”); and later, by newest drummer Robert Eisfeldt. Besides the aforementioned DVD, Toxic Smile also released the full-length studio albums “Madness and Despair” (2000, F.act-records, Germany; released as “M.A.D.” in 2001 by BMG, South Korea, and reissued in Europe in 2011) and “RetroTox Forte” (2004, Famous Kitchen, Germany); and one EP, “Overdue Visit” (2009, Progressive Promotion Records). Their third full-length album is “I'm Your Saviour” (2011, Progressive Promotion Records), which is reaching us only now. Toxic Smile’s sonority is comparable to most representative Progressive Metal and Fusion Metal bands, like “Dream Theater”, “Fates Warning”, “Queensrÿche”, “Symphony X”, “Shadow Gallery”, “Redemption”, “OSI”, “Liquid Tension Experiment”, “Niacin”, “CAB”, “Planet X”, and “Presto Ballet”, but with a differential: inserted into the omnipresent Metallic frame there is a strong sophisticated Art-Rock & Pop component brought within by the amazing vocals of Larry B. – a singer who reminds me of mostly of “Phil Collins” and “Peter Gabriel”, and a few times of “David Sylvian”. Contributing to that band’s trademark, the unique keyboard playing of Marek Arnold and the cool-jazzy bass work of Robert Brenner can insert slower paces and smoother moments into Toxic Smile‘s otherwise stormy and energetic sound - a break into the solid guitar work provided by Uwe Reinholz and the technical drumming of Robert Eisfeldt. Along the 9 tracks of “I’m Your Saviour”, the impenetrable wall of sound that surround songs like the Prog-Metal tracks “Liquid Wall” (9:10) (with great intro on pianos and many solos of synthesizers and guitar); “Change” (5:37), and “Endless Cycle” (6:42) - the last two in style of “Dream Theater” - alternate with the contagious rhythm of the awesome Fusion-Metal tracks “The Abyss” (7:45) and “I'm Your Saviour” (8:00) (both with groovy guitar riffs, funky bass and crossover parts that recall bands like “Niacin”, “Planet X”, “Liquid Tension”, and “CAB”. The energy and heaviness of those songs are sometimes interrupted by the softness of ballads like “Hidden Brand” (6:31) (a Metal ballad driven by piano and bass); “Walked By Fear” (6:21) (a sad Progressive ballad driven by acoustic guitars, soft bass, and whispered vocals bringing moments that recall “Peter Gabriel” and “Flower Kings”); “Pride and Joy” (6:33) (a Progressive ballad covered by layers of keyboards and pianos, popish groovy bass and some “Phil Collins” - “Genesis” vocal parts); and “Poles Apart” (5:16) (a melancholic song with glassy sounds of electric pianos, and the vocal introspectiveness of “David Sylvian”). As a whole, “I’m Your Saviour” is a solid and brilliant album that sets Toxic Smile aside from many other regular Prog-Metal bands by combining the distinguishing vocals of Larry B. with the remarkable keyboard approach of Marek Arnold, all inside a musical frame that uses more groovy-funk-pop elements than usually. Toxic Smile is therefore indicated to the open-minded Progressive-Metal lover who is apt to taste and assimilate a wider offer of musical influences. Toxic Smile is highly recommended for fans of “Queensrÿche”, “Dream Theater”, “Fates Warning”, “Symphony X”, “Shadow Gallery”, “OSI”, “Redemption”, “Liquid Tension”, “Niacin”, “CAB”, “Planet X”, “Presto Ballet”, “Peter Gabriel”, “Phil Collins”, “David Sylvian”, “The Barstool Philosophers”, “The Mars Volta“, “Coheed & Cambria”, and so on. Band members and collaborators involved in Toxic Smile are: Marek Arnold – Keyboards, Saxophones; Uwe Reinholz – Guitars; Larry B. – Vocals; Robert Brenner – Bass; Robert Eisfeldt – Drums...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
04/29/2012.....................................,More information? Better check it out for yourself at: TOXIC SMILE HOME PAGE...
. AH POOK THE DESTROYER - "The Silver Key"
Ah Pook The Destroyer is a project band born from the collaboration between Matthew Broyles of the “The Matthew Show” (vocals, guitar, bass, vocoder) and Paul Shapera of “Mocha Lab” (vocals, keyboards, percussion). Their motto is to musically represent pieces of iconic literature. Their first self-produced album is titled “The Silver Key” (2011, Naïve Music) and focuses on the literature of “H.P. Lovecraft”. The album is based on Lovecraft’s short story “The Silver Key”, which was chosen by the duo for having a philosophical content that is absent from his horror-oriented works. Ah Pook The Destroyer has a modern Progressive sonority that blends elements of Dark-Progressive, Psychedelic, Electronic, and Post-Rock, sounding like a mix of “Pink Floyd”, “Eno”, “Alan Parsons”, “King Crimson”, “Lou Reed”, “No-Man”, “Radiohead”, “Porcupine Tree”, “Riverside”, “Satellite”, “Sigur Rós”, “Frequency Drift”, and “Jupiter Society”. Most songs are mid-tempo to slow, with melancholic and delicate moods that are parted by emotional contrasts, having few moments of aggressiveness. Vocals are soft, soaring and dreamy, sometimes distorted by means of electronic effects, and spread amid the electronic ambience surrounded by eerie atmospheres and oneiric soundscapes. The guitars are clean, whale-weeping, or float in solos of psychedelic inspiration (recalling “Pink Floyd”); sometimes falling to ponderous chords that echo in the horizon. Icy-frozen pianos, minimalist bass and solid drumming contribute to form a supernatural aura that permeates the music. “The Silver Key” contains 10 songs, all written by Broyles and Shapera, except for the narrations of excerpts of several Lovecraft’s writings, particularly “The Silver Key”. Ah Pook The Destroyer‘s musical style, as described above, remains consistent on most songs. Beginning with the mysterious vocals of the opening track “When I Dream” (6:58), the listener is lured to explore a dreamy world that stays hidden behind a dark curtain of weeping guitars and powerful guitar chords (like “Porcupine Tree” and “Riverside”); and later is encouraged to learn “The Logical Relation of Things” (6:23) a powerful song with electronic background that recalls me of “Frequency Drift” and “Radiohead”. The frightening “Antidote for the Commonplace” (5:36) combines exotic and dense electronic percussion with futuristic robotized voices, being counterbalanced by heavy guitar riffs. The several Progressive ballads of the record are less frightening, but keep the same eerie and psychedelic atmosphere. In general, they have a “Pink Floyd” mood mixed with a musical ambience of “Parsons” and “Radiohead”, and are driven by sad and soaring harmony vocals (recalling “Pink Floyd” and “Moody Blues”). The most beautiful is “Worship of the Real” (5:28), which also features a long guitar solo; the most melancholic is the acoustic “Earthly Shackles” (2:20); and the most captivating is the soaring “Gods of their Elders” (3:40). The most “Floydian” of all ballads is the amazing space-bluesy “Disappearing into the Past" (6:33). Near the end of the CD, two tracks caught my attention for being very different from the band’s intriguing musical mode: tracks 7 and 9. Track 7, “Experiences in the Dark” (5:14), is a crossover that blends rap vocals and male/female chorus with a funky swing and a kind of “King Crimson” metrics, covered by a layer of  Hammonds. Track 9, “The Silver Key” (6:36) - one of the album’s best – is a Post-Rock that fuses many modern trends with great rocky drumming and vivid groovy bass, also featuring soulful vocals and bouncing pianos, and a heavy attack of guitars that recalls the Hard Rock of the 70’s. The last track of the album is “Providence” (7:18) – it is another bittersweet ballad with bluesy inspiration that recalls me of “Pink Floyd” and “Lou Reed”, being finished with a ascending chorus that reproduces the chorus on the opening track – therefore closing the whole circle. In sum, Ah Pook The Destroyer’s “The Silver Key” is a substantial and original work, presenting a sonority that, although influenced by many important bands, does not sound faithfully equal to any of them at all, being instead new and refreshing. Ah Pook The Destroyer is highly recommended for fans of Dark Progressive and Psychedelic bands, namely “Pink Floyd”, “King Crimson”, “No-Man”, “Radiohead”, “Porcupine Tree”, “Riverside”, “Satellite”, “Sigur Rós”, “Frequency Drift”, “Jupiter Society” and so on. Band members and collaborators involved in Ah Pook the Destroyer are: Paul Shapera – Vocals, Keyboards, Percussion; Matthew Broyles – Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Vocoder; Beth Brown – Vocals on “Experiences in the Dark”...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
04/29/2012.........................Interested to know more about the Band? Visit AH POOK THE DESTROYER HOME PAGE...
. SBB - "SBB"
The legendary band SBB is back to this webzine with their last release. Since its official foundation in the distant year of 1971, SBB has mesmerized and assembled many fans in their home land (Poland) and abroad by playing an original blend of Space Rock, Blues, Jazz-Rock and Symphonic Progressive that is recorded on an extensive discography, including several live albums. Original members Józef Skrzek (bass, keyboards, vocals) and Apostolis Anthimos (guitars) are now joined by acclaimed drummer Paul Wertico on the follow-up to SBB’s last album, “Blue Trance” (2010, Metal Mind Productions, reviewed at this webzine in 2011). The new album, titled simply “SBB” (Metal Mind Records), was recorded in studio Wojkowice (Upper Silesia). “SBB” was released in 02.04.2011 in Europe, and is scheduled for release in the U.S.A. in 05.06.2012. The album title is a reference to the band’s history – from the very beginning to the present time. SBB’s long story is then summarized in an extensive collection of 16 tracks, each one relating to important events and situations that happened to the band, also including the important characters that have affected their trajectory. The overall sonority of this album is thus a reflection of SBB’s life, reuniting both old and new musical traces of all years of musical activity, and tempered by the emotional performances of experienced musicians. The emphasis is on the instrumentation: the subtle tones of keyboards, the delicacy of the moog sounds, the diaphanous guitar timbres and fluidal solos, the coolness of soft drumming, their communion in extemporal melodies. Among my favorite “SBB’s” tracks are “Piwnica” (7:00), “Urodziny w Roskilde” (7:00), and “Nowy Wiek” (6:00). These songs bring a strange mixture of Modern moog-driven sounds with Ancient vocal intonations, like some Celtic lost chanting, inserted in a symphonic Progressive frame. While “Urodziny …’s” melody is profoundly sad, “Nowy Wiek” profits from a New-Age atmosphere that is highlighted by the soaring guitars. Another favorite is the unique “Niemen” (4:40) – a mysterious Dark-Prog driven by heavy drumming. On the other hand, some tracks are tinged with the lively colors of plain Rock, such as the guitar driven “Bunkry Wiedenskie” (3:00) (with clashing solos of guitars and Moogs); and the improvised “Rozstanie” (2:20), which introduces the soulful and bluesy “Ameryka” (5:00). But also tending to the Jazz-Fusion, the piano/keyboards oriented “Aries” (2:30), the groovy “Lot nad Chicago” (2:40), and the guitar driven “Memento” (3:50) (with great drumming), are also dignified by offering dynamism combined with musical expertise. A series of sophisticated Soft-Jazz pieces are also present on “SBB”: the tranquil “74” (5:25); the hovering “Seged” (4:00), the peaceful “Zaufani” (3:20); and the pop-chic “Muzy” (6:45). “SBB” still offers the intriguing “Zwatpienie Lakisa” (4:00) - a cosmic piece with experimental percussion – and the long closing track “Requiem” (11:00) – an experimental piece for free-jazz improvisations that includes a real lesson of drumming. Summing all up, “SBB” is a great album that represents a refreshed beginning for this veteran band, being more than worthy of figuring in any Progressive Rock/Jazz-Rock collection. “SBB” is highly recommended for fans of “Colosseum”, “Mahavishnu Orchestra”, “Soft Machine”, and “SBB”, of course. Band members and collaborators involved in SBB are: Józef Skrzek – Vocals, Bass, Keyboards, Piano, Minimoog, Micromoog; Apostolis Anthimos – Guitar, Drums; Paul Wertico - Drums. “SBB” cover artwork created by Tomasz Konior (Polish architect)...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
04/29/2012.......................................................,.....Interested to know more about the Band? Visit SBB HOME PAGE...
. FRANCK CARDUCCI - "Oddity"
Franck Carducci was born in Lyon, France. He began to play keyboards at the age of 5, moving to the guitar when he was 11. From ages 14 to 17 he successively discovered “The Beatles”, “Pink Floyd”, “Roger Waters”, “Genesis”, “Supertramp” and “Kansas” - bands that turned him into a Prog-Rock lover. As his musical life progressed, Carducci also learned to play drums and bass (his favorite instrument, because it links rhythm with melody). Between the ages of 20 and 30 Carducci played bass in more than 20 different bands of Folk, Rock, Funk, Blues, and Country, participating in 15 albums, including two with French folk singer Yanne Matis. In 2008 Carducci moved to Amsterdam, and there he performed regularly in clubs and bands of Rock, Pop, Funk and Soul. In 2010 he opened a show for “Steve Hackett”, an experience that encouraged him to produce his own solo album: “Oddity” (2011, Vocation Records / Progressive Promotion Records). “Oddity” has guest participations of many musicians, notably singer Yanne Matis; drummers Larry Crocket and Phildas Bhakta (a disciple of “Phil Collins”); and flutist John Hackett. Musically inspired by “Genesis”, “Pink Floyd”, “Kansas”, “Supertramp”, “The Beatles”, “Ravi Shankar”, “Stevie Wonder”, “Elton John”, “David Bowie”, and “Frank Zappa” (but also “Barclay James Harvest”, “The Moody Blues”, “Renaissance”, “Fleetwood Mac”, “Eloy”, “Kaipa”, and “The Flower Kings”); and lyrically inspired on “Lewis Carroll”, “Homer”, and “Stanley Kubrick”, “Oddity” is an amazing Progressive album, authentic and sincere, that thrusts the Prog-Rock lover into a fantastic journey through an universe inhabited by unique characters. The songs have been written under a genuine Progressive scope, reflecting the sonority of the 70’s. The eclectic Psychedelic- Prog- Funky bass of Carducci joins with Hammonds and pianos of Richard Vecchi to support layers of vintage Mellotrons that emulate “Tony Banks”. Melodic guitar solos are abundant, many of them recalling “Steve Hackett” and “David Gilmour”. Vocals are tuneful and soaring, recalling “The Moody Blues” and “Barclay James”. “Oddity” brings 8 tracks, including the bonus tracks “The Carpet Crawlers” (“Genesis"/cover) and a radio-edit version of “Alice’s Eerie Dream”. The sonority of the first two tracks recalls “Genesis’” album “Foxtrot”. The six-part epic “Achilles” (14:51) is powerfully driven by Carducci’s incredible pulsing bass and Phildas‘s fluent drumming, with the classical piano intro recalling “Renaissance”. Smooth vocals precede John Hackett’s flute, slowing down the pace to a segment that recalls “The Moody Blues” and “Barclay James Harvest”. A beautiful flute melody brings back the “Genesis”-like mode, and the song accelerates to the climax: a violent Greek-Trojan clash of Hammonds and synthesizers overturned by vigorous bass playing. “Achilles” is followed by “The Quind“ (9:23), a psychedelic ballad inspired by “John Lennon's”  “I Am The Walrus”. But the acoustic guitars and the delicate keyboards both envelope the song in an eerie atmosphere that is typical of “Genesis”, while the soaring vocals recall me of “The Moody Blues”. The song is adorned with whipping guitars and has an imaginative and original solo of organ combined with the ghostly sound of a didgeridoo. By the way, the bonus version of “The Carpet Crawlers“ (6:06) reproduces very well the original “Genesis” vibe, being highlighted by Yanne Matis on backing vocals, and by Vivika Sapori-Sudemäe‘s violin. The other songs of “Oddity” are not less amazing. “The Eyes of Age“ (4:30) is a mild Folk song driven by a vocal duo (Carducci and Matis), on which giggling acoustic guitars, cheerful pianos, and naive folk violins combine to establish an innocent mood that recalls “Fleetwood Mac” and “The Beatles”. In contrast, the soulful and funky “Alice’s Eerie Dream“ (11:50) combines a bouncing “Supertramp” kind of piano with “Stevie Wonder’s” groovy and rocky-bluesy guitars. It features excerpts of “Lewis Carroll’s” poem “Jabberwocky”, emphasized by the music's weird time signatures (13/16, 7/8 and 11/8), all driven by great drummer Larry Crockett. This song also brings hellish percussion, jazzy pianos and swinging bass, and a gospel choir marked by clapping hands flying over an insane Hammond organ – embellishments that are lacking from it shorter edit-radio version (3:59), which keeps only the main vocal parts, the groovy bass and the bluesy guitars. The Space-Rock “The Last Oddity“ (10:17) is a tribute to “Kubrick's” “2001: A Space Odyssey”. It has astronaut vocals, hyperbolic Mellotrons and Hammonds (akin to “Genesis” and “Eloy”), and a long psychedelic segment driven by bass and soaring guitars that recall “Pink Floyd’s” song “Echoes”.  Really a great debut album, “Oddity” features Progressive Music with heart, soul and skill, with a sense of melody that has been reproduced by just a few bands recently. Highly recommendable for fans of “Genesis”, “Pink Floyd”, “Barclay James Harvest”, “The Moody Blues”, “Renaissance”, “Eloy”, “Kaipa”, “Kansas”, “The Flower Kings”, “Supertramp”, “The Beatles”, and lovers of the Progressive Rock of the Seventies.  Band members and collaborators involved with Franck Carducci are: Franck Carducci – Basses, Electric Guitars, Acoustic 6 and 12 String Guitars, Mandolin, Hammond Organ, Mellotron, Piano, Synths, Assorted Percussion, Lead and Backing Vocals, Lyrics, Compositions; Richard Vecchi – Hammond Organ, Pianos, Synthesizers, 2nd Lead Guitar on “Achilles”; Toff  “Crazy Monk” – Drums (on “The Quind” and “The Last Oddity”). Additional musicians on “Achiles”: John Hackett – Flute; Phildas Bhakta – Drums; Niko Leroy – Hammonds and Synths; Florence Marien – Nymphs Voices. Additional musicians on “The Quind”: Nicolas Gauthier & Marianne Delphin - Vocals; Christophe Obadia – Lead Guitar, Didgeridoo, Vocals. Additional musicians on “Alice’s Eerie Dream”: Larry Crocket – Drums; Michael Strobel – Lead Guitar; Nicolas Gauthier & Florence Marien – Vocals, Handclaps; Chris Morfin – Handclaps; Julia – Reading excerpts from Lewis Carroll’s poem “Jabberwocky”. Additional musicians on “The Carpet Crawlers” & “The Eyes of Age”: Yanne Matis – Vocals; Vivika Sopori-Sudemäe – Violin; Fred Boisson – Drums; Gilles Carducci – Mandolin (only on “The Eyes of Age”). “Oddity” was recorded at Music Complex Studio (London), Studio Dagoba (Paris), The Crown’s Studio (Amsterdam) and O.S.M. Studio (Lyon). Mixed and mastered by Chris Morphin (O.S.M. Studio, Lyon); Artwork by Manuela Mambretti...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
04/29/2012........Want to learn everything about this amazing musician and friends FRANCK CARDUCCI HOME PAGE...
. FLAMING ROW - "Elinoire"
Flaming Row is a Rock-Opera project formed in 2008 by German musician Martin Schnella (“Steel Protector”, “Cast In Silence”). As the main composer of the project, Schnella wrote music comprising different genres, from Progressive Rock, Folk, and Mainstream Rock to many styles of Heavy Metal (Symphonic Progressive, Power, Gothic, and Traditional). To complete the project, Schnella gathered a nucleus made of: himself (guitars, bass, keyboards, and vocals), Kiri Geile (vocals), Marek Arnold (keyboards, soprano sax), Niklas Kahl (drums), and Kai Kleinewig (bass). Schnella and Geile wrote the lyrics for the story of “Elinoire”, a drama about a young British family. Recording sessions began in late 2008 extending to 2010, resulting in the release of the concept album “Elinoire” (2011, Progressive Promotion Records). An enormous cast of supporting singers and musicians took part on the Flaming Row project (see long list below), notably guitarists Gary Wehrkamp and Brendt Allman (“Shadow Gallery”), Ali Neander (“Rodgau Monotones”), singer Billy Sherwood (Ex-“Yes”), and singer-drummer Jimmy Keegan (“Santana”, “Spock’s Beard”). The story of “Elinoire” is told by 16 different lead singers, who represent either the Human Characters (the couple “Lea” and “Adam Baltwin”, their daughter “Elinoire”, and Adam’s father, “Cyrus”), or Emotions (Love, Rage…) and Allegories (Time, Destiny, Death, Spirit…). The musical influences include “Ayreon”, “Star One”, “Avantasia”, “Genius”, “Aina”, “Soulspell”, “Missa Mercuria”, “Stream of Passion”, “After Forever”, “Epica”, “Nightwish”, “Within Temptation”, “Forgotten Tales“, “Nemesea”, “Blind Guardian”, “Symphony X”, “Space Odyssey“, “Shadow Gallery“, “Gentle Giant”, “Pallas”, “Marillion”, “Steve Vai”, “Jason Becker”, “Vinnie Moore”, and others. On the 18 tracks of “Elinoire”, Flaming Row and guests tread diverse musical paths. There are Progressive tracks like the symphonic “Elinoire's Theme” and the “Gentle Giant”-styled vocal fugue “Initiation Fugato”. The Progressive-Metal is present on the instrumental “Overture” (with astonishing Neo-Classical guitars by Wehrkamp & Chrissy Müller) and on “Review”, with pulsing bass and pounding guitars reminiscent of the Space-Rock of “Star One” and “Ayreon”, differing by the amazing saxophone solo performed by M. Arnold. The Power-Metal “Unearth the Truth” reminds me of “Space Odyssey“, “Symphony X”, and “Blind Guardian”, with killer guitar solos by B. Allman and A. Schock. At times the Power-Metal is combined with Symphonic Gothic Metal, like on the awesome ”Rage of Despair”, which features grunting male & operatic female vocals, recalling bands like “Epica”, “After Forever”, and “Nemesea”). Another Gothic piece, “Neglected Garden” brings a sinister dialogue between “Death” (Michael Lowin) and “Elinoire” (Michaela Auer). Folk Music is present on the traditional “Do You Like Country Grandpa?”, driven by vivid mandolins; and on the twin tracks “Father's Theme” & “Farewell”,  which bring flutes, soft bass, pianos, and soaring vocals. Ballads are a trademark of Flaming Row – and they alternate calmer and heavier moments: “First Day” intercalates lead female vocals with “Blind Guardian”-kind of chorus and great keyboard parts; “Elinoire” features flutes and many singers, growing to an epic; “Watershed” is a short and tuneful song lead by female voices; “Adam's Theme” is a beautiful piece presenting great singers Lars Begerow and Kiri Geile, and featuring M. Arnold’s sax and A. Neander‘s startling guitar solo. Yet there is also the swinging Mainstream Rock “Nightingale’s Chirp”. But the very best of Flaming Row comes to light when they fuse together all those genres and styles, as on the longest tracks “Lea's Delivery” (7:54) (a Fusion-Metal with amazing male and female vocal lines, powerful guitar riffs, and a Gothic middle-part with chorus and guitar solos), and “Time Mirror” (5:46) (which has a pounding cadence like “Star One” that accelerates later to a female-fronted Power-Metal, bringing in many singers and vocal choirs; still having a middle instrumental part that has surprising Prog-Metal riffs and Fusion-Metal bass & sax  lines). The 6-part suite “A Place to Revive Your Soul” (13:28) closes the album magnificently. It begins like a soaring Neo-Progressive akin “Marillion” and “Pallas”, has some Folk parts, and gets suddenly heavier, blending German Traditional Metal and Prog-Metal with epic choirs and great guitar solos by B. Allman & G. Schwerthelm; calming down later with the sweet voice of “Love” (Anne Trautmann), who leads a choir toward Schnella‘s final guitar solo. Featuring lavish instrumentation and gorgeous vocal choirs, Flaming Row’s “Elinoire” is really a remarkable and brilliant Rock-Opera, one of the best that I ever heard, indispensable for fans of “Ayreon”, “Star One”, “Aina”, “Genius”, “Avantasia”, “Soulspell”, “Missa Mercuria”, “Blind Guardian”, “Space Odyssey“, “Shadow Gallery“, “After Forever”, “Epica”, “Nightwish”, “Stream of Passion”, “Within Temptation”, and so on... Band members and collaborators involved in Flaming Row are: Martin Schnella – Composer, Lyricist, Lead & Rhythm Guitars, 6 & 12 String Acoustic Guitars, Mandolin, Bass Guitar, Banjo, Mellotron, Keyboards, Lead & Backing Vocals; Kiri Geile - Lyrical Concept, Lyricist, Lead & Backing Vocals. Co-Musicians: Marek Arnold - Keyboards, Piano, Organ, Mellotron, Loops, Soprano Saxophone (Bands: “Toxic Smile”, “Seven Steps to the Green Door”, “Stern Combo Meissen”); Niklas Kahl - Drums & Percussion (Bands: “My Inner Burning”, “Cast In Silence”); Kai Kleinewig - Bass Guitar (Bands: “Tubeless”, “Voice2Bass”). The Guest Musicians: Gary Wehrkamp - Additional Guitar solo on “Overture” & “Elinoire”; Keyboard solo on “Rage Of Despair“, Lead- & Backing Vocals (Band: “Shadow Gallery”); Brendt Allman - Additional Guitar solos on “Time Mirror”, “Unearth The Truth” & “A Place To Revive Your Soul”, Lead & Backing Vocals (Band: “Shadow Gallery”); Ali Neander - Additional Guitar solos on “Nightingale’s Chirp” & “Adam’s Theme” (Band: “Rodgau Monotones”); Andreas Schock - Additional Guitar solos on “Lea’s Delivery” & “Unearth The Truth” (Bands: “Heavy Traffic”, “Acoustic Schock”); Jost Schlüter - Additional Guitar solo on “Nightingale’s Chirp” (Bands: “Heavy Traffic”, “Dogs on Lead”); Chrissy Müller - Additional Guitar solo on “Overture” (Band: “Steel Protector”); Gerrit Schwerthelm - Additional Guitar solo on “A Place To Revive Your Soul” (Band: “It Takes Two”); Verena Klauke - Flute on “Elinoire” & “Farewell”; Rick Fischer - Additional Backing Vocals on “Do You Like Country Grandpa” & “A Place To Revive Your Soul”; Jim Roberti - Additional Backing Vocals on “Do You Like Country Grandpa” & “A Place To Revive Your Soul” (Band: “Jim Roberti Trio”); Stephan Wegner - Additional Background Vocals on “Rage Of Despair” (Band: “Cast In Silence”); Anja Hampe - Additional Background Vocals on “Rage Of Despair” (Band: “Con Aglio”). The Singers and their roles: Lars Begerow as “Adam Baltwin“, Human (Band: “RAW”); Michaela Auer as “Lea Baltwin”, Human (Band: “Acoustic Schock”); Jessica Schmalle as “Elinoire Baltwin”, Human (Band: “Steel Protector”); Sascha Habich as “Cyrus Baltwin”, Human (Band: “X-Tom”, “Elements of Change”); Denis Brosowski as “Zachary “Zac” Jones“, Human (Band: “Iron Fate”); Gary Wehrkamp as “Conscience” (Band: “Shadow Gallery”); Brendt Allman as “Liberty” (Band: “Shadow Gallery”); Billy Sherwood as “Past” (Bands: “Circa”, “Yoso”, Ex-“Yes”); Jimmy Keegan as “Season” (Band: “Spock’s Beard”); Michael Lowin as “Death” (Band: “Cast In Silence”); Kim Spillner as “Rage” (Band: “Worst”); Kiri Geile as “Destiny” (Band: “Steel Protector”); Martin Schnella as “Spirit” (Band: “Cast In Silence”, “Steel Protector”); Anne Trautmann as “Love” (Band: “Seven Steps to the Green Door”); Sandra Thielemann as “Time” (Band: “No Case In Point”); Markus Funke as “Forgiveness” (Band: “Markus Funke Band”)...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
04/30/2012................Want to learn everything about the band and its members, goes to FLAMING ROW HOME PAGE...
. IN THE LABYRINTH - "One Trail to Heaven"
In The Labyrinth is a musical project based in Stockholm, Sweden, led by the multi-instrumentalist Peter Lindahl. The project began in 1980 under the moniker Aladdin’s Lantern, and was formed by Lindahl, Mikael Gejel and Ulf Hansson, with collaboration of Stefan Andersson and Karin Langhard-Gejel. Alladin’s Lantern played traditional Middle Eastern music and performed mainly live. By the beginning of the 90’s, the band moved to the studio. By 1993 the name Aladdin’s Lantern was changed for Labyrinth and in 1994 to In The Labyrinth (to avoid confusion with Metal band “Labyrinth”). Their debut album, “The Garden of Mysteries” (1996, APM, reissued in 2012 by Transsubstans Records/Record Heaven) was marked by the reduction of the band’s line-up to Lindahl only. He then began a partnership with experienced multi-musician Håkan Almkvist, who had studied music in Benares and Calcutta (India), and also managed his own record company (Tone Art Productions-TAP). He helped Lindahl to release two ITL’s CDs: “Walking on Clouds” (1999) and “Dryad” (2002, TAP/Record Heaven). This new In The Labyrinth’s album, titled “One Trail to Heaven” (2011, Trail Records), is a compilation that includes remastered compositions from the 3 first CDs, and some previously unreleased tracks and alternative versions taken from Lindahl’s personal archives. In The Labyrinth‘s music comprises a vast array of styles, ranging from Traditional Middle- Eastern & Indian, Greek Rebetiko, Scandinavian Folk-Music; Celtic & Medieval; early Classical Music (Renaissance & Baroque), and Turkish Music, to Psychedelic Rock from the 60’s-70’s; with influences of “Ravi Shankar”, score musicians “Ennio Morricone” & “Goran Bregovic”, “The Beatles“ (albums “Revolver“ & “Sgt. Pepper”), “The Beach Boys” (“Pet Sounds“), “George Harrison”, early “Pink Floyd“, “Bo Hansson“, “Mike Oldfield“, “Brian Wilson“. The sound also recalls me of “Isildurs Bane”, “Jethro Tull” “Gryphon”, “Camel”, “Moody Blues”, “Hoelderlin”, “Dead Can Dance”, “Ole Lukkoye”, “Clannad”, “Tarancón”, and “Irfan”. On the 13 tracks that make up “One Trail To Heaven“, the listener experiences an unconventional, original and unique musical mix that has no restrictions or frontiers. Indian sitars resound to Arabian melodies; old Greek rhythms support Psychedelic guitars; Celtic woodwinds blend with futuristic synthesizers; Turkish percussion crusades against European Medieval fiddles; the Andes unite with Scandinavia; and ancient voices metamorphose into tuneful vocals of the 60’s Psychedelic-Rock. Meanwhile, a multitude of modern and traditional instruments are played by a constellation of guest musicians, all searching for their own space inside the music, yet coexisting with each other in a natural and rare sense of harmony. The album opens up with the cosmic-progressive-folk “Lost In The Woods” (5:05; unreleased version), on which abound acoustic guitars, Indian sitars, and a placid mood. The following tracks were extracted from “The Garden of Mysteries“, an album with predominance of Middle-Eastern music: “Escape From Canaan” (4:10) is a mix of “Pink Floyd” enigmatic vocals with Turkish percussion; “Moorish Rhapsody” (4:15) features bluesy guitars, flutes, bells and female vocals, sounding like Ennio Morricone, changing later for a 60’s Rock. The traditional “The Garden Of Mysteries” (3:02) blends Celtic-Arabic roots (recalling “Jethro Tull” and “Irfan”), and joins with “Monsoon” (2:50) – a Prog-like piece with flutes, pianos, electric guitars, and soaring female choir. Also belonging to this set, “Karakoram Waltz” (5:10, combined version) blends sweet Celtic flutes and Medieval percussion with Progressive guitars and keyboards (with a touch of “Bo Hannson”). The song “Over The Wall” (3:58; picked from the album “Walking on Clouds“), has predominance of Indian and Far-East music, but bonded to the Psychedelic-Rock of the 60’s, recalling “Beatles” and “Ravi Shankar”. The following tracks are also amazing. They appeared on the album “Dryad”, on which In The Labyrinth has reached its peak of creativity, promoting a balanced synthesis of Western and Eastern music, either Ancient or Modern. “Muscarin Madness” (4:50) is a lively pagan dance, with inventive employment of metallic percussion, and ancient woodwinds (like “Gryphon”, “Bo Hannson”, “Jethro Tull”); while “Deep Saffron” (5:19, instrumental version), and “Night Of The Baskerville Killer” (6:34) fix a meeting between the Space Rock of “Eloy” and “Floyd” with either obscured Ancient Times (on “Deep…”), or with Andean flutes and Turkish beats (on “Night of…”). Completing the album, the unreleased tracks “The Endless City” (3:13) (a Trip-Hop marked by deep bass); and “Cloudburst” (5:23) (surrounded by a spiritual aura) are clues for the great Music that is still to come from this amazing band. In between, the great “Cities” (“Moody Blues” cover) (5:40) pays a sincere tribute to the 60’s. In The Labyrinth is really a brilliant and original band, capable of helping their listeners to reach up the Nirvana. “One Trail to Heaven” is a great release from Trail Records, a must-have item for fans of Psychedelic Rock of the 60’s and Folk Music. Band members and collaborators involved in In The Labyrinth are: Peter Lindahl - Vocals, Mellotron, Saz, Zither, Viola da Gamba, Electric Guitar, Electric Bass, Spanish, Western & Twelve String Guitars, Mandolin, Baroque Travérs Flute, Quena, Ethnical Flutes and Oriental Woodwinds, Synthesizers, Piano, Melodion, Darbouka, Daf, Percussion, Bells, Recorders, Samplers, Sound Effects & Programming; Håkan Almkvist - Sitar, E-bow Guitar, Electric Bass, Tabla and Sound Effects. Supporting musicians: Helena Selander - Angelic Voice on “Lost In The Woods”, “Monsoon”, “Deep Saffron”, “Cities” and “Cloudburst”; Mikael Gejel - Sampler on “The Garden Of Mysteries II” and Flute on “Moorish Rhapsody”; Robert Eklund - Arch Lute on “Cities”; Helena Jacobssen - Backing Vocals on “Moorish Rhapsody”; Stefan Andersson - Electric Bass, accompanying Guitar and Slide Guitar on “The Endless City”; Kristina Fuentes - Backing Vocals on “Muscarin Madness”; Karin Langhard-Gejel - Backing Vocals on “Monsoon”; Ulf Hansson - Darbouka on “The Garden Of Mysteries II”; Marcos Chagallo – Violin on “Cities”. Other musicians: Fereidoun Nadimi - Darbouka and Daf; Stefan Ottman - Acoustic Guitar, Soprano and Alto Recorder,Synthesizers, Narration, Vocals and Background Harmonies; Micke Lövroth - Violin; Kirk Chilton - Violin; Ismet Demirhan - Zurna, Nay and May; Sven Lindahl - Cornett; Natalie Knutzen - Female Backing Vocals. “One Trail to Heaven” was produced engineered, mixed and mastered by Peter Lindahl in his studio in Stockholm, Sweden. Recordings were made between 1993 and 2004. Trail Records production and design by Alex Tsalikhin & Vlad Milyavsky. Mastering and editing by George Dugan, I-Heights Studio, New York, 2011. Artwork: Valeria Troubina...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
04/30/2012...................................,.....Interested to know more about the Band? Visit IN THE LABYRINTH HOME PAGE...
. SEVEN STEPS TO THE GREEN DOOR - "The ? Book"
Seven Steps To The Green Door is a German band founded in 2006 by keyboardist-saxophonist Marek Arnold (of Prog-Metal band “Toxic Smile“) and drummer Ulf Reinhardt (ex-“Prophet of Prunes“). The other members are Eddie Gemeinhardt (guitar), Heiko Rehm (bass), Lars Köhler (vocals), and Anne Trautmann (vocals). Singer Ronny Gruber was part of the original line-up, but has already left the band. SSTTGD’s debut album “The Puzzle” (2006, F.act-records) has won first prizes in Progressive and Experimental categories at the “German Rock and Pop Awards”. Their second album, ”Step in 2 My World” (2008, ProgRock Records), was acclaimed by the specialized press. Both records surprised listeners by bringing a balanced mix of Crossover Progressive Rock containing sophisticated Art-Rock elements perfectly blended with different genres and styles (like Prog-Metal, Jazz, Rap, New-Metal, Mainstream Pop, Fusion, Sacred Music), all executed by top musicians and featuring complex melodic vocal harmonies performed by the 3 leading vocalists. Seven Steps To The Green Door‘s style is based on four pillars: 1) a groovy rhythmic section, strengthened by bouncing keyboards and guitars, including a diversity of experimental and polyrhythmic structures, driven by Heiko Rehm‘s incredible bass and Ulf Reinhardt’s eclecticism; 2) dense layers of fluent keyboards that combine Electronic, Synth-pop and classic Rhodes pianos with vintage textures (Hammonds and Moogs); 3) great guitar work by Eddie Gemeinhardt, with amazing solos in Fusion-Metal style; 4) melodic and Rock-Popish sticky vocal tunes and harmonies by Anne Trautmann & Lars Köhler. The instrumentation is solid, and the many changes and twists do not break the song flow – always offering to the listener something worthy of being appreciated. The musical references that occurred to me are “Alan Parsons”, “Rick Wakeman” (album “1984”), “Genesis”, “Gentle Giant”, “Caravan”, “King Crimson”, “Peter Gabriel”, “Zappa”, “Roxy Music”, “Japan”, “David Sylvian”, “Marillion”, “Steely Dan”, “Weather Report”, “Supertramp”, “The Dregs”, “Pain of Salvation”, “Presto Ballet”, “Faith No More”, “Mudvayne”, “Slipknot”, “Liquid Tension”, “Condition Red“, “Karmakanic”, “Star One”, and “Man on Fire“. Seven Steps To The Green Door’s originality, imagination and uniqueness are also present on their third release, “The?Book“ (2011, Progressive Promotion Records), a concept album that features 10 tracks, and a cast of guest musicians (see below). The first two songs - “Prologue (A Man And The Book)” (4:20) and “The Empty Room/The Realization” (6:05) remind me of the sounds of the 80’s: “Prologue” is soft and romantic, while “The Empty Room…”  blends sophisticated Synth-pop (“Roxy Music” and “Japan”) and pulsing bass lines with lavish Neo-Progressive keyboards (like “Marillion”) and long guitar solos in Fusion style. From the 80’s SSTTGD leaps toward the 90’s on the vertiginous “The Crying Child (1st Nail)” (3:48) – a New-Metal with hammered guitars and angry vocals (like “Mudvayne” and “Slipknot”) inserted into a groovy frame of keyboards that have a Progressive texture (reminding “Star One”). The violence is broken in the middle by a sweet female vocal. The heavy riffs of “The Crying…” merge with the initial riffs of “The Healing Wonder (2nd Nail)” (5:55), another groovy song that brings robotic voices and bouncing electric pianos; and a long instrumental part with “Crimson-Zappa” improvisations and still more fusion guitars and female vocals. The following song, “The Dividing Water (3rd Nail)” (8:20), is an amazing Prog-Fusion that begins with cool bass lines, growing gradually with male vocals and pianos that are joined by layers of keyboards and guitars driven by a funky bass (like “Liquid Tension”), followed by jazzy female vocals and Hammonds. The Progressive “The Last Supper (4th Nail)” (4:26) is driven by Classic pianos and amazing drums and bass; while male vocals precede a great saxophone final solo. The introspective and minimalist “The Eternal Abstinence (5th Nail)” (8:06) features great singing by Larry B. (recalling “Peter Gabriel” and “David Sylvian”), and chic saxophones. The Prog-Metal “The Deadly Crucifixion“ (6:46) is fused to Hard-Rock vocals, Opera-Metal chorus, gritty Hammonds and war-marching choirs. The awesome “The Green Door – Looking For The Last Solution” (9:55) is introduced by a women’s Church choir, turning into a Prog-Metal with solid bass & guitars, intense keyboards, melodic male vocals, and Gothic organs & bells. The soft “Epilogue (A Bird And The Book)” (5:40) closes this excellent album with a Progressive touch that recalls “Caravan”. A band that feels comfortable performing any kind of music, Seven Steps To The Green Door cannot be dismissed by Progressive fans that are looking for new bands that offer fresh and sophisticated music without loosing the original essence of Progressive Music. Highly recommendable! Band members and collaborators involved in Seven Steps To The Green Door are: Marek Arnold - Keyboards, Saxophones; Ulf Reinhardt - Drums; Eddie Gemeinhardt - Guitar; Heiko Rehm - Bass; Lars Köhler - Vocals; Anne Trautmann - Vocals. Guests: the Sjaella vocal ensemble; singer Larry B. (of “Toxic Smile”), and multi-instrumentalist Martin Schnella (of “Flaming Row”). Track “The Deadly Crucifixion“ is dedicated to “Anna Seghers” out of gratitude for “The Seventh Cross”...   (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
04/30/2012...........Interested to know more about the Band? Visit SEVEN STEPS TO THE GREEN DOOR HOME PAGE...
. TEE - "Trans-Europe Expression"
The origin of TEE (Trans-Europe Expression) was formed in 2005 as an euro-rock ("PFM", "Area", etc.) cover band named "Euro Express". After the 1st gig in May 2006, the band decided to play original materials then the band name was changed to "The Earth Explorer". The original line-up was Katsumi Yoneda (guitar), Ryuji Yonekura (keyboards, ex Interpose+), Kenji Imai (flute) and Yukio Iigahama (bass). The line-up was completed with the addition of drummer Takayuki Asada later. The band started to play regularly in the Tokyo area. A live recording for their first demo album were carried out on their 3rd gig in July, 2007. "First Voyage – Live in Crazy Jam" was released in December 2007. With regular gigs and the demo live album release, TEE was building up reputations among Japanese prog lovers. In fall of 2008, the band recorded their first studio album "The Earth Explorer". The official band name was changed to "TEE" upon the release. TEE was invited to play in the most famous Japanese prog festival, "Poseidon Festival", in November 2008 and the performance was praised by prog critics. In May 2010, TEE performed in Prog'Sud 2010, one of the largest prog rock festivals in Europe, at Marseille, France. In summer of 2011, the band recorded their second studio album "Trans-Europe Expression". The album was released in January, 2012. My first experience to listen the band's music was with their second album titled as "The Earth Explorer", and, to a certain extent, impressed me greatly. If you want to know more, please check back at the main site page, and read my comments about TEE's first album, that was chosen as "The best band and album from June, 2009". The band's influences and musical styles come from a wide experience of its components, of course that, all the musicians show high musical knowledge amount, blending elements from Progressive Rock, Symphonic Progressive Rock, Neo-Prog, Jazz Fusiun with some smells of Folk music. In fact, they mirrored his strong musical influences mainly on the European bands, especially the famous Italian bands, you can hear, in arrangements and instrumentation, strong influences from bands like "Osanna", "Le Orme", "Museo Rosembach", "Ibis", "Il Paese Dei Balocchi", "The Trip", "Banco Del Mutuo Socorso", "Delirium", "Campo di Marte", "New Trolls", also mixing influences from other bands such as "Caravan", "Genesis", "Camel" and others in the same line. In fact, the music from TEE can be characterized as "European" because of its non-Japanese tradition. TEE have a strong musical sonority and all arrangements are dynamically balanced with a potent orchestration, exceptional harmonies, and excellent instrumentation. Their music is inspired and lively and the always fascinating compositions, showing great symphonies, embellished by wonderful keyboards' arrangements, with a beautiful blending of melodious guitar sounds, adding an intense rhythm on Drums, with a solid bass guitar, and complementing with an amazing soft flute, that is an important addition to the music, but, all together in a sonic adventure, composed with a high brilliance and executed as an amazing production. The "Trans-Europe Expression" album wowed me since the first time I heard, this is a  tremendous progressive rock work, in the truest sense of the word, constantly shifting tempos, full of dynamic arrangements, without an aural aggressiveness, totally balanced, full of symphony and melodic parts, on the sense that everything will take us by an incredible musical journey. The album consists of six tracks, with 47 min of duration time, almost instrumental, except for a short guest appearance of a female voice on the track "Intersection". Produced by TEE, engineered and mixed by Hiroki Arashima, recorded and mixed at Nasoundra Palace Studio, Tokyo, Japan,September 2011, mastered by Mamoru Ishibashi at Sunrise Studio, Tokyo, Japan, the front cover is a famous historical city in France. All six tracks are irresistible songs, all composed with a sweet and delightful melody that moves with a nice feel, but, like my suggestion, listen carefully the tracks "Rhodanus (River to the Ocean)", "Flying Roses" and "Gordes", they are the masterpieces on the album. If you like the Japanese bands, such as "Outer Limits", "Mugen", "Pageant", "Ain Soph", "Vermilion Sands", "Far East Family Band", "Ars Nova", "Cinema", "KBB", "Bellaphon", "Gerard", "Black Page", "Ataraxia", "Magdalena", "Fromage" and "Bi Kyo Ran" certainly you will like TEE. The present line-up on the band today are: Kenji Imai - Flute Soprano Recorder, Ryuji Yonekura - Keyboards, Takayuki Asada - Drums, Yukio Iigahama - Bass and Katsumi Yoneda - Guitar. Guest Musician: Lucy Koyama - Voice on "Intersection". Also you must visit TEE's MySpace Site. Brilliant and an indispensable work, highly recommendable...  (Comments by Carlos Vaz)		 .
05/02/2012..........Want to learn everything about the band and about their history, you need to visit TEE HOME PAGE...
. PHI - "The Deflowering of Reality"
The Austrian Post-Rock band Phi is back to this webzine once more. Phi was formed back in 2006, and after some changes in the line-up, the band released their debut album, “For the Love of Ghosts”, in 2011 (see the review just below). “For the Love…” still had participation of keyboardist Christoph W. Pirker, who left the band shortly before the release. Phi was then reduced to a trio, with the present line-up consisting of Markus Bratusa (guitars, vocals), Nick Koch (drums), and Arthur Darnhofer-Demàr (bass). Nevertheless, Phi persisted winning musical contests in Austria (like the “41st Newcomer Contest “in Graz, and the “Ost Rock Trophy“ in Fischamend). Determined not to stop the career, Phi quickly came up with a new EP – called “The Deflowering of Reality” (released on March 17th 2012, under Office4Music). The songs were recorded and mixed by Matthias Reindl (Parkdeck Recording Studios), and mastered by Philip Schiel (Potato Mastering). All songs were written by Phi, except main riff of “The Beginning Of The End”, by former bassist Peter Leitner. “The Deflowering of Reality” features a cruder and more aggressive sonority than on “For the Love of Ghosts”. On the later, the sonority was predominantly melancholic and depressive, with few raging moments, and the instrumental parts were enveloped in psychedelic atmospheres and progressive soaring keyboards, close to a mix of “Pink Floyd”, “King Crimson”, “Anathema” and “Porcupine Tree”. “The Deflowering…” instead, brings cruder sounds packed into solid loads that are firmly tightened together in aggressive arrangements – now leaning a bit more to heavier sonority of “Tool”, “Riverside” and “A Perfect Circle”. The presence of the bass guitar is remarkable, as well as the most free disposition of the guitar. The drums have also grown powerful, but Bratusa’s emotional vocals retain the sadness, anguish and anger of the previous record, thus making a bridge with Phi’s seminal sonority. “The Deflowering of Reality” brings 3 tracks. “Manager Of The Year” (08:09) has a punchy beat on guitar and bass, and a somewhat robotic kind of vocals. The middle part brings subtle vocal parts (that recall me of band “Sylvan”), before falling down to heavy Gothic-Metal guitar riffs, which contrasts with the Post-Metallic psychedelic instrumental part that proceeds until the end (reminiscent of “A Perfect Circle”). The paranoid initial part of “The Beginning Of The End” (05:12), which unites whispered vocals, destructive drumming, and vigorous bass, is like a mix of “Riverside” and “Tool”, being crowned with a great guitar solo. The wild final part has addition of Stoner-Metal chords that blend into the initial riffs of the last song, “Teenage Lust” (08:56) – the best track of the EP – that follows slow and groovy; has a layer of eerie guitars and vocals, and more Stoner & Doom-Metal parts – the entire piece resounding like a blend of “Porcupine Tree”, “Monster Magnet”, “Trouble”, and “A Perfect Circle”, ending in a kind of noisy Drone-Metal explosion. With “The Deflowering Of Reality”, Phi unveils itself as a band that has guts, spirit and new ideas, and is here to stay. The band is planning another full-length album still for 2012. Phi‘s EP is highly recommended for appreciators of Heavy & Dark-Prog, and Post-Metal, especially for fans of bands such as “Porcupine Tree”, “Riverside”, “Tool”, “A Perfect Circle”, “Amplifier”, “Anathema”, “Monster Magnet”, and so on… Band members and collaborators involved in Phi are: Markus Bratusa - Guitars, Vocals, Lyrics; Arthur Darnhofer-Demàr – Bass, Backing Vocals; Nick Koch - Drums. Past members: Christoph W. Pirker - Keyboards; Peter Leitner – Bass. “The Deflowering of Reality”: lyrics by M. Bratusa, music by Phi. Engineered and mixed by Matthias Reindl (www.parkdeckrecording.com), and mastered by Philip Schiel (www.potato-musics.com). Artwork by Dr. Winter (www.teratogen.at)...  (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
05/10/2012...................................................,.....For more details about this band, please check out PHI HOME PAGE...
. SHOLDSWORTH PASQUA HASLIP WACKERMAN - "Blues For Tony"
When Allan Holdsworth (guitars), Alan Pasqua (keyboards), Jimmy Haslip (bass), and Chad Wackerman (drums) gathered together in 2006 to perform a series of tribute shows to the late Tony Willians – the legendary pioneer of Jazz-Fusion - the reaction of the fans must have been a thunderous “I-must-see-it" – a logical reaction, regarding the prolific careers of those musicians. Holdsworth (ex-“Nucleus", “Tempest", “Soft Machine", “Gong", “U.K", “Bruford", “Jean-Luc Ponty") whose melodic phrasing and complex harmonization resulted in his own original and innovative style, stay as one of the most influential guitar players alive. Pasqua (ex-“Giant") has spent 30 years working with “Bob Dylan", “Santana", “Alice Cooper", “Stanley Clarke", “Pat Benatar", “Eddie Money", “Gary Burton", “Peter Erskine", “John Patitucci" and others. Haslip, currently playing in “Yellowjackets", was an integrant of “Jing Chi" (with “Vinnie Colaiuta" and “Robben Ford"), and has worked with “Tommy Bolin", “Joe Cocker", “Rod Stewart", “Bruce Hornsby", and “Terri Lyne Carrington". Wackerman has started out his career playing for “Frank Zappa" and later for “Holdsworth". Soon he was recording or touring with artists as diverse as “Bill Watrous", “Barbra Streisand", “Steve Vai", “Andy Summers", “Men At Work", “Ed Mann", “Albert Lee", “Colin Hay", “Dweezil Zappa", “James Taylor", “John Patitucci", and “The World Drummers Ensemble". Both Holdsworth and Pasqua are ex-members of “The New Tony Williams Lifetime". They recruited Haslip and Wackerman to revive on a tour the music of that legendary band. In May, 2007, the best of the European leg of that tour was recorded, and released in a double-CD set under the title “Blues For Tony" (Moonjune Records, 2009). The show includes some of the best compositions of “Tony Williams Lifetime’s" 1975 classic album “Believe It" (“Fred", by Holdsworth; “Proto-cosmos", by Pasqua; and “Red Alert", by Tony Newton). Other compositions are part of Holdsworth’s, Pasqua’s or Wackerman’s solo repertoires; and just one - “It Must Be Jazz" - has the signature of the whole group. Listening to the first minutes of “Blues for Tony", the Jazz-Fusion enthusiast immediately realizes what this album is about. Inexhaustible stamina alternating with cool moods; sophisticated harmonies; and much improvisation is brought fourth by those veteran musicians – to them, the act of playing is as natural as the act of breathing. And the best of all is the cooperative spirit that surrounds this quartet. There is no clash of Egos here – but titan forces working together in behalf of music! Even though there are frequent duels of Holdsworth against Pasqua, Haslip against Chad, Pasqua against Haslip , and Holdsworth against Holdsworth (yes, he makes an effort to overcome himself), they seem not to be competing against each other, but having much fun together, and inviting the audience to join in. That atmosphere is felt on the opening title track – “Blues For Tony" – a long piece combining a duel of Pasqua versus Haslip; Holdsworth’s enigmatic guitar solos, and Wackerman’s eloquent drum solo. Wackerman is the author of the following “The Fifth“ – a modern Cool-Jazz featuring long passages of keyboards that sets the stage for “It Must Be Jazz“ – on which Haslip and Wackerman engage into a battle, which is peacefully soothed by a Space-Jazz solo by Holdsworth. Alas, he is author of the rest of the compositions of Disc 1: “Fred“ is a recollection of the Canterbury Sound, having hundreds of solos by Holdsworth intermingled with hundreds of solos by Pasqua. On “Guitar Intro“, Mr. Holdsworth unites both soul and versatility to create a short Astral-Progressive intro for “Pud Wud“- a warm-mood jazzy piece on which the musicians celebrate the satisfaction of playing together. Disc 2 opens with Holdsworth’s “Looking Glass“, on which he and Pasqua keep throwing the ball to each other in a “Jazzy-Improvisational" dispute. Pasqua signs the three following pieces of this disc: “To Jaki, George and Thad“ is a cool piano ballad, soon followed by “San Michele“ – one of my favorites – with Progressive airs and reverential harmonies that will please the fans of the Canterbury Sound. Pasqua’s set finishes with a fresh version of “Protocosmos“, renewed to include a plethora of solos supported by Wackerman’s fluidal drumming. The closing track is a new revitalized version “Red Alert“ - groovy bass, destructive guitar riffing, cosmic keyboards, and thundering drums – the right choice to end up this fantastic tribute. Tony Williams, wherever he is, must be feeling really delighted. Holdsworth, Pasqua, Haslip, Wackerman is a must-have item for fans of Jazz-Fusion, The Canterbury Sound, and bands like “Soft Machine", “Mahavishnu Orchestra", “D.F.A."; and so on… Band members and collaborators involved in this project are: Allan Holdsworth – Guitars; Alan Pasqua – Keyboards; Jimmy Haslip – Bass; Chad Wackerman - Drums...  (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
05/10/2012..........Interested to know more about? Visit HOLDSWORTH PASQUA HASLIP WACKERMAN HOME PAGE...
. THE SEVENTH SEASON - "Liquid Water"
The Seventh Season has a curious story. Currently based in California, USA, the band was formerly established in Moscow, Russia in 1972. Led by Yuri Batygin in the years 1972-1975, the band performed at various stages, trying to find its own sound. From 1976 to 1979 the band recorded several songs in their home studio, but ceased activities shortly afterwards. The band restarted again almost twenty years later, in 1998, in the U.S.A. Their return was marked by the release of the debut EP “Fall Within" (2003), which got airplay at stations in the U.S.A., Germany, Japan, Canada, and in the U.K. The band then began to gig around San Francisco Bay Area, LA. During late 2004 and early 2005, the band began to record a second album. Besides Yuri Batygin on bass and vocals, the line-up consisted then of Konstantin Batygin (guitar, vocals), and Sergei Smet, who had replaced previous drummer Virgil Gheorghiu. Taking a break from the studio, The Seventh Season recorded the live DVD “Transposition“, which was released in August 2006 under Independent Records Inc). The Seventh Season’s second album - “Liquid Water" - was finished and released in 2007, but is reaching us only now. The fact that the album was recorded over a long period of time made the recording of each song special, giving the album an overall musical variety. That is quite evident when listening to the CD for the first time. With many influences, The Seventh Season is difficult to be placed in a single musical genre less abridged than “Rock". “Classical Rock", “Alternative Rock", “Rhythm & Blues", “New Wave", “Hard Rock", “Metal of the Eighties", “Country Rock" and a bit of “Progressive" are all present on their songs. They credit their most important influences to “Credence Clearwater Revival", “The Beatles", “Uriah Heep", “Pink Floyd", and “Metallica"; but the list could grow to include “Lynyrd Skynyrd", “Thin Lizzy“, “Triumph“, “Rush“, “The Police", “Marillion“, “Blue Oyster Cult", “Kiss“, “Aerosmith“, “Dokken", “Yesterday & Today", “Pretty Maids", “U.F.O.", “Scorpions", “Iron Maiden", and many others. Most songs have the same lively mood and energy of  “Triumph“, “Yesterday & Today", “Kiss“, “Aerosmith“, “Dokken", “Scorpions", “U.F.O.", and “Pretty Maids" – keeping the same rock and roll essence, but being updated for the 21st Century, being slightly smoothed by the rhythms of “New-Wave", “Alternative Rock", or even “Ethnical". Guitars are a strong point, with long and carefully prepared solos, always soulful. Occasional keyboards bring a draft of Progressive Rock, but make me think of “Pretty Maids" and “Rush". Songs are linear, with little internal variation, with emphasis on vocals – that blend “Y&T" with “Credence Clearwater Revival". “Liquid Water" features 12 tracks. Some are fast, rocky, and lively, combining “Classic Hard Rock" with “New-Wave" rhythms. These are the title track “Liquid Water“, “Freeway“, and “Broken Artist“, and my favorite of this group: the groovy “Control Me“. Intermingled with those songs, the mid-tempo to slow “Ocean of Time" (a great song with sophisticated drumming and some Prog keyboards) and the sad ballad “Apart from Here“ (with extra-long soulful solo) are some of the best of the record. The heavy and cadenced “Damaged“ (in “Y&T" style), the fast “My Only Honor“, and my all-favorite “April“ (an amazing Epic Metal in the style of “Iron Maiden") are some representatives of the harder and heavier facet of the band. The remaining songs are “Nine to Five“ (a short “Credence Clearwater Revival" country-rock); “Machine“ (a Rock and Roll like early “The Beatles" and “Rolling Stones"), and the closing track “Wherever“ – this one a soft electro-acoustic ballad highlighted by a remarkable soulful solo, reminiscent of “Lynyrd Skynyrd". Since the release of “Liquid Water", no new album has followed it. However, The Seventh Season is still in activity, but with modifications in the line-up (see below). A band with a variety of styles and influences, The Seventh Season is recommended for those who like just plain good and old Rock and Roll, as it has been played along the past 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Band members and collaborators involved in The Seventh Season are: Konstantin Batygin – Guitar, Vocals; Yuri Batygin – Bass, Vocals, Sergei Smet – Drums. Current line up: Yuri Batygin – Bass, Vocals, Konstantin Batygin – Guitar, Vocals; Scott Shepherd – Drums, Vocals; Ajay Limaye – Guitar, Vocals. You must visit The Seventh Season's MySpace Site...  (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
05/10/2012..........................,.....Interested to know more about the Band? Visit THE SEVENTH SEASON HOME PAGE...
. DEAD SOUTHERN TREE - "Metamorphosis"
Dead Southern Tree is a Portuguese duo from Beja, formed by the enigmatic musicians Gonçalo R. (vocals, guitars, percussion, and programming) and Miguel F. (bass, backing vocals, and percussion). The duo makes Experimental Music that blends Metal, Psychedelic Rock, Ambient, Dark Progressive and Gothic, with influences of  “Danzig”, “LOUD!”, “Jefferson Airplane”, “Pain of Salvation”, “Riverside”, “Opeth”, “Alice in Chains”, “Pantera”, “Katatonia”, “Emperor”, “Immortal”, “Type O Negative”, “Rainbow”, “The Doors”, “Mão Morta”, “Pedra de Metal”, and other bands of the underground music scene of Portugal that have been supported by Radio work of “António Freitas”. Dead Southern Tree has released two records by independent label Zombie Warlock Productions: “.?.?.?Of Stars and Gravitational Fields” (November, 2010); and the most recent “Metamorphosis” (November, 2011). The sonority of Dead Southern Tree is dark and somber, even when they are playing more plain Rock. Vocalist Gonçalo R. recalls me of a blend of “Ozzy Osborne” with “Mike Patton”, singing slowly and emotionally like “Layne Staley” (“Alice in Chains”). Most songs are bass driven, adorned with strange guitar solos, bringing minimalist keyboards. Some songs reunite influences of “Danzig”, “Alice in Chains”, “Opeth”, and “Pain of Salvation”, wit the psychedelic touch of “The Doors”, while others appeal to a melancholic mood, immersed in dark-gothic atmospheres that recall bands like “Katatonia” and “Type O Negative”. This duality means that Dead Southern Tree is a band still searching for the best musical path to follow on. “Metamorphosis” has 8 tracks, including the cover “Working Class Hero“ (“John Lennon”). My favorites are those immersed on darker atmospheres, still having a Gothic approach; as the arrhythmic “Eternity’s Reach“ (which is slightly gothic-symphonic, but driven by Stoner guitars, and having a final part that sounds like “Alice in Chains” plunging into a layer of harmony guitars), or the ritualistic “The Re-Crafting of the Physical From“ (driven by psychedelic bass, weird guitars, and distant vocals that get together with voodoo percussion, Pan-flutes and nebulous gothic chorus – recalling bands like “Black Widow”). Also on this line stand the tracks “Dedication“ (which is immersed in a mournful ambience thanks to the gothic keyboards, organs, and echoing effects – being reminiscent of “Katatonia”) and “Working Class Hero“ (“John Lennon” cover) – which is completely transfigured into a gothic version, featuring sad pianos and melancholic singing. Delving into the Dark Blues, the rocky “Thresholds“ and the slow “Reality’s Affliction“ (with great psychotropic guitar solos) will please fans of “Danzig”, “Alice in Chains”, and “The Doors”. For listeners that prefer something more vibrant, in the spheres of Hard-Rock, Grunge, and Metal, with influences of “Alice in Chains”, “Pearl Jam”, “Soundgarden”, and “Nirvana”, there are the swinging “The Emerald Nymph“ and “The Devil Rides South“, the last one being based on a good Hard-Rock guitar riff that supports a long bluesy guitar solo. Dead Southern Tree is a peculiar-sounding band, specially recommended for lovers of Dark, Gothic and Metal Music with an Experimental leaning, as are the fans of “Danzig”, “LOUD!”, “Alice in Chains”, “Opeth”, “Katatonia”, “Emperor”, “Immortal”, “Type O Negative”, and their likes. Band members and collaborators involved in Dead Southern Tree are: Gonçalo R. - Vocals, Guitars, Percussion, Programming; Miguel F. - Bass, Backing Vocals, and Percussion. You must visit Dead Southern Tree's Facebook Site...  (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
05/10/2012...........................,.....Interested to know more about the Band? Visit DEAD SOUTHERN TREE HOME PAGE...
. SOT - "Kind of Saltz"
SOT (abbreviation of Salt of Tusi) is an experimental trio hailing from Oslo, Norway. The line-up consists of Skjalg Reithaug (guitars, guitar-synth), Anders Hunstad (drums, pianos), and Lars Andreas Haug (tuba, trumpet, soprano saxophone, occasional vocals and choirs). The three members are experienced musicians that play in the Jazz, Rock, Metal and Pop scene of Oslo. Skjalg Reithaug (1975) is graduated in musicology under the University of Oslo. He has released an album with the Metal band “The Allseeing”, and played with “Krag Jørgensen“ and other Prog and Jazz bands. Anders Hunstad (1974) is a freelance studio multi-instrumentalist musician who has played for “Morten Abel”, “Briskeby” and “Sarke”, and is currently working on the Electro-Pop band “Bermuda Triangle”. He also teaches piano at the School of Cultural Arts in Sandvika. Lars Andreas Haug (1975) is a professional jazz-tuba player since early 90s, and has collaborated in records and album releases (e.g. “Steffen Scorn's” band “Trygve Seims Ensemble” and ethno-group “Akku”). In 2005 he performed a solo concert called “Luft og kjærlighet”, and has recorded two solo albums “Vinterfjøs” (2005) and “Fabatune” (2008). He has toured around Europe and Asia with his tube, and presently works on the project “La Band”. Haug is regarded as a revolutionary tuba-player, mainly because of his innovative uses of overtones and his characteristic use of grooves. The SOT project began early in 1992, a time when the still teenaged members studied music in High School and formed the band to play at obscure clubs and birthdays. But it was just many years later, after their musical careers had already been well solidified, that they decided to focus on SOT again. The return happened with the release of their self-produced debut album “Kind of Saltz” (December 2011, Sotanic Sounds). The album and their live performance put SOT in evidence in Norway, at a special place in the 2012 program of Rikskonsertene (the Norwegian Concerts Institute). The music of SOT includes elements of R.I.O., Avant-garde, Jazz-Fusion and Tech-Metal; with influences of “Frank Zappa”, “King Crimson”, “Mahavishnu Orchestra”, “Rush”, “Soft Machine”, “Primus”, “Béla Bartók”, “Party”, “Impossible Trio”, “Michel Godard”, “Jon Eberson”, “Spastic Ink”, “Miriodor”, “The Wrong Object”, and “Henry Cow”. The compositions are fragmented, but feature a dynamic interchange of rhythms and odd time signatures, heavy grooves, and twisted and intriguing melodies, also including mocking tones. The remarkable and innovative use of the tuba and other wind instruments (trumpets and soprano sax) are a trademark of SOT – a band that prefers the tags “Alternative Black-Jazz”, “Experimental Prog-Rock”, and “Rock & Tuba-Jazz” to describe their style. The CD “Kind of Saltz” has 10 tracks. Mostly are instrumental, although some vocalizations appear sporadically. The album opens with the powerful “Schlatan” (05:14), which recalls the Tech-Metal of “Spastic Ink” on the guitar solo, but differs for having trombones. The same energy is replicated on ”Saltpetersyre” (06:01) - an aggressive Fusion-Metal with elephantine trumpets and strange “mouth-made” sounds that are interrupted by extra-terrestrial trombone solo. Soft tracks are “Tusjpen” (05:53) (driven by clean Jazz guitars and bass parts played on trombone, with weird guitar solos reminiscent of “Zappa” and “King Crimson”), and ”End of Saltz” (02:44) (the lightest piece, a soft-Jazz served with a Latin-tropical flavor). The short tracks “Bartof” (01:38) (a burlesque piece in the style of “Zappa” and “Henry Cow”) and ”Den Avsagde” (01:52) (a cosmic concerto for melancholic trombone solo) are very peculiar, and confirm SOT’s inventiveness. Other outstanding tracks are: “Follower” (06:30), which begins like a dark waltz, bringing soaring and dreamy vocalizations amid ghostly tunes, and is parted by sudden interferences before the strange guitar solo; ”Støtten” (04:22), which runs over a multi-broken rhythm frame, alternating low-key Brazilian Bossa-Nova, lysergic trombones, Fusion synth solo, and lunar Progressive soundscapes; and ”Oftebrua” (03:44) – as strange as ”Støtten”, but including some angelic choirs and a jazzy-improvised electric piano solo. Closing the album, the expressive R.I.O. piece “Tzar Saltan” (08:21) transposes “Bartók” & “Mussorgsky” for deep bass tones and martial drums, sometimes recalling a dark “Rush”, but having vocalizations in falsetto that recall “Thijs Van Leer” (“Focus”). Summing all up, SOT is really a surprising and original band, having a style of its own. SOT is definitely highly recommended for fans of R.I.O. and Avant-garde Progressive Rock, Jazz-Fusion, and Tech-Metal, especially if appreciators of “Zappa”, “King Crimson”, “Henry Cow”, “Spastic Ink”, “Soft Machine”, “Mahavishnu Orchestra”, “Miriodor”, “Rush”, “Primus”, “Spastic Ink”, “The Wrong Object”, “French TV”, “Le Maschere di Clara”, “Outopsya”, “Dialeto”, and their likes. Band members and collaborators involved in SOT are: Skjalg Reithaug – Guitars, Guitar-synths; Anders Hunstad – Drums, Piano; Lars Andreas Haug – Tuba, Trumpet, Soprano Saxophone, occasional Vocals. “Kind of Saltz” was recorded and mixed at Skansen Lydstudio, Trondheim, August 2011; mastered by Stein Bratland; and produced by SOT. Artwork and cover design by Skull: Flora...  (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
05/10/2012...................................Want to learn everything about the band and their history, go to SOT HOME PAGE...
. PHI - "For The Love Of Ghosts"
Phi is a new Post-Progressive Rock band hailing from Baden bei Wien, Austria. The band formed in 2006, with the first line-up consisting of Markus Bratusa (guitars, vocals, programming, additional keyboards), Peter Leitner (bass), and Nick Koch (drums, programming). From 2006 to 2008 Phi performed at many festivals and band contests in Austria, and in October 2008 won the first prize at the Austrian finale of the “Podium. Jazz. Pop. Rock Contest”, impressing the jury with a performance that was compared to the great Progressive bands of the seventies, like “Pink Floyd”, “Genesis” and “Yes”. Shortly after, original bassist Peter Leitner left the band, and the remaining members Koch and Bratusa spent much of the time reformulating the band. In February 2010, new musicians Arthur Darnhofer-Demàr (bass) and Christoph W. Pirker (keyboards, synthesizers) finally joined Phi. Preparations for the release of the first album began early in 2011, but keyboardist Christoph W. Pirker left the band shortly before the release of Phi’s full-length debut album, “For The Love Of Ghosts” (July 2011, self-produced/distribuited by Mals Records). “For The Love Of Ghosts” was recorded live at studio with minimum use of pitch-correction, cuts, or overdubs, to catch a glimpse of real emotion instead of polished studio perfection. That is because Phi’s main goal is to deliver emotion to the listener and to impress the audiences with astonishing live performances, thus surprising people with timeless music that goes beyond normality. “For The Love Of Ghosts” is a concept album that contains seven tracks. The music condenses elements of Post-Rock, Post-Metal, Dark Progressive, Prog-Metal, Alternative Rock and Stoner-Metal, with influences of “Porcupine Tree”, “Tool”, “Amplifier”, “Anathema”, “King Crimson”, “Pink Floyd”; but also “Riverside”, “Bowie”, “Deftones”, “Radiohead”, “A Perfect Circle”, “Sylvan”, and “Monster Magnet”. The music alternates aggressive moments with melancholic tones and depressive moods, being driven by Bratusa‘s emotional singing. The solid instrumentation is packed inside elaborated arrangements that privilege the music as whole. The longest tracks obviously call the spotlights. The opening track “The Surgical Cut, parts 2-4” (9:50) is an aggressive Post-Metal driven mainly by fast guitars, syncopated drumming and depressive vocals, contrasting with its counterpart “The Surgical Cut, part 1” (9:04), which is placed as the 6th track on the album. “Part 1” is slower, surrounded by a darker atmosphere, and blends Post-Metal tribal drumming with Stoner-Metal guitar riffs before delving into a psychedelic layer of electronic effects. Another lengthy track is “Desire” (12:08) – which begins with great Prog-Metal riffs and epic tones, growing in intensity at the middle part to summon great instrumentation and melodic arrangements. Not less amazing are the tracks with a “regular” duration, such as the outstanding ballad “Wintersong” (5:23), which brings gothic violins, minimalist pianos, and sad vocals; growing later to include Hammond keyboards and a beautiful guitar solo; which merge with the “Crimsonian” bass & guitars of “The Illusion (Death is Dead)” (6:19) – another great Prog-Metal and Post-Metal sonic mixture. The album still brings the Alternative-Rock song “Departure” (4:40) (highlighted by expressive vocals and a gothic keyboard segment); and closes with the title track “For the Love of Ghosts” (1:46) - a short acoustic epilogue. Phi’s “For The Love Of Ghost” is really a remarkable debut, so that in February 2012, the Russian specialized label MALS Records showed interest in re-releasing the record for international distribution. Meanwhile, Phi - downsized to a trio - released the EP “The Deflowering Of Reality” (March 17th 2012, Office4Music) and is planning another full-length album for 2012. Phi is a talented band to be watched closely, being specially recommended for fans of “Porcupine Tree”, “Riverside”, “Tool”, “Amplifier”, “Anathema”, “King Crimson”, “Pink Floyd”, “Radiohead”, “A Perfect Circle”, “Sylvan”, “Osada Vida”, and so on. Band members and collaborators involved in Phi are: Markus Bratusa - Guitars, Vocals, additional Keyboards, Programming; Arthur Darnhofer-Demàr – Bass, Backing Vocals; Nick Koch - Drums, Programming. Guest musicians: Christoph W. Pirker - Keyboards, Organ (tracks 1-6); Markus Czwiertnia – Violin on “Wintersong”; Peter Yearsley – Spoken Words on “The Surgical Cut Parts 1-4”. Past member: Peter Leitner – Bass. “For The Love Of Ghosts”: music written by M. Bratusa and Phi, produced & recorded by Phi; mixed & mastered by M. Bratusa...  (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)		 .
05/10/2012..................................Want to learn everything about the band and its members, goes to PHI HOME PAGE...
. BARTOSZ OGRODOWICZ - "Forsaken"
Bartosz Ogrodowicz is a Polish composer and instrumentalist from Poland, Wrzesnia. He is a solo artist who gives concerts in the whole Poland. He is a great Keyboard player and musician performing amazing Progressive rock, symphonic rock, Melodic Metal, instrumental and film music. His music transmitting emotions through sounds, is a journey to the deepest recesses of the human soul. His songs are inspired by life because as he admits, life is a versatile writer who gives inspiration and strength to create. The talented young multi-keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist Bartosz Ogrodowicz, released his debut album, titled as "Forsaken", a collection of his songs composed between 2009 and 2010, and all these songs are full of a vibrant Symphonic Progressive Rock. His instrumental paintings and collages, sometimes incorporates mystical themes, épics, atmospherics and  melodious, with a high level of sophistication in the song writing, and also in the complete mastery of the instruments. Since I first heard his album, I realized many fine nuances and instrumental symphonic arrangements very well elaborated. On this debut album, the music flows like a soundtrack to a mystical movie, full of epic scenes, traveling by imaginary lands, where each track illustrates an unknown character in different landscapes, taking the listener on a imaginary  journey, through a symphonic masterpiece without boundaries and many different sonic territories. Bartosz Ogrodowicz can be considered like a new master and also a keyboard's magician, his influences and musical style come from famous keyboard players, such as "Rick Wakeman", "Keith Emerson", "Patrick Moraz", "Jean Michel Jarre", "Jordan Rudess", "Yanni", "Eddie Jobson", "Kitaro", "Mike Oldfield" and so on, he is a hunter and researcher of pure keyboards' sounds, showing a self-mastery in the art of playing multiple keyboards and also other intruments. "Forsaken" is a collection of songs, where the material was produced by himself, and was recorded at home on his own expense. The album contains eleven tracks, totalizing 50 min of atmospheric emotions. All tracks are amazing, is difficult to choose the favorites songs, however, I have my preferences and they are "Intro", "Forsaken", "Dream of Destiny", "Belief", "Judgement" Part I and II, "Stone of Memories" and "Hope", specially the Bonus track titled as "Mury Czerni". For all fans of any of the keyboard's players mentioned above, and also to all fans of symphonic progressive rock, should definitely acquire this album, of course I'm sure all of you will not be disappointed. You must visit Bartosz Ogrodowicz's MySpace Site. Brilliant, amazing and an indispensable work, highly recommendable...  (Comments by Carlos Vaz)		 .
05/10/2012....Is there an interested to know more about? Then you must visit BARTOSZ OGRODOWICZ HOME PAGE...
.
.
This page was optimized
for use with Internet Explorer, FireFox and Netscape. For best view please use  800x600 HiColor
Bands and Artists Contact, comments, live dates and news

Please send e-mail to: Progressive Rock & Progressive Metal
Back To
Main Page
.
© Copyright Progressive Rock & Progressive Metal
 .