Posts tagged as:

Progressive Rock

I Treni All'Alba 2011 ADHere’s an engaging and entertaining band from Italy, I Treni All’Alba, playing some very fine acoustic guitar based instrumental melodic rock. You’ll have to bear with me, during this review, as the press/band information I have is in Italian. (Perhaps, conversely, and for a few laughs, the band and their Italian supporters will not understand my review.)

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Beyond the Bridge - The Old Man and the SpiritHere’s a few words of first impression of Beyond the Bridge’s debut The Old Man and the Spirit: ambitious, grand, and sweeping. The work is a monolith, from concept to music, of progressive metal from this young German band. Be forewarned: several spins are required to grasp the scope of The Old Man and the Spirit. That’s not to say that this work is overly complex, but it is quite long and packed with great music.

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Persona Non Grata - Quantum Leap Possibly indicative of the album title, Greek progressives Persona Non Grata hoped to ‘up their game’ with their sophomore release, Quantum Leap. Released in December, this fine work of progressive metal could easily be added to the best of 2011, right along side their peers Symphony X and Dream Theater.

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Knight Area’s Nine Paths: simply great melodic progressive rock!

10 October 2011 American Culture

Knight Area’s fourth release, Nine Paths, is simply a great sounding album of melodic progressive rock. Earlier works were likely gathered under the symphonic rock genre also. But Nine Paths seems to find Knight Area upping the rock ante just a bit. With that said, don’t think that founder, composer, and keyboardist Gerben Klazinga is [...]

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With Kingdom of Ruin, Vangough returns with another massive and entertaining opus of progressive metal

2 October 2011 American Culture

Unexpected and challenging are apt words to describe the latest project, Kingdom of Ruin, from Oklahoma’s Vangough. But that’s certainly ‘expected’ from this talented band. It’s nearly odd to say, but one might call Kingdom of Ruin ‘thinking man’s’ prog. It certainly offers a high degree of creativity and ingenuity, yet without sacrificing immense entertainment.

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Voyager’s Meaning of I: clever and intriguing, catchy and entertaining progressive rock

27 September 2011 American Culture

There’s something about Voyager’s sound on their fourth LP The Meaning of I that I can’t put my finger on, that I can’t quite describe. With their interesting polyrhythmic sensations, illustrative, sometimes quirky, keyboards, and Danny Estrin’s both consistent and mercurial vocals, this work sounds like a collision of 80′s electronic new wave with more [...]

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On Comm, The Tangent explores the impact of communication technology on our world

20 September 2011 American Culture

Never to be underestimated, The Tangent arrives with another prog rock tour-de-force, perhaps their best to date, in Comm. The concept of the album is both enigmatically simple and profound: to consider the advancement of communication (comm) technology in the last hundred years and it’s effect upon us. The Tangent visits early significance with the [...]

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The Galactic Cowboy Orchestra’s All Out of Peaches is a delightful twist on prog rock fusion

7 September 2011 American Culture

Defining The Galactic Cowboy Orchestra sound may prove problematic for some. Calling them progressive rock would be too general, but also too restrictive. You will hear elements of classical, rock, jazz, pop and even variations of country music in their compositions. Working with guitar, violin (fiddle), bass and drums, an amalgamation or fusion of things [...]

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41Point9 offers floating feline theory and some great melodic prog rock on Still Looking for the Answers

9 August 2011 American Culture

41Point9 are three clever fellows attempting to discover the meaning of life by proving, if you tie a piece of buttered toast, which always hits the floor butter side down, to the back of cat, which always lands on all four, the feline will float through the air. They also make progressive rock. 41Point9 is [...]

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New progressive modern hard rock from Brazil’s Mindflow’s latest work ‘With Bare Hands’

30 June 2011 American Culture

Recently signed to Nightmare Records for a North American push and distribution is Mindflow’s fourth album With Bare Hands. Mindflow hails from Brazil, but don’t expect the thrash/death/groove metal of Sepultura or the progressive/power of Angra. Rather, Mindflow takes on more modern hard rock tendencies, sometimes nearing metal or invoking hardcore.

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