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review

High Spirits ‘Another Night’ is classic American melodic hard rock

14 November 2011 Entertainment

At first listen, Chicago’s High Spirits’ second long-player Another Night seemed both anomalous and typical of melodic hard rock. With a strong and speedy pace and an super abundance of twin guitar solos the songs smack of early NWOBHM. Yet these are surrounded by equally harmonious and melodic chord vocal arrangements, nearly taking the edge [...]

A Moment in Chiros: Lance King’s solo debut a tour de force of melodic progressive power metal

30 October 2011 American Culture

Okay, so here’s the short review: Buy this album. If you dig well-composed and entertaining melodic progressive power metal with powerful and versatile vocals, then Lance King’s first solo project, A Moment in Chiros is simply primo material. So head on over to Nightmare Records and order the album; otherwise read on if you want [...]

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 [...]

A Dramatic Turn of Events is classic Dream Theater, so forget the controversy of Portnoy leaving the band

11 September 2011 American Culture

One would think that the hype of drummer Mike Portnoy leaving Dream Theater would have subsided by now. But on the eve of the release of their eleventh album, A Dramatic Turn of Events, remaining members are still taking swipes at him. It’s a shame really as the title of this album declares this simple [...]

DC4 offers great American hard rock on Electric Ministry

29 August 2011 American Culture

DC4 resurrects and reinvigorates their roots by preaching the gospel of hard rock on their third release Electric Ministry. Wanting to get the Nineties out their system, DC4 chose to focus on guitar rock, add some serious metal attitude, and essentially turn the knobs to eleven. (You may not have heard of DC4, so here’s [...]

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 [...]

Power Quest’s Blood Alliance: excellent and entertaining melodic heavy/power metal from the UK

11 March 2011 Entertainment

After another three year recording absence, Power Quest return with Blood Alliance and, excepting founding member Steve Williams, a whole new crew for this album. Perhaps the most notable new addition is that of journeyman vocalist Chitral “Chity” Somapala (Firewind, Civilization One, Red Circuit, et al). While Power Quest has never lacked for promise or [...]

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Terrific, unconventional and entertaining prog rock: Tetrafusion’s Altered State

4 October 2010 American Culture

Louisiana-based Tetrafusion scored big with their self-released debut Absolute Zero, a satisfying work of instrumental progressive metal. Prog critics and fans were uniformly impressed by this young musical depth and maturity. The praise was well deserved. Now signed to Nightmare Records, Tetrafusion returns with Altered State, and things are about to get interesting. Without adding [...]

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