I’ve been a rock and metal fan for years, starting somewhere in my teens, so the early 1980s. Over time, I went from being a NWOBHM fan, to more progressive rock and metal, like Rush, Marillion, and then Dream Theater, Shadow Gallery and Ayreon. After a hiatus of 10 years (listening mainly to mainstream radio), I rediscovered progressive music around 2006, when I joined ProgArchives – where I became an admin a year after.

On ProgArchives, I learned two things. First I discovered a lot more bands from the 70s that I had heard of but never sampled (Gong, Caravan, Van Der Graaf Generator, Gentle Giant, early Genesis even). Then I set up some activities to support what we called ‘unsigned bands’ – a forum section and a MySpace page. Through that, I got to know (and introduce) a hoard of new, young bands that played great music. Due to a busy work life, I had to let go of this, reluctantly. However, in a period of my life where I’m finding a new balance, I picked up on reviewing albums again – and supporting new and lesser know acts by publishing reviews on their albums and sharing news about them on social media. This way, I got in touch with Corvus Stone, Progeland, Murky Red, Unreal City, Fractal Mirror, Silhouette, This Raging Silence, Elephants of Scotland and many more – in only a six month period.

Inspired by this, and encouraged by graphic artist Sonia Mota of Corvus Stone (who created the beautiful logo for my site and t-shirts as well), I initiated what I call Angelo’s Rock Orphanage – a place where the new, and unknown bands operating in the shadows get more attention. I have no idea where it will go, and how it will grow, but I’ll be around for a while now – music has once again become an important part of my life. 

I’ll be posting small updates here every now and then – while checking the news on all artists who are members here. The main posts and reviews however will be published on my own site:

http://www.hulshout.nl/rfm – also accessible through http://www.angelosrockorphanage.com

See you there!!!