MILKY WAY GAS STATION – SOMEWHERE/ANYWHERE – INDEPENDENT
Call me an old proghead if you like, but any album which starts with a Hammond organ firing up is going to have me engaged from the first note to the very last. Songwriter and singer Rob Ijpelaan (who also provides acoustic and electric guitars, bass, and additional...
Voyager IV – Pictures at an Exhibition – Melodic Revolution Records
I can’t believe there are any progheads out there who don’t have at least one copy of the ELP album in their collection, and if they are anything like me then they probably have it on vinyl, a couple of different CD releases as well as the accompanying DVD. But of...
MICHAEL GREGORY JACKSON CLARITY QUARTET – WHENUFINDITUWILLKNOW – GOLDEN
To say that Michael Gregory Jackson is a well-known guitarist who has influenced many others is something of an understatement. Pat Metheny said, *"I have always considered him to be one of the most significantly original guitarists of our generation," while another...
LOST WORLD BAND – SPHERES ALIGNED – SAMUM PUBLISHING
It has been many years since I came across Lost World Band and their debut album ’Trajectories’. The three founder members all met at the Moscow Conservatory, and Andrey Didorenko (guitars, violins, vocals) and Vassily Soloviev (flute) are still there while original...
THE LAST DETAIL – AT LAST… THE TALE AND OTHER STORIES – FREIA
The Last Detail were a band I had heard of, but never come across before this. Some of the members of the band had been in Ywis, whose album was later reissued in the Nineties, and then after this some of them formed Timelock before Ywis became active again following...
POÇOS & NUVENS – ANO VELOZ OUTONO ADENTRO – PROGSHINE
Originally released in 1998, this Brazilian album has just been made available for download by Progshine Records. Featuring Gérson Werlang (lead vocals, electric guitar, acoustic and classical guitar, mandolin, percussion), Edgar Sleifer (lead vocals, flute, cromorne,...
RAFAEL ST CRUZ – SYNCHRONICITY – PROGSHINE RECORDS
Apparently Brazilian guitarist Rafael St Cruz grew up listening to Wishbone Ash and Beatles, before going on to discover Rush and Iron Maiden. He started releasing EP’s in 2012, acting as a multi-instrumentalist with a guitar basis to most of his work, bringing in a...
SHUMAUN – ONE DAY CLOSER TO YESTERDAY – INDEPENDENT
Shumaun initially started as a solo project by Farhad Hossain (vocals, guitars, keyboards). After recording a few demos, he decided to recruit a few friends to help build the project into a full-fledged collaborative band.They have had one or two line-up challenges,...
WITHIN TEMPTATION – RESIST – SPINEFARM RECORDS
I have been a fan of this Dutch outfit for some fifteen years, since the release of their third album ‘The Silent Force’, so when I realised they were back with their seventh (it has been way too long since ‘Hydra’) I was incredibly excited as I have always loved the...
ATARAXIA – SYNCHRONICITY EMBRACED – SLEASZY RIDER RECORDS
‘Synchronicity Embraced’ is the 26thalbum by the Italian band, and their second for Sleazsy Rider following on from 2016’s “Deep Blue Firmament’. The band themselves are the same quartet who have now been together since drummer Riccardo Spaggiari joined in 2003, but...
