by Kev Rowland | Aug 19, 2018 | Reviews
Some fifteen years on from their debut, and the 2014 version of Millenium still featured four of the five musicians who had played on ‘Vocanda’. Of all the wonderful progressive bands I have heard from Poland, it is with this one I feel the most affinity, as they have consistently released great albums throughout their career, and this shows no sign at all of that changing. As with their previous album, they brought in some guests on vocals and additional instruments (interestingly both Darek Rybka ( saxophone) and Grzegorz Bauer (drums) joined as full members in 2017), to add additional polish and effect. The use of saxophone in modern progressive music still feels fresh, and that is again very much the case here.
This neo-prog outfit takes cues from the likes of Pink Floyd, but IQ is obviously also very much an influence, and there is always a firm concentration on songs and melodies. Singer Łukasz Gall has a wonderful voice and is always kept to the forefront of the sound, and the female backing singers add a touch of finesse, with “Girl From A Glass Sphere” in particular managing to be beautiful, modern and timeless all at once. The last song on the album, “In The World Of Fantasy” is also one of the longest in their canon, stretching in at twelve minutes. It tells the story of a composer obsessed with the desire to write the perfect tune and ready to sign a pact with the devil to achieve this goal. The band see this as a tribute to Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Handel and Wagner and also to “legendary art-rock bands and timeless compositions such as Genesis, “Supper’s ready”, Pink Floyd “Echoes”, Yes “Close to the edge”, The Alan Parsons Project “The turn of a friendly card” or Marillion “Grendel”.”
This digipak is a fine addition to any prog lover’s collection, and I feel so fortunate that I have been able to hear so much of their work. This is the ninth album of theirs that I own, and is either their 10thor 11thstudio release (depending as to whether you consider the debut Millenium album to actually be the second Framauro album or not), and all of them are very high quality indeed. Truly one of the great Polish progressive bands.
8/10 – Kev Rowland
by Kev Rowland | Aug 19, 2018 | Reviews
‘Origins’ is a collection consisting of compositions and recordings from keyboard player Lisa LaRue from as long ago as 1992, up to 2016. stemming from 1992 through 2016. It is incredibly varied, as it includes pieces such as a spoken word/keyboard collaboration with Gilli Smyth of Gong, some she composed and recorded for modern ballet, selections with John Payne (Asia Featuring John Payne, GPS, Dukes of the Orient), Michael Sadler (Saga), Ryo Okumoto (Spock’s Beard), a collaboration with Italian composer/keyboardist Federico Fantacone, and solo pieces. Other musicians involved include Mitch Perry (Talas, Aerosmith), Don Schiff (Rocket Scientists, Kracked Earth), John Baker (Forever Twelve, Mars Hollow) as well as Steve Adams, Brenda K, Michael Wheeler, Merrill Hale, Svetlan Raket (Par Lindh Project), John “Yafke” Timothy, Michael Alvarez.
It is a wonderful collection of work, containing so many styles that one never knows what is going to happen next. “256 Leagues Above New Orleans” combines jazz-style electric piano with shimmering synths and wonderful flute to bring together thoughts (at least in my mind) of Native Americans riding over the plains, and then there are others where Steve Adams provides incredibly fluid electric guitar, while it is always a pleasure to hear Don Schiff in the mix. There is so much going on that the album could have become disjointed, spread over two discs it is nearly two hours in length, yet there is always the desire to know what ideas are going to come through next, how it is going to come together.
LaRue isn’t a flashy “look at me” extravagant player in the realm of Wakeman or Emerson, but instead has a strong understanding of arrangements and what is needed where. There are a few numbers that drift into delicate New Age territory, but there are many others which are far harder, with real presence. The album ebbs and flows, and the result is that listeners such as myself, who haven’t previously heard much from LaRue, will feel inspired to search out more of her back catalog Now that she is with MRR, I am sure we will all be hearing quite a bit more of her activities, and I for one am very pleased about that.
8/10 – Kev Rowland
by Kev Rowland | Aug 19, 2018 | Reviews
Well, the artwork is interesting, but after that, it all goes a little awry. Italian band Kormak is a new folk metal act, led by singer Zaira de Candia, and one has to wonder who was in charge of quality control. Zaira has obviously been professionally trained, but there are far too many times when she goes off key. Now, this may be just about acceptable at a gig (although not really to be honest), but in a studio recording, there is really no excuse. When she tries to sing rough and gruff then it doesn’t carry enough weight or power, while musically the band doesn’t seem to be too convinced if they are a folk band or a power metal band and consequently make a mess of all of it.
But, and it is a fairly small “but”, there is the impression that there is a band with some good ideas that just need to be properly pushed into shape. There are bits and pieces here and there that really are good, and it is often when they are playing acoustically that they shine. What both this album and band need are a strong editor, a producer who can point them in the right direction, but until that happens I can’t see myself returning to this very often, if at all.
5/10 Kev Rowland
by Kev Rowland | Aug 19, 2018 | Reviews
Although in many ways Heartwind is a project, it is also the story of two old friends, with a common love for classical melodic hard rock and AOR, that after fifteen years of friendship started to write the album they always had wanted to listen to themselves. Over a meal one night in Stockholm, guitar player and songwriter Goran Engvall (former with Hitworks) and progressive/melodic keyboard player and fellow songwriter Mikael Rosengren (Constancia, Token, Scudiero), discussed what they wanted to do together. A year later, with songs written, it was time for the band to be put together and they knew that they wanted to get the mix of people right, so started asking other friends. Drummer Peter TrumPeter Svensson (Constancia, Faith) and singer Germán Pascual (Narnia, Dj Mendez, Essence of Sorrow) were first onboard, and then Germán invited his old friends, and former bandmates, guitarist Martin Hall (Germán Pascual band) and bass wizard Germain Leth (The Poodles, Watchmen) to join and they were nearly ready to go. The final element came into play when Fredrik Folkare (Unleashed, Firespawn, Eclipse, Scudiero a.o.), agreed to produce and mix the album (as well as also providing guitar and bass).
They state that their inspirations are ‘Hysteria’ (Def Leppard), ‘1987’ (Whitesnake) and ‘Escape’ (Journey), and once the listener knows that they can sit back, nod their head happily and agree that it all makes sense. This hits everything that I personally want from a melodic hard rock album with great musicianship, strong vocals, hooks, variety and a real sense of fun throughout. This is the type of album that can be put on at the beginning of the day and just set on repeat: by the end of the day, you’ll be singing along to each and every song. With this album, Heartwind have made a real statement in the scene, and one they need to get out there and prove that they are more than just a studio effort. I look forward to the next album very much indeed. If you are a fan of the genre, you need to hear this.
8/10 Kev Rowland
by Kev Rowland | Aug 19, 2018 | Reviews
L.A. Guns were originally formed by guitarist Tracii Guns in 1983, and soon after he had a singer in the band called Axl who went on to form Hollywood Rose. Eventually, a new band was formed from both, and given a name combining words from both, and the rest, as they say, is history. Except the two main protagonists had a falling out and by the end of 1985 Tracii was back with his own band. By the time the debut album was recorded they had a new singer onboard, Phil Lewis, who had previously been in Girl with Phil Collen. Although there have been quite a few musicians in the band over the years, it has always been these two who have been deemed to be the most important, and strangely enough, there was quite a lengthy period of time when both Phil and Tracii were touring with different bands, both under the L.A. Guns moniker. But, in 2016 they finally got back together, and this is a live recording (and DVD) taken from the tour to promote the reunion album ‘The Missing Peace’.
Phil has never been the best singer in the world, but there is something about his voice that totally suits rock music in a similar way to Steve Tyler while Tracii is also not the best guitarist in the world, but he does know how to write hooks and create solid melodic hard rock. I could do without the bow solo at the beginning of “Over The Edge” (only one guitarist in the world is allowed to do that, James Patrick) but apart from that, this is a solid workout through material both old and new. The crowd enjoys the singalong of “The Ballad of Jayne”, probably their biggest hit single, which shows that they had a lot of fans in the audience. Overall, this is an album that fans of the band will have to get, and fans of bands such as Guns ‘n’ Roses and Dokken will say that it is okay, but probably not much more than that. But after 35 years the band are still going, so all credit to them for that.
7/10 – Kev Rowland
