Following the release of their acclaimed new studio album “PANTHER”, Sweden’s progressive Metal innovators Pain of Salvation are announcing a special re-issue edition for their “The Perfect Element, Pt. I” album from 2000. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the band’s third album, the re-issue version is entitled “The Perfect Element, Pt. I (Anniversary Mix 2020)” and will be released on November 20th, 2020 via InsideOutMusic.
Following on from the widely praised remix of the classic Pain of Salvationalbum “Remedy Lane” in 2016, “The Perfect Element, Pt. I (Anniversary Mix 2020)” comes completely remixed by Pontus Lindmark as well as mastered by Thor Legvold / Sonovo. The release, which features slightly revised artwork as well as new liner-notes, will be available as limited 2CD Digipak and Digital Album (with a total of 8 bonus tracks) as well as in the Gatefold 2LP format on 180g. vinyl with the entire remixed album as bonus CD.
Pain of Salvation – “The Perfect Element, Pt. I (Anniversary Mix 2020)” 2CD tracklisting:
Main CD (76:23): 1. Used (Anniversary Mix 2020) (05:23) 2. In the Flesh (Anniversary Mix 2020) (08:39) 3. Ashes (Anniversary Mix 2020) (04:27) 4. Morning on Earth (Anniversary Mix 2020) (04:35) 5. Idioglossia (Anniversary Mix 2020) (08:30) 6. Her Voices (Anniversary Mix 2020) (07:56) 7. Dedication (Anniversary Mix 2020) (04:02) 8. King of Loss (Anniversary Mix 2020) (09:51) 9. Reconciliation (Anniversary Mix 2020) (04:30) 10. Song for the Innocent (Anniversary Mix 2020) (03:03) 11. Falling (Anniversary Mix 2020) (01:53) 12. The Perfect Element (Anniversary Mix 2020) (10:13) 13. Epilogue (Anniversary Mix 2020) (03:14) * Bonus Track
Bonus CD (31:00): 1. Used (Live 2018) (05:54) 2. Ashes (Live 2017) (05:48) 3. Falling (Live 2018) (02:30) 4. The Perfect Element (Live 2018) (10:10) 5. Her Voices (and only that) (01:21) 6. Absolute Kromata (00:31) 7. Ashes [your language here] (04:42)
Pain of Salvation – “The Perfect Element, Pt. I (Anniversary Mix 2020)” 2LP tracklisting:
Side A: 1. Used (Anniversary Mix 2020) (05:23) 2. In the Flesh (Anniversary Mix 2020) (08:39) 3. Ashes (Anniversary Mix 2020) (04:27) 4. Morning on Earth (Anniversary Mix 2020) (04:35) Side B: 1. Idioglossia (Anniversary Mix 2020) (08:30) 2. Her Voices (Anniversary Mix 2020) (07:56)
Side C: 1. Dedication (Anniversary Mix 2020) (04:02) 2. King of Loss (Anniversary Mix 2020) (09:51)
Side D: 1. Reconciliation (Anniversary Mix 2020) (04:30) 2. Song for the Innocent (Anniversary Mix 2020) (03:03) 3. Falling (Anniversary Mix 2020) (01:53) 4. The Perfect Element (Anniversary Mix 2020) (10:13) 5. Epilogue (Anniversary Mix 2020) (03:14) * Bonus Track
Note: The Gatefold 2LP comes with the entire remixed album (13 songs / 76 minutes) as bonus CD. Next to the unlimited 2LP black vinyl version, “The Perfect Element, Pt. I (Anniversary Mix 2020)” is also available in the following limited coloured vinyl options:
In other news, Pain of Salvation’s freshly released new studio album “PANTHER” managed to enter various international sales charts including the following: Germany # 19, Switzerland # 18, Austria # 43, Belgium (Wallonia) # 42, France # 125, UK Rock Album Chart # 12 as well as # 21 in the “Current Hard Music Albums” chart in the USA.
Next to the standard CD and the Digital Album formats, ”PANTHER” is also available as limited 2CD Mediabook (Including expanded artwork and the following 4 bonus tracks on a separate disc (15:41): “PANTHER (demo)” (04:09), “KEEN TO A FAULT (demo)” (05:31), “FIFI GRUFFI” (03:32) and “UNFOREVER” (02:27)) and as 180g. Gatefold 2LP (Including the 4 bonus tracks on Side D and album on CD as bonus).
Pain of Salvation line-up: Daniel Gildenlöw – lead vocals and lots of stuff Johan Hallgren – guitar and vocals Léo Margarit – drums and vocals Daniel Karlsson – keyboards, guitars and vocals
Pain of Salvation discography: Entropia –1997 One Hour by the Concrete Lake – 1998 The Perfect Element, Part I – 2000 Remedy Lane – 2002 12:5 – 2004 BE – 2004 BE DVD – 2005 Scarsick – 2007 Ending Themes DVD – 2009 Linoleum EP – 2009 Road Salt One – 2010 Road Salt Two – 2011 Falling Home – 2014 Remedy Lane Re:visited (Re:mixed & Re:lived) – 2016 In the Passing Light of Day – 2017 PANTHER – 2020
Following his critically-acclaimed album of collaborations, White Knight, released in 2017 on Cleopatra Records, rock legend Todd Rundgren is releasing a new single “Espionage” from his forthcoming album Space Force. In contrast to its futuristic title, Rundgren returns to the days of yesteryear when artists would release several singles first before releasing an “album,” or collection of singles. Thus, Space Force will be released to digital platforms as individual singles, each with its own unique artwork, every 3 or 4 weeks with the entire album coming in early 2021.
First up is a song as adventurous as Space Force suggests, the ambitious collaboration “Espionage” with Muslim hip hop artist Narcy.
“The song is actually an orphan of White Knight. Narcy and I began the colab in the final days of that album and we couldn’t get it finished in time, so in a sense it’s the first song of Space Force.” – Todd Rundgren
Keep an eye out for more Space Force singles including collaborations with Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo and idiosyncratic pop stars Sparks as well as a video for “Espionage.”
In other news, now that the convention has wrapped, Todd’s new re-record of his 1973 anthem “Just One Victory” has been provided to the Democratic National Committee for gratis use by all candidates running for public office this fall, from top of ballot down to dogcatcher .
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Rundgren began playing guitar as a teenager, going on to found and front Nazz, the quintessential 60’s psychedelic group. In 1969, he left the band to pursue a solo career, recording his debut offering, Runt. But it was 1972’s seminal Something/Anything?, on which he played all the instruments, sang all the vocal parts, and acted as his own producer, that catapulted Todd into the superstar limelight, prompting the press to unanimously dub him “Rock’s New Wunderkind.” It was followed by such landmark LPs as The Hermit of Mink Hollow and A Wizard, A True Star; evergreen hit singles include “I Saw The Light,” “Hello It’s Me,” “Can We Still Be Friends,” and “Bang The Drum.”
Swedish multi-instrumentalist Rikard Sjöblom has released his new album under the Gungfly moniker, ‘Alone Together’, today. It follows an extremely productive past few years, whether it be working with English progressive rockers Big Big Train, or taking the lead with Gungfly.
Rikard has also announced that on September 11th, he will perform a live-streamed release concert from his home town of Gävle. He will be joined by Petter Diamant on drums, Robert Hansen on bass and Martin Borgh on keyboards. Find all the details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/319588349115139/
Rikard comments: ”I’m really happy that we were asked by Gävle Konserthus to do a streamed concert in front of a studio audience to celebrate the release of Alone Together. We’re gonna play some songs from the album mixed with a couple of Gungfly classics and also do an interview about the release!”
Rikard comments: “I started writing these songs about a year ago but then it took some time to get started with the production because I had two tours lined up, one with Big Big Train in November and then opening solo for The Flower Kings on their European tour in December. After that my focus shifted back to Gungfly and it felt really nice so it all came together pretty fast!”
‘Alone Together’ saw Gungfly recording as a trio, with brothers and previous collaborators Petter and Rasmus Diamant on drums and bass respectively. “It was a lot of fun playing both keyboards and guitar because I had come up with a lot of nice parts but I knew early on that I wanted to make the album with the brothers on drums and bass – luckily they were very up for it!” This ‘power-trio’ have focussed on the rock this time, and you can hear that loud and clear: “I didn’t want to smother the production with layers upon layers of keyboards and bells and whistles but instead tried to keep it prog rock with the focus on ROCK. I wanted every instrument to mean something in the mix.” This is evident on tracks like ‘Happy Somewhere In Between’ and the 13-minute epic ‘Traveler’, where Gungfly have never hit harder.
The album cover features a painting by American artist Kevin Sloan (The Flower Kings). Rikard comments of the piece: “I had just written lyrics for the song ‘From Afar’ and was looking at Kevin’s paintings when I came across this one and I couldn’t believe the connection, particularly the lyric “A million eyes watching glimpses of each other’s lives””.
The full track-listing for the album is as follows:1.Traveler 2.Happy Somewhere In Between 3.Clean as a Whistle 4.Alone Together 5.From Afar 6.On The Shoulders Of Giants 7.Grove Thoughts (Bonus Track) 8.Shoulder Variations (Bonus Track)
The bandwill come to the UK for 3 select live dates in October 2021. The band will play London & Manchester, co-headlining alongside the Robin Armstrong-led Cosmograf, before continuing on to Summer’s End Festival. The dates are as follows and are on sale now: Friday 1st October – Dingwalls, London Saturday 2nd October – Academy 3, Manchester Sunday 3rd October – Summer’s End Festival, Chepstow
Rikard Sjöblom is perhaps best known as the multi-instrumentalist frontman of Beardfish, who established themselves as one of the most consistently brilliant modern-day progressive rock bands over the course of eight studio albums. In recent years, he has also become known for his work with English progressive collective Big Big Train, playing live with them as well as performing on their recent studio albums.
After almost two years of search, the Chilean rock group Aisles welcome their new singer, Israel Gil, with the re-recording of the song “Smile of Tears”. The track, taken from the album “In Sudden Walks” (2009), has a strong electronic influence from Depeche Mode’s eighties era, brought to the 21st century. “This song affects me a lot because when we recorded it, social distancing and the pandemic were starting in Chile –says Israel- the title makes a lot of sense to me, because in these lockdown days, with video calls and contact through social media, you pretend on camera that you are happy, but you are suffering on the inside”. Germán Vergara, Aisles’ guitarist and producer, points out that they chose this song because “we have rarely played it live and we thought that this was a good opportunity to bring it back and to introduce Israel to our audience”. Israel is replacing longtime vocalist and founding member Sebastián Vergara, who stepped down as frontman of Aisles in October, 2018.
Israel, a classical trained musician and student of Music Theory at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, was discovered through the social network Vampr, an app that connects musicians from all over the world who share interests. German explains, “we liked his voice because it is honest and clear, it is very special”. Israel adds: “I saw this band in the app, German sent me a message because he liked a video I posted, and after that first contact I had a revelatory moment: singing would become my priority. I had never bet this much in my life”.
After an intense audition process, where the musician had to learn old and new songs of the band, Israel was chosen because of his motivation, his discipline, his attention to detail and his friendliness. “We feel that he has been part of the band for years –says German- even though we have really shared just a few months. There has been a lot of chemistry, a lot of conversation. We need to work with someone that makes you feel comfortable, because the creative process is too intimate”. Israel adds: “After the audition process, I realized this is the path I want to follow, I want to see how this mechanism works. In this band, there’s a constant search and there are also different opinions, which makes it complex and also extremely motivating”.
Aisles, formed also by Rodrigo Sepúlveda (guitar), Felipe Candia (drums), Juan Pablo Gaete (keyboards, synth) and Daniel Concha (bass), are working on their fifth studio album, which will be released by June, 2021. “Most of the music is already recorded, we only need to record the voice and we hope to start showing new material starting on January”, says German. This album leaves behind the sound and visual complexity of “Hawaii” (2016), keeping the melancholy and instrumental passages that have defined Aisles throughout their career, adding influences as Porcupine Tree and Animals as Leaders.
Based in Santiago, Chile, and having released four highly acclaimed studio albums, Aisles have become South America’s most important progressive band of the past two decades.
The group has toured the Americas, Europe, and done extensive touring cycles in Chile, opening for household names such as Marillion and Focus.
Their latest studio album, ‘Hawaii’ (2016), was called a “masterpiece” and chosen among the best albums of the year by media outlets such as Prog (England), Neoprog (France), Raw Ramp (England) and Chile’s premiere rock magazine, Rockaxis.
After parting ways with long-time vocalist and founding member Sebastián Vergara in late 2018, Aisles has found a new singer and are starting anew with a different line-up and a new sound. The band will start releasing new music in September 2020, leading up to their fifth studio album, to be released in the second semester of 2021.
Check our live from home video if you want to see Israel in action
For the time being, “Smile of Tears” is only a digital release. But don’t get discouraged, we might release it on a special limited edition in the forthcoming months. You can download it on Bandcamp, and stream it on Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Deezer, and more.
Aisles are:
Israel Gil: lead singer Germán Vergara: guitar Rodrigo Sepúlveda: guitar Daniel Concha: bass Juan Pablo Gaete: piano, keyboards Felipe Candia: drums, percussion
Follow us on our social media to stay current with all of our news. We will be doing more “Live from home” videos and letting you know about our new releases.
In support of the band’s recent live CD/DVD/Blu-ray release “CircuLive::NewView” modern prog band Circuline are announcing their 15-date New View virtual tour beginning September 9, 2020!
Premiering exclusively on Facebook, every one of these 15 dates has three segments: the Official Video, followed by a new clip from the “CircuLive::NewView” DVD/Blu-ray, followed by a Facebook Live “Story Behind the Song and Video” Q&A session. The band will talk about the writing of the songs, the making of the videos, answer questions from the Facebook Chat feed, and most likely make fun of themselves during the conversation. It’s going to be a lot of fun, and we hope you join us!
Says keyboardist Andrew Colyer, “The Concept behind this 15-date Virtual Tour is to get to know new and familiar fans in the best way that we can, given the world situation right now, and for them to get to know us better. Since you can’t go to the concert, we’re bringing the concert and ‘Meet-and-Greet’ VIP experience home to you! This is the best way we could think of to support the new live CD/DVD/Blu-ray ‘CircuLive::NewView’. We’re releasing five new Official Videos (including one from the new CD/DVD/Blu-ray concert), and it’s a review of our previous ten Official Videos, many of which our newer fans may not have seen. For the past five years, we’ve had worldwide sales in 18 countries on six continents. Most of these fans have never had an opportunity to see us perform live. This Virtual Tour will show the history of the band past and present, allow us to reach people at home, and communicate one-on-one in a way that we probably couldn’t do on tour.”
Drummer Darin Brannon explains, “What we found out after the ProgStock performance is that all the comments about the show included the words ‘fun’ and ‘entertaining’. So with that, we were successful. It’s one thing to deliver stellar performances, but adding an element of fun can help some members of the audience enjoy the show and maybe become a fan. The Virtual Tour is something that we have been wanting to do for some time now. It’s another way for a listener to be introduced to the band or get to know us a bit better. Just with any band that has gone through writing, recording and touring, each of us has grown, which makes the band grow.”
What’s great about being able to do a “Virtual Tour” is that the listener can enjoy getting to know the band and each of the members more. Plus Circuline hope if they like the newest release “Circulive::NewView” they might be enticed to look back into the band’s history and want to explore previous releases.
The NewView Virtual Tour runs from September 9th through October 10th. You have until midnight on Thursday, October 8th to get your Exclusive Pre-Order Bundle over at www.CircuLiveNewView.com, since the release date for “CircuLive::NewView” is Friday, October 9th. Later this fall, the band will be releasing a “Meet the Band” video series, a “Story Behind the Song” video series, and a “Story Behind the Album” video series. They’ve currently started working on their third studio album, with a forthcoming “Making of” video series while they’re doing it. The third studio album is scheduled realistically for a Fall 2021 or Spring 2022 release, with accompanying new music videos before, and live gigs afterwards.
Circuline Andrew Colyer – Keyboards, Vocals, Percussion Darin Brannon – Drums, Keyboards, Percussion Natalie Brown – Vocals, Percussion William “Billy” Spillane – Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Percussion Alek Darson – Lead Guitar, Percussion Joel Simches – Bass Guitar, Bass Pedals, Drums
What do you get when you take two theatrical lead vocalists, a keyboard player from Juilliard, a versatile rock virtuoso on guitar, a zany bass player from another galaxy, and a drummer with progressive rock in his DNA? The modern cinematic rock band Circuline. Nominated for PROG Magazine’s 2016 Limelight award for best new band, Circuline has toured with Glass Hammer, repeatedly co-headlined the three-day Sonic Voyage Festival, and toured England in summer 2017 opening for IO Earth. Circuline has performed at RoSfest, Philadelphia’s Liberty Music Fest, Chicago’s Progtoberfest, and England’s Harmonix Festival.
“CircuLive::NewView” captures the band at ProgStock in an all-newly crafted show that will please any rock fan. In addition to soaring vocals, keyboard wizardry, powerhouse drumming, and virtuoso guitar and bass playing, you will smile and enjoy the “keyboard challenge”, “drum feature”, and other fun and entertaining moments. The album was recorded at the Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway, New Jersey and was Mixed and Mastered by Alek Darson in Toronto, Canada.
“CircuLive::NewView” will be released on Inner Nova Music on October 9th, 2020.
On October 30th, 2020 progressive rockers THE FLOWER KINGS will release their new double album “Islands” on InsideOutMusic, just a year after the group’s much celebrated “Waiting For Miracles”.
Due to the Covid-19-pandemic, the album comes out quite a bit sooner than originally planned as the band’s creative mastermind Roine Stolt explains: “All shows and festivals were cancelled and the future didn’t really ‘unfold’ itself like we had hoped. To sit out the pandemic with no activities was not an option for us! We can’t be stopped by an evil virus! So, with members living in the USA, Italy, Austria and Sweden, the only way to realize this album, was to use the magic of the ‘net’, sending files around the globe and start building what now has become a mammoth-sized double album of 21 songs.”
The 92 minutes long “Islands” features artwork by legend Roger Dean (Yes, Asia, Gentle Giant, Greenslade, Uriah Heep) and all trademark sounds and melodies, the band is renowned for. From vintage keys to epic guitar solos, from odd drum patterns to symphonic elements, THE FLOWER KINGS present a dynamic and complex record that is bold, bombastic and beautiful.
Stolt reveals the following about the concept of the record: “The theme of the album is isolation – so the title ‘Islands’ felt like a most relevant title – as much of it circulates around isolation, loss, and the fear of being disconnected. Having to face this unexpected pandemic will leave marks on each one of us for a very long time and to lose loved ones forces us to soldier on, learning and growing a stronger version of ourselves in this fragile cycle of life.
Musically; the aim has been to create a bigger grand epic piece out of 21 songs – so they are all connected with themes that weave in and out – like the way ‘Sgt Peppers’ or ‘The Lamb’ were built on shorter songs, but yet linked. So view it as one mega song or as 21 separate pieces, it is all tailored to be listened to as one piece – like a cinematic 90min long ride.”
Disc One (49:40) 1 – Racing With Blinders On 4:24 2 – From The Ground 4.02 3 – Black Swan 5:53 4 – Morning News 4:01 5 – Broken 6:38 6 – Goodbye Outrage 2:19 7 – Journeyman 1:43 8 – Tangerine 3:51 9 – Solaris 9:10 10 – Heart Of The Valley 4:18 11- Man In A Two Peace Suit 3:21
Disc Two (43:01) 1 – All I Need Is Love 5:48 2 – A New Species 5:45 3 – Northern Lights 5:43 4 – Hidden Angles 0:50 5 – Serpentine 3:52 6 – Looking For Answers 4:30 7 –Telescope 4:41 8 – Fool’s Gold 3:11 9 – Between Hope & Fear 4:29 10 – Islands 4:12
“Islands” will be available as massive Limited 3LP & 2CD box set with slipcase and 180 gram vinyl housed in two gatefolds, one single sleeve; as Limited Edition 2CD Digipak and Digital Album. Presales will start September 11th, 2020.
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