The Affinity Oeuvre is the 4th Aethellis release and features a collection of instrumentals and songs with lyrics that reflect the challenges people have faced in the past few years. The music styles are eclectic as well, ranging from prog-rock to new wave to pop to jazz fusion; the diversity being representative of the diverse situations people have experienced recently. The latest Aethellis release differs from the previous three as the spotlight is on guitarist/vocalist Mark Van Natta, both compositionally and vocally. Ellsworth Hall and Erik Marks still contributed to the album, however, adding their signature composition styles.
Tracklist 1. Anandia 12:36 2. Affinifunk 03:26 3. Pathdancer 05:28 4. Dreams On Pause 03:40 5. Do Like I Do 03:15 6. Chicago News 03:35 7. Another Car 04:23 8. Let Me Be Me 03:33 9. The Stennis Compromise 02:09 10. Why Do You Keep Fighting 05:03 11. RIP 04:32
Aethellis is:
Ellsworth Hall – Keyboards, Vocals, Guitar, Drum Controller Mark Van Natta – Guitar, Vocals, Bass, Keyboard Erik Marks – Bass
Recorded, mixed, and mastered at Ellstudio, Timonium MD, USA Portions recorded at the Van Natta home studio, Cockeysville MD, USA
16th November 2023: Legendary rock guitarist Steve Hackett will release his new studio album The Circus And The Nightwhale on 16th February 2024, via InsideOut Music. A rite-of-passage concept album with a young character called Travla at the center of it, The Circus And The Nightwhales 13 tracks have an autobiographical angle for the musician who says about his 30th solo release: I love this album. It says the things I’ve been wanting to say for a very long time.
The Circus And The Nightwhale is Steve’s first new music in over two years. It follows the beautiful acoustic LP Under A Mediterranean Sky from January 2021 which rose to No. 2 in the UK Classical chart and, in September of that year, his metallic masterpiece Surrender Of Silence, which hit the UK Top 40. His 2023 live album, Foxtrot At Fifty + Hackett Highlights: Live in Brighton, reached No. 2 on the Rock & Metal Chart. Steves’s new LP promises ballads, blues, blistering progressive rock… and healthy measures of theatre and fantasia.
Recorded between tours in 2022 and 2023 at Siren studio in the UK with guest parts beamed in from Sweden, Austria, the US, Azerbaijan, and Denmark, the line-up for The Circus And The Nightwhale includes some familiar faces alongside Steve on electric and acoustic guitars, 12-string, mandolin, harmonica, percussion, bass, and vocals. Roger King (keyboards, programming, and orchestral arrangements), Rob Townsend (sax), Jonas Reingold (bass), Nad Sylvan (vocals), Craig Blundell (drums), and Amanda Lehmann on vocals. Nick D’Virgilio and Hugo Degenhardt return as guests on the drum stool, engineer extraordinaire Benedict Fenner appears on keyboards and Malik Mansurov is back with the tar. Finally, Steve’s brother John Hackett is present once more on flute.
The new album will be available to pre-order from the 1st December 2023 on several different formats, including a Limited CD+Blu-ray media book (including 5.1 Surround Sound & 24bit high-resolution stereo mixes), Standard CD Jewelcase, Gatefold 180g Vinyl LP & as Digital Album. All feature the stunning cover painting by Denise Marsh.
The full tracklisting is as follows:
1. People Of The Smoke
2. These Passing Clouds
3. Taking You Down
4. Found And Lost
5. Enter The Ring
6. Get Me Out!
7. Ghost Moon and Living Love
8. Circo Inferno
9. Breakout
10. All At Sea
11. Into The Nightwhale
12. Wherever You Are
13. White Dove
Summing up the Circus And The NightwhaleSteve says: It’s a lovely journey that starts dirty, scratchy, and smoky and becomes heavenly and divine. How can you resist it?
Steve is currently on tour in North America, continuing his Foxtrot At Fifty + Hackett Highlights run. Next year he will tour the world extensively, including a brand-new UK tour under the name Genesis Greats, Lamb Highlights & Solo, and that will see him return to the legendary Royal Albert Hall. For the full list of dates, head to: http://hackettsongs.com/tour.html
Leading symphonic metal band, XANDRIA, have released a new official video for fan favorite “Your Stories I’ll Remember”. The track is taken from XANDRIA’s latest and most successful album to date, ‘The Wonders Still Awaiting’, which peaked at #9 on the official German album charts.
XANDRIA returned with an impressive new lineup, enchanting their fans with new songs during this year’s ongoing European tour with label mates DELAIN. The two symphonic metal frontrunners will play three more shows in the Netherlands and Belgium from November 17-19. XANDRIA is also looking forward to their headline tour through the UK, Germany and Switzerland with Phantom Elite and Skarlett Riot, kicking off on November 25th.
Watch the Official Video for “Your Stories I’ll Remember”
XANDRIA opens an exciting chapter with the eighth studio album, ‘The Wonders Still Awaiting’. Mastermind Marco Heubaum returns with a new lineup and leads the band once again into wonderful spheres, without renouncing their characteristic trademarks. The impressive vocal wealth of Ambre Vourvahis – ranging from rock grit, operatic highs and even death metal growls – opens the unit’s sound to a wider palette of colors. Songs like the opening epic “Two Worlds”, “The Wonders Still Awaiting” and “Ghosts” manifest the thematic mood of the album while constructing incredible soundscapes of pure symphonic metal. XANDRIA addresses issues of social inequality and the quest for a just world. “Paradise” showcases some of the album’s strongest hooks, captivating with great metallic pop melodies. The veil of various influences is lifted once more in “Illusion Is Their Name”, dashing all deception with heavy power metal vibes. Tracks like “Your Stories I’ll Remember” and “Scars” show the intimate side of XANDRIA on one hand, while combining rhythmic heaviness on the other. The latter is reminiscent of a James Bond theme, dressed in a heavy musical soundscape. The epic nine minute album closer “Astéria”, featuring Greek lyrics written by Ambre Vourvahis, lands as the album’s exclamation point, proving with a grand finish that the five-piece has fearlessly started a revolution in the symphonic metal genre – commencing an impressive new era of XANDRIA with ‘The Wonders Still Awaiting’.
Australian progressive metal outfit Caligula’s Horse are back! The four-piece from Brisbane is ringing in a new chapter with a new single and video release for Golem and album announcement for Charcoal Grace, which is set for release in January 2024 via InsideOutMusic.
Golem is the first taste of the new album and gives a glimpse of the thematical depth of Charcoal Grace. The band says about the new single:
“Golem is about how we all struggled with the weight of expectation through the pandemic. We felt that weight acutely as musicians, being trapped with no notion of when, or even if, we would return to the life we knew, all while feeling the pressure to create our next work rising. While that’s our specific experience, the themes of Golem are something we can all relate to. It’s a heavy song with an emphasis on riffs and driving rhythms.”
Charcoal Grace is the 6th studio album of the band, and it combines raw rock power with immense emotional depth. Charcoal Grace is borne of the static hopelessness that the pandemic forced upon the band and, indeed, much of the world, these past few years. It is an album reckoning with the experiences and outcomes of this time geared, ultimately, towards catharsis – moving towards a more hopeful future.
The title Charcoal Grace is described by the band as “the grim allure and strange beauty in stillness, silence, and loss”. This can be heard through the album’s 10-minute opening track “The World Breathes With Me,” a mission statement for the album’s main themes. Musically, it’s a work of contrasts, moving from the lightest ebb to the heaviest flow. Meanwhile, the second track and first single from the album, “Golem,” examines struggling with the weight of expectation through the pandemic. It’s a heavy song with an emphasis on riffs and driving rhythms.
At the center of the album is the 4-part title track suite, a 24-minute opus that pushes deeper into the album’s foundational themes: connection, alienation, and the ways humanity acts under duress. Musically, it covers every facet of the band’s vocabulary, from heavy and dense orchestral-accompanied intensity embodying the song’s darkest lyrical ideas, through to soft acoustic-driven moments and introspection.
Tracklist:
Side A
The World Breathes With Me (10:00)
Golem (05:20)
Side B
Charcoal Grace I: Prey (07:48)
Charcoal Grace II: A World Without (06:48)
Charcoal Grace III: Vigil (03:22)
Charcoal Grace IV: Give Me Hell (06:13)
Side C
Sails (04:31)
The Stormchaser (05:57)
Mute (12:00)
Charcoal Grace is available as Ltd. CD Digipak, CD Jewelcase (US only), Gatefold 2LP in various colours & Digital Album.
The band recently played tours in both Europe and America to fully present their 2020 release “Rise Radiant” for the first time after the pandemic. Caligula’s Horse are now supporting Devin Townsend for three gigs in Australia before returning to the US next year in support of their new album.
Australia:
10/11/2023: The Forum, Melbourne
11/11/2023: The Metro, Sydney
12/11/2023: The Tivoli, Brisbane
US:
31/01/2024: DC, Washington, Union Stage
01/02/2024: Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts
02/02/2024: Boston, MA, Brighton Music Hall
03/02/2024: New York, NY, The Gramercy Theatre
04/02/2024: Montreal, Le Studio TD
06/02/2024: Toronto, The Axis Club
07/02/2024: Pittsburgh, PA, Thunderbird Cafe & Music Hall
“We are thrilled to share the exciting news that Progressive Art Rock band Refestramus is embarking on a new musical journey with Melodic Revolution Records.
Over the years I have heard the same thing over and over that music is dead, and there is nothing new that’s worth listening to. I would have to disagree, every day I discover so much great music, whether I discover it on social media, streaming services including the likes of YouTube, or even by word of mouth which just happens to be the case here. As we were gearing up for a return of Colouratura for their latest album WTF Was That?! Ian Beabout mentioned that he was involved with another band called Refestramus, I was intrigued as I love the music Ian’ is involved in. Ian then introduced me to Derek Ferguson of Refestramus who also worked on the WTF Was That?! release.
After listening to some demos from the upcoming album Intourist and listening to previous work on streaming sites, I knew that we had to work with the band, they have everything that we look for to be part of the MRR family. So please join me in welcoming an extraordinary band with a fresh sound for fans of not only prog but abroad.
The imminent signing of this record contract marks a significant milestone in our artistic evolution. Our forthcoming album, ‘Intourist,’ set to be released just before Spring next year, takes its name from the Soviet travel agency, ‘Intourist,’ responsible for guiding foreign tourists through the enigmatic and ever-changing landscapes of the Soviet Union during the mid-20th century. ‘Intourist’ serves as a metaphor for the lyrical themes explored in the album, as we delve into the enigmatic and ever-changing landscapes of love, loss, and personal transformation, all set against the backdrop of a world in flux. As we take this next step in our musical odyssey, we’re honored to join forces with a label that shares our passion for timeless and genre-defying soundscapes. Stay tuned for an unforgettable musical experience that will transport you on a journey through our music’s heart and soul.” -Derek
‘Intourist’ will be released in the early months of 2024.
About Refestramus
The band was started in May of 2020 by Derek Ferguson as a home studio project during the height of the global COVID pandemic. Derek had previously been in a series of progressive rock bands in his native Chicago and used the extra time afforded by the era of lockdowns to write and record new material. Having been an avid listener of Ian Beabout’s Internet radio program “Prog Rock Deep Cuts”, he reached out to Ian to mix and master the recordings.
Ian introduced Derek to Jerry King, a Wisconsin-based composer and multi-instrumentalist primarily known for his guitar and bass work with Clouds Over Jupiter, Moon Men, and Moon X. Jerry has played bass on all Refestramus recordings including Refestramus’ debut album, Decoupage, which was released in December of 2021.
Besides Jerry, Decoupage featured an international assembly of musicians recruited primarily through the Internet gig website, Fiverr.com. It was warmly received by the Progressive Rock music press, with Peter Thelen of Exposé declaring the album a “solid opening move,” before concluding that he “… look[ed] forward to what comes next.”
Flash forward to 2023 and the ranks of Refestramus have been joined by Derek Pavlic, of Colouratura fame. Ian Beabout, also of Colouratura, is the official producer of the band’s forthcoming album, Intouríst, as well as a part-time flutist and vocalist, as the need arises. Brazilian session keyboards maestro Rogelio Navarro, blues rock vocalist NIDA, and heavy metal vocalist Craig Cairns complete the picture.
The band issued multiple singles in 2023 to give its fans a taste of the new, even “proggier” direction being charted on Intouríst. After the album’s release, they plan to tour extensively in support of it.
Artist: Gingerbass Release Title: Lake City Kid Label: Self-Released Release Date: 20th October 2023 Format: Digital, CD Genre: Instrumental Progressive/Fusion Rock Country: Ireland
Line-up:
Ralf W. Garcia – Bass, Keyboards, Notation & Concept
David O’Donovan – All lead and rhythm guitars
Tracklist:
Oh Yes!
Lake City Kid
Writer’s Block
Turtleneck
Finally…
The EP “Lake City Kid” serves as Gingerbass’s heartfelt nod to non-heavy metal influences that shaped Ralf W. Garcia’s musical journey. Its title pays respect to Garcia’s roots in the city of Konstanz by Lake Constance in Germany. Every track tells a unique story, shedding light on Garcia’s experiences and insights, and fans can delve deeper into these tales on his social platforms. Garcia’s commitment to music, evident from his vast discography and live performances, finds new expression in this EP. Beyond this, there’s an anticipation of a 2024 release, promising Fretless Bass-centric compositions. As for Garcia himself, his career that started in the late 1980s showcases a passionate musician and tutor. His diverse experiences, from studying in multiple countries to working with international bands, all lead to this moment. For those who cherish the sounds of bands like Steve Morse Band and Pink Floyd, this EP is a must-listen. Every song was carefully crafted in Cork, Ireland, with additional touches from professionals in Greece and the UK, and the cover, adorned with original photography, echoes the personal touch that defines this release.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
