Unknown Soldier

Good point but it qualifies as it's thrash, largely for its speed element more than its aggressiveness or heaviness. If you look at Anthrax they're thrash and there isn't too much extreme about them at all. I'd just call Megadeth a borderline band when it comes to extreme metal.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

Discovering new frontiers (Geddit? Magellan? No? Doesn't anyone here read their history?)


Artiste: Magellan
Nationality:American
Album: Symphony for a misanthrope
Year: 2005
Label: InsideOut
Genre:Progressive Metal
Tracks:
Symphonette
Why water weeds?
Wisdom
Cranium reef suite: (i) Youthful enthusiasm (ii) Psych 101 (iii) Primal defence
Pianissimo intermission
Doctor Concoctor
Every bullet needs blood
Chronological position: Sixth album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Love the big instrumental intro: real prog metal here!
Best track(s): Why water weeds?, Wisdom, Cranium reef suite
Worst track(s): Nothing really.
Comments: Magellan are basically a duo, formed by two brothers, Trent and Wayne Gardner, though the likes of Ian Anderson and Tony Levin have guested on their albums. This one, however, appears to be all their own work, and starts out with a pretty cool proggy instrumental, heavy with keyboards and synth, and ringing, chiming drumwork, and things get even better once we get to the second track, with Trent proving a damn fine vocalist. There's a real sense of power and majesty about this music, and I'm reminded both of progressive rock bands I admire and also some of the electronic composers like Jean-Michel Jarre and to a lesser extent, early Eloy. I also hear some elements of Spock's Beard here.

Wisdom is a nice, hard-edged little ballad with some very political lyrics and a lovely stark piano line. The album only has seven tracks, but in true progressive rock fashion one is an epic, over eighteen minutes long, and Cranium reef suite starts off great, with another instrumental that actually sounds like a seventies soul tune for a few moments, then moves into the second movement, on the back of some fine guitar work and a lot of Genesis in the melody, before bringing the piece to a nice soft slow and gentle close with the third movement. Well, mostly.

A sprightly interpretation of a Bach piano piece shows off Trent's skills on the ivories, then we're into Doctor Concoctor with the return of Wayne's big heavy guitars and it's quite a mesh between Yes and Spock's Beard, before we wind up more or less as we began, with a big synth prog number, growling guitars cutting through the keys as Every bullet needs blood takes us out.
Overall impression: Quite impressed by this. Seem to remember listening to it some time ago and being somewhat underwhelmed. Perhaps it's a grower?
Intention: I think I may have to give this album a few more spins.

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A killer blow out of obscurity!


Artiste: Ice Age
Nationality: American
Album: The great divide
Year: 1999
Label: Magna Carta
Genre: Progressive Rock
Tracks:
Perpetual child
Sleepwalker
Join
Spare chicken parts
Because of you
The bottom line
Ice Age
Look away
Miles to go
To say goodbye, part I: Worthless words
To say goodbye, part II: On our way
Chronological position: Debut album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: After trying with Ice Age for two albums, the band changed their direction slightly and rebranded as Soulfractured in 2006. However they seem to have been doomed, as they only released two EPs under this name before disbanding altogether.
Initial impression: Great powerful progressive intro and when the singer gets going he's really quite good.
Best track(s): Perpetual child, Join, Spare chicken parts, The bottom line, Ice age
Worst track(s): Sleepwalker(but only in that it's marginally less excellent than the rest of the album)
Comments: These guys don't seem to have had much luck (see above blurb); perhaps, since they hail from the Big Apple, the lyrics of that old classic are right: if I can make it there I'll make it anywhere, and conversely, if I can't make it there I've no hope anywhere. Their output at any rate is limited to two albums under the Ice Age name and two EPs under their later identity as Soulfractured, each seeming to have been as unsuccessful as the last. They finally gave it up as a bad job in 2006, after their second EP was released.

So, did we miss something? Was there greatness there, unrecognised talent, a band who never got the chance to shine as they should have done? Or was it fitting they be consigned to the musical trash-heap of history? Well, opener Perpetual child is certainly full of energy and enthusiasm, though whether it's a good idea to hit the world with a ten minute song as your first offering ever I'm not sure. It would, to be sure, want to be damn good to hold the attention. So far, I have to say, mine's not drifting. There's about two and a half minutes of music before the vocals come in, and when they do they're pretty good really.

There's a lot happening in this song and it never gets boring, so I'd have to say a successful opener and perhaps not so much of a gamble as I thought about the length: this is a song that needed to be more than four or five minutes long, and it certainly whets the appetite for the rest of the album. And it doesn't disappoint, with Sleepwalker, Join and Because of you all solid tracks, with a cool, er, little instrumental --- nine minutes long, almost, and seriously, worth every second --- in between, during which we even get a drum solo and a soundbite from "2001: a space odyssey" into the bargain! Don't see anything wrong with this! Of course, sometimes it's just bad luck, and not every good band makes it, so failure to break through doesn't necessarily mean you were no use, and that seems to be the case with Ice Age; from what I've heard so far, they should have made it. They just didn't.

Because of you just keeps up the high quality I've already come to expect from these guys and honestly, I'm already becoming a fan. Bit late, now that they are no more, but better late than never. It's almost becoming irrelevant talking about the tracks because each one seems to be as good as the previous, with Bottom line a hard, stomping rocker with vocalist Josh Pincus snarling out the vocal like Meat Loaf and his compatriot Jimmy Pappas grinding his guitar like an angry wolf. But hold on: there's another epic coming, this one eleven minutes long, and it's the title track.

And it's another winner. I'm beginning to think there are no bad or even low quality tracks on this album. It literally just keeps getting better as I listen.Oh my god, now a beautiful, aching piano ballad in One look away! Does this album ever stop improving? Thankfully, the answer appears to be no!
Overall impression: Seriously impressed, and rather amazed these guys had to break up without finding any sort of real success. What a shame.
Intention: Must listen to their other album, see if I can track down the EPs. That's unfortunately as much as I can do. But I highly recommend you listen to this one. You can get an idea of how impressed I was by the awarding of what I think may be the first ever four and a half cookies above!

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Requiem would be right...


Artiste: Eniac Requiem
Nationality: American
Album: Space eternal void
Year: 1998
Label: Shrapnel
Genre: Progressive Metal
Tracks:
Prelude
Amulet of the sun
Wyrm
Endless cosmos
Shadows fall
Lost in the void
Sad clown in Europe
The slow poisoners
Nemesis
Darkness planet Earth
Guenhwyvar
Empire of dolls
Finale
Chronological position: Debut (and only) album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Meh
Best track(s): Endless cosmos, Shadows fall, Lost in the void, Darkness planet Earth, Guenhwyvar
Worst track(s): Nothing I'd classify as bad really. Closing instrumental cuts off too abruptly but it's good even so.
Comments: This is apparently one of those bands that released one album and then faded away. They've been compared to Dream Theater and Symphony X, which is not good for me as I don't like either of those bands. The first few tracks I find unremarkable, which to my mind justifies the above comparisons, but Endless cosmos, when it kicks in is very good indeed. The quality continues to increase with Shadows fall, with some lovely organ work and a great vocal, and it just kinda seems that after a slow start this album is getting steadily better.

Decent instrumental then followed by a track that starts off balladic and almost medieval then picks up and becomes a real proggy bopper, another good instrumental with some last decent tracks though it ends ridiculously abruptly, so much so that I thought my copy was corrupt until I checked the running time against the track listing and it's correct. WTF? I'd have to say I'd rate this album as quite good but not quite great. I still wonder they broke up so quickly after it though, because like Ice Age reviewed in the previous post, they seem to definitely have had some talent. Maybe they didn't stand out enough from the crowd, or else they weren't prepared to stay in it for the long haul. Either way, sad loss.
Overall impression: Decent album and decent band. Sorry they didn't get a chance to make more of a mark.
Intention: Nothing I can do. This is their one and only album.

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Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!


Artiste: Glory Bells
Nationality: Swedish
Album: Century rendezvous
Year: 1984
Label: Sounds of Scandinavia
Genre: Heavy Metal
Tracks:
Flight back home
Wardrummer
Big thunder
My life
After twelve
Indian rainsong
Sweet Irene
Five foxes
In the attic
Chronological position: Second (and last) album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Good solid heavy metal without any pretensions; great guitar work
Best track(s): Flight back home, Wardrummer and Big thunder
Worst track(s): My life and everything after that
Comments: Another band I've never heard of, but on first listen I'm impressed. Quite NWOBHM in its execution, though these guys hail from Sweden and are no longer around apparently. Singer has a really powerful voice, think Accept or Scorpions and you're on the right track, then throw in a bit of Dio and Dickinson. Sorry to discover that the man in question, vocalist Glory North, died in 2006. Doesn't say what of. Mind you, he was fifty at the time. Seems this band waited till a little late in life to try to achieve fame. Sounds like they had some real talent, but they only produced this album and their debut two years prior then went their separate ways.

Listening to Glory North now, I think perhaps his delivery is lacking a little something; it's powerful and his range is good, but somehow it's missing, I don't know: warmth? Emotion? Can't quite put my finger on it. It's almost like he's consciously or unconsciously imitating some of the best metal vocalists of the time, without stamping his own identity on his singing. The guitars on this album are great, especially on Big thunder and Flight back home. The obligatory piano ballad is up next, and if they're not trying to send up the power ballad then they've vastly overstretched themselves on My life: to be completely fair to them, it's absolute rubbish. Even the sax is so tacked on it's not true. Oh dear! "Ballad Writing 101"?

I have to say, after that my confidence in this album has really taken a knock and it's going to take a lot to bring it back. Hmm. No, that won't do it. Nor will that. Or that. Hope is fading fast as this album devolves into something of a parody of its quite good opening tracks. If this were Twisted Sister, I could see the self-deprecating humour, but I truly think these guys are taking themselves seriously, and that's bad news. And now they think they're Queen. Sigh. The final track is called In the attic and I'm sorry, but if you bought this album that's probably where you should throw it. Awful.
Overall impression: Not even so bad it's funny; just bad with a capital B.
Intention: Never allow this band to assault my ears again.

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A delightful vision


Artiste: Visions of Atlantis
Nationality: Austrian
Album: Ethera
Year: 2013
Label: Napalm Records
Genre: Melodic/Symphonic Power Metal (says Encyclopaedia Metallum!)
Tracks:
The ark
Machinage
Avatara
Vicious circle
Hypnotised
Tlaloc's grace
Burden of divinity
Cave behind the waterfall
A.E.O.N 19th
Bestiality vs integrity
Cleric's emotion

Chronological position: Fifth album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Kind of reminds me of the likes of Lacuna Coil or Within Temptation; pretty good start
Best track(s): Vicious circle, Cave behind the waterfall, Tlaloc's grace, Cleric's emotion though I really like every track.
Worst track(s): There's nothing here I don't like.
Comments: With a name like Visions of Atlantis I assumed these guys would be in the progressive rock/metal sphere, but nothing doing so I looked further and found them on EM as a symphonic metal band, and I must say from what I hear the tag fits, though I definitely hear a lot of progressive elements in their music. Mind you, the average length of their songs would show why they would not be really classed as prog metal, with the longest coming in at just over five minutes. No epics here!

It's good, uptempo, high-powered and well-constructed music so far, with the vocals being shared between female (Maxi Nil) and male (the unfortunately-named Mario Plank), creating a powerful and dramatic soundscape against which the keyboards and guitar lay down some superb melodies. There's a really nice ballad in Vicious circle and the double-vocal works really well when the two harmonise; again no trace of an Austrian or German accent. Some great steamhammer drumming in Tlaloc's grace (I'm pretty sure Tlaloc was an old ancient Aztec god) and some lovely atmospheric guitar and keys in Cave behind the waterfall. As a matter of fact, though it's not yet over I'll go out on a limb and say now that I doubt there's one bad track on this album.

I was right.

Some mention must also be given to the one bonus track, an orchestral version of Tlaloc's grace that really shows a different side to this band and is well worth hearing.

Overall impression: Really impressed here. Very together band who should be better known than they are. Superb.
Intention: Going to go back into their catalogue and hear what else they have to offer.

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Note: from this point on I intend to review mostly new albums here, as in, ones from this or last year. As I listen to quite a lot of new albums but don't always have the time to write a full review of them, this is where a lot of them will end up. Of course, there's nothing to say that something that really impresses me won't eventually get the full treatment, as has always been the case here. Also, I may throw in the odd older album from time to time --- nothing's written in stone --- but generally expect to see newer albums, especially those from the current year, being mini-reviewed here from now on.
It's okay but a bit slow and plodding


Artiste: Gamma Proxima
Nationality: Finnish
Album: Home beyond nowhere
Year: 2013
Label: ?
Genre: Acoustic rock/Ambient
Tracks:
Soil
Endeavour Pt 1
The search
Augur
For a futile wait
Illusion of pleasure
Eventual collapse
Endeavvour Pt 2
Rooms
Worthwhile?
Chronological position: Debut album?
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Very relaxing, very ambient and entrancing
Best track(s):This isn't really an album you pick individual tracks out to focus on; it's more an overall experience: not quite one continuous piece of music but not too far from that.
Worst track(s): See above
Comments: I just hate it when bands use a Facebook page as their "official site". Well, let me qualify that. I hate it when they do that, and put the tiniest bit of information about themselves up. I mean, this band are impossible to track down. Not sure what genre they fit into but they come up on none of my usual music sites (so not metal , prog or AOR) and when you go looking for them on Google you get equally nothing. All I have found out so far is that they're a duo from Finland, and I think this may be their first album. It may also be self-released as I can't find any label information.

All of which is annoying, because this is some of the most beautiful, laidback and heartfelt music I've heard since Buckethead's "Electric sea" album. It seems to be a mix of mostly acoustic guitar with some synth and possibly piano backing, and it's very relaxed indeed. It slips into a semi-prog vein at times, while at others it borders on soft folk or even ambient. The tracks don't exactly flow one into the other but it's often the case that you suddenly realise one has completed and you're into another: the music is quite similar which is not to say bad or samey, but the same general themes and melodies do tend to thread through the whole album.

All I can really do here is pick out some highlights: nice atmospheric acoustic guitar in For a futile wait, little more upbeat with Eventual collapse, though I feel that's probably a good description of my interest in the album at the moment. The problem is that there's nothing that stands out and catches your attention. It's all really good music and very pleasant, but after the initial glow wore off I found myself becoming a little bored with this. If you're going to make an instrumental album --- unless it's intended to be all one piece of music --- you need to be able to differentiate the tracks and make them differ from each other, and the worry here is that all of the material on this album sounds so similar that it becomes hard to identify one from the other, leading to a sense of nice-but-so-what? But I still like it. I just don't love it as I did the first time I heard it.

Overall impression: Just really ambient and relaxing. Would have been nice to have had some standout tracks, but everything kind of melds together, although in a very good way.
Intention: Try to find out more about this artiste: not an easy task, from my research so far!

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Yee --- and may I venture to add --- HAW!!!!


Artiste: Blue Sky Riders
Nationality: American
Album: Finally home
Year: 2013
Label: 3Dream
Genre: Country/Rock
Tracks:
I'm a rider
How's that workin' for ya?
Little victories
Just say yes
Feelin' brave
You're not the boss of me
Another sping
Dream
A thousand wild horses
I get it
Say I like it
Windeer woman
As luck would have it
You took the words (right outta my mouth)
How about now
Chronological position:Debut album
Familiarity: "Footloose"...
Interesting factoid: Blue Sky Riders is the pet project of Kenny "Footloose" Loggins
Initial impression: Great country rock, like this from the start
Best track(s):I'm a rider, How's that workin' for ya?, Little victories, Another spring, A thousand wild horses, Dream, Just say yes
Worst track(s): Pretty much everything after A thousand wild horses
Comments: Now, the above is something of a misnomer. Although this is a debut album for Blue Sky Riders, they're helmed by Kenny Loggins, whom I think we all know from that movie. This is his outfit but there's little of the uptempo dance/pop of "Footloose" about it. From the start you're hit with a big country rock sound reminscent of Seger or Earle with the title track (well it's not really, but it has the title in it) and then the next one just ups the ante with a bitter viewpoint on how people give up everything to get what they want, and then maybe wonder if this is what they actually wanted in the first place? Quite an Eagles feel to this, slower but no less powerful than the opener, then things slow down to allow Georgina Middleman to show what she can do solo, and Little victories is a lovely little bittersweet country ballad.

Now, I'm not saying every track here is great, and at some point it hits a wall and some of the songs are just, well, cliched and a bit embarrassing, but up to that point there is some serious decent country rock to be had. Great vocal harmonies on this one, then a real sense of Fleetwood Mac in Just say yes which kicks the tempo back up, while uileann pipes, whistles and slow drums give Feelin' brave a very celtic sound, with again really great vocal harmonies. On this one the trio share vocal duties, switching the verses around between them. Very effective. Some great fiddlin' too.

You're not the boss of me is a little too honky-tonk for me, sort of thing you might hear Garth Brooks singing. Doesn't really appeal to me, though it's not a bad track. I wouldn't say it marks the turnaround point on the album, far from it, but it's the first one I haven't loved. Normal service is quickly resumed though with the aching Nanci Griffithesque Another spring, a lovely ballad with some beautiful vocals from Georgina and, yes, superb vocal harmonies. And next up is a super radio-friendly track that should be a single, AOR delight in Dream.

But perhaps the best has been held back, as the unquestioned standout of the album is the acoustic ballad A thousand wild horses, but then that's where the album takes something of a nosedive unfortunately. It's as if with the previous track "Finally home" achieved critical mass, and then sort of imploded, everything following pretty substandard. Even a decent ballad can't rescue the inevitable slide towards mediocrity that is so annoying after such a powerful first half. Particularly puke-inducing is the awful You took the words (right outta my mouth) which probably goes down as my least favourite track on the whole thing. Bah! The supporters are already leaving, and we've still ten minutes to go to the end. That's what happens when you stop playing before the final whistle.

Overall impression: A mighty impressive debut, with more than a few flaws. Sort of the typical game of two halves almost: some of it I absolutely love, some of it I ...don't. A great first shot though.
Intention: Just wait for the next album, ah reckon, and hope they make sure the second half of that is as good as the first...

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An interesting, if flawed, debut


Artiste: Caves of Glass
Nationality: American
Album: Caves of Glass
Year: 2013
Label: Self-released I think
Genre: Ambient/Progressive/New Age/Metal/Insert here....
Tracks:
The hollow
Gone from Oceania
Mariana
Barren earth
The end
Chronological position: Debut album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Relaxing and ambient, then it kicks in!
Best track(s): Gone from Oceania, Mariana
Worst track(s): Nothing
Comments: Apparently this is a collaboration between a lot of people I personally have never heard of, but you may --- Larry Hansen, Jim Tobakos, Dan Leader, Zach Galkin? Ring any bells? --- and seems to meld ambient, progressive and possibly death metal in a rather uneasy alliance. When I heard the sample tracks I must admit I didn't hear the scratchy, screeched vocal, but here it's kind of subsumed into the music, almost as an extra instrument (as someone, I think Janszoon, once told me) or as a sound effect. So it's not the sort of vocal that ruins the music. And the music is pretty good I must say. The opener is nine minutes long and doesn't feature too much in the way of "singing", some very nice acoustic guitar and haunting keyboard.

There are in fact, as you can see above, only five tracks on the album, but one is almost thirteen minutes long. It's impressive stuff. You know, I kind of don't hate the vocal style, now that I listen to it. It's almost like someone with a sore throat trying to sing, and it's not anywhere near as aggressive or overbearing as some death metal I've heard. In Gone from Oceania for example it fits very well with the laidback piano and guitar, and then a proper vocal comes in, which is very surprising but welcome. Mariana is very slow, ambient and atmospheric, kicking up with some powerful effective guitar closer to the end. Another standout.

You know, ever since that "real" vocal came in at the end of Gone from Oceania I haven't heard the screechy one, and the next track seems to be instrumental, so far. Though I shouldn't jump to conclusions, as this is the thirteen-minute one. Still, we're five minutes in and only music up to this point. Okay, well with a nice piano passage halfway through and then finishing on heavy electric guitar this is indeed a thirteen-minute instrumental. Which leaves only one track, appropriately titled The end, with soft acoustic guitar and synthy effects, some lovely piano and wind sounds. Some nice backwards masking tape effects too, really completes the album, finishes well.
Overall impression: Different to what I had expected. Kind of reminds me of The Deadstation in ways. Something here for fans of many different musical styles and genres.
Intention: Look out for their next release.

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One-man-band sounds like a whole prog orchestra!


Artiste: Willowglass
Album: The dream harbour
Nationality: British (English)
Year: 2013
Label: Self-released
Genre: Progressive Rock
Tracks:
A house of cards pt 1
A short intermission
A house of cards pt 2
Interlude no 2
The dream harbour
Helleborine
The face of Eurydice
Chronological position: Third album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: Mostly a solo act
Initial impression: Is it 1973 again?
Best track(s): I like pretty much everything here.
Worst track(s): See above
Comments: The first word that will come instantly to your brain when you hear the opening track is Genesis: there's just no getting away from the comparisons with that wibbly, uptempo, bouncy keyboard, which takes you right back to 1973 and the very best of Tony Banks. But Willowglass has only been around since 2005, though its driving force, composer and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Marshall, has been playing in bands since the early eighties. And when I say multi I mean multi: here he plays guitars (electric, acoustic, Classical and twelve-string), keyboards and bass! He's ably assisted by Hans Schmitz on drums and Steve Unruh helps out by adding flute, violin and more guitar.

It's all instrumental, so might be a little hard for anyone to get into who isn't a prog rock fan (we love this sort of thing) and the likes of mellotron, flute and woodwinds are prevalent all through the album. The opener is almost twenty-one minutes long too, so that will certainly do away with anyone who's not into prog. But if you take the time to sit back and listen you will hear a wealth of musical talent and gorgeous soundscapes here. Unruh's beautiful violin passages in A house of cards part 1 alone are worth the price of the album, and there's so much more than that on offer. Marshall's skill on the various guitars is virtually unparalleled in the sphere of current prog rock.

There's some nice Supertramp-style piano work going on in A short intermission then arabic influences on A house of cards pt 2 with some really great guitar and violin and a very classical influenced approach, the tone getting a little darker. The album's over before you realise it, and it's been a hell of a journey.
Overall impression: One of the best progressive rock instrumental albums I've heard this year.
Intention: Going to check out his other two offerings.

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