By Alison Henderson
Well prog pickers, it has been another stunning year of music in the progsphere and as the slogan on one of my tee-shirt reads, “So much prog: so little time”. How true is that! Reviewing prog rock is probably one of the most complicated but ultimately rewarding jobs on the planet. It is never easy to assess any prog album simply on one take or at face value. It takes time to appreciate the months and often years of work which go into making this kind of music.
There are without doubt many albums I have missed this year, many of which have appeared in others’ picks of the years. Hopefully, I will get around to hearing them in due course, but already, 2013 is promising to be another incredible year of new music. It has been a hard task picking 12 but ultimately, these are the albums which rocked my world this year and hopefully, yours too.
12. Moments – IO Earth. This is the second album by the Birmingham band whose brand of hauntingly atmospheric prog continues to delight and confound in equal measures. It is moody and magnificent with some highly original passages and virtuoso playing.
11. Crimes and Reasons – Steve Thorne. A sublime collection of varied and thoughtful songs featuring a stellar cast of artists such as Tony Levin and Nick D’Virgilio brought to you by the very under-rated Mr Thorne, who writes, plays and has one of the most haunting voices in prog.
Progarchy 