Category: Progressive rock

Interview with MACHINES OF MAN

On By NickIn Progressive rock1 Comment

MoM

Earlier in April this year, Salt Lake City prog metallers Machines of Man released their debut single “Fractals,” as an introduction to their upcoming full-length album, for which they are currently running an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign.

Bassist Rocky Schofield tells us in the interview below about the meaning of the band’s name, the upcoming album, and more.

What made you go for the name Machines of Man?

Pretty sure Jon came up with that about the time I first joined up to jam in the very early days of MoM. I’ve personally always associated it with technology and the concept of man actually becoming more like a machine as time progresses. That could just be my sci-fi nerd brain taking over though. If anything, it does make for a great acronym. I mean, who doesn’t love MOM?

How do you usually describe your music?

First thing that comes to mind is Progressive Metal, but I hesitate to say that because I don’t feel that we can be lumped into a specific genre. We definitely have the heavy riffs and odd time signatures, but also a lot of ambient and melodic elements. We aren’t afraid to experiment and throw some curveballs in there too; whether it be a jazzy fandango, salsa jam, or a beautiful piano based composition.

What is your writing process like?

We generally use Guitar Pro to help construct our music. Jon usually takes the reigns on putting some general ideas together and then we all get the file and any one of us can add or change parts, and just kind of keep bouncing ideas around. It’s really cool to see just a few riffs metamorphose into a fully developed song.

Who or what is your inspiration, if you have any?

There are so many amazing musicians and bands who inspire me every single day. I love listening to just one instrument in a song and how it interacts with everything else going on. These things inspire me to widen my approach to playing. Video game music has always been a big one for me and some of the other guys too, and I think that shows in our music as well. My bandmates also deserve a big mention here. I feel blessed every time I set foot in the rehearsal space and bear witness to the talent these guys have. It’s also a huge push for me to always be working to become a better player.

Machines of Man - Dreamstates

Tell me about the creative process for your upcoming debut album.

We had a few of these songs around for a while and things were looking a bit bleak to be frank. After some time to step outside ourselves and really evaluate what we were doing and who we were, there was a renewal of inspiration and drive to get this album made. The process has been a long and difficult road, and I don’t think any of us would change that for anything. I’m glad we went through the lows because I feel it helped us really put our hearts and souls into creating this thing that has become Dreamstates. For me that’s exactly what this album represents.

Do you have a title for the record? What can prog fans expect?

Dreamstates! Releases on June 27th. You can preorder it through our indiegogo campaign with some extra goodies now.

Expect heavy riffage, sweet saucy goodness, and non stop pleasures for your ears!

What kind of emotions would you like your audience to feel when they listen to your music?

I would hope anyone who listens to this gets the same feels as I do when I hear these songs. I love being able to just put headphones on and get lost as the music takes you on a journey. Those are the feels I get and I wish that upon every person who listens to this music.

Machines of Man

Which do you like most, life in the studio or on tour?

Although I do thoroughly enjoy being in the studio and creating this stuff, nothing beats the road. That’s the fruits of the labor right there. Playing live, seeing old friends, meeting new friends, being able to connect with people in real life and not just behind a screen is as good as it gets.

Pick your three favourite albums that you would take on a desert island with you.

Opeth – Ghost Reveries, Between the Buried and Me – Colors, and Thrice – Alchemy Index (Yes it counts as one album!)

Thanks for the time, and be sure to check out our Indiegogo campaign to preorder the album!

Keep in touch with Machines of Man via Facebook.

Love On A Real Train

On By Dr NickIn Progressive rockLeave a comment

This acoustic cover of a piece from Tangerine Dream’s Risky Business soundtrack, performed by students from Sweden’s Eskilstuna Musikskola, is simply wonderful.

Yorke or Waters? Israel and Music.

On By bradbirzerIn Progressive rock3 Comments

star of david

I’m guessing that Americans and non-Americans have rather different views on this issue, but it’s fascinating, regardless.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/thom-yorke-breaks-silence-on-israel-controversy-w485142

Unleash the Archers at the absolute Apex of today’s metal @UnleashArchers @BrittneyPotPie

On By Time LordIn Progressive rock3 Comments

archersalbummarch

Apex is the unbelievably impressive new album from Unleash the Archers. It starts triumphantly with an epic seven-minute-plus track, “Awakening,” a heroic kick-in-the-doors and burn-down-the-house entrance that lets you know in no uncertain terms that there’ll be no nonsense on this disc, only a whole lot of awesome. It sets the right tone from the get-go, with awesome riffing over galloping verses and righteously headbanging choruses.

The second track, “Shadow Guide,” has a brisk old-school metal feel to it, as vocalist Brittney Slayes again takes no prisoners. And then the third track, “The Matriarch,” continues with the unusually high standard of metal excellence established by the two opening tracks. At this point, you wonder how long this album can keep up such a high level of rip-roaring metal.

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With “Cleanse the Bloodlines,” things are still pretty excellent, but the dopey video previously released for the track has tainted the tune for me. Also, it has a creepily fascist track title. Yet it is undeniable that Brittney is positively thrilling with her vocals beginning right at the three-minute mark and with the excellent tension woven by the guitar riffage. Oh well, it’s a concept album, with a character speaking, not a statement from the band, so resistance is futile.

The next five tracks are all superb: “The Cowards’ Way” chugs along thanks to some magnificently mighty bass propulsion power. “False Walls” kills it with blistering riffs knitting together a more laid-back approach, as head-banging choruses alternate with head-nodding verses. We are treated to a most satisfying guitar solo that slips in coolly after about six minutes of preparation. “Ten Thousand Against One” pummels you with bad-cop kick-drumming and death growls, and good-cop ethereal vocals. “Earth and Ashes” mercifully lets you catch your breath for a minute as acoustic guitars do some dueling with the bass guitar, but just when you’ve been faked out, the track gets the album to rip back into you again with relentless fury. Later on, a surprise vocal duet suddenly steers us into a really sweet guitar solo break that circles the earth for a while and then blasts off into hyperspace. Whew! Next up, “Call Me Immortal” does right by any listener who seeks metal excellence. This is such a great track, I can’t believe they saved it and placed it in penultimate position on the album. How cool is that. It just might be my favorite song, next to the album opener and closer. Excellence is always immortal, and here it is too in spades.

When the album concludes with the amazingly sprawling and superbly-paced guitar-feast “Apex” (track 10), there is no escaping the conclusion that this is the very best effort to date from Unleash the Archers. They have established themselves as a truly standout metal act. Brittney slays the competition and her band mates have honed their musical skills to an apex of metal perfection. Permit me to give the apposite last word to Brittney and the band by quoting their truly thrilling grand finale of a last track: “Follow me… to Apex!”

Progarchist rating: ★★★★★ 10/10 A+

Unleash the Archers, Apex

Synopsis: Schooltree “Heterotopia” Act II, Part 2 @schooltree

On By Time LordIn Progressive rock3 Comments

In my review of Schooltree‘s masterpiece Heterotopia, I noted that the album moves in three phases: first, an incredible Act I that (like the whole album) never flags in excellence; then, the beginning of Act II which has four outstandingly classic songs that are all the more astonishing simply for being buried in the middle of this amazing prog opera and yet take it to a whole other level of musical accomplishment; finally, there is the remainder of Act II which (more than any other of the tracks on the album) offers a theatrical dramatization that is absolutely spellbinding in the manner of the best Broadway musicals.

As promised, here is the concluding synopsis of the album’s storyline as it concludes in the latter half of Act II:

Suzi passes before a mirror in which her zombie body confronts and warns her not to go near the river, from which no one ever comes out alive. Go there and you’ll destroy us both, she says. (You & I)

Suzi is derailed by this exchange and begins to lose herself and forget where she is going. It feels like she’s been on this road forever – or maybe just one really long day. Under a lamppost she sees a flash of light – it’s the centipede cat, which she now barely recognizes, as if from another life, and follows once again. It leads her to the river. (Into Tomorrow)

At the edge of the river its siren song calls to her, offering solace, peace at last; all she needs to do is leap into it. Suzi knows she must jump in with her resolve intact or be swallowed by the abyss. She falls in and sinks. At the bottom of the river, she begins to dissolve, but at the last moment remembers what that she has learned in Otherspace and uses it to move through the meaninglessness “like a ghost through a wall.” (The River, Bottom of the River)

Beyond the “wall,” Suzi finds and awakens Enantiodromia, and asks her to take her fair hand and make her whole again. But awakened Enantiodromia is changed from her former self; looking around at the darkness arisen during her slumber, she is the black-handed reaper now, bringing balance to the land once more, now by using her black hand to annihilate that which does not belong in this world, and attempts to begin with Suzi. Suzi pleads with her to stop, explaining she is only half of what she’s supposed to be, telling Enantiodromia of her quest though endless night outside of time to wake her. “I am not a shadow, just a girl; an exiled soul in the wrong world.” Enantiodromia tells her that she’s been in this world too long and is no longer just a girl; she cannot return her home. But as repayment for awakening Enantiodromia, she allows Suzi the chance to go back to take control of her zombie body, and return as one to her, at which point she’ll take them both together to the next place. (Enantiodromia Awakens)

Suzi returns to the mirror and faces her self, finally understanding the power of the ghost, making a connection between worlds and operating her zombie body like a puppet, using her will to control it. They merge, not quite whole but moving together, and slowly march toward Enantiodromia the Reaper. As Suzi gets ever closer, she becomes sick with disease as her body fails. But she marches forward nonetheless, facing the end, she is ready to become whole, if only to die in doing so. Enantiodromia takes her hand. Suzi’s body is destroyed and she dies in a triumphant blaze of glory. (Zombie Connection, Keep Your Head, Day of the Rogue)

Having achieved mastery in both worlds, Suzi is able to use her mind to grow her body from her head like a seed in the air downward to the ground. NeoSuzi glimpses what utopia could be for the first time, as something that can never be possessed, but experienced. (Utopia)

Kscope Podcast 86: Steven Wilson Featured

On By bradbirzerIn Progressive rockLeave a comment

Slider-POD86

The mighty Billy Reeves talks with the equally mighty Steven Wilson on the new Kscope podcast.  Enjoy.  Lots of great music as well.

       Kscope Podcast Eighty Six – Top 10 Steven Wilson Songs   

Anneke van Giersbergen is *en fuego*: Vuur @vuur_band @AnnekeAnnique

On By Time LordIn Progressive rockLeave a comment

Here comes Anneke to blow us all away with her new band VUUR and their wonderfully heavy progressive metal. Nice! You’re doing it right, Anneke.

Two tracks from Steven Wilson’s forthcoming “To the Bone”

On By Time LordIn Progressive rockLeave a comment

The tracks from the new Steven Wilson album are sounding good: “The Same Asylum As Before” and “Pariah.” Can’t wait until August 18th to hear the new album. And I’d love to see him in concert again too. He’s one of today’s best artists. We’re so lucky to have him. The new tracks are such brilliant and moving music.

Rick’s Retroarchy: Works Volume 1 by Emerson, Lake and Palmer

On By kruekuttIn Progressive rock4 Comments

by Rick Krueger

“The word ‘bombastic’ keeps coming up as if it were some trap I keep falling into … when I’m bombastic, I have my reasons. I want to be bombastic.  Take it or leave it.” – Dave Brubeck

What were they thinking?

You’re Emerson, Lake & Palmer, coming off a three-year layoff  — though admittedly, you were at the top of the charts and your game when you downed tools.  To regain your fan base and add to your audience, would you come back with a double album that had one side of material by each band member (with guest players and full orchestras) and only one side of ELP playing together?  And then, would you take a 59-piece orchestra and 6-voice choir on the road with you?  To most people, that would sound like a recipe for disaster.

Continue reading “Rick’s Retroarchy: Works Volume 1 by Emerson, Lake and Palmer” →

Thank you, Racket Records

On By bradbirzerIn Progressive rock2 Comments
Photo on 5-30-17 at 1.27 PM
Happy Birzer.

As with most proggers, I love what I love to be overthetop.  And, I especially love overthetop excellence.  As such, I must offer a huge thanks to Simon of Marillion’s Racket Records.

Excellence, to be sure.

A few weeks ago, I ordered copies of FUGAZI, SEASON’S END, and HOLIDAYS IN EDEN from Racket Records.  While Racket mailed them immediately, the package arrived in Michigan without any CDs!  That’s right.  The package was totally empty.  Someone had removed the CDs.

Some lucky (and not so honest) Marillion postal worker out there?

When I contacted sales and help at Racket Records, Simon not only responded with a much needed laugh, but he sent me three new replacements.  They arrived this afternoon in perfect condition, making an already gorgeous spring day even better.

I imagine that Racket is tucked away somewhere in the northeastern part of the Shire, and I, living in Gondor, have just received a King’s Ransom of the Old Toby.

Thank you, Simon!

Yours, Brad