Arrivals at Progarchy HQ:
Fire Garden, FAR AND NEAR (2016). Tracks: Far and Near; There’s Something; A New Day; Life of a Drifter; A Thousand Lost Souls; War and Peace; Faint Shadows; Whitelight; and Diary of a Blood Moon.
One of the single best things about being a hyperfan of progressive rock music is always dealing with the most interesting of people. When it comes to prog—the musicians, the engineers, and the fans—we’re all basically a bunch of OCD perfectionists. And, I think we understand each other in ways non proggers simply cannot (as in, not constitutionally equipped to do so). In the nearly ten years I’ve been reviewing music online, I’ve met a number of absolutely fascinating people. None less so than Chicago’s young master of all that is melodic metal prog, Zee Baig.
The moment I first found Zee’s music—as first sold through his ep, aptly titled THE PRELUDE—I knew I had to reach out to him. I did, he was responsive, and we pretty quickly established a friendship through email. We talked about war, tradition, music, kids, art. You name it, and Zee and I talked about it. Even though we’re only a three-hours drive from one another, we’ve never actually met in person. Strange, but true. And, here’s hoping, someday soon this will be rectified.
FAR AND NEAR, Fire Garden’s second full-length album, has just appeared on the market, and it’s a stunner, as strong and as good as anything else that has come out this year. This is no small praise when one considers how many greats have come out: from Frost* to Glass Hammer to Big Big Train. FAR AND NEAR stands with those at the very top.
Continue reading “Confidence Within a Sphere of Creativity: FIRE GARDEN”
Riverside, EYE OF THE SOUNDSCAPE (Insideout Music, 2016). Tracks: Where the River Flows (new), Shine (new), Rapid Eye Movement, Night Sessions 1, Night Sessions 2, Sleepwalkers (new), Rainbow Trip, Heavenland, Return, Aether, Machines, Promise, Eye of the Landscape (new).
It’s truly hard to know what to label Riverside’s latest release, EYE OF THE SOUNDSCAPE. I can, however, state the following with absolute certainty: it is a truly glorious thing. A thing of intense beauty. A thing I very proudly own. Two disks, 103 minutes of music, and great packaging. What more could one want from any album, let alone from a band as exceptional as Riverside?
Yet, EYE OF THE SOUNDSCAPE is not really a proper album, or at least an album with all new tracks. Of the thirteen tracks on this album, only four are new. The other nine come from previous Riverside releases, generally from the special editions. What holds them together is the ambient and electronic quality of each song.
But, wait. . . isn’t that what Lunatic Soul is for? Duda’s more experimental side?
Here’s the best way to sum up the new Neal Morse Band album.
Every one of Neal Morse’s post-Spock’s Beard album seemed to get better and better: TESTIMONY; ONE; ?; LIFELINE; TESTIMONY 2; and MOMENTUM. With the exception of SOLA SCRIPTURA, Morse seemed incapable of making a mistake. Though I dislike SOLA SCRIPTURA not only for its themes and lyrics and for its music being over-the-top bombast, I was certainly willing to forgive these problems — especially given the honest spirit in which the album was written, produced, and performed.
What about THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM, then?
Continue reading “Neal Morse, Superstar: The Similitude of a Dream”
With the first step into the Majestic Theater in San Antonio one crosses the threshold into a magical space, like entering a ride at a theme park. The original 1920s tiled floors direct your paces into the main theater with beautifully sculpted dark wood lining the walls, railings, ceilings, and staircases. Ornate chandeliers illuminate the space and the main theater is adorned in its entirety with an elaborate stucco relief which includes birds and vases and spiraling banisters. It’s a sight to behold. My fondest concert memories are from this incredible place.
Something about the Majestic’s dramatic architectural collage made it the perfect setting for the music of Yes performed nearly fifty years after the band’s creation. That it would be performed by the band’s founding member—arguably the soul of Yes—Jon Anderson, along with his concertmaster, ringmaster, and erstwhile musical genius Rick Wakeman, and guitarist/composer extraordinaire Trevor Rabin, made it a concert for the ages.
Opening with the track that began the joining of Rabin to Yes, the band rolled in with the rocking instrumental “Cinema” from 90125: Rabin in a slim-fit coat and slacks looking like he might have stepped off of the photo shoot from the Beatle’s Sergeant Pepper’s album, and Wakeman dramatically strolling onto the stage in his iconic cape and tennis shoes and settling in behind his mission control deck of nine keyboards. This served as the band’s intro, much in the same way that Stravisky’s Firebird Suite had in past concerts. The stage is set, the band are playing…
Juliette Lewis’ new EP, Future Deep, is out this weekend and, clocking in at 25 minutes, this deadly dagger of an album is absolutely superb, unleashing a furious blast of both highly satisying and highly innovate rock and roll.
Tracks 1 and 5, “Any Way You Want” and “Hello Hero,” were released as singles earlier this year, in September and April, respectively. Juliette also played these two tracks on her live tour this year. I was fortunate enough to catch the sold out show at the end of her tour (on September 14, 2016) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where she also played the same two tracks live.
Continue reading “Juliette Lewis — Future Deep (EP) ★★★★★ @JulietteLewis”
Canadian guitar god Rik Emmett’s new release Res 9 contains two songs with fellow Canuck Alex Lifeson: “Human Race” and “End of the Line.”
James LaBrie also sings with Rik on two tracks: “Sing” and “End of the Line.”
There’s also a bonus track where Rik reunites with his old bandmates from Canada’s classic metal band Triumph, Gil Moore and Mike Levine: “Grand Parade.”
You can watch the album trailer below, as well as both of the songs with Lifeson in their entirety.
Lifeson takes the third guitar solo on “End of the Line.” He also plays a Rickenbacker 12-string on “Human Race.”
Hailing frrom Wiesbaden in Germany, Unprocessed have been around since 2013, and for the period of these three years they managed to put two releases: 2014’s full-length “In Concretion,” and last month’s brand new EP “Perception.”
Unprocessed play a brand of djent/progressive metal, combining ambient elements and delicately played clean layers over top of the stuttering and stabbing rhythms set in place by Meshuggah and SikTh. The difference is, the music feels much more lush and organic, setting themselves apart from the very mechanical sounding contemporaries who follow a similar formula. While the melodic djent thing isn’t new, Unprocessed manage to sound unique and fresh, thanks to the atmospheres and singing.
The vocal work, courtesy of Manuel Gardner Fernandes, on “Perception” is superb, sounding like a much more competent and versatile Chester Bennington (meaning no disrespect, I absolutely love his singing voice.) The soaring vocal melodies and lyrics will definitely embed themselves in your memory. The screaming vocals are few and far between, but when they show up, they are in the right place and sound, once again, like Chester Bennington and maybe a touch of Chad Gray back when he could still scream worth a damn.
The guitar work is split between the dry and low polyrhythmic chugs and clean and melodic layering for ambiance. These two styles fit together in perfect harmony and create some wonderful soundscapes and textures. The bass is also very present in the mix, which is an added touch of brilliance. You can hear it slapping and popping along throughout the EP, even taking a few moments here and there to be the focal point of the music from time to time. Listen to numbers like “Ocean of Silence” or “Perspective,” and you’ll catch it. Oh, and the drumming is actually real, which is a nice change of pace for a genre that likes to program everything or play it through an electronic kit. This is one of the contributing factors for the EP not sounding like an overproduced machine.
As for the musical composition, “Perception” does feel like one song and flows through tracks logically when things take a change in pace or theme. Unprocessed can definitely demand the attention of the listener without having to drop a solo every few minutes. These guys know what they’re doing.
With the release of “Perception,” Unprocessed have moved out of the periphery (no pun intended) and into focus. If Unprocessed can come up with this great music in the course of a half-an-hour EP, we are in for a treat when their next full-length is out.
Get a copy of “Perception” from Bandcamp here. Unprocessed are on Facebook, give them a like.
My favorite person in U.S. government–the only man who understands the Constitution and the American Founding. We already knew he loved Rush, but now we find out he also loves Pink Floyd. Thank you to Rob Olson for sending this to me. God bless, prog. God bless, Rand Paul!
Resurrection is the second studio album of Geoff Tate’s project named Operation: Mindcrime, and is also part two of a trilogy story. The music is very catchy rock and metal, alternated with more progressive moments and twists, and contains the recognizable voice of mister Tate. The production isn’t too good sadly. Most of time it […]
via Operation: Mindcrime – Resurrection (2016) — Grendel HeadQuarters
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