Greg Spawton RTs the awesome link!
Bands You Shouldn’t Miss – Part II
Last month we started this new “bands for the future” feature on the website, and this post is the second article in the series. For the first part, please check this location. Here are another five bands for the future that you should start following now! Shepherds of Cassini (New Zealand) The band from New…
http://www.prog-sphere.com/specials/bands-you-shouldnt-miss-part-two/
Shepherds of Cassini – Helios Forsaken
Shepherds of Cassini is a post metal/psychedelic-prog rock band hailing from New Zealand. This young group has very promising sound and the bright future based on the music they create. It’s the moment where talent beats experience. This year, Shepherds of Cassini returned with the release of their second studio album titled “Helios Forsaken.” The…
http://www.prog-sphere.com/reviews/shepherds-cassini-helios-forsaken/
Earthside – “A Dream in Static”
Read about the immense debut album from Earthside.
http://theprogmind.com/2015/10/12/earthside-a-dream-in-static/
Saxon – BBC in Concert (23rd August 1986) (Review)
Only a year had passed since Saxon’s 1985 Hammersmith show was broadcast on BBC Radio but Saxon invaded the UK’s airwaves yet again as their headlining slot at 1986’s Reading Festival was recorded for broadcast on the BBC Friday Rock Show. The band were touring to promote the imminent release of the Rock the Nations […]
http://heavymetaloverload.com/2015/10/12/saxon-bbc-in-concert-23rd-august-1986-review/
P.O.D. and Insane Clown Posse Tour
P.O.D. CONTINUES HEADLINING TREK IN SUPPORT OF THE AWAKENING
JOINING INSANE CLOWN POSSE’S MISSING LINK TOUR IN OCTOBER
33-City North American Tour Begins September 8 in San Francisco
(Los Angeles, CA) August 26, 2015 – Holiday wishes will come early for P.O.D.’s devout following as the GRAMMY®-nominated SoCal hard-rockers plan to spend the fall on the road with more than 33 dates confirmed so far, including a run of dates with Insane Clown Posse! P.O.D. have tapped South Carolina quartet Islander for support after Labor Day when they return to the road beginning on September 8th at San Francisco’s DNA Lounge. For October they join Insane Clown Posse beginning October 3 for Rob Zombie’s Halloween at the Odeum Expo Center in Chicago. Tickets for the October run with ICP go onsale this Friday, August 28 – for more information visit www.payableondeath.com.
P.O.D. just released their ninth studio album, The Awakening (T-Boy/UMe), last Friday with multiple sold out shows, first single “This Goes Out To You” has gone Top 15 at Active Rock radio, with huge support from the rock community:
“I expect arena rock ready hit single ‘This Goes Out To You’ to be heard in the PA system of every NFL stadium this fall.” – Ghost Cult
“The Awakening” is full of solid individual tracks but a meaningfully in depth body of work when listened to form start to finish.” – Backseat Mafia
“Not a dud in the lot,…this is very strong, melodic and intelligent stuff.” – rock nyc
“The lyrical content and storytelling capabilities of the band are exceedingly fantastic.” (grade A) – the rock office
“[The Awakening] is sure to be considered of their best records to date and it will resonate with listeners now and for generations to come.” (5 out of 5 stars) – Cryptic Rock
“Not many bands pull off a really great concept album and any P.O.D. fan should be extremely happy that even nine albums in are still going strong with this bold, bulky and expressive album.” – Backseat Mafia
P.O.D. (Payable on Death) formed in San Diego, CA, in 1992, and has since charted their own course with worldwide sales exceeding 10 million, hugely successful international tours, and a series of chart-topping radio hits. Over the span of two decades they have released eight studio albums of original songs – including the triple-platinum Satellite – seen chart success with more than a dozen Rock radio hits, including “Southtown,” “Alive,” “Youth of the Nation,” and “Boom,” the Active Rock hit “Beautiful” and their No. 1 single, “Lost In Forever,” received three GRAMMY Award® nominations, and racked up four No. 1 music videos. The band has also contributed songs to numerous major motion picture soundtracks. P.O.D. is Sonny Sandoval (vocals), Marcos Curiel (guitar), Traa Daniels (bass) and Wuv Bernardo (drums). The members of P.O.D. are also active members of a tight-knit music community, collaborating on their own records as well as others’, including Katy Perry, H.R. (Bad Brains), Mike Muir (Suicidal Tendencies), Sen Dog (Cypress Hill), and more. P.O.D. are currently supporting the release of their ninth studio album, The Awakening (T-Boy/Ume).
# # #
DATE CITY VENUE
September 8 DNA Lounge** San Francisco, CA
September 10 Hawthorne Theatre** Portland, OR
September 11 Hi Fi Music Hall** Eugene, OR
September 12 El Corazon** Seattle, WA
September 13 The Venue** Vancouver
September 15 The Ranch** Edmonton, Alberta
September 16 The Pump Roadhouse** Regina, Saskatchewan
September 17 Marquee** Calgary, Alberta
September 18 Stage 112** Missoula, MT
September 20 Knitting Factory** Boise, ID
September 22 Senator Theatre** Chico, CA
September 23 Strummer’s** Fresno, CA
September 24 Fat Cat* Modesto, CA
September 25 M15 Concert Bar & Grill* Corona, CA
October 3 Odeum Expo Center
– Rob Zombie Halloween (w/ICP) Chicago, IL
October 4 Agora Ballroom (w/ICP) Cleveland, OH
October 5 Water Street Music Hall (w/ICP) Rochester, NY
October 7 The Electric Factory (w/ICP) Philadelphia, PA
October 9 Tremont Music Hall (w/ICP) Charlotte, NC
October 10 Music Vault (w/ICP) Hardeeville, SC
October 11 Beach Blvd Concert Hall (w/ICP) Jacksonville, FL
October 12 The Orpheum (w/ICP) Tampa, FL
October 14 Vinyl Music Hall (w/ICP) Pensacola, FL
October 16 Clicks* Tyler, TX
October 17 Buzzfest* –
Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Houston, TX
October 18 Southside Ballroom (w/ICP) Dallas, TX
October 21 The Observatory (w/ICP) Santa Ana, CA
October 22 Northside Park Theater (w/ICP) San Diego, CA
October 24 Aftershock Festival* Discovery Park, Sacramento, CA
October 25 The Complex (w/ICP) Salt Lake City, UT
October 27 The Cotillion (w/ICP) Wichita, KS
October 30 Newport Music Hall (w/ICP) Columbus, OH
October 31 The Fillmore (w/ICP) Detroit, MI
* P.O.D. solo dates
** Islander to support
(w/ICP) – Dates with Insane Clown Posse
The prog of the future!
Whoa, does this ever look awesome…
And how about that headline at the top center?
“Steve Harris: ‘I remember the day Gabriel left Genesis. I was devastated.’ Iron Maiden man reveals his prog rock heart!”
Indeed. You can heart that prog heart beating loud and clear on the new Iron Maiden album, The Book of Souls.
In my humble opinion, it is the greatest achievement of Iron Maiden’s career.
The songs are uniformly excellent, from start to finish, and there’s so much prog splendor in the instrumental attacks that you can scarcely catch your breath.
If you haven’t heard it, download it today and make it part of your regular playlist!
It’s awesome. And now it’s very cool to know that the inspiration of Genesis had a remote hand in it…
Galahad’s SOLIDARITY: When Live is Even Better than Studio
Galahad, SOLIDARITY: LIVE IN KONIN (2015). Tracks: Salvation I and II; Guardian Angel; Empires Never Last; Secret Kingdoms and Secret Worlds; Singularity; Beyond the Barbed Wire; This Life Could Be My Last; Sleepers; Guardian Angel (reprise); Painted Lady; Seize the Day.
Birzer rating: blissfully stunned.
Sheesh. What to say? What to write? Today is the release date of Galahad’s latest live album, SOLIDARITY: LIVE IN KONIN. As with all live albums, of course, these are songs that had been perfected in the studio and on the mixing boards. Our ears become rather use to these things of perfection. And, certainly, few modern prog bands sound as good as Galahad when it comes to the studio releases. It’s clear that the band comes together in amazing ways, all songs perfectly nurtured and engineered.
I wasn’t, however, quite sure how Galahad’s more recent music would translate live, though I know the band possesses a rather strong reputation as a live act. As I understand it from my British and European friends, this comes from 1) the tightness of the band; and 2) the rather natural showmanship of Stu Nicholson.
Well, let me just state as bluntly as possible: SOLIDARITY is a gorgeous album. Not only does the music sound every bit as good as on the studio albums, but Galahad clearly has some fun playing around with live sounds. Additionally, the band has crafted a concert that has has much art to it as any placement of the tracks on a studio album. That is, SOLIDARITY sounds like something beautifully crafted as an album, in and of itself. It’s akin to a brand new studio release. The positioning of tracks allows the band to present a long and relatively coherent story. The placement of “Guardian Angel” toward the beginning and the end of the concert But, most of all, it’s Nicholson’s voice that stands out on SOLIDARITY. If anything, he sounds even better live than he does in the studio! And, this is about the highest praise I could give any vocalist.
The prog rock world is not only different from what it was a decade ago, but it’s also significantly different from just two years ago. Galahad has made its own style of music since 1985, and the band has continued to hone that sound in vastly creative ways.
Long live, Galahad!
Journeys Through Beauty and Honesty: Kinetic Element’s TRAVELOG
Kinetic Element: Mike Visaggio (keys and vocals); Michael Murray (drums and vocals); Todd Russell (guitars); and Mark Tupko (bass).
Travelog tracks: War Song; Travelog; Into the Lair; Her; and Vision.
Birzer rating: Mysterious and perfect
If I had to put a label on this. . . I would label it. . . .
As much as I hate labels and labeling as forms of dismissal, I also recognize how important labels can be for finding context. Every once in a while, I find a thing that is so beautiful it defies any labels or categorization. Such is the new Kinetic Element album, TRAVELOG. I’ve had a review copy for about 2 weeks, and I’ve enjoyed every listen. Yes, every single one. Indeed, “enjoy” is simply too weak. This is an absolutely incredible album at every level.
For some reason, as I listen, I can’t get fanciful mergers and conglomerations out of my head. TRAVELOG could be, an Americanized Flower Kings album. This is what comes to mind most frequently. Yet, I hear elements of Zebra and Saga and Triumph and Glass Hammer. There’s psychedelia and folk and prog. Lots and lots of prog. No one would mistake this as anything other than a very authentic American expression of prog. But, what kind of prog?
If early Styx wrote A TRICK OF THE TAIL. If 1971 Allman Brothers wrote TORMATO. If 1975 Kansas wrote the one and only Blind Faith album. Yes, it’s this last one that fits best. If you can imagine Livgren and co writing and performing “Do What You Like,” you’ll start to get the idea of Kinetic Element.
I love this album. It’s a thing of intense and meandering beauty. Just as the title of the album suggests, TRAVELOG is a journey through the dark night of the soul, finding doubts but also vistas of joy and, amazingly, patriotism.
Though over 20 minutes long, “War Song,” the opening track to the album, pulls the listener into the journey, full immersion, demanding a complete surrender of the will. Though dominated by instrumental excursions—all heavenly—the minimal appearance of the lyrics makes the vocals all the more important. The protagonist must choose between his love of country and his love of a specific woman. Nothing is easy, and the choices demands sacrifice. The listener feels every aspect of the pain the man goes through in his decision.
Track two stunned me. A reworking of “America the Beautiful,” the song made me cynically wonder at what point would the band proclaim the irony of what they’re doing. There is no such irony. These guys absolutely mean what they say: America is beautiful, and we denigrate it at our own peril. Honestly, as an American who rather proudly came of age in the 1980s in Kansas, I’ve not felt this proud to be American since 1989. Thank you, Kinetic Element. This is a song that could’ve gone wrong at every point. It never does.
The third track, “Into the Lair,” is a cry against conformity, mediocrity, and a duplicitous Leviathan. A new voice takes the lead vocals, a more folky version of Glass Hammer’s Suzie Bogdanowicz.
Track four, “Her” begins with unrelentingly romantic keys, but the lyrics reveals that the woman is not all she seems on the surface, seeking to devour her prey.
The final track, “Vision of a New Dawn,” is almost as long as the first track and certainly as epic. Lyrically, it’s an anthem, a call for integrity, openness, and honesty. This is Kinetic Element at its most Peartian.
To purchase the album, please go here: http://melodicrevolutionrecords.com/album/travelog
A final note, it wasn’t until I’d finished this review that I realized that Steve Babb and Fred Schendel mixed this album. A lot more makes sense now—all to the good!
Musical Memories, Day 2: Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor
Musical memory day 2. My great friend, Tobbe Janson, nominated me to offer seven days of musical memories. On day one, I talked about my love of two songs as a little kid: the theme from the Banana Splits and Snoopy and the Red Baron.
As I’ve mentioned before, I grew up in a house where music always played and albums littered (in a very Germanic, organized fashion!) the walls, the shelves, and the vinyl boxes. All music was accepted in our house: classical; opera; jazz; rock; prog; pop; and even musicals. The latter two, admittedly, did the least for me, while I cherished the others.
This memory, however, comes not from the Great Plains of Kansas as a child but from Innsbruck, Austria, as a sophomore in college. That year (July 1987-July 1988), I spent at the University of Innsbruck with several close friends, including current Facebook friends, Jim Otteson and Liz Bardwell. Kevin McCormick was spending the same year in Rome.
This memory is intimately tied up with the place, but it is also tied up with my soul. Sometime around the age of 13, I had decided I was an atheist or agnostic, and I became rather militant about it. Without getting into the nitty gritty of it all, let me just state here and now that I was rather proud of my atheism, despite the the rather brilliant witness example of my extended family members and the continuing but very patient arguments about this with Kevin McCormick. I found God on a train in the deserts of Morocco in late February, 1988. Or, He found me.
When I made my way back to Innsbruck, I decided to attend high Mass at St. Jakob’s. I was a minute or two late on a Sunday morning, and it was during an opening moment of silence. At the end of that pregnant pause, the immense choir erupted into Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor. I’m not sure I’d ever heard anything that beautiful or beatific in my life. Though I’d always loved Mozart, his music had been just that: music. Never had I heard it integrated into worship. My soul soared at those opening coral notes, and I don’t think I’ve been the same. When people tell me that Mass is a glimpse of heaven and I hear bad folk guitar playing the tripe of Marty Haugen or Dan Schutte, I cringe. Surely, God has more class than this.
When I heard Mozart. . . then, I heard heaven.
Progarchy 