The Bardic Depths “Promises of Hope” out June 24th

On By kruekuttIn progressive rock1 Comment

From Prog Magazine:

Melodic prog rock outfit The Bardic Depths have unveiled a new-look line-up as they announce they will release their second album, Promises Of Hope, through Gravity Dream Music in June 24. You can watch a video teaser for the new album below.

The band, led by multi-instrumentalist Dave Bandana also originally featured noted US historian Brad Birzer, who many here will know from the respected Progarchy website. Birzer once again has devised the concept for the new album, which centres around the horrors of suicide and the possibilities of redemption.

The new line-up sees Tiger Moth Tales/Camel man Pete Jones join the band, who were the very first signing to Gravity Dream Music last year, alongside Gareth Cole (Paul Menel/ Fractal Mirror) and Tim Gehrt (The Streets/ Steve Walsh). As previously the core band are ably supported by a number of guest performances including Robin Armstrong (Cosmograf) who also co-produces the album.

“Our two Bards this time are Virgil and C.S Lewis who both wrote about the complexities of suicide,” says Bandana. “However, our story is simple in that a young queen tries to kill herself but Heaven will not allow it and instead offers redemption. The listener can decide the outcome.”

“Working with everyone again was a joy. Gareth, Peter and Tim contributed to every track and it was a logical conclusion to ask them to become The Bardic Depths band. I didn’t want this album to sound the same as the first. Essentially it is a prog album but with a few surprises. I let the music flow where it wanted as the guys contributions were added to the palette and I think we have created a diverse and absorbing album.”

Preorder Promises of Hope from Gravity Dream Music. The CD will also be available through The Band Wagon USA.

— Rick Krueger

We Still Have Time – Marillion’s Message of Hope: “An Hour Before It’s Dark”

On By Bryan MoreyIn progressive rock6 Comments

marillion-ahbitd-1Marillion, An Hour Before It’s Dark, March 4, 2022
Tracks: Be Hard On Yourself (i. “The Tear in the Big Picture, ii. Lust for Luxury, iii. You Can Learn) (9:27), Reprogram the Gene (i. Invincible, ii. Trouble-Free Life, iii. A Cure for Us?) (7:00), Only a Kiss (0:39), Murder Machines (4:20), The Crow and the Nightingale (6:35), Sierra Leone (i. Chance in a Million, ii. The White Sand, iii. The Diamond, iv. The Blue Warm Air, v. More Than a Treasure) (10:51) Care (i. Maintenance Drugs, ii. An Hour Before It’s Dark, iii. Every Cell, iv. Angels on Earth) (15:18)

I may not be the most avid Marillion fan in the world, but of all the bands out there making music, they force me into deep reflection more than anyone else besides Devin Townsend. But where Devin Townsend forces me to be introspective, Marillion draws me outside myself. I disagree with their politics, yet generally I’ve found their perspective and the way they present it to be helpful in drawing me out of my own bubble. Their 2016 album, F.E.A.R., was a masterpiece in that regard, and it has been an album that has stuck with me since its release. I’m not ready to say that their latest record An Hour Before It’s Dark is on that level, but it is very good. I expect it will grow on me as time goes by. I’ve been slowly digesting it for a few weeks now, and I’ve been compelled to return to it more than any other album in that time.

Musically there are few bands that can match Marillion. Steve Rothery is one of the finest guitarists in the business. Pete Trewavas’s bass booms throughout, taking a primary role in various parts of the mix. Ian Mosley’s drums will no doubt win him awards, and Mark Kelly’s keyboards round out the Marillion sound. This is an album that sounds like a Marillion album. In many regards it sounds very similar to F.E.A.R. It’s a continuation, not a progression, but what did we expect? Marillion is doing what they do best, and who would fault them for that?

At first glance An Hour Before It’s Dark appears to be a rather dark album, although Steve Hogarth says despite the lyrical themes, the album is rather upbeat. I agree in part. There are dark and brooding elements of the music that are a lot like F.E.A.R, but there are also peppy tracks that defy their lyrical doom. “Murder Machines” is about the frustrations during Covid of not being able to be near loved ones for fear of killing them with love.

I put my arms around her
And I killed her with love
I killed her with love

Marillion – “Murder Machines” – YouTube

The opening track, “Be Hard on Yourself,” is a cutting critique of our culture of excess. The band extol the listener to “Be hard on yourself / You’ve been spoilt for years.” Like much of Marillion’s catalog, the melody and lyrics work their way into your ears. It’s catchy, yet the music is still unashamedly progressive. On the musical side of things, Kelly’s keyboards are particularly noticeable on this track. Hogarth’s signature style of speak-singing is in full force, bringing the lyrics into the forefront.

Cause of death: Lust for luxury
Cause of death: Consumption

The first two sections of the track examine the culture of consumption, but in the final section Hogarth offers a solution: get up and do something positive. He ends the song with such a call:

You can do better
You can do better
But do it now

We haven’t got long
We haven’t got long
To the end of the song

Be hard on yourself

Strap in
Get ready
Foot down
Push the button
Blow it all up
Blow it all up

Paint a picture, sing a song, plant some flowers in the park
Get out and make it better
You’ve got an hour before it’s dark…

As the late David Longdon told Progarchy last summer, “That’s the beauty of being human, we don’t get forever.” Make a change before it’s too late. Say a kind word, or at the least don’t say that unkind word. Lend a helping hand. We all can make a difference before it gets dark. The hope in this message alone makes the album worth listening to.

Continue reading “We Still Have Time – Marillion’s Message of Hope: “An Hour Before It’s Dark”” →

The Best Prog Bands You’ve Never Heard Of (Part Thirty-Four): Fuzzy Duck

On By Connor MullinIn progressive rock4 Comments

Don’t let the afro and fringed pouch fool you: Fuzzy Duck packs quite a punch. Hailing from England, this rare bird of a band managed to release only one album before falling into obscurity. Like Steppenwolf and Atomic Rooster, Fuzzy Duck produced organ-driven music with an edge to it. Here are some of the highlights:

The opening number “Time Will Be Your Doctor” begins with a groovy bass line and drum beat courtesy of bassist Mick Hawksworth and drummer Paul Francis, who provide a solid foundation throughout the album. Guitarist Graham White and organist Roy Sharland also show off their chops on their respective instruments, and it is the latter two gentlemen who truly carry this album.

“Mrs. Proust,” the following piece, will probably remind many listeners of Steppenwolf’s “Magic Carpet Ride”: Sharland shreds on the organ during a superb solo, but White is never far removed from the scene with his crunchy, distorted guitar providing an extra edge to this song.

White does his best work on “Country Boy,” a dynamic song that has a “rushing through the city” feel to it. Robin Trower’s influence can be heard on this – arguably their heaviest – track.

The album closes with the tongue-in-cheek “A Word from Big D,” an organ-led instrumental punctuated with (somewhat annoying) duck calls. It doesn’t hold up well compared to the other tracks on the album, but it’s not the worst attempt at levity I’ve ever heard.

Aficionados of organ-driven hard rock and prog – especially Vincent Crane’s work in Atomic Rooster and Goldy McJohn’s in Steppenwolf – will appreciate this solid effort. It may not blow anyone away, but as far as early proto-metal bands go, Fuzzy Duck is one of those under-appreciated worth a listen or two.

Stay tuned for number thirty-five!

Album Review – Fairy Tale’s “That Is The Question”

On By Bryan MoreyIn Ambient, art rock, Atmospheric rock, progressive rockLeave a comment

a0043426731_10Fairy Tale, That Is The Question, 2021
Tracks: Wasting The Sound 1 (1:36), That Is The Question (3:48), Time Heals Nothing (4:37), Wasting The Sound 2 (1:42), Wake Up (4:13), Girl Of The Opera (3:24), Wise Men Keep Silent (5:00), Wasting The Sound 3 (1:14), Sophie (11:19), Dot (0:24)

While Slovakia’s Fairy Tale may be a new band to Progarchy, the group has a long history making music dating back to the mid 1990s. The longtime project of Peter Kravec has seen a couple iterations, but the current version was created in 2003 when Kravec met singer Barbora Koláriková. They have since made five albums, including this one, released at the end of October 2021. Kravec plays guitars and produced the record, and Koláriková plays bass guitar in addition to handling all the vocals. They are joined by drummer L’ubomír Pavelka, and Marek Škvarenin and Adam Lukáč play keyboards on various tracks. 

The album ranges in tone from ambient and electronic sounds to a harder progressive rock edge. The band describes themselves as art rock and prog with elements of ambient. At under forty minutes, it’s a short record, which means the disparate sounds of ambient music with heavier rock sometimes clash, although I don’t think the album is necessarily meant to be a concept album. 

2014APR05-20-300x208

The heavier parts of this record, such as the title track, have a very upbeat tempo, which contrasts with the more ambient elements. With that said, even the title track has a deeper moment with heavy bass and an overlay of Fripp-Like guitar. This smoothly blends into “Time Heals Nothing,” which opens with quieter keyboards and clean electric guitar. 

The strongest part of the record comes in the second half of “Time Heals Nothing,” which features a seriousness and an intensity in the music and the lyrical delivery that is more pronounced than on other songs. The song gradually builds towards the end into a wonderful “wall of sound” effect, which blends the ambient with the rock in a seamless way. I also think this song also has the best lyrics of the album. It deals with themes of joy and suffering, forgiveness and grace. There is an element of nihilism in the second half of the song, which can be gleaned from the title. For example:

Souls are burning
And we are boring
Time heals nothing

Souls are burning
Knowledge is boring
Time heals nothing

The electric guitar opening to “Wise Men Keep Silent” has a soothing atmospheric quality that reflects the shorter instrumental tracks, although these more ambient qualities are not tied in throughout as well as they could be. “Wise Men Keep Silent” demonstrates what Fairy Tale does best: ambient and atmospheric music sprinkled with rock influences. The instrumental track includes Barbora using her voice as an instrument, which adds a calming sensation. As I’ve been listening to Devin Townsend’s late 2021 ambient record, Snuggles (which I really should review at some point) recently, I’ll add that I hear similar elements in this song, as well as in other parts of That Is The Question.

At just over eleven minutes in length, “Sophie” is the epic of the album. It has a more electronic influence to it, and it allows the varying musical influences to dance with each other more so than on many of the other songs. There are moments where it feels disjointed, particularly in the transitions, but overall it works well. 

If the artwork looks familiar, that’s because it’s by the great Hugh Syme, who is perhaps most well known for his work with Rush. The artwork throughout the CD digipack is characteristic of his work, and it is quite good. It adds an extra layer of professionalism to the overall packaging. 

While the individual musical elements on the album are all quite good, I think the album could use a bit more focus, or a longer running time with extended songs that tie the various musical elements together better. The shorter songs help serve that purpose, but I’m not entirely convinced that their style of upbeat rock works with more melancholic ambient tones, apart from the ending of “Time Heals Nothing,” which addresses this concern very well. My concerns may be a matter of taste, however, and you should be the judge of that for yourself. Overall I still say the music is very good and worth checking out.

https://fairytaleartrock.bandcamp.com/album/that-is-the-question
https://fairytale.peterkravec.com
https://www.instagram.com/fairytale_artrock/
https://twitter.com/FairyT_artrock

Glass Hammer’s Steve Babb Releases Fantasy Novel

On By Bryan MoreyIn progressive rockLeave a comment

Glass Hammer seem to get better with age. Their most recent album, Skallagrim, is phenomenal. Now Steve Babb has released the first of four fantasy albums to go along with the fantasy story created in that album and in 2020 record Dreaming City.

From Babb’s website: “Stephen R. Babb’s novel, Skallagrim – In the Vale of Pagarna, is a deep dive into a world of epic fantasy. The book is a tale steeped in all of the classic elements of the Sword and Sorcery genre and will no-doubt delight fans of the work of Robert E. Howard, J.R.R. Tolkien, and C.S. Lewis (with maybe even a hint of H.P. Lovecraft for good measure).”

And those monsters saw not a young man with a sword but a scarred and screaming horror with the rising red doom of the sun at his back and a hellishly shrieking, flashing, living sword in his hands.

Read more over at Prog magazine: https://www.loudersound.com/news/glass-hammers-steve-babb-releases-debut-skallagrim-novel. Or read more about it at Steve Babb’s website: https://stephenrbabb.com/books/

Ego Path

On By Mahesh SreekandathIn Heavy metal, progressive rockLeave a comment

The Silent Wedding has covered this song called “Diamonds and Rust”, for almost everyone that means Joan Baez, but for ageing metalheads it simply channels mighty Judas Priest. We all have our own aesthetic preferences, and The Silent Wedding successfully appeals to those very classic metal predilections. That essentially means, Ego Path is rife with melody, neo-classical shredding, NWOBHM riffs, and all the other essential signatures reminding us of that classic lineage.

It’s that time-honored sonic tradition running from UFO and Judas Priest, to 80s British heavy metal, eventually mutating into that melodic power metal path via the great Ronnie James Dio. Obviously, all these influences are not complete without those omnipresent progressive tendencies. Add those clean vocals with adequate range, meandering melodic ballads, and passages tailored for arena rock — The Silent Wedding becomes that exquisite expedition every classic metal fan and prospective classic metal fan seek!

Rick’s Quick Takes for March

On By kruekuttIn art rock, Insideout Music, jazz, jazz rock, pop, progressive rock3 Comments

Lots of great music has crossed the metaphorical Progarchy transom this month! Purchasing links are embedded in each artist/title listing; album playlists or samples follow each review.

The Flower Kings, By Royal Decree: Fun fact: this is the third double album in a row from king of Kings Roine Stolt and his merry band. And like 2019’s Waiting for Miracles (which started the streak) it’s compulsively listenable from start to finish. Fresh out of lockdown, Stolt, singer Hasse Fröberg, keyboardist Zach Kamins, drummer Mirko deMaio and alternating bassists Jonas Reingold & Michael Stolt laid down 18 songs in the studio, negotiating the twists and turns of wildly varied material (some of which dates back to the early 1990s) with energy, precision and evident delight. Not a trace of metal here, and I hear much more psychedelia, fusion and Eurofunk in the mix than stereotypical “prog” — but to my ears, that’s what makes goodies like the unpredictable opener “The Great Pretender”, the ravishing ballads “A Million Stars” and “Silent Ways”, and the off-kilter eccentricity “Letter” so fresh and fun. There are plenty of serious lyrical moments too, as in “The Soldier” and “Revolution”; but, by and large, By Royal Decree is the sound of Stolt and company refreshed and revisiting their optimistic roots, soaring on the wings of one marvelous melody after another. It’s as much a joy to hear as it must have been to create.

Continue reading “Rick’s Quick Takes for March” →

Keith Emerson (2 Nov 1944 — 11 Mar 2016)

On By Time LordIn progressive rockLeave a comment

Remembering the great Keith Emerson (2 November 1944 — 11 March 2016)…

“There’s no end to my life
No beginning to my death”

Why not celebrate with this splendid box set featuring liner notes by the sagacious Jerry Ewing:

Updates to Riverside’s Upcoming Tour

On By Bryan MoreyIn progressive metalLeave a comment

Recently we shared news about Riverside’s upcoming North America tour. Sadly due to various logistical issues, the band have had to cancel the shows from the first half of the tour, but at least they were able to salvage a good portion of it. Here’s the latest from Inside Out:

RIVERSIDE – Announce revised North American tour dates
 Continuing the celebration of their 20th band-anniversary, Polish rock masters RIVERSIDE will soon embark on a comprehensive tour across North America and Latin America.

Unfortunately, the band have been forced to cancel some shows and are now announcing a revised, shorter tour schedule for North America.
The band shared this message:

“Dear Friends,

We have some bad and some good news.

The bad news is, for bureaucratic and logistic reasons beyond our control we cannot go to the USA in the first half of April 😦

Unfortunately, because of that, we have to cancel the shows from the first part of our tour:
Nashville (TN), Dallas (TX), Austin (TX), Phoenix (AZ), Pomona (CA), San Francisco (CA), Portland (OR), Seattle (WA) , Salt Lake City (UT), Boulder (CO) and St. Paul (MN).
Tickets will be refunded where you purchased them.

We want to apologise to everyone who has incurred additional travel expenses in connection with those concerts 😦  We promise to make it up to you with shows in…early 2023!

The good news is that we managed to save all shows from Chicago (IL) onwards. And, we were able to save the Atlanta (GA) date by moving the show to April 16. What’s more, we were able to add a last-minute show on April 18 in Cleveland (OH) at the Beachland Ballroom (on sale in the next few days)!

Please check the amended tour dates on the updated poster.

We are truly sorry about the whole mix-up. We were very close to cancelling the whole tour, but by some miracle, we managed to save at least a part of it, and we are definitely going to be there. We hope to meet as many of you as possible.

/ Riverside”

The complete list of upcoming RIVERSIDE dates announced so far reads as follows:

RIVERSIDE – North American Tour 2022
With special guests Keith Semple of The Cyberiam (for USA dates) & Randy McStine (for Canada dates)

April 16 Atlanta, GA – Hell at the Masquerade
April 18 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
April 19 Chicago, IL – Bottom Lounge
April 20 Detroit, MI – Magic Stick
April 22 Toronto, ON – The Opera House
April 23 Montreal, QC – Corona Theatre
April 24 Quebec City, QC – Imperial Bell
April 25 Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair
April 27 New York, NY – Gramercy Theatre
April 28 New Haven, CT – Toad’s Place
April 29 Philadelphia, PA – World Cafe Live
April 30 Baltimore, MD – Baltimore SoundStage

May 2-7 Port Canaveral, FL – Cruise to the Edge
https://cruisetotheedge.com
RIVERSIDE – Latin American Tour 2022
May 8 Mexico City, Mexico – Auditorio Blackberry
May 10 Guadalajara, Mexico – C3
May 13 Santiago, Chile – Teatro Teleton
May 15 São Paulo, Brasil – Carioca Club

Album Review: Barry Kuzay’s “The Movers of the World”

On By Bryan MoreyIn Heavy metal, progressive rockLeave a comment

Barry Kuzay - The Movers of the WorldBarry Kuzay, The Movers of the World, 2021
Tracks: Overture 2021 (2:43), The Movers of the World (6:20), Alone in the Mountains (8:28), The Virtues of Greed (9:09), The Pirate (7:26), The Twentieth Century Motor Company (12:33), Who is John Galt? (2:45), Enigmatic Engine (4:21), Wyatt’s Torch (5:27), Superspreader [bonus track] (2:57)

Barry Kuzay may be an unknown name in the music world, but that doesn’t mean he’s without talent. A civil engineer from northern Wisconsin by day, Kuzay rocks out by night. His 2021 album, The Movers of the World, is a concept album based upon Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. The record has a classic heavy metal sound with elements of thrash and power metal.

Kuzay wrote the album, sings the vocals, and plays guitar, and his brother Ben plays bass. Drums are played by Matt Thompson of King Diamond, and there are a few other guest vocalists playing particular parts on the album. Kuzay has two styles of singing on the album. His quieter vocals are not as strong as his full on heavy metal vocals. When he sings his heart out, he sounds like Dee Snider. That grit works perfectly for this music and makes for an enjoyable listening experience.

Tim “Ripper” Owens (lead singer for Judas Priest in the late 90s and early 2000s) provides guest vocals on “Wyatt’s Torch,” and he has some epic metal shrieks that provide a classic thrash sound. This may be the best track on the album. Since this is the final track in the story, the album goes out on a high note.

Barry Kuzay – Wyatt’s Torch – YouTube

Musically the album rocks. There are symphonic elements that layer on top of the pounding drums and shredding guitars. This gives the album a bit of a European power metal flair. There are quieter tracks that help move the story along, but the album is at its best in its heavy metal moments. There are some clever musical moments, as well. The opening of “Enigmatic Engine” has a really cool guitar, bass, and drum riff that sounds like a steam engine. It’s a fun instrumental track that manages to move the story along, even without lyrics.

I haven’t read Ayn Rand, but I’m at least vaguely familiar with her views and her works, which have influenced other progressive rock albums, most notably Rush’s career-saving masterpiece 2112. There arguably hasn’t been a more fitting time than now to adapt Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged since 2112 and the economic malaise of the late 1970s. Things are far worse now. In fact they’re worse now than they were when Kuzay wrote and recorded this album in 2020 and early 2021. [I’ll spare you the long rant I wrote about how and why America is on the verge of total collapse.]

All this to say that many elements of Kuzay’s musical adaptation of Rand’s novel directly apply to contemporary society. Sometimes you forget that this is actually telling a story and not commenting on modern events, although I suspect this is intentional on Kuzay’s part. The lyrics are well-written, and thus the story he tells is compelling and rewards on repeated listens.

The bonus track might tick some people off, but I love it. Kuzay pulls no punches, and he says what’s on his mind. I agree with him completely, and it’s nice to finally hear someone in the music world go against the narrative. The song has a great drum intro too, reminiscent of classic thrash metal.

I also want to mention that the album artwork is great throughout the CD booklet. The art is science fiction and steampunk-themed, which fits the story. I’m guessing Kuzay spent quite a bit to have the artwork done, because it looks like something from a big-budget album. Definitely pick up the CD, if you’re so inclined.

Give The Movers of the World a spin. The production quality punches far above its weight as an independent release, and the album is enjoyable on repeated listens.

Buy the album at http://themoversoftheworld.com.

Barry Kuzay – The Movers of the World (full album) – YouTube