Table of contents for Issue 143 in Prog

The Fierce & The Dead formed 13 years ago in London with Kevin Feazey (vocals/bass), Matt Stevens (guitar/keys), Steve Cleaton (guitar) and Stuart Marshall (drums). Originally an instrumental band, in recent years Feazey has taken on the role of lead vocalist, adding a new dimension to their sound. They mix in elements from post-rock, psychedelic rock, old metal records, prog, broken analogue synths and shoegaze. Their latest album News From The Invisible World has received widespread critical acclaim and had more than 90,000 streams on Spotify in the week of release. Their favourite description of the band’s sound is “Talk Talk playing Black Sabbath songs”. TFATD have a loyal cult following centred around their Facebook group, Fierce Army. To date, they’ve released four albums, four EPs and three live albums,…

A RIGHT CARRY ON WITH ROG Jolly good show, Julian Marszalek, for calling out Rogers Waters in the live review in Prog 142: a man not frightened to say what many were thinking. Having attended the Manchester show, the music was great, especially the firepower of Dogs. But I can’t help thinking how much was often childish, churlish and naïve: the Gilmour omissions, the onslaught of sloganeering and the thought that Roger seems to have turned into the old man in the supermarket who complains in a stage whisper, but within earshot of the staff, about the cost of a loaf. The trick seemed to be to switch off between songs and try to take with a pinch of salt or filter out the assorted propaganda that was hard to…

German–Dutch prog outfit Subsignal (right) release their sixth album A Poetry Of Rain on Gentle Art Of Music/Soulfood on September 22. It will be available on coloured vinyl. CD and via streaming. See www.subsignalband.com. Space rockers Hawklords blast off with their 10th studio album SPACE via Shellshock Distribution on September 29 and it’s dedicated to those “who choose to explore space on their own terms.” See www.facebook.com/TheHawklords. Newly signed to White Knight Records, This Winter Machine release their fourth album The Clockwork Man on October 6. The record features new members Leigh Perkins (keys) and John Cook on guitar. For more, see thiswintermachine.net.…

The prog top 30 albums August 2023 Compiled by 1 MUSE Will Of The People (WARNER/HELIUM-3) 2 STRAWBS The Magic Of It All (ESOTERIC) 3 ROGER WATERS The Lockdown Sessions (SONY MUSIC) 4 PINK FLOYD Animals (2018 Remix) (PINK FLOYD RECORDS/RHINO) 5 MIKE OLDFIELD Tubular Bells – 50th Anniversary Edition (UMC) 6 KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD PetroDragonic Apocalypse (KGLW) 7 VOYAGER Fearless In Love (SEASON OF MIST) 8 POLYPHIA Remember That You Will Die (RISE) 9 TAME IMPALA Lonerism (FICTION) 10 JETHRO TULL RökFlöte (INSIDEOUTMUSIC) 11 YES Mirror To The Sky (INSIDEOUTMUSIC) 12 SIGUR RÓS Átta (BMG) 13 VOIVOD Morgoth Tales (CENTURY MEDIA) 14 FRANK ZAPPA Funky Nothingness (UMC) 15 SWANS The Beggar (MUTE) 16 GENTLE GIANT Interview (CHRYSALIS) 17 NMB An Evening Of Innocence & Danger –…

WHEN AN ARTIST releases their debut album, they usually do so with little expectation weighed down upon them. But by the time Sicily-born guitarist Matteo Mancuso had written and recorded his first album, The Journey, he had Steve Vai and Tosin Abasi doting on his talents. “It puts a lot of pressure on you,” he says with a mix of awe and fear, “but it’s a dream come true. All I want to do with my life is play and make music.” As the guitarist began uploading original compositions to his YouTube channel in 2020, his eloquent blend of jazz delicacies and rock punch quickly began turning heads. Vai said that the evolution of the guitar was in safe hands with Mancuso, while Animals As Leaders’ guitarist Abasi hailed him…

Slow-burning 11th album from Oslo jazz-rock trio. Bushman’s Revenge’s 20-year career has seen a variety of shifts in emphasis and direction. Earlier releases tended to load gnarly guitars and take aim at a number of rapidly riffing jazz-rock targets with unhinged glee. More recently, however, things seem somewhat calmer in the Bushman camp. Much like 2019’s Et Hån Mot Overklassen, here guitarist Even Helte Hermansen’s lyrical approach takes the spotlight, wherein his plangent tones are coaxed from a velvet cushion of reverb. Occasionally evoking the crystalline sheen of Bill Frisell or Jakob Bro’s melodious threading, his elegant runs have a sunny airiness that resonates warmth. As a trio, they give each other plenty of room with bassist Rune Nergaard hovering between the whispering static patterns of drummer Gard Nilssen’s brushes.…

Two albums released at once by the Liverpudlian masters of melody. Arriving with two albums on the same day, The Coral’s purple patch shows no signs of slowing down. And given that the motivation for their strong work ethic was to record the last album at Liverpool’s now-defunct Parr Street Studios, respect is due as much for grace under pressure as it is for the quality of the material. Holy Joe’s Coral Island Medicine Show picks up where 2021’s Coral Island left off. The presentation is that of a radio show, with The Great Muriarty – that’ll be frontman James Skelly’s grandad – linking the music. As with its predecessor, The Coral’s melodicism is pushed to the fore with a psychedelic haze shimmering at its edges. The Sinner and Down…

Another two-CD/Blu-ray set from guitar god: Brighton (prog) rocks. It’s beginning to feel like Steve Hackett and his touring band release a live package combining a covered Genesis album and a sidebar of their leader’s own songs as often as it rains in England. Whether we need another one is a question that will be answered eagerly in the affirmative by completist collectors and with perhaps a touch of ennui from those already sated by the seven previous Genesis Revisited-related albums which have emerged in the last decade. Flawlessly executed, this celebration of the half-century of Foxtrot enacts that album magisterially, from the organ warbles of Watcher Of The Skies to the epic, still dazzling Supper’s Ready. The twists, turns, peaks and valleys of those apocalypses in 9/8 and lovers’…

Anglo-Finnish dark folk diviners take a turn for the extreme on sixth album. Finland-based expat Brit Mat McNerney’s musical journey has led him down many fascinatingly gloomy musical avenues, from head-spinning avant-garde metallers Dødheimsgard to black-hearted post-punk revivalists Grave Pleasures. Over the last decade, he’s devoted a chunk of his energy to Hexvessel, whose shapeshifting sound has slipped between dark, arboreal folk and occult psych rock. Polar Veil signifies a big sonic shift. While McNerney’s haunted croon remains intact, here it’s wrapped up in wind-blasted guitars that call back to the 1990s black metal scene, which the singer was weaned on. The Tundra Is Awake and Listen To The River summon images of isolated nights in snowy wastelands, be they in Scandinavia or - in the case of A Cabin…

UK instrumentalist blends math, post-rock and djent on emotionally rich second LP. The title of Bristol guitarist Michael Astley-Brown’s eclectically free-flowing second album attempts to capture the cyclical nature of mental health. It’s no surprise, then, that its musical content unfurls with a bipolar sway of gloomy lows and euphoric highs. Written in the months following 2020’s self-titled debut album, Astley-Brown attempted to ramp up every element of his sound. Where the patient, swathing post-rock textures of opener Hello, It’s Been A While feels like a surge of melancholia washing over a fragile mind, its snapping title track sees the guitarist dancing through hopeful and happy math rock licks with a fierce energy. Monolith’s grinding polyrhythmic riffs and wheezing math rock endeavours play off one another’s contrasting darkness and hope.…

Djent and more djent from impressive but stylistically limited tech metaller. Canadian multi-instrumentalist and former ONI guitarist Martin Andres - aka Pomegranate Tiger - returns with his first new album in eight years. All Input Is Error picks up where he left off with 2015’s Boundless. Aided by second guitarist and co-producer Matt Shaheen, Andres delivers one pummelling onslaught after another. Andres has a proclivity for locking drums, bass and guitar together to form one giant percussive machine, epitomised by The Cryptographer and Poison Pen. The sound is punchy, although the absence of any melodies often leaves the songs feeling robotic. Perhaps that’s the intent, with Andres seeking to explore the interaction between humans and technology, but the album is most interesting when he lets the music breathe. When melodies…

An exhilarating joyride through the cities of the mind. Reformat’s second album is a torrent of sound and energy that barely lets up for its 38-minute running time. The union of artist and musician Luke Pajak and producer Russ Russell (whose credits include everyone from Hawkwind to Napalm Death), its relentless forward motion and electronic pulse evoke a breathless journey through an internalised cityscape that’s being built in real time. Fans of Nordic Giants will recognise the kinetic propulsion and crashing crescendos of songs such as Tsygan and Paroxysms, but Reformat’s combination of electronics, guitar and real drums - provided by Russell’s son Jay - ensure this sound is their own. Pajak’s voice is digitally and electronically manipulated throughout, to the point where both lyrics and core humanity are indistinct…

Thrilling prog-fusion live set from well-travelled keyboard and drum duo. Well, this is a blast. Derek Sherinian and Simon Phillips have been making music together on and off since Sherinian’s 2001 album Inertia, and this live set captures them on scintillating form in a quartet completed by guitarist Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal and Ric Fierabracci on bass. Recorded onstage at The Grape in Ventura, California, the sound is heavier and rockier than Phillips’ own Protocol project, but there’s the same crossover between fusion and progressive rock, reminiscent of mid-70s Jeff Beck. The setlist favours Sherinian’s latest releases, 2020’s The Phoenix and last year’s Vortex, but they also dust off some deep cuts. Sherinian leads from the keyboards, and he’s matched for energy and invention by Thal, with the pair trading licks…

Post-rockers paint a stunning landscape in sound. On their fourth album, Norwegian sextet Spurv (translation: ‘Sparrow’) find inspiration in the landscapes north of the polar circle, seeking to capture the feeling of a dialogue between the wind, a mountain, a birch tree and a butterfly. That’s a good measure of the scope of Brefjxre, a title that refers to the leaves of spring. The band’s soundscapes are enriched by strings, vibraphone and a choir, resulting in a remarkably expansive album that can move from enticing, gentle string arrangements through to crushingly heavy post-metal. Som Skyer (‘Like Clouds’) drifts like the gentlest zephyr then roils like a thunderstorm, while shorter, vocal-led passages provide refreshing interludes between the longer instrumental compositions. Til El Ny Var (‘To A New Spring’) starts with a…

Are Virta the Nordic Talk Talk? Active since 2011, the Finnish three-piece make classy, moody and explorative music with jazz and electronic elements, and third album Horros (Svart) is simply exquisite. From stunning opener Aelita onwards, their cinematic soundscapes are studded with Antti Hevosmaa’s treated horns, glitchy percussives from Erik Fraki and minimalistic electric guitars by Heikki Selamo. Horros is their first record to feature the trio’s vocals, which add a haunting, human texture to their enchanting soundworld. Texas outfit Thirteen Of Everything return with their own pleasing, pretentiously titled third album, Time And Other Delusions (Basement Avatar). Theirs is a bright, busy brand of symphonic rock, with burbling Hammond organ, throaty guitars and characterful, hit-and-miss vocals from bassist Mick Peters and drummer Ted Thomas. Packed with melodic ideas, ambition…

Tull tackle the 80s with one eye on their past. The 80s were a strange decade for prog. Having bestrode much of the 70s like the musical colossus it was, punk and new wave changed the public’s appetite, and there is a feeling that the big players of the previous decade suffered unduly, while the Marillion-led charge of the new guard had petered out by the middle of the decade. The latter is largely true in terms of commercial success, Marillion aside — they were hitting the No.1 spot at the time — but by the end of the decade the likes of Genesis, Yes and Pink Floyd were all enjoying more success than ever. “A collection of songs up there with Anderson’s very best.” Jethro Tullbegan the 80s in…

Deep dive into Yes’ divisive 1978 LP. The saga of Tormato still irritates Rick Wakeman, who says this much-maligned album’s mix “needs looking at again”. Tormato superfan Kevin Mulryne painstakingly unravels the story of the allegedly thin and flat sound of this infamous album by unpicking conflicting accounts of what now-archaic 70s audio technologies were used, or rather weren’t. He also reveals various tales seemingly straight from the annals of Spinal Tap. These include the definitive saga of how the album was saddled with a terrible pun for a title, band members using biorhythm calculators to make decisions and the testing of new instruments by dropping them out of helicopters. So, anyone who has ever wondered about the aborted Tormato Part 2, the tragic fate of Wakeman’s preferred harpsichord maker,…

VENUE THE 1865, SOUTHAMPTON DATE 06/08/2022 Cornwall’s The Emerald Dawn have picked Scotland-based art ensemble EBB as joint headliners for three dates, including the 1865’s Sunday prog slot. It’s an inspired choice – EBB captivated audiences at the Fusion and Prog For Peart festivals, and have previously been featured in this mag’s Limelight section, so anticipation builds ahead of their set. The explosive initial impact is huge, the band instantly generating a universe of musical and physical expression to convey their multifaceted takes on the human condition. The focal point, wild-haired singer-guitarist Erin Bennett, exudes an edgy, dynamic charisma, her voice laser-like in its directness and clarity. Flanking her is the interpretive, flowing movement of backing singer Kitty Biscuits together with synth player Suna Dasi, who heightens their dramatic genre-busting songs that…

VENUE SMOKEY JOE’S DINER, CHELTENHAM DATE 29/07/2023-30/07/2023 EppyFest is 10 years old and, having moved around both in location and format over the last decade, it seems to have now settled on a winning formula. In fact, amiable host and Epileptic Gibbon podcaster Ian Fairholm has pushed the boat out this year in curating a genuinely eclectic six-band line-up for this most unusual of events, taking place in an appropriately quirky venue – Smokey Joe’s is an American-style diner and arts centre, housed in an old printing works. Opening the show are Amsterdam-based quartet Jerboah. While their material is largely song-based, the instrumentation – guitar, drums, recorder and EWI (electronic wind instrument) – is never less than enthralling. Their set includes a cover of Bronski Beat’s Smalltown Boy reimagined as an epic…

1 Non-Player Taken from News From The Invisible World 2 Wonderful (Radio Edit) Taken from News From The Invisible World 3 Truck Taken from The Euphoric 4 Part 2 Taken from If It Carries On Like This We Are Moving To Morecambe (Remastered) 5 Flint Taken from Show Me Devon Live At Kozfest 6 Golden Thread Taken from News From The Invisible World 7 On VHS Taken from Part 1/On VHS (Remastered) 8 Andy Fox Taken from Live USA 17 9 Shake The Jar Taken from News From The Invisible World 10 Daddie’s Little Helper Taken from If It Carries On Like This We Are Moving To Morecambe (Remastered) 11 The Euphoric Taken from News From The Invisible World (Bonus CD) 12 Ark Taken from Field Recordings (Live At Ramblin’…

IT’S LONG BEEN understood that the Canterbury scene extends far beyond the geographic boundaries of the Cathedral city that members of Caravan and Soft Machine once called home. The organic growth of the movement over the years has come to include bands from across Europe, Scandinavia, the USA and even Japan, all judged to have an affinity to the sometimes whimsical rock and jazz-infused sound. Since 2020 another branch of the family tree has been added in the shape of Ryan Stevenson, the brains and musical force of nature behind Zopp, whose second album Dominion was released earlier this year. Based in Nottingham, Stevenson admits to having been smitten by the sound after he chanced upon Egg’s 1971 classic The Polite Force in his father’s album collection. It wasn’t so…

Prog metallers HeKz (vocalist Matt Young, right) release Terra Nova on BMH Audio on November 3. Their fourth album, a double record, spins a “tale of ambition, duality, and overcoming the shadows within.” See linktr.ee/hekztheband for more. Lalu, the heavy proggers led by French keyboardist Vivien Lalu, release their fourth album The Fish Who Wanted To Be King on October 29 via Frontiers. It draws inspiration from the spirit of Dadaism. See www.vivienlalu.com for more information.…

The Dutch singer and composer broke all the rules when he not only met but worked with one of his favourite bands. Edward Reekers joined Kayak in 1978, staying put until 1982, before returning in 2003, and then again for a third spell in 2005 that ran for eight more years. His final departure from the group was rather sudden, but paved the way for him to record his fourth solo record – and first in 15 years – a double rock opera affair called The Liberty Project with an all-star cast that includes Steve Hackett, Arjen Lucassen and Damian Wilson. You joined Kayak for the first time in 1978, when Max Werner no longer wanted to be the singer and in a ‘reverse Phil Collins scenario’ demanded to be…

“There’s no point redoing old stuff. What we do next could well be intricate and experimental – but it will never be the same.” Joel Ekelöf looks incredibly zen. The Soen frontman is sitting in what he calls the “Japanese house” in his back garden, Swedish sunshine peering into the bright room as he slowly puffs on a cigarette. His video call with Prog is taking place in July and it looks like he’s enjoying a perfect summertime in Stockholm. “It was very warm in June, but it’s a bit windy now,” the singer calmly states as he gazes past the camera. He breaks into the smallest of smiles. “You’ll never get a warm summer in Sweden.” Prog and Ekelöf have only been talking for a few seconds, but he…

US horror director dishes out revamped instrumentals. When he’s not whipping up new music for his ongoing Lost Themes series, John Carpenter can usually be found revisiting past triumphs. The first of his Anthology collections saw him re-recording classic title scores from The Fog, Halloween, Assault On Precinct 13 and so on. This second Anthology volume follows the same pattern, though much of its contents are less familiar. Again joined by his regular collaborators (son Cody and godson Daniel Davies, offspring of The Kinks’ Dave), these pieces are themes within themes, moments of suspense and brooding disquiet from the golden years of Carpenter’s movie catalogue. 69th St Bridge, from Escape From New York, is big-sounding 80s electronica, finding bold companions in the terse, rockier The Alley (War) from Big Trouble…

Texas post-rockers’ seventh sojourn. Firstly, this isn’t a swansong. Explosions In The Sky chose End as a theme to work with, and are content to suggest it ruminates on life and death, but emphasise that every end ushers in new beginnings. Certainly this feels like an outfit fully in their groove and firing on all cylinders, with plenty left to say, albeit without words. The seven instrumentals here possess a poised, powerful sense of structure, while the record as a whole resonates long after it finishes, thus perhaps proving their point. Since debuting in 2000, the Americans have been compared to everyone from Mogwai to My Bloody Valentine, but their use of light and shade is shrewdly unique. The emotion they exude is earned, with their big bang hey-get-this moments…

Pastures new for the inscrutable Swedes. The deliverance of funk-fuelled psychedelia fed through a variety of non-western musical influences has been pretty much a given when it comes to the wilfully enigmatic Swedish crew that are Goat. Couched in a mystery that suggests ritual ceremonies, intoxicated mischief and a fanciful back story, this masked band have been as every bit as intriguing conceptually as they have musically. As with the music they wrote for 2021 horror flick Double Date, Goat move into an altogether different sonic territory for the soundtrack to director Shane Meadows’ dramatisation of sometime Prog scribe Ben Myers’ novel, The Gallows Pole. Though the previously released Let It Burn and Gathering Of Ancient Tribes suggest business as usual, the specifically written material included here finds the clandestine…

Action-packed seventh album by the multi-instrumentalist duo. On the opening Sold The Peace, over Mark Gatland’s funky bass, Malcolm Galloway’s urgent vocals describe how big business loves a war like an update of Talking Heads’ Life During Wartime. Burn The World comes with chilling environmental warnings that ‘there’s unbroken sea where an island used to be’, but elsewhere sci–fi themes abound: there’s a retro-futuristic feel to the onrushing electronics of the instrumental Avrana Kern Is Made Of Ants. The nine-minute Walking To Aldebaran is a nightmarish, preposterous and weirdly amusing tale in which the protagonist has ‘become what the monsters are scared of… I am the thing that used to be me’. The song’s corpse-chomping former astronaut mulls over missed career opportunities to a soundtrack of heavy rock riffing, associate…

Exploratory release from Norwegian guitar maestra. Since 2011 guitarist Hedvig Mollestad has been setting the fretboard alight with her trio’s incendiary mixture of heavy rock and fleet-fingered jazz licks. Recent collaborations have seen her working in larger settings such as the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra for 2022’s Maternity Beat and her own expanded ensemble on Ekhidna. On this venture, she’s gone back to the three-piece format, though this time with keyboardist Ståle Storløkken, late of Supersilent and Motorpsycho, and expressive drummer Ole Mofjell on drums. Unlike her regular trio, the vibe here is more open-ended as befits an improvised session. Mollestad’s imaginative leaps cut straight to the chase with pulse-quickening bursts of light and shade. At nearly 22 minutes, I’ll Give You Twentyone typifies the deep listening as they each plug…

Modern prog messiah tackles Biblical saga of family drama. A veritable one-man production line, Neal Morse’s non-stop output is astounding. Following two previous Bible-based concept solo releases, his latest solo album sees him settling on the story of Joseph - of multicoloured over-garment fame - as the focus of his latest undertaking. This is Morse in full-blown prog mode, as immediately established in the aggressively organ heavy Overture. Utilising regular collaborators, including guitarist Eric Gillette and drummer Gabe Klein, he’s reached out more widely to some other special guests. Thus Dixie Dregs’ Steve Morse (no relation) makes lead guitar contributions and a cast of vocalists take on roles within the narrative. Sometime Spock’s Beard/Pattern-Seeking Animals mainman Ted Leonard adds some terrific vocals to Liar, Liar and young Nashville vocalist Talon…

Cosmic oddballs revel in eclectic dreams. This Norwegian duo have been cheerfully trampling boundaries since 2015. Their first album, Ultrasound, casually predicted today’s synth-obsessed zeitgeist. Their second, Colours Out Of Space, injected Lovecraftian dread into its of surreal, instrumental dreamscapes. For those craving the familiar, Hypnagogia will be even less appealing than its predecessors, but for fans of Faust-like experimental fervour, the sharp-elbowed, esoteric sprawl of Thanatosis fits the bill with a swagger. Eight minutes of shimmering cosmic rock, treacly sax and stuttering, Neu!- like beats, it brings to mind everything and nothing. Like Teeth Of The Sea, Pixie Ninja are impervious to convention and disinterested in the prog norm. On the hypnotic Ora Antarctica, they hit their stride, armed with muted and looped machine beats and rolling waves of…

Suspended Moment: The Music Of Jonathan Coe (British Progressive Jazz) sees celebrated author Jonathan Coe take a turn in the spotlight as a composer. A long-time Canterbury scene fan, he writes engaging tunes possessing some of that whimsical melodicism that endears so many to this branch of progressive music. Occasionally reminiscent of Matching Mole/Hatfield guitarist Phil Miller’s In Cahoots outfit, Coe’s tunes are expertly fleshed out by The Artchipel Orchestra, a 19-piece big band that includes Coe himself on keyboards. Under the direction of Ferdinando Farao, the ensemble provide sprightly, constantly unfurling arrangements. The Cry (Gizeh Records) is the first self-titled album from a new French electro-acoustic trio featuring Christine Ott (Ondes Martenot, piano), Mathieu Gabry (keyboards, effects) and Pierre-Loic Le Bliguet (drums, percussion). It’s an alluring mix that moves…

Cinematic twosome return with more beautifully meditative compositions. As Silent Skies, Evergrey’s Tom S Englund and Redemption’s Vikram Shankar have cornered the market in stately, new age-adjacent prog-pop. Dormant continues down the path they embarked upon on 2020’s debut album Satellites and 2022’s Nectar. The format remains the same: lush, billowing music powered by Englund’s emotive voice and Shankar’s evocative keyboards. There’s a sense of the quietly epic to Construct, New Life and AOR-edged anthem The Real Me, but it never spills over into bombast. The pair are equally effective when they dial things right down, as on the sparse Rest, with its haunting piano and sense of inner tranquility, although the ballad Light Up The Dark is a little too soft-centred and schmaltzy for its own good. The pair…

A welcome return for the German proggers after a five-year absence. In 2018, Subsignal released an excellent fifth album, La Muerta, that brimmed with brilliant melodic ideas allied to exciting modern prog chops. And then… five years’ silence, partly down to the pandemic, partly personnel changes. A Poetry Of Rain reflects the turbulence of world and personal affairs, but - with Yogi Lang once again at the controls - is another top quality milestone. Subsignal do like a scene-setter. Opener Poetry Of Rain is the new age sound bath before the punchy The Art Of Giving In. This track packs a lot into five minutes - Yes/BBT harmonies, an 80s Rush-like chorus, some shredding, even some country slide guitar. It’s not the only time they vacuum up the history of…

Eminently readable memoir from Bush, Wakeman and Camel collaborator. The pre-fame chapters of music memoirs can be dull; not so with Edinburgh-born singer and bassist, David Paton. We hear of his dad’s Ouija board use and early encounters with UK comedy giants Hattie Jacques and John Le Mesurier, but his account of his brief tenure in The Bay City Rollers understandably avoids rumination upon one of pop’s darkest stories. Magic and January, his 70s singles and chart smashes with Pilot, brought Paton fame and saw him head-hunted, but the main draw for Prog readers will likely be the sections recalling his esteemed session work with everyone from Rick Wakeman and Kate Bush to Camel - as well as Paton’s long, fruitful stint as a key member of The Alan Parsons…

VENUE HEAVEN, LONDON DATE 14/08/2023 A night with Russian Circles is a post-rock show for those who are A normally bored by post-rock. Of course, the power trio have become a paragon of the subgenre since they debuted in 2006: they use both the progressive ambience and dramatic crescendos that define it, while also pushing its inventiveness forward with looper pedals and instrument switches. But live, they become much more essential with a light show that makes even their quietest moments exhilarating. Anyone who catches a Russian Circles gig will always report back on the lighting first and tonight, as the Chicagoans return to London following four years away, it continues to dazzle. In fact – during the title track of last year’s Gnosis – it reaches a new apex. The song…

Hello and welcome to the latest issue of Prog magazine. I spent the weekend immersed in the rather lovely eight-disc ‘monster’ edition of Jethro Tull’s 1982 album The Broadsword And The Beast which, as I’m sure you can’t have failed to notice, graces the cover of this issue. What a joy, transporting me back my teenage years when I discovered the band for the first time. Those albums through which you discover a band last with you a lifetime (even if it means you’re sometimes saddled with something like Tormato for life – as indeed I am!). But with Broadsword Tull seemed to find the perfect fit of echoing their rich past with one eye on adapting for a new decade. You can read Johnny Sharp’s fascinating story of the…

LOAM MAY NOT be a familiar name to many, but there’s a good chance regular gig-goers will have heard him play in some guise or another. In recent years the Aberdeen-based musician has quietly carved out a reputation as a multifarious session guy. His most recent excursions as Iamthemorning’s live guitarist add to an impressive CV that includes tours with prog metallers Sithu Eye and Orynthia. “I’ve always been obsessed with music theory,” he says. “That gets you into playing a lot of different styles. I played in a lot of different bands in my hometown and that opened a lot of doors for me. I soon learnt that if you see an opportunity, you can’t hesitate or someone else will get it. “I love throwing myself into foreign territory,…

THE TWISTED TERRORS from the minds of HP Lovecraft and manga horror maestro Junji Ito meet Japanese pop and sci-fi cinema in the musical melting pot of Italian instrumental trio Infinite Rising. The band’s self-styled spatial prog inhabits the same corner of the cosmos as Plini, LTE and Animals As Leaders, and their upcoming album Awakening is a thrilling voyage into the nexus between prog, fusion, J-pop and film scores. It’s a style the trio developed with the first song they composed together, Cosmic Sunset. “We imagined the lights of a sunset mixed with space atmospheres,” says bassist Silvia Pistolesi. “We didn’t think about composing ‘prog music’; we thought about playing what we liked, making music that makes us feel good and proud, and then prog came out as a…

The expanded, reshuffled group return after a five-year hiatus. This is the simplest of concept albums. Living & Alive is about really living – something that’s easy to say but not always so easy to do. ‘There is no such thing as an ordinary moment,’ sings Amy Birks on Snowflakes, which exudes a high wattage of positive energy. She’s the only performer left from Beatrix Players’ previous album and is the focal point of an eight-piece ensemble, which includes John Hackett on flute and backing vocals, and Jane Fenton on cello. The songs are beautifully played, articulated and arranged, with a chamber music feel on Somebody Else’s Eyes as cello, flute, keyboards and silvery, harp-like mandolin weave their lines around each other. Things get more animated on This Is Your Life…

Norse prog notables with a story to tell. Featuring members of Wobbler, Tusmørke and Jordsjø, The Chronicles Of Father Robin are a mouth-watering prospect for followers of the Norwegian prog scene, even without the additional knowledge that The Songs Of Airoea – Book 1 is the first of a three-part, 18-song trilogy, soon to be available as an exclusive vinyl box set, direct from the band. Credentials aside, this is a glowing advertisement for Norwegian prog, and its lysergic retro wing in particular. After prim medieval overture The Tale Of Father Robin, Eleision Forest delivers a glimpse of The Chronicles’ all-encompassing approach. A maze of strident riffing, psychedelic oases and fizzing modular synths, it pulls off the trick of sounding both ancient and modern, with gorgeous vocal harmonies that skim…

Australian soundscapist’s darkly compelling debut. Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that someone who’s a voiceover artist in his day job should chose to release an instrumental album as his first foray into writing and performing his own music. To be fair, Matt Goodluck is also the frontman of Australian tribute act Echoes Of Pink Floyd, so he’s obviously no slouch on the vocal front, but Inner Cosmos instead unashamedly takes its stylistic cues from classic electronica and soundscape artists such as Tangerine Dream, John Carpenter and Vangelis. He channels those influences skilfully on pieces such as the Eno-esque found sounds of Into The Blue and the rain-flecked vistas of Deckard’s Requiem. Better still is the eerily atmospheric Rated R, with added macabre colour from time-honoured horror film staples including samples of…

Hannover prog metallers settle into their weird on savage and soft fifth album. The Hirsch Effekt state their music isn’t intended for the casual listener, yet that belies the evolution the German band have undergone since first appearing on the scene, all sharp edges and garishness, in 2010. Urian their fifth LP, is full of grace and poise that harmonises with their abrasive, prog metal weirdness. As Blud’s pointed hellscapes attests, there’s still plenty of bite and bombast to their sound. But there are also tender moments, like on Stegodon’s and minimalist post-rock, that showcase a band more comfortable at both ends of their spectrum than ever before. Angular guitars and bellowed vocals play off oceanic ambience and golden peaks to create a yin and yang balance that complements rather…

The Moodies’ debut LP ‘reimagined’ with Lodge’s US band, featuring Jon Davison. For last year’s Moody Blues Prog cover story bassist-vocalist-songwriter John Lodge enthused to this writer of his love of their 1967 debut album, Days Of Future Passed. It united music that he adored, rock and classical, and bonded the MKII band. He’s since been touring DOFP in the US for its 55th anniversary and now there’s a studio record: a “reimagining”, Lodge says. Happily the work isn’t dismantled, EDM-remixed or expanded with new stuff. Lodge’s vocals are imbued with warmth and experience. MD Alan Hewitt’s synthesised parts mirror Peter Knight’s original orchestration, with an occasional abrupt string ending, or a too-regular piccolo resonance to signal the difference. Additions are reverential Spanish guitar brightens Another Morning and Peak Hour…

Words are very unnecessary, according to the gospel of Depeche Mode’s Enjoy The Silence, but on The Anchoress’ Versions (Drowned In Sound) it’s clear that lyrics as much as tunes have influenced her choice of interpretations. Cover albums can be an act of water-treading, but Catherine Anne Davies has put much thought and feeling into these (mostly) well-known songs, with arrangements and vocals which explore the core rather than the surface of them. The Mode classic becomes a symphony of synths, emoted with an intensity, which is the polar opposite of the renditions common in cloying John Lewis ads. Radiohead’s Climbing Up The Walls, New Order’s Bizarre Love Triangle and All About Eve’s Martha’s Harbour are also read with oratorical power, but perhaps the most affecting moment is the Jackson…

Unique, must-hear musical fantasia from Roger Waters-approved psych maverick. Jonathan Wilson is notable for his recent guitar work with Roger Waters, but the Canadian-born LA resident’s own catalogue is abundant with gold. As a producer, he’s had plenty of ideas branded too off-the-wall by clients over the years, so he kept them himself, and developed them into this weirdly wonderful fantasia. Marzipan’s sad jangling piano and string/brass sections frame evocative lyrics about the narrator’s shifting relationship with the music scene and songwriting. Musical charlatanism is a theme: ‘WASPy rock’n’roll’ as Bonamossa, replete with Jew’s harp and industrial percussion, puts it. Another is the corrosive effect of time on culture (The Village Is Dead). Home truths ring true in Wilson’s double-tracked, husky voice, as he drops cool cultural references (the nutty,…

Neo-prog survivors give 2016 album belated physical release. Although their name may be familiar to veterans of the UK’s early 80s neo-prog scene, Quasar were among the lesser-known contenders from that movement. Like their peers they’re proggers for life, not just for a fleeting Marillion support slot, and although many line-ups have joined leader Keith Turner over the years, the now-San Francisco-based incarnation that have made the band’s third studio album sound capable but not always on the same page on this release, which first emerged digitally in 2016 but has taken until now to make it onto physical (CD and DVD) formats. At times on opener The Space In Between, Keren Gaiser’s showy but charismatic vocals and Turner’s jazzy synth runs dovetail bewitchingly, but more often they seem to…

Australian proggers paint epic pictures on third LP. The introduction of multi-instrumentalist and producer Shaun Holton to front this Adelaide-based five-piece seems to have resulted in even more ideas washing around Another World compared to 2018’s Civilisation. Opener Reaching Out surges out of the speakers on a prog metallic riff before bursting into harmony-drenched tunefulness, but it’s Moving Through Tomorrow that substantially thickens the plot, drawing the listener in with a potent optimistic statement housed in catchy melodic rock before straying into more doubt-filled waters as Sean Timms’ undulating piano ebbs and flows. Yes-style harmonies belie the dark admission that ‘I have become what I truly despise’, on which note the pace lifts again as twin guitars bleed angst through the speakers, reinforced by volleys of thrash riffing. The 20-minute White Shadows…

Berlin-based collective take time out from doom to head for the Moon. Little good came out of the pandemic, but it was responsible for a lot of skew-whiff creativity and weird energy flowing in directions one might not have expected. For instance, Berlin-based American guitarist Nick DiSalvo - distanced from his progressive metal brethren in Elder during the great pause - explored his post-rock leanings on the solo album Hirschbrunnen, released under the name Delving. Now comes another left-field side-project, Weite. DiSalvo and fellow guitarist Ingwer Boysen gathered some like-minded players (Berlin-based Londoner Ben Lubin, and Elder’s Michael Risberg are also along for the ride) to record music that traverses their collective love of krautrock and psych. Their debut album takes the listeneron an extended journey where nature elides the…

The Finnish symphonic metal superstars’ back catalogue dissected. As host of The Podcast And The Pendulum, Simon McMurdo brings a dedicated fan’s enthusiasm and a critic’s insight to this look at the recorded output of Nightwish. It’s easy for song-by-song books to become a catalogue, but McMurdo offers cogent analysis, charting not just the changing personnel and the abrupt dismissals of Tarja Turunen and Anette Olzon, but diving into the meanings and inspirations behind Tuomas Holopainen’s compositions. There’s an impressive analysis of the shift from the fantastical and mythic themes of their formative works to the celebration of the natural world and evolution on their later albums. And he’s good at unearthing the threads that run throughout Holopainen’s writing, spotlighting the images and concepts that recur as well as the…

VENUE THEBLACKHEART, LONDON DATE 26/07/2023 “Do you mind if we come amongst you?” It’s not an offer you hear at too many gigs, but tonight, mid-set, that’s exactly what Haunt The Woods do, to deliver a heartwarmingly pleasant rendition of Sleepwalking, one of the more laid-back offerings from their upcoming second album, Ubiquity. Yet however impressive the band’s acoustic strumming and intricate harmonising is, it kind of kills their momentum, coming, as it does, halfway through their set. Much is expected of Haunt The Woods, who have spent the last decade or so honing their craft down in their native West Country, but, now signed to Spinefarm, are thrust into the glare of the spotlight as they gear up for Ubiquity’s release. Were they from the US, no doubt people would be…

VENUE THEFILLMORE, PHILADELPHIA, PA, USA DATE 06/08/2023 The Flaming Lips’ 10th studio album, 2002’s Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, is regularly seen as their masterpiece, so it’s no wonder that the experimental rock troupe pull out all the stops recreating it live at the Fillmore tonight. Combined with equally captivating renditions of a dozen other tracks – as well as elaborate imagery and pleasant banter from frontman Wayne Coyne – it’s a rivetingly life-affirming show that demonstrates why The Flaming Lips are among today’s greatest live acts, both inside and outside the prog scene. The band arrive on time and spend the next hour performing Yoshimi… in full and in order. Aside from some vocal troubles during the admittedly difficult to sing In The Morning Of The Magicians, all of it sounds…

VENUE CREDIT UNION 1AM PHITHEATRE, TINLEY PARK, IL, USA DATE 04/08/2023 Gov’t Mule have been around for nearly 30 years and have made a name for themselves as one of the most popular jam bands in the United States. However, this summer they wanted to delve into the proggier side of life via classics from Pink Floyd. It’s a tour they’ve done in the past – dubbed ‘Dark Side Of The Mule’ – and the band intend these to be their final performances in celebration of the 50th anniversary of The Dark Side Of The Moon. Of the 13 shows in their summer tour, this one stops at Tinley Park, and the crowd is a mix of Gov’t Mule devotees and Pink Floyd fanatics. The opening notes of the Floyd portion…