Home Archive by category "Prog Rock" (Page 6)

Category: Prog Rock

Exploring the Crossover Prog Rock of Finland’s The Chant – New Haven!

new havenThe album that was the soundtrack for my run on Thursday was New Haven, the latest release from the Finnish crossover prog. band The Chant. The album has been in my rotation for about a week now and it’s one of those albums, that get better with each repeated listen!

The Chant has been around since 1999. First, there were three Jussi Hämäläinen(guitar/vocals), Mari Jämbäck (keyboards) and Ilpo Paasela (vocals), then four when  Kimmo Tukiainen(guitar) joined the group. The final count which has been fairly stable over the life of the band was six, after Markus Forsström (bass) and Roope Sivén(drums) came on board. read more

Exploring the Symphonic Progressive Rock of Netherland’s – Minor Giant – On the Road

Minor Giant albumOne of the albums that has been in my listening rotation for a while now is the debut album of a symphonic rock/progressive rock band from the Netherlands Minor Giant, and with each listen I like the album more and more.

The first seeds of the band were sown in 2010 when at 16 years old the founder of the band Rindert Lammers composed and recorded several instrumental symphonic progressive rock tracks. Then in 2011 Rindert posted an instrumntal demo to Soundcloud, soon thereafter vocals from Christiaan Bruin (Sky Architect, Chris) were added to the track. The second seeds were sown when Rindert sent out a call for musicians to join him to record an album! The first musician to respond was drummer Roy Post, who became a co-leader of the band. Post handled the organization and communication end of the band’s business allowing Lammers to focus creating the music! Finally the seeds germinated when bass player Harry den Hartog (ex-PBII), guitar player/vocalist Jordi Repkes and keyboard player Jos Heijmans joined the duo of Lammers and Post. After meeting on the studio and working on two tracks, the band the group clicked and Minor Giant was formed!! read more

Exploring the Music of Spain’s Kant, Freud, Kafka – No Tengas Miedo – Symphonic or Not!

KantFreudKafkaAfter my run last night, I was pretty much physically drained, I took a shower, ate and then wrote a post at Me, Myself, Music and Mysteries. After that, I was going to write about my run and its soundtrack, which was the new album from The Royal Southern Brotherhood. While I was getting ready to write that post, I went to look up something about a prog band that I listened to earlier in the day Rite of Passage. wasn’t having much luck finding information, so I went to progstreaming, where I first saw their album. While I was browsing for the Rite of Passage album, I noticed another album No Tengas Miedo from Kant Freud Kafka. I went to Spotify found the album and gave it a listen and really liked the music. I set out to find more out about the band, off to ProgArchives. I ended up at the ProgArchives forum where there was a discussion among the leaders of the various sub-genre groups, whether or not, the band belonged in the Symphonic sub-genre. As I was listening, I was agreeing that the band was not symphonic, but more fusion/jazz oriented, but definitely prog and definitely good! Here is what I learned at New Prog Rock Releases….. read more

2014 Progressive Metal from Iran – Whispers in Crimson – Suicide in B Minor!

Suicide in B MinorThis morning I was reviewing the new progressive rock albums that have been released in June. Among the releases was Suicide in B Minor by Whispers in Crimson which was released on June 24th. What made the album particularly interesting to me was,  the band hails from Tehran in Iran. I knew that progressive metal had a strong following in the Middle East, but I also thought that it was difficult to produce metal music in Iran, which is actually pretty much the case according to the founder of Whispers in Crimson  Amirali Nourbakhsh,  who in the band’s biography at their bandcamp site says: read more

Life’s Soundtracks – Two Runs – Back to Back!! Dragonforce and JC Stylles!!

So yesterday I did something that I really never thought I could do again, I ran on back to back days! On Sunday, I ran four miles over one of the hardest course I have,i.e. it has  hill and a half in the run, and then today I came back and ran an easy 5K! And right now my legs and body feel pretty good, the real test will be tomorrow! Here are the times, I know boring!!

Yesterday – 4 miles – total time 45:22 – splits 1 mile – 9:38, 2 mile 10:40 3 mile 10:41, 4 mile 11:39

Today – 3.1 miles – total 33:03 1 10:18, 2  10:37, 3 10:48 .1 1:21 read more

Progressive Metal From Australia – Teramaze – Esoteric Symbolism

Today I had a chance to listen to two progressive metal bands, whose latest albums sounded interesting when given quick listens on Progstreaming. The albums and bands were Esoteric Symbolism from Teramaze and A Frail Deception the debut from Psycrence. Once again these two bands exemplify the worldwide appeal of progressive metal, Teramaze hail from Melbourne, Australia, while Psyrence call Athens, Greece home!! (Part 1 - here Teramaze - Part 2 to follow??)

Progressivo Italiano from Italy’s Conqueror – Stems…no seeds

Conqueror – Rock Progressivo Italiano Italy
So yesterday, I was trying to organize some of my stuff around the computer and my work desk. My that’s tall order!! Anyway, I went to progstreaming and looked over the albums and chose the album Stems by Conqueror. As usual, I knew nothing about the band, except that the album cover looked kind of interesting. It took a few minutes before I stopped and said, “Hey, this is pretty good”  And as I listened, the album proceeded to get better and better.
About Conquueror

Conqueror is an Italian progressive rock band whose music is labeled as Rock Progressivo Italiano The band was founded by drummer Natale Russo (note if you translate their webpage from Italian to English Natale’s name becomes Russian Christmas!) in November of 1994. The band went through many line up changes between their formation and the release of their début album. The band released Insinto in 2003, the bad’s ninth year together.  Since then they released four more albums, making Stems the band’s fifth release. The band’s current line up includes..…. read more

Psychedelic/Space Rock from Canada’s Greylevel – Hypostatic Union

Again this weekend Thursday through Sunday was a blur….Thursday I worked both jobs from 8:30 am to 11:30 PM, then got back up to be on a site 30 minutes from my home at 8 am! I worked until 12:00 then ran around getting ready for a wedding, drove to Avalon NJ a one hour forty minute drive, went to a wedding on the beach, attended the reception and drove him arriving back home at 11 PM. Saturday was a few errands and then work again from 5:30 to 11:30! Sunday Mother’s Day found us at my son Andrew’s home at 10:30 am for brunch and then in the afternoon we babysat our grandson until around 6:00 or so… it was great but by the time we got home this 62 year-old’s butt was dragging…. I’ve listened to some music over this time span, but can’t get my brain in gear to write about it!! Anyway, while I was looking for some music the other day I saw on the related artist list Greylevel and it reminded me that I had listened to them and liked them so here’s my post about them…. and you even get some running info something which you haven’t been getting, because I have avoided running… but have to start again soon!! read more

Symphonic Prog from the USA’s Rocket Scientists – Supernatural Highways! (Video)

Superntural HighwaysMany moons ago, when my on Andrew still was working part-time at Target, I have a vague recollection of him telling me about a band he had listened to and enjoyed – Rocket Scientists. I think that I gave the band a quick listen and really didn’t care for them. A week or so ago, the band released a new EP titled Supernatural Highways, so I went to Spotify to check it out. There are two tracks on this 30 minute EP- track one “Traveler on the Supernatural Highway” hogs 26 minutes of them, leaving 4 minutes plus for “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”! Anyway both are instrumentals and both are really good!! read more

Symphonic Prog Explorations – David Minasian – Random Acts of Beauty!

So yesterday as I was scrolling through my iPod I came across this album, I haven’t listened to it for a long time! If you like The Moody Blues this one’s for you!….

Random Acts CoverSo one of the things I like about Progressive Rock is the that there are so many sub-genres there’s virtually something for everyone! Today on the way back from the Garden State Parkway I listened to two very different albums. First there was the hammering metal sound of the album The Enemy Within from Prymary followed by the musically lush Random Acts of Beauty from David Miniasian. While I enjoyed both albums I like the Minasian album a little better! read more