Category: Prog Sub-Genres

So the other day, Spotify suggested that I listen to the song “Reflective” from the album Sounds of Innocence by Kiko Loureiro. Since the name looked interesting and he appeared to be a guitarist I downloaded the album onto the iPhone and it became the soundtrack for my ride to the Motor Vehicle Inspection Station. I discovered that Kiko is a very, very talented progressive rock guitarist and a member of the Progressive Metal band Angra. So after listening to Loureiro’s solo album, I downloaded Angra’s latest release Aqua and gave it a listen! Both of the albums are very good, but I think I prefer Aqua. Sometimes solo prog rock guitar albums seem a little boring to me. So here’s what I discovered about Angra. read more

As I listened to Psykerion the second album from Thought Chamber, I came to the realization that maybe the best way to listen to Thought Chamber is with headphones on, because with headphones on you can catch all of the intricacies of their music!. I am listening to the track “Transcend” and the music is coming at me from each side,guitars in the left ear, drums in the center, it’s great!

Thought Chamber is a progressive metal group from the US founded by guitarist Michael Harris. I discovered the band last year prior to the release of Psykerion, so I listened to their first release Angular Perceptions, which was released in 2007. At that time, the band consisted of Harris on guitars, keyboards and vocals, Ted Leonard (Enchant and as my son Nick pointed out to me, the new lead singer of Spock’s Beard). Rob Stankiewicz – drums, Bobby Williamson – keyboards, and Derek Blakley – bass. Harris said this about his initial vision for Thought Chamber…. read more

The other day I was surfing MOG looking artists who are like ones that I like and I came across Anthriel and their 2010 release The Pathway. I gave it a 30 second test and I liked what I heard so it went on the iPhone. This morning it was part of the soundtrack playing while I did some work around the house.  What a fine progressive metal album this is, with a little bit of everything – there’s some hard-driving guitar work from Timo Niemsto, drumming from Jari Kuokkanen. which often flows into some melodic keyboard work from Antti Hakulinen.These guys are the trio that founded the band in 2004. In 2008 lead singer Simo Silvan joined the band and last but not least there’s the bass player Klaus Wirzenius  read more