But hell, I'm here again, with all my used-to-be-long hair hangin' down and a simple mission: catch up and give a very quick rundown on what I've discovered and enjoyed, progwise, during the half a year since I was here last. So, here goes...
A Secret River: Colours of Solitude
Beautiful crossover prog with some gorgeous melodies and assured playing. Brilliant debut album for the band from Northern Sweden - may you have a long and succesful career! Already looking forward to album #2...
A.C.T: Circus Pandemonium
Sweden again, but the Southern parts this time. A.C.T have established a loyal fan base who endured several years of silence after their previous album, Silence (ahem). This comeback is as solid, virtuosic and entertaining as prog can be and may be their best so far. The happy combination of influences ranging from Queen, ELO and Kansas to Rush, It Bites and Dream Theater results, paradoxically, in a unique sound that I just love.
Abel Ganz: Abel Ganz
The Scottish cult band's unlikely comeback album after a very long break was one of 2014's most unlikely prog events, picking up rave reviews and awards here and there and everywhere. And they so deserve it: the album is a jewel - visual, atmospheric, innovative, poetic and adventurous, not to mention warm and utterly human.
Adeia: Hourglass
Nightwish may combine metal with classical on a surface level but Adeia, one of Christiaan Bruin's many bands, goes deeper and creates a freakishly bold mashup of extreme metal, older classical (Renaissance, early Baroque) music and surreal soundscapes with a strong prog undercurrent. Lots of chances taken, all of which pay off. Keep your eyes and ears on this one.
Discus: ...tot Licht!
No shit: it's a prog band from Indonesia! Just goes to show great prog knows no boundaries. Very ambitious and wide-ranging stuff, combining the extreme complexity of Zappa to immensely beautiful moments and glimpses of their South-East Asian musical culture. A genuine surprise!
Dynamo Bliss: 21st Century Junk / Poplar Music / Day and Night
Ah, more Swedes... Dynamo Bliss are basically a melodic alt.pop band with a heavy sprinkling of prog spicing up the dish - Todd Rundgren & Utopia are perhaps the closest reference point. Always good, at some points downright ingenious, for example Circadian Rhythm on Day and Night.
Sean Filkins: War And Peace & other stories
Sean used to sing with Big Big Train and the same sense of the British epic prog is present on his solo effort. It's a marvelous piece of work, combining a prog sensibility and scope with a sharp singer-songwriter talent.
Fractal Mirror: Garden of Ghosts
The Dutch band's 2nd album is a beauty, putting the not-so-great debut safely to rest. Covering much the same musical ground as A Secret River, the album takes melancholy and turns into something elevated and majestic. I love listening to this fairly loud; the songs may be pretty but there's power behind them. Epic without being grandiose.
Jeavestone: Spices, Species & Poetry Petrol / 1+1=OK
My fellow Finns Jeavestone managed to stay hidden even from their countryman: they've been around for a few years but somehow eluded me for a long time. So glad I discovered them at last because this is priceless stuff! The album titles reflect a sense of manic humor that shines through in their "fuck the genres" approach to prog - you never know what the next song's like but somehow it all sounds like Jeavestone. Complex at times, straight at others, always fun.
Nick Magnus: N'monix
Steve Hackett's old bandmate's solo outing was among my very favorites of 2014. Despite some faint whispers of 1970's Genesis and Steve's early solo stuff, N'monix has a strong own identity; again somehow very visual which is a quality I always love. Big music with a big heart, lovingly executed.
Mercury Tree: Freeze In Phantom Form / Countenance
I usually don't go for current American prog with its math rock / post rock tendencies. But these guys are simply brilliant musicians and, unlike many of their peers, bring a strong sense of melody to the highly strung music. Lots of energy, very tight playing, great control of nuances.
The Oneira: Hyperconscious
The 1/3 Greek and 2/3 Italian prog trio won me over in a few seconds. I heard a snippet of a song from this album and it was one of those moments my ears just picked up instantly. There's nothing overtly original here, it's actually more like a combination of 1970's and 1980's UK and US prog influences upgraded to 21st sounds. But the playing is excellent, the production faultless, the songs have great variation and class and the production is top notch.
Tony Patterson: Ra / All The World / Barriers / Northlands
The singer of Re:Genesis can do a 1:1 imitation of PG at the drop of a hat but Tony's solo efforts usually pass the obvious. I'm actually pretty taken with his material: all three albums and one five-track EP are individual wholes with individual profiles. Ra is mostly instrumental Oriental prog (yup), All The World is a cousin to Francis Dunnery's solo stuff, Barriers is the in-this-case-obligatory PG soundalike album (it's style is so So-era PG one wonders if TP just had to go all the way just once) and Northlands, done with Brendan Eyre, is an eye-wateringly gorgeous paean to the British North and one of the prog jewels of 2014. I had no knowledge of TP before this January and now I'm a fan. Yay :)
Robert Reed: Sanctuary
Well now: if Tony Patterson merely tracks Peter Gabriel, Robert Reed has decided to become Mike Oldfield. That's the only possible explanation for Sanctuary, an album that reproduces the Oldfield sound and style ca. Hergest/Ommadawn so precisely it's scary. Does it make any artistic sense? Definitely not. Is it entertaining? Hell yes! Depending on your Oldfield fandom, of course.
White Willow (several albums)
The Norwegian band has been around for quite some time but only lately entered my radar so I have ploughed through their almost entire back catalogue. They are an intriguing bunch, with music ranging from Tull-ish folk prog to moody atmospherics to guitar driven heavier sound. There's not a single song I got hooked to, it's more an overall thing. I like the way they move around, and sometimes out of, the prog field, trying out different things and approaches.
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