This Week's Featured Album: Vox Tempus - In the Eye of Time

In 2004, Vox Tempus released this little-known but highly regarded debut album. In the Eye of Time is full of extremely melodic progressive music. Dan Reed, the band's vocalist, has been compared to Dennis DeYoung of Styx--with a bit more edge, of course. All in all, it's a fantastic album full of some very nice instrumentation, great vocal melodies, and memorable tunes.

Unfortunately, the album has had a pretty rough history. The album was originally released independently and didn't receive a lot of exposure. Now, the album's getting a proper record label in Angelmilk Records, a new label out of the UK. The album will be remastered and rereleased in November.

As with every featured album, you can check out samples (from the original version) in the sidebar.

The Pineapple Thief - Tightly Unwound Review

Average (two stars out of five)

The seventh album from The Pineapple Thief, entitled Tightly Unwound, is a mostly pop/alternative rock affair in the tradition of Radiohead and, to a very minor degree, the slowest moments of modern progressive rockers Porcupine Tree. In essence, the album is low on progressive elements and, as a result, may not appeal to those who seek virtuoso instrumental performances and powerful vocals.

The instrumentation is, in a word, passable. In some moments, the band is able to create some pleasing soundscapes, playing with interesting harmonies. For instance, the intro to the second track, Different World, is very pretty, using an acoustic guitar and keyboards to build to a distorted guitar. However, most of the guitar parts are extremely repetitive and don't impress. For instance, later in the song, the guitar plays the same chord and rhythm for about two minutes, largely unaccompanied.

The vocals are perhaps the weakest part of the album. They are largely sung in falsetto, and the vocalist doesn't really vary his style much throughout the album. In addition, the melodies aren't particularly engaging, though they do occasionally work well with the harmonies of the music, as in the midsection of Different World.

In all, the album lacks complexity, tending to stay within a style that pairs slow, sometimes ambient pop/alternative with long songs. Fans of bands like Radiohead will likely find a lot to like here, but progressive rock and metal fans may be disappointed.

Andrew Kauz
www.progressivemelodies.com

News: Inside Out Music to Release New Album from Martin Orford

On November 10th, Inside Out Music will release the new solo album from IQ keyboardist Martin Orford. The album is entitled The Old Road and will be the last music from Orford in his career.

The album will also feature some great guest appearances, notable among those being John Wetton from Asia, John Mitchell from It Bites and Kino, Gary Chandler from Jadis, and Nick D'Virgilio from Spock's Beard.

No samples seem to be available yet, but this space will be updated if samples become available. Look for a review of Martin Orford's The Old Road nearer to release.

This Week's Featured Album: Magic Pie - Motions of Desire

Well, at least they didn't call the band Oingo Boingo.

Luckily, this fantastic Norwegian band also sounds nothing like Oingo Boingo, despite the similarly silly name. Magic Pie plays what might be the perfect balance between modern progressive rock and the classic prog of the 70s.

Released in 2005, Motions of Desire was the first album from the band. It was quickly met with a huge amount of critical acclaim, shooting straight to the top of many "Best of 2005" lists. The accolades are well-deserved: Motions of Desire provides incredible songs, great instrumentation, happy harmonies, and nearly everything that a prog rock fan could possibly want.

If you haven't had a chance to hear the album yet, use the widget in the sidebar to hear samples.

News: Sieges Even Disbands

It's with a profound sense of sadness that I have to announce that Sieges Even is no longer together as a band. Due to "internal differences," the band is no more, effective immediately.

Sieges Even had reformed recently and released two fantastic albums, The Art of Navigating by the Stars and Paramount. The band also released its first-ever live album, entitled Playgrounds.

Singer Arno Menses and guitarist Markus Steffen will be continuing to play together in the band Subsignal, while the brothers Holzwarth will be starting new projects themselves in the coming months. You can find news about these projects at the Subsignal MySpace page, Oliver Holzwarth's MySpace page, and Alex Holzwarth's MySpace page.

Here's to the hope that the members will be able to match the quality of Sieges Even's music in their future projects.

Tomorrow's Eve - Tales from Serpentia Review

Great (four stars out of five)

What are dreams but stories, badly told and half-forgotten?

This question, asked by the "author" of Tales from Serpentia--the latest album from Germany's Tomorrow's Eve--sets the tone for the entire album. This is a dark, angry, unhappy, frightening album. But don't let these adjectives scare you away; Tales from Serpentia is also a very good, though somewhat standard, progressive metal album.

By standard, I mean that the band doesn't necessarily take enormous risks musically. That's not to say that the music isn't extremely strong or complex: it is both of these things. However, it's progressive metal through and through. You won't hear the influences of many other music styles contained within the songs, nor will you be surprised by the use of an unusual instrument. Even the fantastic Muse--the album's epic 20 minute track--doesn't stray far from the standard progressive metal style.

Regardless, Muse remains interesting throughout--as does the rest of the album. The band can most certainly create fantastic songs and a cohesive album, and the songwriting style never becomes dull once on the album. The music definitely grabs your attention, and there are some subtle surprises that listeners will enjoy on repeated listens. Subtle changes to a familiar rhythm--like one near the end of Succubus--make the songs more fun to listen to. However, they also leave the listener wishing that more such changes were present.

One aspect that contains plenty of changes is the vocal performance by Martin LeMar. At his heaviest, LeMar reminds the listener of Russell Allen from Symphony X in all of his trademark gravelly delivery. At his quietest, the vocals become crystal clear, similar to singers of the melodic rock or AOR genre. In short, his performance is consistently strong and offers plenty of variety. In addition, the vocal melodies are good and feel original.

The album's concept, as previously mentioned, is extremely dark. The concept itself is interesting, and the execution is, in most cases, quite good. There are a few moments where the concept actually detracts from the music, however. For instance, the first track of the album is essentially 45 seconds of screamed cursing. In fact, this same sound passage is used in the final song, Muse. The voice acting here isn't particularly strong, and the whole thing seems unnecessary--and perhaps a little ridiculous, regardless of its relation to the overall concept. In addition, there's perhaps a bit too much talking in Muse--talking that is a repetition of previous passages from the album. Despite this, the rest of the album's lyrics are serviceable.

Overall, Tales of Serpentia offers very strong prog metal. The melodies are good, and the vocals are quite varied. The instrumentation is similarly good but just doesn't offer as much variety as some listeners may be seeking. Still, if you're looking for some dark yet catchy progressive metal, this album will give it to you.

Andrew Kauz
www.progressivemelodies.com

Magenta - Metamorphosis Review

Great (four stars out of five)

In my younger days, I used to browse music stores and look at album covers. I was convinced that an album cover was a fully accurate representation of the music. A bunch of 17 year olds with long, black bangs? Probably awful. A cover with a half-eaten corpse? Probably death metal.

How about a dismembered, shirtless, tattooed man with a blood-red background? Beautiful, female-fronted progressive rock.

I'm glad I don't browse CD stores like that anymore.

Metamorphosis is the fourth album for Britain's Magenta: its first for The Laser's Edge. This four-song album is, in many ways, a release in the style of some of the greatest 70s progressive rock bands--at least instrumentally. The addition of Christina Booth's vocals help raise Magenta above a simple Yes clone.

However, it doesn't take long for the influence of bands like Yes to show themselves in the music. The beginning of the first track, "The Ballad of Samuel Layne," sounds very much like a Yes song, right down to the vocal style--despite the fact that a female is singing.

Yet there's plenty more to hear in this over-twenty-minute song. For one, the concept of the song is darker than one would expect given the lighthearted instrumentation. The themes of war and death permeate the song, and the majority of the song takes a somewhat hopeless stance. A few moments in the song pick up the instrumental intensity, but, in general, the album stays firmly within progressive rock rather than dabbling in metal.

As such, it's perhaps not the most varied album in today's progressive scene. While the album does vacillate in terms of tempo, there isn't much experimentation of style. While all of the instrumentation is strong, there aren't a lot of moments that truly grab the listener's attention. The addition of bagpipes (Uilleann Pipes, to be exact) on the shorter second track, Prekestolen, is a striking and unexpected edition, and it really helps the track stand out.

The third of four tracks on the album is another 20 minute track, while the last track is a shorter piece, again in a style similar to Yes. Again, the music is quite strong, but moments of sheer brilliance are not to be found. The ending of Blind Faith has a great, almost epic orchestral feel, but this late in the album, it leaves the listener wishing that more such moments existed in the music.

In all, Metamorphosis is a strong but safe album--one that doesn't take many risks outside of the darker themes. With a bit more variety in the instrumentation, Magenta could find themselves at the forefront of modern 70s style progressive rock. As is, the band's music is strong, accessible, and listenable, though it isn't necessarily impressive.

Andrew Kauz
www.progressivemelodies.com

Shadrane - Temporal Review

Great (four stars out of five)

We've heard the saying "Too many cooks spoil the broth." What do too many cooks do to a progressive rock album? We certainly have many such cooks on this debut disc from Shadrane: We have the brothers Bissonette (Matt and Gregg), Vivien Lalu, Joop Wolters, Henrik Båth of the fantastic Darkwater, Marco Sfogli (who played guitar on James LaBrie's Elements of Persuasion album), Gary Wehrkamp of Shadow Gallery...and that's only about half.

So, returning to the question: what do too many cooks do to the proverbial prog rock broth? They make a fine, fine album. Temporal is a fantastic mesh of different styles and a great album all around.

It's difficult to know where to begin in speaking about this album, as there's simply so much offered. Among its many strengths is the simple fact that there's so much going on. Even from the first track, Temporal, the band provides slow piano, mid-tempo prog, and some pretty heavy metal. Especially noteworthy about this track is the vocal performance of Darkwater's Henrik Båth. Those unfamiliar with Darkwater should find a pleasant surprise in his performance. In addition, the middle section of the song contains a heavier vocal performance with some backing grunts/growls. All of this falls within the four-and-a-half-minute first track.

The album offers plenty more, including tracks that could be labelled power metal, power prog, or even pop. For example, the slow yet powerful "Rainy" has a symphonic feel to it, especially in the chorus, yet contains some subtle touches that give it a more pop-oriented feel to it. "Lanterns Dance" starts with a keyboard sound that definitely gives it a far eastern feel. The later part of the song, however, provides a contrast between slow, clean vocals and near screaming. "Consider It" is another more straightforward song--a bit more pop influences are apparent, though the instrumentation is still very strong.

With such variety, though, there will almost certainly be some songs that don't appeal to every listener. Personally, Manzanar is one song that doesn't really sit well with me. The vocal styles are rather strange in many places: the opening vocals are a weird mix of singing and talking, and later in the song there are some high-pitched vocalizations and some repetitive half-screaming. In all, the track just doesn't seem put together very well.

A brief mention is owed to the concept of the album: the story of a Navy commander in charge of a U.S. submarine. In all honesty, the best description of the album's concept is available at this page on the Lion Music website. In short, though, the concept is quite involved, though somewhat difficult to glean from the lyrics alone.

There's some truly fantastic music to be found on this disc. The guest appearances from so many musicians seem, for the most part, to have a very positive effect upon the album's music. Barring a few of the less cohesive tracks, this is a wholly enjoyable album with tons of intricate details for listeners to discover. It's a disc I can highly recommend--but be prepared to find a track or two that you don't love.

Andrew Kauz
www.progressivemelodies.com

This Week's Featured Album: Vanden Plas - Christ 0

With a bizarre and striking cover, Vanden Plas' latest album, Christ 0, certainly demands your attention. It demanded the attention of the progressive rock community as well, receiving the highest reviews of any Vanden Plas album to date.

It's an album that most certainly deserves the praise and attention it received. Based around the story of the Count of Monte Cristo (hence the album's title), it's most certainly the band's most ambitious project to date, both in terms of concept and music.

Speaking of the music, it is considerably more varied and more cohesive than the band's previous work. In general, the music is progressive metal with a mid-tempo feel--no power metal here. They do slow it down for a few songs, especially the fantastic Silently, which has a quiet chorus and some powerful later sections.

In all, it's an extremely tight album with some memorable standout tracks. Highly recommended for all progressive rock and metal fans.

Check out samples from the album in the sidebar to the right.

Kingfisher Sky - Hallway of Dreams Review

Great (four stars out of five)

Hearing that a band member is leaving one of your favorite bands is never a pleasurable experience. This was the reality for fans of Within Temptation in 2001, when drummer Ivar de Graaf announced his departure from the band. Times like this make us wonder "will we ever hear from him/her again?"

When we're lucky, we do.

Kingfisher Sky's debut, Hallway of Dreams, shows that a departure of one member of a band can mean more than a lineup change for your favorite group--it can mean the birth of a new, original, and wonderful project.

Taking center stage in the band is the classically trained Judith Rijnveld: a wonderful contrast to the "female gothic metal" genre. In fact, this album has very little in common with that genre: the classical and folk influences are extremely prevalent, especially in the vocal work. Rijnveld's voice is entirely capable of high falsetto and low and soulful singing, often within the same song. In short, she can sing. And her beautiful voice remains a pleasure to hear throughout the album. What's more, the vocal melodies are consistently strong, creative, and quite varied.

The incredible variety on the disc also helps this album remain interesting throughout. Even on the first song, the band introduces many musical styles; the song starts with a great tom groove on the drums, moving into a heavy metal guitar passage, then into a verse that seems inspired by Arabian melodies. By the time the chorus comes around, the song has quieted a bit, sounding more like a folk or pop song. Other songs introduce violins and even tin whistles. All of the instrumentation is very good: the drums are the instrumental highlight, and while the rest of the instrumentation may not be labeled virtuoso quality, it's quite good.

The eighth track, Persephone, is the only track I can find a major fault with. While the rest of the album is quite melodic, the verse of this track is built around a chanting/talking vocal progression. The backing vocals repeat a simple, somewhat boring pattern, while the leading vocals are just talking. It's a bit disappointing, actually, because the rest of the song is some of the best work on the album. The chorus has a wonderful melody with some great acoustic guitar work in the background. It's a very diverse song, but its verse doesn't quite succeed.

With 11 songs, though, this is but a minor blemish. In all, Hallway of Dreams is a unique gem--there's nothing quite like it. Judith Rijnveld is most certainly one of the strongest female singers in modern progressive music. This album could appeal to absolutely anyone, even (and, perhaps, especially) those who aren't fans of bands similar to Within Temptation.

Andrew Kauz
www.progressivemelodies.com

News: ProgRock Records signs Evolve IV

Quick news from ProgRock Records today: Evolve IV has been signed to the label and is set to release its debut album, Decadent Light, at the end of September.

The band's music is described as extremely melodic and very original. At the most basic level, Evolve IV is similar to progressive bands such as Genesis and Yes.

Samples of the music can be found at the ProgRock Records site.

Heart of Sun - Heart of Sun Review

Four Stars (out of five)

For any music fan, it's hard to accept that a great band could be overlooked. It's a sad reality--one that fans of progressive rock and metal may know better than anyone.

Heart of Sun's self-titled debut was released by Galileo Records on August 28th, 2007. That's over a year ago, and yet I had not heard a single mention of this band. Word spreads far in the prog world, but it doesn't always spread quickly.

It's a shame that this album didn't get more exposure, because the first effort from this Italian band is extremely strong. It's extremely difficult to compare this band with one other group: Heart of Sun is equal parts Dream Theater (from their superior "Images and Words" era), Riverside, and even a band like Ayreon. At the same time, they offer plenty that is new.

The songs on the album are quite varied. The first song, an instrumental, begins with a spacey feel and quickly moves into a very deep, hard metal sound. Not Through Our Eyes starts sounding a bit like a Riverside song (at least in terms of the opening guitar) but offers a fantastic instrumental break in the middle that is built around an Indian feel. 2016AD.net can only be described as space jazz. The instrumentation is extremely strong and original: a wandering piano line leads into some great bass and keyboard work before going full out with a wonderful, lightly distorted guitar. If that wasn't enough, Proxima Centauri offers a chorus melody in the style of a great melodic rock band. To end it all, Solar Wind returns to a more straightforward melodic rock feel (with an absolutely fantastic feel throughout and some incredible melodies) leading into the closing track: Sea of Tranquility. The slow fade of Solar Wind leads perfectly into the unaccompanied piano, which plays a slow (perhaps sad) progression before being joined by bass, percussion, and atmospheric keyboards. Despite having heard so much, you'll be left wanting more at the close of such a cinematic track.

The faults of the album are few. The album does have a tendency to become a bit too spacey: the opening track, for instance, has a computerized voice speaking over the music. It's difficult to understand and doesn't add anything compelling to the experience. In addition, some tracks are noticeably more enjoyable than others. A few songs near the middle of the album offer fairly straightforward prog metal. The songs are still great, but when an album offers so many varied moods, the songs that play it safe tend to be more easily forgotten.

Heart of Sun is the sort of band that you hear and honestly can't understand why they aren't more popular. In some cases, you can attribute it to a "niche" appeal, but that certainly isn't the case here. This album has something to offer all fans of progressive music. If Heart of Sun's next album (and there had better be one) doesn't bring a large number of new listeners to the band, we, as prog fans, should be very, very confused.

Andrew Kauz
www.progressivemelodies.com

Votum - Time Must Have a Stop Mini-Review

Three Stars (out of five)

Votum formed in 2003 and released one single in 2006, but Time Must Have a Stop is the band's first full-length album. The album is, overall, a strong first effort with some dark, moody music that resembles Porcupine Tree in some ways, Opeth's Damnation (i.e. their softer work) in others, and Riverside at various points. The band manages to break out with pieces of its own style in places but largely remains within the framework set out by these bands.

The eight songs on the album are generally strong yet unremarkable. The album opens with the dark, brooding Me in the Dark, though the song quickly progresses into a more straightforward metal sound. In general, the songs contain brief glimpses of technicality and originality, but too often fail to offer anything truly superb. Fans of more technical progressive metal may find that the songs are too formulaic. In addition, the vocals aren't as strong as what is seen from, say, Riverside. The vocal harmonies aren't as powerful and, in general, the melodies fail to stick with you or make an emotional impact.

One highlight, though, is the ten-minute closing track "Time Must Have a Stop." The song contains what are perhaps the best elements of the band: a strong focus on the atmosphere of the track and a greater focus on progression and unexpected changes. While it still lacks anything truly impressive in terms of instrumentation, it shows what this band may be capable of in the future.

This is a strong debut from a band that, at this point in its career, hasn't quite found a sound that it can fully call its own. As the band matures, I expect to see even stronger material in the future. For now, fans of the less technical side of prog metal should find something to enjoy here.

Andrew Kauz
www.progressivemelodies.com

News: Upcoming Releases from Tomorrow's Eve, Shadrane, and O.T.R.

News today from Lion Music: three new releases are scheduled for October 10th.


The German progressive metal band Tomorrow's Eve is back with the new album entitled Tales from Serpentia. Lion Music states that the album is filled with short stories "written by a twisted mind." The album is filled with strong vocal melodies that should make the music very accessible. No samples are yet available of the new album, but check the band's MySpace page to hear samples of previous work and, perhaps, new songs when they become available.



Shadrane promises to be a diverse new project with the upcoming album, Temporal. Made up of rock greats Matt and Gregg Bissonette, along with a variety of vocalists and instrumentalists, the album offers great progressive rock and metal, power-metal, and even some pop-infused songs. One of the featured vocalists is Henrik Båth of the great Darkwater. This is definitely an album to keep an eye out for. Samples for Temporal are available on the band's MySpace Page.


We all need some great classic rock once in a while. O.T.R. (which is an acronym for On The Rocks) promises to offer some great classic rock infused with jazz influences. Driven by the voice of Uriah Heep's John Lawton, Mamonama should appeal to fans of classic rock and perhaps even many progressive rock fans. You can check out the band's official site for more information and a couple of samples (go to the "Multimedia" section).

Serenity - Fallen Sanctuary Review

Four Stars (out of five)

Thank goodness for desperation. In times of desperation, we sometimes do things we would not otherwise dream of. When you're in the mood for a new CD, and one just doesn't seem to be presenting itself to you...well, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Those desperate measures were, in this case, purchasing Fallen Sanctuary from Austrian band Serenity. I didn't really fall in love with the band's previous album, Words Untold and Dreams Unlived. The songs were decent--more along the lines of power metal with some sporadic growls. But nothing really caught my attention.

Yet I purchased Fallen Sanctuary anyway. After a number of listens back to back, I was incredibly impressed. Nearly everything about Serenity has been improved, and the final result is an extremely strong album.

The instrumentation is one thing that has been consistently strong for the band, but it seems especially impressive here. There seems to be a larger focus on the symphonic elements: strings are plentiful and extremely tastefully done. The drums are often quite fast and furious, but they are equally strong in the slower passages. The piano, though, may be used to the greatest effect on Fallen Sanctuary. In fact, the album opener "All Lights Reversed" (which I still read as All Rights Reserved sometimes) begins with a slow piano progression. It's extremely unexpected-- it's a very pleasant surprise to have a power metal album start in this way. The song quickly progresses into a metal style with some great guitar harmonies and all-around strong instrumentation.

The vocal melodies have also been improved since the last album. In fact, a few songs contain melodies that rival any progressive power metal outfit out there. Coldness Kills has a very simple melody to lead the verses, but its interaction with the powerful strings and driving guitars makes it something especially great. The chorus melody of this song is similarly catchy and powerful. There are plenty of other highlights on the album; while not every melody is likely to get stuck in your head, they're all quite strong and fit very well with the music.

In terms of drawbacks, they will likely depend upon the listener. The growls from the previous album make a brief return: they're present in two of the album's ten tracks. In my opinion, they're about as tastefully done as any growling I've heard out of a progressive rock album. However, the argument can still be made that they don't really fit the music well. Indeed, they don't really add any power or emotion to the songs--they're just there.

In addition, some listeners might take issue with the band's vocalist, Georg Neuhauser. While his range is quite strong and his pitch is faultless, his accent comes through quite strongly in the songs. The pronunciation of some of his vowels can be especially noticeable, and I think some listeners might find it distracting.

Lastly, the album offers only 49 minutes of music, largely because only one of the album's songs exceeds six minutes. With so many albums now pushing the 80 minute mark (and some still feeling short!), it can be hard to settle for a half hour less than what can fit on a standard CD.

Regardless of these extremely minor faults, Fallen Sanctuary is an impressive release. It manages to improve so much about what Serenity already had to offer. With this album, I think Serenity has the potential to appeal to many more progressive rock fans. Even if your reception of the band's previous album was lukewarm, this may be the album to change your mind.

Andrew Kauz
www.progressivemelodies.com

This Week's Featured Album: Demians - Building an Empire

Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson said that Building an Empire was "one of the most assured and accomplished debut albums I’ve ever heard."

The accomplishment is even more amazing considering that it was created, largely, by just one person.

That one person is Nicolas Chapel from France, a talented vocalist and multi-instrumentalist with a love of fine progressive rock.

Building an Empire is one of the best albums of 2008 (thus far) and a worthy addition to any prog lover's library. The album contains some great, moody tunes and some fantastic variety. For instance, the first song is an atmospheric tune with a slow build and some haunting qualities. Later songs have more of an upbeat feel, like the track "Shine," which contains an uplifting message of self-confidence.

Perhaps the best part of this album is that it manages to succeed on the levels of both the individual songs and the album as a whole. When heard individually, each track is enjoyable--nothing you're likely to skip if it comes up in shuffle. In addition, the album is a fantastic world in itself: in fact, Chapel himself called it "a world in itself. It has its own life, its own space. I really think it’s universal and speaks to anyone, I can imagine somebody would take it in a portable player, discman, iPod or whatever, put the headphones on, really loud, and go walking for hours, in the woods, in the streets, anywhere, letting the music talk to them like an old friend."

Demians has now evolved into a full band; drummer Michaël Roponus, bassist Antoine Pohu and keyboardist Anthony Broggia. With that, perhaps we'll see even greater originality from the next album.

As always, you can hear samples from Building an Empire in the widget to the right. In addition, if you haven't yet picked this album up, the links below will take you directly to the CD and download version on Amazon.

Link to the CD version
Link to the digital download version (only 7.12!)

News: Hear Samples of Neal Morse's Lifeline

Just a brief bit of news for now: samples of Neal Morse's new album are now available at Neal Morse's official website. Here's a direct link to the samples of Neal Morse's Lifeline.

As a reminder, Lifeline will be released on September 30th. Look for a full review of Neal Morse's Lifeline in the coming weeks.

Seven Questions with Andreas Blomqvist of Seventh Wonder

I had the opportunity to get in touch with bassist and songwriter Andreas Blomqvist of progressive metal band Seventh Wonder. Andreas had some unique insight to offer about the creation of the incredible new album Mercy Falls and his thoughts on Seventh Wonder in general.

This will be the first installment of "Seven Questions": Progressive Melodies' interview series.

Progressive Melodies: What prompted the band to create a concept album? Was it a decision that the members discussed or did it just happen that way?

Andreas Blomqvist: I have been dreaming about writing a concept album ever since I first picked up an instrument. It is something I knew I would have to do some day, but I dreaded the effort, as well as I know it would have to be really, really good for me to even bother, and that it would be a very painful process.
So, one late night during the studio sessions for Waiting In The Wings when I sat in the studio with Tommy recording vocals, we started talking about it. Something just clicked and within just a couple of minutes the framework for the story was complete. During the mixing of WITW in Denmark in March 2006 we presented the idea of a concept album to the rest of the boys over a couple of beers and everyone approved of the idea. So then it was just the small matter of actually writing it…

PM: Where did the concept for the album come from? Were the events based on any sort of true events, or is it pure fiction?

AB: It started out as 100% pure fiction. Like I said, me and Tommy were tossing ideas back and forth regarding the story and the basic principles we wanted to tie the story around. Then the real challenge began: to make this multi-layered story work, to make it consistent: to also make it understandable and graspable but yet not too obvious. That was a lot more challenging than either one of us had anticipated, and I definitely have a new-found respect for film writers these days.
Anyway, back to the question. It is a fully fictional story, but when you need to portray sorrow and grief or other equally strong emotions, it certainly helps to feel that way, and I was going through a really shitty time in my life in the middle of this process so tapping into those feelings was an easy way to get the right emotions down on paper.
The first time I heard the final mix of the intro of Break the Silence, I actually burst into tears because it was so personal for me. But that’s more on that higher level; the actual events and characters are purely fictional.

PM: How did the band approach the writing of the music for Mercy Falls? Were the lyrics first completed, then the music? In addition, did the music undergo any major changes during the planning and writing of the album?

AB: Well obviously it was something of a catch 22 when you start with something like this. What we did which, for us at least, was unique with this album was that we did a story outline first. Me and Tommy spent many hours coming up with that and piecing it together. During that process, we wrote down what we wanted to convey and which events were essential to the story. From that work we then derived a list of songs that we would need to write, all with a specific purpose and a predetermined feel to it. So at that point we had barely written any new music, so I wouldn’t say it underwent any dramatic changes, but it certainly was extremely difficult to match the writing to the preset conditions. That too was something entirely new for us.

PM: Did the band make a conscious effort to evolve its sound between the releases of Waiting in the Wings and Mercy Falls? If so, what was the main goal? What did you want to change?

AB: No, not really. I guess as time progresses you get a feeling for what types of stuff in your own playing you feel works and gets through as opposed to stuff that you just feel is unnecessary.
But as far as complexity goes, we turned it up to max on this album. Mercy Falls will probably be the most complex work this band is ever likely to put out from a musical standpoint. We have worked very consciously to involve recurring themes in different feels and tonalities throughout the album. This is a way to add an extra dimension to the music as well. If someone really dives deep into this, there are literally hundreds of little surprises and quirks here and there for the attentive listener to notice. No effort was spared with regards to that. That level of conscious or perhaps “on purpose-” writing was the main difference between this album and the preceding ones.

PM: What is the most important thing that you feel sets Seventh Wonder apart from other progressive metal bands?

AB: That is a tough question for me to answer, being part of it. It is close to impossible to objectively judge or evaluate your own band. From my perspective though, and tying that to previous reviews and fan mail, people definitely tend to notice the leading role of the bass in our music, which is cool. I’ve worked very hard to use the bass in Seventh Wonder as it has never been used in other bands and I honestly feel people are beginning to notice.
Other than that the most obvious advantage we have is Tommy. There is no one like him in the world, and that sets us apart--miles apart from any other band. He is my favorite singer in the world--hands down.

PM: What bands is Seventh Wonder influenced by? In addition, what are you currently listening to?

AB: This is a question that will be very colored by the fact that I am answering it. We all have very different backgrounds in music. Tommy and Kyrt, our keyboard player, didn’t start to listen to rock or metal until they were in their early twenties, whereas me, Johan and Johnny grew up on bands like Europe, Helloween, Iron Maiden and stuff like that since we were kids.
I don’t want to list all the bands that influenced me, but certainly Iron Maiden has a very special place in my heart and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son from ’88 played an integral part in me wanting to write a concept album, that’s for sure.
Other bands I respect today are Symphony X and our Norwegian pals Circus Maximus. I am also generally addicted to the following singers and pretty much everything they do; Jeff Scott Soto, Jorn Lande and David Coverdale.

PM: Is there anything else you'd like fans to know about Mercy Falls or Seventh Wonder in general?

AB: I want them to understand the amount of work that went into producing and creating this album. We have poured every ounce of ourselves into this production and I truly believe this is a one of a kind record. Now my greatest wish is for as many people as possible will feel the same way about it.
Also, I would really like, from the bottom of my heart, to plead that everyone who likes it actually buys the album as opposed to downloading it. For larger bands I guess they hardly even notice the difference but for us the harsh reality is that if we don’t sell more than the previous album this could very well be the last Seventh Wonder album ever –so please support us and help us carry on what we all love doing so very much.

Editor's Note: I would also love to see another (and another...and another...) album from Seventh Wonder, so here's a list of places that you can get the new album.

The Lion Music Site (they have very reasonable prices and send discs out promptly)
iTunes (will likely be available on or just after September 16th)
The Laser's Edge (should be listed as available very soon)
Amazon

Inside Out Music News Round-up

Inside Out Music has released some news about a number of its groups:

Inside Out Music has announced that the label has signed It Bites, the long-running band of John Mitchell. Fans will recognize John Mitchell from his work with prog masters Arena and the more recent side projects Kino and Frost. The band's new album, The Tall Ships, will be released very soon: September 29th. Here's a (remarkably huge) image of the cover art (click the cover to see the larger version). To hear some material from the new album, check out the band's Page on MySpace.


Inside Out Music has also signed another new act: Unitopia. This Australian band will release a 2CD concept album entitled The Garden. No concrete release date has been set, but Inside Out expects to release the album at the end of October. Samples of the band's music are available at its MySpace Page.

Yet another new band for Inside Out! Karmakanic, a side project of The Flower Kings' Jonas Reingold, will release its third album (its first for Inside Out) in October. The album is entitled Who’s The Boss In The Factory. Check out samples from the band's past albums at its MySpace page.

Lastly, Riverside has begun work on its latest album, which is entitled Anno Domini High Definition. The album will likely be available in May or June of next year.

Ephrat - No One's Words Review

Two Stars (out of five)

Nowadays, Steve Wilson is absolutely everywhere. The Porcupine Tree frontman seems to produce or mix a new progressive rock album every month. Such is the case with the debut from Israeli band Ephrat, which consists mostly of composer and instrumentalist Omer Ephrat. Yet, besides Wilson, Ephrat also has the support of Daniel Gildenlöw of Pain of Salvation, who sings on one track. With such a roster of famous guest appearances, one would expect quite a lot out of this album.

In general, the album fails to deliver the same caliber of music that a band like Porcupine Tree or Pain of Salvation does. There are some memorable moments on the disc, but for each memorable moment there is one cringe-inducing misstep or yawn-worthy passage. It's a wildly inconsistent album, and with only six tracks, it doesn't offer enough great material to make it recommendable.

While approaching an album on a track-by-track basis generally isn't an approach suited to progressive rock, it's appropriate for this album.

The first track, "The Show," is a strong ten minute progressive rock song that, while repetitive in places, is generally strong. The track opens with fairly standard 4/4 rock, moving into a harder metal feeling. Throughout the song, we see various forms of rock, but perhaps the most interesting elements are the brief instrumental passages that bring in Middle Eastern influences. Soothing flute sounds accompany an acoustic guitar and hand drums here, lending a very different feel to the mid-section of the song. The track quickly returns to rock to close out. Overall, the track is good, but doesn't bring much new to the genre. The only bizarre part is the production of the vocals: they're highly processed in the verses, giving them a distortion that makes them very close to incomprehensible.

The second track, "Haze," is, sad to say, unlistenable. Here, Ephrat brings in the female vocals of Petronella Nettermalm, vocalist of Paatos. I'm not familiar with her work with that band, so comparisons to her previous work are impossible. However, her work here is, quite honestly, terrible. Her vocals are breathy whispers in the first verse, and they move to (again, highly processed) slightly louder singing in the choruses, though they're still extremely weak. Then, in the second verse, they become extremely nasal and even more heavily distorted, with the result again being quite incomprehensible. She certainly has a number of different voices, yet they are all quite unenjoyable to listen to. Musically, the track is fairly standard with a few interesting moments, but it's not nearly enough to save this track.

The third track, "Better than Anything," starts slowly with a clear guitar and the voice of main vocalist Lior Seker. There's nothing particularly special here, but nothing offensive either. The flute returns again momentarily before the track begins to rock out with a nice, but repetitive, guitar riff. The vocals are again highly processed and extremely difficult to understand, and the vocal melody is fairly weak. Throughout the track, the musicianship is strong if uninspired (save for the brief infusion of Middle Eastern elements), but the vocals again fall short. The band, in many places, seems intent on emulating Porcupine Tree, especially in terms of Steve Wilson's vocals. However, the band's melodies aren't nearly as strong. About three minutes of this song are filled with "da da da da," and while these passages are given some pleasing harmonies, they become boring quite quickly.

"Blocked" is a brief instrumental that is fairly nondescript. The instrumentation is certainly strong, though not virtuoso quality. Yet the driving force of the song is the guitar work, which just isn't particularly noteworthy. All in all, it's a brief and forgettable five minutes.

Daniel Gildenlöw takes the vocal helm for the penultimate track "The Sum of Damage Done." Those familiar with Pain of Salvation will know exactly what to expect. While the music that backs Gildenlöw is considerably simpler than the typical music of Pain of Salvation, his performance is quite strong. Again, the overuse of vocal processing makes a return, and with someone like Daniel Gildenlöw, it's quite unfortunate to hear. What is usually a very clear voice is distorted and limited. This is a track to enjoy simply for Gildenlöw, not for the song itself.

The album ends with the nearly 20-minute "Real," which actually has a few great moments. The leading vocal verse is quite a change from the album; backed by a fun jazzy piano, the vocals take on a more lighthearted tone than what has thus far been heard. In addition, there are some strong heavier moments on the instrumental side: the instrumentation is fairly standard, but decent. However, the track does not stay interesting throughout. There are too many moments of average songwriting and instrumentation to keep a listener's interest for 20 minutes.

In short, No One's Words falls short in a variety of ways. Nearly everything about the vocals is weak, from the singing itself to the vocal production to the vocal melodies. Instrumentally, the album is decent in most parts, offering some fresh moments that are too sparse in the album's vast landscape. This combination makes the final product difficult to recommend.

NOTE: The original text contained an error incorrectly attributing the vocal work on the album to Omer Ephrat. The band's vocalist is Lior Seker. Progressive Melodies regrets the error.

Andrew Kauz
www.progressivemelodies.com

Venturia - Hybrid Review

Three Stars (out of five)

Venturia has a knack for picking rather appropriate album titles. The New Kingdom in 2006 was the band's first album: a new kingdom in itself. Now, with Hybrid, Ventirua has created a chimera: a true hybrid of many different musical styles.

However, not all hybrids are fully successful. On Hybrid, the band seems to have focused on creating myriad sounds, and, in that way, Hybrid succeeds. Still, where the album succeeds in offering many different sounds, it falls short in offering truly memorable songs. In essence, while it tries many new things, it doesn't excel in any one of them.

Hybrid does have plenty to offer progressive music fans. The instrumentation in many places is quite interesting. For example, the opening track "Swearing Lies" changes from an ambient, keyboard-driven opening to some extremely heavy guitars backed by some nice double bass drum grooves. In addition, guitarist Charly Sahona really shreds on a couple of tracks. Running Blind contains a lot of interesting work; in fact, some of it is so well done that it almost sounds programmed. He has fantastic timing and technique.

Venturia also promised an increased role of female vocalist Lydie Robin, and the album definitely delivers on that front. Lydie has a role in each song, and she and vocalist Marc Ferreira often trade off phrases within the songs. Considering the strength of Lydie's voice, this is one definite way that the band improved over The New Kingdom. She especially shines on the album's last few tracks: she's featured prominently on "Love Gamers," which begins with fast, layered vocals. In addition, "Why?/This Woman's Life" contains vocals from only Lydie. Unsurprisingly, these are two of the strongest tracks on the album.

Perhaps the greatest thing that will hold this album back is its lack of truly memorable songs. In general, the verses of the songs work very well: they contain great instrumentation, some very good vocal work from both vocalists, and, in some cases, some pretty good melodies. However, things tend to fall apart when the choruses come around. Most of the album's chorus melodies simply aren't very strong; the verses seem to build toward a strong chorus that simply never comes, making many of the songs rather anticlimactic. In addition, many of the choruses are quite repetitive: "Swearing Lies" revolves around the repetition of the line "stop swearing lies," while "Running Blind" revolves around, well, "running blind."

Some very strange choices were made on the production side as well. "Hottest Ticket In Town" begins with a strangely edited intro that sounds like a scratched CD. The track skips--on purpose. It seems like a very strange decision: why purposely make your track sound bad? There are other moments where the production takes on an electronica feeling. In these cases, it makes the music sound programmed: not a good thing for progressive music to sound like.

Hybrid seems like the first experiment from a brilliant scientist. There's a ton of incredible potential there, and some of the elements present are quite impressive. While the result of the first experiment might not be perfect yet, it is certainly worth a look for progressive rock fans. If the band can put the few missing elements into its next effort, then its transformation will be complete.

Andrew Kauz
www.progressivemelodies.com

This Week's Featured Album: Toto - Falling in Between

The major problem with the band Toto is, surprisingly enough, its popularity (the name can't help much, either). After a few hugely popular songs in the 70s and 80s, Toto was labeled a "pop" band.

Perhaps this is true, in some ways. After all, the group formed from some of the most popular session musicians of the day: session musicians who played with pop groups. So, they must be pop, right?

Maybe they are, but being session players also made them one of the tightest bands to come out of that era. Well, believe it or not, Toto released its very last studio album in 2007: an album that any fan of incredible musicians should check out.

From the Arabian style of the opening track "Falling in Between" to the intriguing chorus guitar work of Steve Lukather (truly one of the most versatile guitar players out there) on "King of the World," the songs have plenty to offer progressive rock fans. Sure, the songs themselves aren't particularly complex, and they definitely have a "pop" style to their songs, but Toto's an example of a band that can craft radio-friendly songs without resorting to boring instrumentation or monotone singing.

You can check out the album in the sidebar to the right. In addition, the album's available from Amazon in both Compact Disc and Digital Download versions.