Eldberg - Eldberg (2011)

Eldberg (also) means "volcanic mountain" in English and that describes the recent geological activities in Iceland, Eldberg's homeland. So much that all airplanes in Europe was grounded two years ago after one of the mountains in Iceland turned into an eldberg.

Iceland's music scene is producing some really great band these days. Eldberg is one of the batch of bands who is getting a lot of fans outside Iceland. Their brand of 1970s rock'n'roll is refreshing, to say at least. References are the likes of Deep Purple, some Genesis, Rainbow, the southern rock scene..... well, 1970s rock scene.
The music is based on a rampant organ throughout. Fans of hard hitting Hammond organ must get this album. The organ sound here is absolute fabelous. The Icelandic vocals too is great. The rest of the band also does a great job and it is obvious that Eldberg is a great band from a to z.

The songs are both epic and catchy. The catchy song here and would had been a top 10 hit single if released in 1975 is the great Sunnan Vis Sol, Austan Vis Mina. A bit of a cheesy children-rhyme like song. But it is still a suberb song. The other outstanding song here is Ég Er Lífsins Brauð with it's excellent hymn theme. The fifteen minutes long Hliðarlif Vor Tíma offers up a cascade of various themes and music styles from the 1970s. This song is some great fifteen minutes in anyone's life. The rest of the album is also great.

In short; this is a great album and I have to my satisfaction noticed that I am not the only one hoping for a lot more from this very promising band. Feel free to go on a viking raid into Europe and USA too, guys.

4.5 points

Mostly Autumn - For All We Shared (1999)

The debut album from this UK band who has become pretty popular now.

I purchased their albums one year ago in the middle of a frenzy to get everything. But I only started to listen to this album last week in preparation to review this album. That was my first exposure to their music.

As expected, this band is mixing traditional folk music with rock. I am not a big fan of this scene as the biggest commercial act in this scene is one of my pet hates. Yes, that's The Corrs and I cannot stand them at all. But Mostly Autumn is mostly staying away from those crimes against humanity. There is a lot of substance and classical music like approaches to the music on this album. Most of this album is very good rock in the vein of Pink Floyd. But my overall impression is that the band has not matured in their expression on this album. You get Pink Floyd and Camel like melodies clashing with traditional folk music. It does not sound right and it really ruins this album for me. You cannot ride two horses at the same time. You cannot eat a cod supper with strawberry jam batter.

That is why I am not happy about this album. The band has yet to find their form..... I hope ! I hope this album is not the norm for the rest of their albums too. In that case, I have some unwanted items in my flat.

This is a decent album, but nothing more.

2 points

Yob - The Illusion of Motion (2004)

The third album from this US sludge doom band and my first ever exposure to them.

The guitars are down-tuned and the music is sludge as in a blend of Black Sabbath and hard-core. Mostly Black Sabbath though, but updated to this side of the millenium. The vocals are both distorted and death growls. The guitar riffs are heavy.

This album is suffering from the lack of any really good material. This album are meandering away on it's own without really getting into gear. But there are some sporadic good music here. But not enough for my taste. It is a very decent album though and more for the fans of sludge core.

2.5 points

Bloomer Plateau - Bang Away Your Loneliness (2003)

The second and final album from this four man band. Again, a free download.

I was not happy  at all with the first album. Christain Kolf, the mainman here, did expand the band with three other members and set off in the direction of post rock. The sound is not good though and this recording was never meant to see the light either. But he has made them available through Bandcamp.

The songs sounds unfinished and underdeveloped. The sound is not good at all. Hence, I am not particular happy. But it is a free download and I have not lost anything here. Christain Kolf and his friends has gone onto release a lot better albums than this album. Bloomer Plateau is also a closed chapter in his life. That explains this rather unfinished product.

1.5 points

Dire Straits - Alchemy (1984)

Dire Straits is a pretty controversial band. They personified everything that was wrong with the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s. The plastic fantastic society where everything real was replaced with cheap plastic imitations. Watching a live video with this band is not recommended. So I am closing my eyes and is concentrating my mind on their best music. The Making Movies to half of the Brothers In Arms album. Love Over Gold is an excellent album.

Alchemy is a two CDs/LPs live album and it was a recording of the tour following the Love Over Gold album. Thankfully, this live album is based on that album and most of Making Movies. That and the Local Hero soundtrack Mark Knofler did. The light hearted cheesy songs, which marred their later career, is omitted from this album and all cheese haters, myself included, can safely listen to this album without becoming sick.

Mark Knofler's guitar playing is outstanding on this album. The rest of the band is also great. But Mark Knofler is the star here. The sound is great too. This album also include excellent tracks like Tunnel Of Love, Romeo & Juliet, Private Investigations and Telegraph Road. There are also some pretty good songs here too. But I can listen to those above mentioned songs all night.

In my view; this is a great live album and one of the standards in my music collection. One album I really cherish. The last really great Dire Straits output before they were swallowed by an ocean of cheese.

4 points

Runaway Totem - Esameron (2007)

Runaway Totem with their sixth album.

This Italian band is a bit of a strange band. Not entirely zeuhl and not entirely rio/avant-garde either. They are somewhere between Univers Zero and Magma. They are building big soundscapes in this landscape. Their music has a lot of the militaristic marches from zeuhl and the harshness from the Belgian avant-garde scene.

The music on Esameron is closer to zeuhl than I am used to from this Italian band. The marching band music runs through the whole of this album. Something I see as an improvement from this band. The music is good throughout. But nothing more than good, I am afraid. This album is still a good listen and I rate this band.

3 points

Emperor - Emperial Live Ceremony (2000)

The dust has mostly settled over what was the Norwegian black metal scene now and it is time to take stock. The scene produced some great bands and some not so great bands. Emperor was head and shoulders above the rest of the bands though and their final three studio albums are great.

Emperor developed from a pure black metal band to a much more progressive symphonic death/black metal band at the end. That's when they broke up. Their reign ended at the top and it is very few bands who has the wisdom to split up at their creative best.

This live album proves beyond any reasonable doubts why Emperor was such a great band. Almost an hour of top quality metal compositions. From the catchy I Am The Black Wizard to the more multi-layered progressive rock styled An Elegy of Icaros. This album has it all. Yes, the music is brutal as heck. But it is also melodic too. The vocals are a bit of an acquired taste though.

This is one of my alltime favorite live albums and one of the highlights of the Norwegian black metal scene. Not true black metal, but still a great live album. It is a live album everyone into progressive music should have.

4 points

Athelstone - The Quiet Before The Storm (2011)

The debut album from this new UK band. A pay-if-you-like-it album on Bandcamp.

Athelstone has as a mission to play and release playful music. They have succeeded with that on this album. Fifty five minutes divided on three songs. Music which ranges from post rock and shoegaze to jazz and funk. References ? From King Crimson, Gentle Giant to Soft Machine and Sigur Ros. The music is very varied on this album and the listener never get bored. It is not easy listening stuff though.

The music is performed with jazz percussions, walls of post rock sounding guitars, keyboards, jazzy bass, mellotron, drums and half acoustic guitars. There is no spoken vocals here. The instrumentations is like a post rock band moving in with a jazz combo. Very strange. Very progressive. Very much like this day and age.

This makes this a very eclectic album. It is true progressive music too. This is the sound of 2011-12.  There is no great tracks here though. But the overall feeling is great and this is an album not to be missed for those of us into progressive music. I think Athelstone is really onto something here. This is a great album in it's own right.

4 points

Camembert - Schnoergl Attahk (2011)

The second offering and the first full length album from this French jazz band.

Jazz is though not the correct label on this band and this album. Their music is much more towards eclectic jazz than standard jazz. They mix in bands like King Crimson and the more jazzy bands from the Canterbury scene into their brand of jazz. A large helping of both rio (rock in opposition) and zeuhl is also mixed into their music.

Their brand of music is really great and they are a part of this great new French scene of avant-garde jazz. The material on this album is not really up to what I had expected. I have been listening to this album for a considerable time and it has failed to grow on me. But the music, performed with a wide variety of instruments, really never takes off towards greatness. This band does everything right, besides of writing great material. Hopefully, that will be rectified. This is a good album and one for the Canterbury fans.

3 points

Thumpermonkey Lives! - Alpha Romeo (2003)

The debut EP from one of the weirdest bands from England.

So weird that they are very difficult to label. But take a slice of Faith No More, a large slice of Mr. Bungle and add a lot of electronica, house and hip hop to the mix and you get their sound.

This twenty minutes long EP has some weird music, but also some very vibrant music too. Both weird and vibrant at the same time, in my view. The vocals are leftfield strange with both high pitches and deep baryton. The lyrics is probably weird too.

This is by no means an easy EP to digest. But it has grown on me a lot and I really likes it. Bands like Thumpermonkey Lives! really deserves a lot more attention because they are both vibrant and progressive as opposed to the regressive bands from the 1970s. Roll over Yes and tell Dream Theater the news. This is a good EP and it is a  pay if you like download too. Link below.

3 points

Leitmotiv - Entangled (2007)

Another retro prog band from Canada.

Retro prog is the game here and the piano based songs is what I will remember this album for. The piano is helped out by some guitars, keyboards, bass and drums too. But it is still the dominant instrument by far. The piano and the vocals. The vocals are a bit special, but also very good.

Music wise, they comes across as a blend of Supertramp, Renaissance, Genesis and Happy The Man. Melodic and retro, in other words. The sound is good too.

The quality is pretty good. There is nothing I don't like here and the album has grown on me a lot. Mostly because of the many good Renaissance influences. This album has it's failings though and those are the lack of any really great songs. This is a rather good album from a good band. Nothing more, nothing less.

3 points

Camel - Moonmadness (1976)

Camel got two pretty big hit albums in their two previous albums Mirage and The Snow Goose. Moonmadness is their fourth album and the follow up to these two albums. Where both The Snow Goose and Mirage was pretty easy accessible albums, Moonmadness requires a lot of patience. It has a lot of different layers which needs to be peeled off before the juicy bits appears.

Camel still relies on the long instrumental parts with some occasion vocal parts too. The long instrumental parts are not that based on classical music as on the two previous albums. Moonmadness is a lot more worked through album overall and does not take any cheap shortcuts which made me pretty fast tire of both the Mirage and Snowgoose albums. I have given Moonmadness a lot of more time than usual for a Camel album. Mostly because I like it that much.

The best song is the busy, jazzy Lunar Sea on a great album which just continues to give and give. This is a great Camel album and makes me want to discover more from this band. I cannot say I got the same urge after listening to their previous albums...

4 points

Airportman - Nino e l 'Inferno (2011)

For some reason, I have received a lot of electronica/ambient promo albums which got stucked at my office until now. Airportman is a band whose music has one leg in ambient music and the other one in jazz/post rock.

A mix of ambient, jazz and post rock is my best take on this album. An album who paints soundscapes and makes the listener really have to concentrate to get this onboard. A type of music I am not comfortable with at all. The melodies and the ambience on Nino e l 'Inferno is not good enough in my view too. The whole album has some decent music, but that is all. This album is only recommended to fans of ambient music.

Sorry, but this is not really for me.

2 points

Birds And Buildings - Bantam To Behemoth (2008)

One of Dan Britton's projects and perhaps his best one too.

Released in 2008, this album hit the scene like a bomb. And with good reasons. This album is bold as a crow and smart as a magpie. It is truly an eclectic album which embrace everything from Magma via Yes and King Crimson to Mahavushnu Orchestra.

The music is mostly instrumental. But Megan Wheatley's vocals on Chronicle Of The Invisible River Of Stone is haunting beautiful and a reminder about what she was going to throw at us with her own brilliant All Over Everywhere album two years later.

Besides of that, this album has eight other superb tracks where the opener fusion tinged Birds Flying Into Buildings is the best track on an album that really impresses a lot. There are rumours about a new album and I really hope a new Birds And Buildings album will hit us soon. This album is very impressive and almost essential.

4.5 points

Disgorge - She Lay Gutted (1999)

I generally got a morbid curiosity. That makes me go out and check out bands from the gospel, pop, zeuhl, jazz and the metal scene. Sometimes, I end up with promo CDs like this one. One I got from Unique Leader back in 1999 and reviewed for a magazine back then. But I am more than happy to write a new review for my blog too.

The music here is pretty basic gore grind. The vocals are guttural to the extreme. The music is pretty guttural too. Cannibal Corpse and Suffocation is two good references. This is the debut album from Disgorge from USA and despite of one of their members passing away recently due to cancer, the band is still going strong, three albums later.

She Lay Gutted has a pretty good, clean sound. The music here is neither particular extreme or technical. It is middle of the road gore grind and hardly anything more than that. This is a decent album which does not really impresses me.

2 points

Delta Saxophone Quartet - Dedicated to you... (2007)

Delta Saxophone Quartet with their take on the music of Soft Machine.

I am a big Soft Machine fan and laps up everything by them. That includes some not so good live albums too. I am not the only Soft Machine fan out there and there are some tribute and covers albums out there. Delta Saxophone Quartet has not done a pure tribute album. They have added and subtracted to Soft Machine their own take on their music. They have also included songs from their more guitars orientated albums like Softs and Bundles. The versions of Floating World and The Tale Of Taliesin is very good. But before that, we also get Hugh Hopper on their version of Facelift too. Those three tracks are the best on this album by far. But the rest of the album is also good, although a bit untraditional.

The main difference between Soft Machine and Delta Saxophone Quartet's versions of their songs is the intensity of the deliveries. Where Soft Machine always was very intense, Delta Saxophone Quartet is taking a couple of steps back and does a lot more laidback versions of the songs. In reality; the difference is Elton Dean and his trademark intense playing.
The other difference is Delta Saxophone Quartet's use of saxophone where Soft Machine varied a lot between woodwinds, keyboards and guitars, depending on which setup were using the Soft Machine name at the time.

But Delta Saxophone Quartet has come up with a really good take on Soft Machine and I am a happy owner of this album. Soft Machine's music cannot be played often enough in my view. This album proves my point.

3.5 points

Trurl - Do Not See Me Rabbit (2011)

Trurl is a couple of members from Glass Hammer branching into fusion, if I am not mistaken. Perhaps I am.

This is their debut album and the music is a jazzed up version of some of Glass Hammer's most instrumental ideas. Not copied over from Glass Hammer, but still in that ballpark. Genre wise, think a mix of fusion, eclectic and some symphonic prog. The music is wholly instrumental and mostly keyboards driven. The music is not particular intense or technical prowess driven either. It is pretty much middle of the road instrumental driven music.

There is no great tracks here. Neither is there any really bad tracks here. Identity and some great tracks is missing from this album. Besides of that, I cannot fault this album at all.

3 points

Thinking Plague - Decline And Fall (2012)

This should really be something I loved.......

Thinking Plague is a band who straddle the chamber rock and zeuhl genres. One of their legs are also in jazz too. Their use of female vocals really sets them apart. There is a myriad of influences on this, their brand new album. From Magma and Univers Zero to vocal jazz. Most of the female vocals are pretty atonal too.

There is no doubts this band is a truly great band. I have never heard anything from them before, I am afraid. But everyone tells me how great they are.

That is why I am a bit disappointed with this album. It feels a bit convoluted and restrained. The bird that is their music never really flies towards the skies. It is stucked on one of the lowest branches in a tree. There is no really great tracks here either. This album is mostly an album of what could had been. I think this band is better than  this. Hence, I will get some of their five other albums too.

A good album, but nothing more.

3 points

Hemina - Synthetic (2012)

The big great white hope from Australia.

Hemina is really being pushed hard these days and with good reason. Their sound and music is somewhere between Muse, German power metal and Dream Theater. It is so 2012, this album.

Their sound is big and powerful. The vocals are great. The tangents and guitars all sounds great. What I am missing is a couple of great songs on this album. The difference between another very good modern symphonic metal album and a truly great one. But apart from that flaw, this band is doing everything right on this album.

3.5 points

Whiplash - Ticket To Mayhem (1987)

In the thrash/speed metal wave at the end of the 1980s, this album stood out from most of the crowd and has been hailed as a semi classic. So much that Displeased Records recently re-released it with their debut Power And Pain as a bonus disc.

Ticket To Mayhem was their second album. I remember their Power And Pain debut as a much more straight forward speed metal album. Ticket To Mayhem on the other hand is a mix of NWOBHM and speed metal. A mix of Metallica anno their debut album and the likes of Diamond Head and Iron Maiden.

The sound  is a bit dirty (I am reviewing the original album). The music is a mix of hard speed and some heavy metal which does not really hit home, 25 years after it's release. But most of all, most of this album sounds like left overs from Metallica's Kill Em All album. There is a lot of new bands releasing albums like this now. Thrash/Speed metal has returned but it is no longer my world. Anno 2012, this is hopeless music.

1.5 points

Graal - Legends Never Die (2011)

An Italian hard rock band with a good vintage 1970s sound.

I got this as a promo from Black Widow Records and thought this was some dark rock of some sort. The first half of this album proved me wrong and both my legs was really getting into the rhythm of their music.

Graal can be compared to all the great hard rock bands from that era. Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Bad Company, Grand Funk Railway, Rainbow and Thin Lizzy... just to mention a few. I am sure I have forgotten some too. But you get my drift. There are also some keltic folk music here too. In short, this album is a welcome meeting with a great sound. And there is not a devil in sight.

The songs too are pretty great too. Graal really has come up with a huge surprise with this album and got a new friend in me and surely a lot of other people too with this album. I have come to really enjoy this album and this sound again. Graal has taken me back in time again. I wish them all the best and as many listeners to this album as possible.

Fans of 1970s hard rock should really get this album.

4 points

Seconda Genesi. La - Tutto Deve Finire (1972)

My hopes for an Italian Genesis copy band was dashed during the first minute. The album starts like a rocket, fueled by some jazzy diesel.

Tutto Deve Finire is the only album from this band who appeared and disappeared again pretty quickly. The album is pretty short and intense. The sound is excellent.

The jazzy start of the album is a bit of a false dawn. The music on this album is mostly a mix of Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull. Hard and folk rock in a nice combination with Italian pop music. In this respect, this is a pretty traditional Italian album.

This album is an album that grows on the listener over time. I did not like it at all during my first two listening sessions. A couple of weeks later and this album really resonates with me. Tutto Deve Finire is indeed a very good album which is sorely missing a couple of killer tracks to really make an everlasting impression. Check it out if Italian hard and folk rock is your preference.

3.5 points

Machiavel - Eleven (2011)

This band from Belgium made their name in the 1970s with some good album, which I got but never listened to. This album is my first ever exposure to this band.

I guess this band has evolved a lot since their first album which is still regarded as a semi-classic album. A symphonic prog album, I have heard. Eleven is much more a pop/rock album though. The music is also straddling into country too with some slide guitars.

The emphasis is on good melodies in their music. Good, but also pretty simple melodies which sounds good on stage and on festivals with a lot singalongs and party feeling. On a record though and in my ears who prefer complicated music than this album serves up, this music is too simple for me. The rhythms are pretty flat and you can clap your hands to almost every track here.

This music is not for me. But I hope the band has a lot of success with this album. They seems to be a nice group of hard working musicians.

2.5 points

Soft Head - Rogue Elements (1978)

The name Soft Head and this live album was a one of deviation from their group Soft Heap. The original drummer Pip Pyle had to pull out for this gig and Dave Sheen replaced him. Hence the change of name to Soft Head for this gig. Strange, but that's how they did it back in those days.

Soft Head/Soft Heap was a supergroup which consisted of Alan Gowen (tangents), Elton Dean (woodwinds), Hugh Hopper (bass) and Pip Pyle/Dave Sheen (drums). The list of bands they have played in is very long. But the name Soft Heap gives associations to Soft Machine and that is why I got this album.

It is fair to say that their music lands somewhere between Gilgamesh and Soft Machine. The music is not as intense as Soft Machine and not as laidback as Gilgamesh.

Elton Dean is the main soloist on this album. But Alan Gowen also have some brilliant solos too besides of working away in the background and proving how great musician he was. Dave Sheen and Hugh Hopper holds it all together in the background.

The music is really superb and a timely reminder why Canterbury jazz was such a great movement. All the musicians here, bar Dave Sheen has passed away and this time will never return again. But just hearing the interplay between these four great musicians fills me with awe and wonderment.

The best track is Seven For Lee on a live album with both swinging jazz tunes and intense ballads. They don't make music like this anymore, I am afraid.

4 points

Mascarada - Urban Names (1999)

A Spanish band which I know absolute nothing about. This is their debut album and perhaps their only album too. I got this album as an evaluation project for a magazine last year.

Genre wise, this album comes across as neo prog. British neo prog, that is. Some of the songs are long and this album is a concept album with no breaks inbetween the songs. Music wise, that is. The lyrics bit, I do not know. But the lyrics are in English.

I am not particular impressed by the music and that even after three weeks of giving this album regular time in my speakers. The sound is not good and the vocals is not pleasing to my ears either. The songs are decent, but nothing more. This neo prog album does not hit home in my home, I am afraid.

2 points

Little Tragedies - The Cross (2008)

This Russian (mostly) one man band has released some albums during their time. Most of them sounding like a mad professor doing Keith Emerson impersinations. To a large degree, that is what Little Tragedies is all about.

The Cross on the other hand is a deviance from the norm. Most tracks here are songs. Proper songs with Russian vocals and based on some Russian folk songs, it sounds like. And yes, the album also takes one or two detours into ELP land too. But most of the album is proper songs...... very much to my amazement.

I would not say the result is great. But this album works and it is both refreshing and very good to hear those Russian songs. Russia has nothing to be ashamed off when it comes to culture. Something this album proves.
The long instrumental tracks are a bit tedious though and not on par with the songs. But well over half of this album is very good and the rest is merely so-so. I would though recommend this album for those who want something different from the symphonic prog genre. This is another good product from Russia. More of this and less vodka, please.

3 points

Prudence - 11/12/75 (1976)

Prudence is probably an unknown name to most of you, even you Norwegians. But this Norwegian band released four studio albums and were both the hardest and mostly the only touring Norwegian rock'n'roll band in Norway between 1970 and 1975. There is not a public building and not a village in Norway where Prudence has not gigged.

Prudence was also Åge Aleksandersen's first serious band. He is widely recogniced as the godfather of Norwegian rock music and he has released some really good albums on his own. Terje Tysland, another excellent musician were also a member of Prudence. This band were a battleground between their two pretty massive egos. They are good friends today, but they spilt some blood during their time in Prudence when they locked horns. Both are very much present on this live album.

When it comes to their music, it is a bit difficult to pinpoint. But The Band and Jethro Tull is a very good reference. Prudence though was their own masters and they created their own sound and identity. Their studio albums are pretty good and very much well worth checking out.

In 1975, the band had got enough of each other. Terje Tysland and  Åge Aleksandersen had kicked each other's bum too many times. The band had lost their last illusions and gave up the ghost. They played their final gig 11. December 1975 and this live album is their final release.

This live album is very much a live album with audience participation and songs fleshed out in a live setting. The sound is very good. A sad, melancholic ambience is pretty evident throughout this album. In particular on Terje Tysland's excellent guitar solo on the final track Takk Te Dokk which plays Prudence out of the scene and into history. It is hard not to feel sad during that guitar solo.

This live album is not their greatest hits album though. It includes some glaring omissions, I would say. Yes, I do have their studio albums. But it is a good documentary about a band who I think deserves a bit more attention and admiration. Prudence were not perfect by any means. But they still deserve a lot of credit. And so does this live album with all it's failings and the good songs too. A strong three and a half points is awarded.

3.5 points

Gudars Skymning - Morka Vatten (2010)

A Swedish blues album released and distributed by Black Widow Records.

Black Widow Records is a prog/occult/metal label. But this album, unless the band is members of some black circle, is pure blues. Heavy blues, that is. Marketing and promotion wise, this is not a good solution for the band at all. As a regular purchaser of Black Widow albums, this album just feel so wrong.

Blues it is, then. The music is not particular exciting. Neither is blues as a genre. A genre overcrowded with decent bands that it has become a joke anno 2010, I am sorry to say. This album is very much following that trend.

Morka Vatten is an album with generic blues songs and is as exciting as crossing the Sahara Desert, bare footed. But there are still some quality here. Hopeless, this album is not. Neither is it any good. A decent album, but nothing more.

2 points

Magma – Udu Wudu (1976)

The French band Magma is the pioneers of the music genre called zeuhl. It is probably the most eclectic type of music we have ever seen. Go to Wikipedia for more info.

Udu Wudu is their sixth album and a much more accessible album than their more hardcore zeuhl albums. It is not particular bombastic operatic as their first albums. Udu Wudu relies more on Jannick Top's funky jazzy bass. The songs are not that great either. I do not feel mentally drained after listening to this album as I did with the first Magma albums. This album is a bit too Magma light for my liking.

But this is still a very good album with some really good songs. But their standards has dropped a notch, I am afraid. But the jazzy zeuhl is still cool and this album is perhaps a perfect entry point for those who want to check out Magma.

3.5 points

Gazpacho - London (2011)

Hmmm......... two live albums in two years. Dubious.

I have to admit I have been struggling with Gazpacho's music since I discovered them a few years ago. They are one of Norway's finest bands at the moment, but I have never really warmed to their music.

Until now.

Their Missa Atropos opus, which this live album is based on, was a really good album. I suspect my frosty attitude towards their music was melting away during the review process of that album. When I purchased this live album, one of the final physical albums I have purchased before introducing a no-more-purchases policy due to lack of space in my flat, I was ready to wave the white flag.

Oh boy does this live album makes my arms ache due to all this waving.

London is a 2 CDs, two hours long live album with some really great tracks, great sound and brilliant musicianship. Gazpacho's music is somewhere between Radiohead and Marillion (Hogarth era). For me, Gazpacho is the leading band in this neo-art rock genre which has swept over Europe during the last years. This is Hogarth era Marillion adoring bands who has fused them and Radiohead into one sound. There are some notable other bands too in this new genre..... but their names escapes me.

London is two hours of long, lingering and catchy neo-art rock. This is the type of music which makes you relax and enjoy. Which is exactly what I am doing now. It is by all standards a great live album with no weak tracks but where a real killer track or two is missing. Hence my four points award. And yes, Gazpacho has finally won me over. Don't be as frosty as I was. Discover this great band yourself. And a brand new album has just been released.

4 points

Nema Niko - Meccaniche Di Pensiero (2007)

I know next to nothing about this Serbian band, but I got a handful of their albums from Lizard Records, Italy. So I will in an unorganised manner review them.

Their music is a sort of ambient music with some haunting melancholic electric guitars solos, some acoustic guitars, female vocals, bass, drums, violins, samples and some synth. The music is what we label electronica.

The ambience is gothic and dark. The music is not the kind you play to suicidal people. A lot of darkness and not much light.

I am not entirely home in this soundscape. But the band has something going on here and I would not dismiss this band out of hand. This album is decent, but really lack some good music. I am listening, but this album does not resonance with me. But don't dismiss this band.

2.5 points

Cal - Cal (1980)

The one and only album from this Spanish band.

Think about Spain and their music. Think about all the cliches. The flamenco. The male who serenades females with love songs. Think about passion. Think about jazzy bossanova.

All of what you think about above and more is on this album. This album is Spanish through and through. Was it sponsored by the Spanish tourism department ? I would not be surprised if it was. This album is a good advert for Spain.

The music is a mix of Spanish folk rock, prog rock and fusion. The flamenco is there. The Genesis like keyboards sounds and melodies is also here. The folk rock has a lot of fusion in it too. But most of all, this is a Spanish rock album with passionate rock.

The quality is good throughout. There is no great songs here. But the standard is good so no complaints. This album is most definate Sounds Of Spain and very exotic for those of us living outside Spain. A very special album, in other words. Spain, here I come.....

3 points

Suffocation - Effigy of the Forgotten (1991)

Suffocation is one of the main bands within the death metal genre. Their music and sound has been pretty much copied by the whole scene and the result was a genre that suffocated itself at the end of the 1990s due to lack of fresh air and new ideas.

Effigy of the Forgotten is their debut album and the follow up to their ground breaking Human Waste EP. Death metal was a pretty new genre at that time and this album set the tone, so to speak.

20 years later, Effigy of the Forgotten sounds a bit stale and dated. The music here is not particular technical. Neither is it melodic or innovative. The guttural vocals is the only refreshing here. I have really never warmed to Suffocation at all. Too generic and too dull in my view. Not enough interesting hooks. The sound is not particular good either. A decent album with a pretty big historical significance, but that is all.

2 points

Beatles. The - Let It Be (1970)

The final Beatles album.

And a pretty controversial one too. Mostly because Sir Paul McCartney think it was pretty much destroyed by the Phil Spector wall to wall orchestral arrangements. Sir Paul McCartney re-released Let It Be in 2003 as Let It Be - Naked.

This though is the original version and it contains a mix of curiosities. The brilliant songs, and some The Beatles classics, is Across The Universe, the title track, The Long And Winding Road and Get Back. The rest of the album is pretty bad.

This album is not on par with their really great albums and a bit of a sad ending. But the band had ceased to be at that time and their solo careers beckoned. Let It Be has too throw away songs to be a real great album. But it is still a very good album though.

3.5 points

Nightsky Bequest - Keep The Lonely Trees (1997)

The debut album from this Bulgarian doom metal band. A band who were a part of the very active Brutallica mag/Counter Active Records scene in Bulgaria. I think they are still very active. The Brutallica magazine is still being released.

Nightsky Bequest played ambient doom metal with some prog and goth influences too. They had female vocals and no death metal vocals.

Unfortunate, the material here is too ambient with acoustic guitars and keyboards. The few proper melodies here is not particular good. The female vocals are a bit weak too. The sound is not bad though. The end product is a snore fest of an album. I must have liked this album fifteen years ago. But anno 2012, this album does not sound good at all. Sorry.

1 point

Akinetón Retard - Akinetón Retard (1999)

The debut album from this avant-garde chamber rock band from Chile.

Akinetón Retard has drawn a lot of inspirations from the early King Crimson albums on this album. That band and Univers Zero. Not to mention some jazz aka John Coltrane. Those influences shines through the pretty jazzy, eclectic music on this album.

The main instruments are woodwinds, bass, guitars, drums and guitars. The dominating instruments are the haunting, piercing woodwinds. But the bass is also pretty dominating here too.

The music is good throughout. No big killer tracks, but this album is hobbling along throughout the forty odd minutes. It is obvious that this band knows what they are doing.

This is a promising debut album from a highly rated band. I like this album.

3 points

Malmsteen. Yngwie - Double Live! (1998)

The second live album by this larger than life character Yngwie Malmsteen.

What hits me first is the pretty horrendous bad sound on this album. This album feels like a bootleg and was probably recorded as a bootleg too before Yngwie Malmsteen got hold of the tapes. Or perhaps it was the record label who got hold of them and decided to cash in on Yngwie Malmsteen's name. The sound is nowhere near acceptable in my views.

Yngwie Malmsteen builds up everything around his guitars. A guitar sound who sounds like two fighting cats. It is best enjoyed in small dosages. This 100 minutes long live album is most definate at least 90 minutes too long with this crappy sound. It is not helped by the bad sound either which really gets to me and makes it impossible to really enjoy Yngwie Malmsteen's music.

In short; this album is a rip off and I have been royally ripped off.

1 point

Finch - Glory of the Inner Force (1975)

The debut album from this highly regarded Dutch band.

Finch has stolen a lot from Yes on this album. Most of the sound in fact. They have added a lot of fusion to Yes sound and by that; created their own identity and music.

The music is driven by a Steve Howe sounding guitar and by keyboards. That and some Moog too in addition to bass and drums. There is no vocals here.

The lack of vocals is a bit of an oversight by the band here. The music is good throughout. But it lacks the focus vocals would had given it. This album simply lacks a bit identity and some great music too. This album is simply not good enough to interest me. But it is still a good album, but nothing more.

3 points

Dreams Of Sanity - The Game (2000)

The final album from this rather underrated band. A band that drowned in the masses of female fronted goth metal bands at that time.

In the still prolific vocalist Sandra Schleret, they had a brilliant vocalist. No wonder she is a solo artist now. The music is fitted in behind her voice. The music is a blend of neo classical music and goth metal. Plenty of beautiful progressive goth rock can be found on this album. In a song like The Beginning That Lies, they also had an ace up their sleeve.

The result is a good album. Besides of The Beginning That Lies, there is no real great songs. But there are no real weak songs here either. I am by no means a fan of goth metal. But this album is an exception from my disdain of this genre.

3 points

Black Sabbath - Headless Cross (1989)

The band previously known as the godfathers of heavy metal returns again.

Gone is their good style from the 1970s. Bands like Trouble, Candlesmass and others would steal their 1970s sound and make a good career of that. That is why it is so sad to listen to albums like Headless Cross. Black Sabbath anno Headless Cross is twenty on the dozen AOR influenced heavy metal band. They tried to play on an occult image, but also that fell flat on it's face.

Headless Cross has one good song, the title song, and a very good vocalist in Tony Martin. It is also a pretty heavy album which tries to incorporate the heaviness of Paranoid into this album. But is mostly falls flat on it's face. The songs are pretty dire and lacks any imagination whatsoever. Hence my score.

2 points

6LA8 - Music Observatory (2011)

I have to admit Progressive Electronic is by no means my favorite music, this being my only second review ever in this genre. But this album is a free download and their nationality (Pakistan) would hopefully add something more to the genre than the usual fare.

The local flavours is a bit missing on this album, although I may have missed the local flavours. This album is a coop between Rakas and 6LA8 too. Hence, it is not a normal 6LA8 album. The first half has some organic flavours of some strings added. But there are also plenty of nifty computer works here too. All of the album, I guess. In this respect, it reminds me a lot about Senmuth, their brother in crime from the other side of the Karakoram mountains range. But 6LA8's music is a lot soft edged and softer than Senmuth's music. But it is still computer music.

This album is pretty decent with the first half of the album having some good melody lines. The final half is very poor though. This is a decent album, but nothing more. It is a free download though so make up your own mind as I have made up my mind.

2 points

Altair - Altair (1990)

The debut album from this Spanish band.

The music is instrumental. The instruments are drums, keyboards and synth-bass. And that alone really says a lot about this album. But if in any doubts; the music is somewhere between new age muzak/elevator music, classical music and symphonic prog. This is in Keith Emerson & ELP territory and this is by no means the most exciting or interesting music I have heard this year. It is leaning towards the other side of the spectrum, in fact.

The quality of the music is pretty good and it is obvious that Alfredo G. Arcusa & Isabel Muniente knows their stuff. And melodies like Estrella en el camino is great too. But there are some other melodies which does not really interest me too.

Overall, this is a rather weak triple stars album, Estrella en el camino and the many ELP references being the saving grace here. Those of you not in awe of ELP can safely bypass this album and spend the money on some fudge donuts instead.

3 points

Deep Purple - In Concert With The London Symph Orchestra (1999)

If you are a symphony orchestra, stealing money from a starry eyed heavy metal band is far easier than stealing money from a newborn baby. A bit naughty. I guess Deep Purple themselves wanted this live album, a celebration of the groundbreaking (not in quality) 1969/70 album with the same symphony orchestra.

I have never understood this fascination about heavy metal and rock bands wanting to do albums with symphony orchestras. It is like mixing fire with water. What do you get ? Fog, bloody fog. Is fog a good thing ? No. Is creating fog an artistic impression ? No. Why bother ? That is a mystery to me.

This album contains blues, musicals and cosy easy listening stuff with great appeal to toddlers and 100 years old seniles alike. Music for the family. But this is music without any artistic merits and no artistic value. It is like watching bread becoming bread in an oven. It is like watching a fog covered landscape.

The first CD is worthless family stuff without any musical value whatsoever. The second CD has some music with artistic merit, but is not that interesting either. Smoke On The Water with a full symphony orchestra + Deep Purple is hideous beyond belief.

Hence my sole point.

1 point

Maneige - Maneige (1975)

The debut from this great Canadian band.

Maneige is a very slow starting album which takes it's time to really get going. The emphasis is on avant-garde doodling at the beginning before the twentyone minutes long opening track Le Rafiot really comes to life. Half-life, that is. The emphasis is on a mix of pastoral folk rock and jazz. Fusion, but not as fusion used to be. And that is what the this album is. A fusion between jazz and folk music. Induce some classical music too and you get the sound of album.

I am not won over by this album, I have to admit. It has some great melody lines, but not many enough to really interest me that much. But it is a very creditable debut album and a very good one too. Hence my restricted praise for it.

3.5 points

Damenbart - Impressionen '71 (1971)

Krautrock can mean a lot of things. From jazzy melodies to rock to avant-garde to noise.

Damenbart is one of the many one-album wonder bands in this blog. I do not know much, not to mention anything, about this band. This album is also most definate in the avant-garde, bordering to noise, wing of the Krautrock scene. Most of the music has an industrial feel over it with sirens and working hammers of infernal heavy industries in the Ruhr valley as the backdrop. It feels like an infernal hell elevated to a German valley. That's the first half of the album. The final half, from thirty five minutes and out, has some Raga Rock influences and even some good jazz too.

Then I have to flesh up this review with my opinion and points.......

Those of you into the more avant garde/noise part of the Krautrock scene, and I know that is a lot of you, should most definate check out this album. You will probably love it. I don't think this is a bad album. But this album is a bit too eclectic for my liking. Too one-dimentional and too sound collage like. It is a decent album though, but not one I will play again too often. Sorry......

2 points

Arktika - Heartwrencher (2011)

The debut offering from these icebreaking Germans.

.....Although they are not breaking any new ground. Ice is per definition frozen water. Not ground. I guess you have just teached you all something new here and you can wander into the sunset, happily enhanced with some new wisdom.

Arktika's music is somewhere near classic post rock and sludge core. More like post rock in my view. Cascades of sludge hits the post rock buffers and we get some pretty pastoral melody lines. The band got this mix just about right on their album. This EP though is more balanced towards sludge and the music is not that good though. But this is still a weak three stars EP. The vocals is not to everyone's taste too, but they fixed that on the album. The ability to learn from mistakes is there and that is good.

Both their releases are free downloads though and are highly recommended to all post rock fans.

3 points

Triumvirat - Russian Roulette (1980)

10 000 polar bears would never venture into a record shop to buy this album. Therefore; 10 000 polar bears cannot be wrong.

Triumvirat really morphed into a joke on this album. Gone is the ELP copycat and in comes a band who really only plays commercial rock with some Supertramp influences. That is; when Supertramp was really, really bad and obese on money and Colombian farming products. But this album is not as good as they were on their worst.

The music on Russian Roulette (strange...... Accept's flop album was also named Russian Roulette....... better stay away from this type of activity) is piano based pop with a lot of Las Vegas written all over it. The quality is really really abysmal and this album is an uber-turkey. The one near the top of the sofa, admiring the view of the ground one meter below.

The vocals deserves a special mentioning though. It is something that will replace the chasing cat in my nightmares, I believe. Utter, utter abysmal vocals. Is there a bullet in the chamber ?

1 point

Pan.Thy.Monium - Dawn Of Dreams (1992)

The debut album from this band and an album who created quite a stirr back in those days.

This album is by no means straight death metal as expected from all albums at that time. There is in fact a lot of avant garde stuff and some very strange notes on this album. That includes some jazzy stuff too. Pan.Thy.Monium was one of the first avant-garde death metal bands in the scene and responsible for a lot of the bands who followed in their footsteps.

Dawn Of Dreams still hold up against the advent of time. The death metal is at times a bit too standard. But the avant garde and jazz stuff sounds good. The sound is dirty and the same goes for the growling. This is a good avant garde death metal album and one for those who loves this type of music. Unfortunate, I am not one of this flock though. But this album still sounds good to me.

3 points

Cleveland. Barry - Volcano (2004)

An album now re-released as a free download on Barry Cleveland's website.

His 2010 album Hologramatron has been praised a lot around the world. Volcano is his debut album and it was released back in 2004 though. It is also a far more eclectic album too which takes in world music and jazz into a melting pot (sorry, could not find any better pun). The world music is pretty dominating on the first half with it's Middle East theme. A theme that really runs through the whole album. Lygia Ferra's vocals is being supported by percussion and Barry Cleveland's subtle guitar picking.

Subtle is the perfect word for the whole of this album. A raging infernal volcano, this album is not. Michael Manring's bass is always present and so is Barry Cleveland's subtle guitars too. Nothing on this album is overpowering. Unfortunate, there is no really outstanding music here too. The music being a bit too understated and does not really hit me.

This is a free download and it is most certainly a must-download album. The music on Volcano is not easy accessible though. That means some will regard it as the best album ever released and some will hate it. It is a love/hate album from an artist who never ever compromises. In my case, I really like this album, but it does not resonates with me beyond that point. But......

3.5 points

L'Impero Delle Ombre - I Compagni di Baal (2011)

The third album from this Italian heavy metal band.

Released by Black Widow Records, they are most definate operating on the dark side of the heavy metal scene. But their style is a bit difficult to pin down. I would label it as crossover heavy metal. That means a lot of Black Sabbath, some space rock, prog, rock and pop. The inclusion of both a Black Sabbath cover and a power ballad mirrors the 1980s cash in heavy metal bands. Their sound is sometimes bombastic heavy too. A mix of the 1970s and the 1980s is what I get from this album.

The quality is not particular great. I am by no meansy a fan of the type of music they plays here. But L'Impero Delle Ombre has done a good job with this music on this album. It is not an album which will feature on my playlist, I am afraid. But it is still a decent album.

2.5 points