"By Nature So Perverse" is the third full-length studio album by multi-national metal act Liquid Graveyard. The album was released through Sleaszy Rider Records in June 2016. It´s the successor to "The Fifth Time I Died" from 2011. There have been a couple of lineup changes since the last album as drummer Gustavo Segura has been replaced by Nicholas Barker and bassist Al Jimenez has been replaced by Shane Embury. The newcommers are of course both very prolific British musicians who are known from their involvement in artists like Napalm Death, Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, and Brujeria, just to mention a few.

I don´t know if it´s the inclusion of the two new gentlement to the lineup, or if the ressurrection of guitarist John Walker´s other band Cancer in 2013 have anything to do with it, but "By Nature So Perverse" is a much more potent, intense, and extreme metal oriented release than the two preceding album releases from Liquid Graveyard. The two previous albums featured a strong progressive metal/avant-garde metal element, but that part of the band´s sound is considerably toned down on "By Nature So Perverse", which instead focuses almost exclusively on the death metal and thrash/groove metal influences which were also a big part of the earlier releases. There´s even the odd nod towards grindcore here and there, so "By Nature So Perverse" is generally a pretty extreme release.

To my ears this new more "normal" sound suits Liquid Graveyard much better. As much as I always praise bold and adventurous music, the first two Liquid Graveyard albums just felt inconsistent and the experimental part of the band´s music didn´t really work. So they´ve taken the best elements from the first releases and have built on them to create the powerful, raw, angry, and brutal sound on "By Nature So Perverse". Lead vocalist Raquel Walker (married to John) solely performs blackened snarling vocals on this album and doesn´t perform clean vocals like she did on the preceding releases from Liquid Graveyard.

Upon conclusion "By Nature So Perverse" is a bit unexpected if you´re familiar with the earlier Liquid Graveyard albums. Usually an artist turn on some knobs between releases, but Liquid Graveyard have turned the extreme metal knob all the way to the top and I´m sure the addition of Barker and Embury have given the Walkers a push in that direction. A good quality release overall and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

A powerful funky acid drenched record, Band Of Gypsys may eclipse the three studio albums for me, the album wastes no time with it starting off with a funky grove that progressively gets more acid drenched eventually turning into a song that could easily fit on a Funkadelic record with it's wild vocals and I must say the drumming on not only this song but the whole album is just amazing and definitely gives Mitch Mitchell a run for his money (although I love both haha) the next track is the infamous Machine Gun, and wow I'm completely blown away by it, easily one of the greatest achievements in rock music, Hendrix makes the guitar just wail and wail and the bass is so good its kind of bouncy and fills in the spaces perfectly and the drumming is again just something else then near the eight minute mark there's these background vocals that complement the song so so much and then near the ten minute mark there's Billy Cox's amazing vocals there's so many different parts of the song where I'm like "thats my favorite wait no thats my favorite" and honestly Machine Gun has taken the spot as my favorite Hendrix song. While the first side of the album is essentially acid funk rock, the second side is more R&B oriented the next song is a Buddy Miles cut its very much an R&B song which I love (I grew up listening to that kind of music after all) again the drumming is just on point it's so good and Jimi's guitar just dances with the wah pedal on this one. Power To Love is a rocking tune it opens with an amazing guitar solo, the album ends with Message To Love and We Gotta Live Together, not my favorite songs off the album but still amazing nonetheless, again they blend R&B with acid rock and the instrumentation is phenomenal overall this is an ESSENTIAL addition to any music collection in general

I will admit that I got caught up in the propaganda that THE ARISTOCRATS were nothing but a trio of show-offs and wankers playing cold technical music. What a load of crap that is. They released their first four studio albums in the 10's and I didn't bite because of misinformation. Heck even I was thinking, why didn't they just call themselves THE WANKERS? And I never heard a note of their music. Sorry guys. This is a tasteful and mature release that is actually their first concept album. All instrumental. I have their last two albums, both from the 20's and both are so impressive. All three guys tend to share compositions equally. What a talented band!

I have had the pleasure of seeing Marco Minnemann live, and while he was earning that "over-drummer" tag during that show, it's hard to complain when he may be the best drummer on the planet. Best drum performance I've seen and heard live. And Marco came up with the idea of the duck story here. Bryan Beller is a beast I must say, one of the best bassists going these days. And Guthrie Govan certainly sounds like a Holdsworth fan. He has a lot of tricks in that playbook of his.

I read this quote from Guthrie on Holdsworth. "I consider his work to be every bit as revolutionary as that of jazz legends Charlie Parker and John Coltrane... evidently not content with redefining what was possible on the guitar, he also managed to rewrite pretty much the whole of music theory, coming up with all manner of chord voicings which had never been heard before and then concocting brand new scales to compliment them". Allan might have been the greatest musician ever. Subjective yes. But no one has done this with their instrument. All have been influenced by those who went before them. Not Holdsworth.

So we get about an hour of music here with each member contributing three tracks. This is a consistent record and I might add that the production could not be more perfect. It was tough to pick favs here because it is so consistent, but there's one track that stood out for me above the rest and that's "Slideshow" composed by Guthrie Govan. There's some beauty on this track starting around 1 1/2 minutes, spacey even. But like with all their music, they contrast well, and repeat themes, making it interesting and adventerous. Love the bass before 4 minutes and the heaviness a minute later.

I like the sampled sounds to start "Here Come The Builders" that reminds me that this is a concept album. Hearing the sounds of a neighbourhood. The one song I'm so-so on is the closer. It's because of the guest violinist who brings an ethnic vibe with it. Quite different from their previous record where there was a twenty something string orchestra helping out. I don't skip it, it's just not on the level of the rest in my opinion. It's a good song.

So a solid 4 stars for "Duck" and I will be paying more attention to the projects that these three are on moving forward, including of course future THE ARISTOCRATS releases. And I wouldn't be surprised if concept albums are their thing in the future, it gives some guidance when you're making instrumental music.

Alright. Let's imagine an alternate universe where Dream Theater didn't create this. Instead, a promising new prog band - let's call them Shmaken, Shmeam Theater, whatever - releases their debut album, Shmarasomnia. It sounds exactly like this album, the only difference being that it's by an unknown band. Or, more piercingly, the difference is that it's by a band that isn't buried under the weight of decades of expectation by fans and critics alike. How would we rate this?

Seriously, if a totally unknown band released Parasomnia, I strain to see how it wouldn't create shockwaves in the prog metal community. This is an excellent record, not just Dream Theater spinning their wheels. Petrucci's performance especially blew me away; the guitars here are no less memorable than those of classic Thrash albums (think Master of Puppets-era) and it's clear that, had this been released in a different era by a different band, it would earn far more enthusiastic reception. It's okay to admit that Dream Theater made a good album, even if it's not literally the 2nd coming of Scenes from a Memory.

Some minor criticism: while Parasomnia works well qua album - that is, you can listen to it start to finish without feeling the urge to skip anything - it doesn't feel like there's a standout track. If pressed, my vote would go to the instrumental intro "In the Arms of Morpheus", which is a pretty telling choice - but damn, what a nice intro! Just such a creative musical interpretation of slipping into a dream (if you didn't know, Morpheus was the Greek god of dreams, not just a Laurence Fishburne character). Other bands have done their own interpretation of this (consider Gazpacho's "Night"), so it was interesting to compare.

Further, I don't think this was the best use of James LaBrie's vocal talents. I phrase that deliberately to imply that LaBrie has vocal talent, since that seems to be a matter of contention among weirdo critics. Where LaBrie usually shines is his creative melodies and wide range of vocal styles, yet on this album he feels a bit constrained. I consider Dead Asleep an exception, and Midnight Messiah was a bit more adventurous, though I wasn't fond of the execution. There are probably others I'll warm up to on my 4th or 5th listens. Not a bad performance by any stretch, just below his standard, and I wish his sections were catchier.

An easy 4/5.

Checking out all of the negative reception this album gets, I figured there were either three possibilities:

1. The prog compositions are tired and familiar. 2. It's too conventional and poppy to be prog. 3. It's a little bit of both.

It was 3.

These guys got a live album one year after their debut where they played the album with some other songs, and then they degraded to this? I'm wondering if it was the idea of getting popular that lead to it. There was really nothing that intriguing or interesting about the album until it scratched the surface of prog in the second half. And even then, most of the AOR and pop songs were pretty standard for that genre as well, using overproduced reverb to do the job. Thankfully, as people say, they would get their neo-prog back in full force on the next album, because I can't even call this one neo-prog. I just can't.

Jan Hammer is a versatile keyboard player and can dabble in multiple disciplines. His electronic adventures may divide his older fans they still have artistic value. One example is the soundtrack whose film I have never seen. Since 80's, Hammer hasn't created the most emotional music to be honest, one skill he can't be denied is being equally effective in creating upbeat and reflective moments. This soundtrack has both categories. The first track is the best composed number with mechanical beats yet accessible and warm melody. I prefer the instrumental track but the vocal adds more warmth to it. Further tracks are all instrumental, far from the fusion complexity. When listening to this soundtrack in the late hour, I felt like it had quite a reflective mood thanks to keyboards and guitars. Hammer proved he could still produce a competent piece of music regardless of its distance from the 70's fusion.

So I need another neo-prog band to check out as the recommendation for Unitopia largely didn't cut the genre tag. To keep things organized, I often go back to the debut of a band I check out and work my way through their catalog. In this case, it's Pendragon, one I've been curious about since I started getting into neo-prog for the second time in the twelve years I've been "albuming." So, starting with The Jewel.

Because I wanted this study to be as historically accurate as possible, I went with the original 1985 tracklist. I was certainly not surprised by the synth-driven AOR of the opener, Higher Circles, but it was ultimately too short to develop itself properly, even as an AOR song, and it made me worry that the neo-prog tag on this debut was an inaccuracy by fans. Thankfully, The Pleasure of Hope immediately fit that bill that's been heavily mapped out in my mind by Marillion and IQ. This track did a good job maintaining itself as a prog song for the short runtime, but I still found myself wishing it was longer. Now a six-minute song like Leviathan, that was much more like it. Rhythmically, the song succeeded in all the areas Higher Circles failed. Of course, this also tells me that it was a bad choice to introduce the album with Higher Circles, which doesn't really set a proper standard for the rest of the album to follow.

So it seems that the rest of the album shows the band continuing to follow it up with the standard set by The Pleasure of Hope, the second track, especially where the epics like Circus are concerned. In fact, after the second, epics are all that's left. So technically, the entire second half follows in the vein of track three, Leviathan, which itself was an expansion on the prog sound driven by The Pleasure of Hope. I was expecting at least one more AOR song, but in the end, this debut's greatest flaw is that the opener is extraordinarily out of place. If I had to pick a favorite track, I suppose I'd choose Circus because it's glittering synths make it sound more magical. I guess that seems easier to decide when the next track, Oh Divineo, is much less interesting than Circus, as well as the ten minute Black Knight which still manages to be a better experience than the previous track, but is much more standard of an epic than Circus.

For the most part, this is what I picture neo-prog actually HAVING to sound like. Since this debut came out in the very early stages of the genre, I wouldn't consider calling this "generic neo-prog," especially since Marillion, IMO, had trouble balancing out the prog rock wi.th the pop rock in that vein. But as far as songwriting goes, it mostly sets the standard for a good album to follow without every breaking real ground.

This is an amazing record thats strong from start to finish with every song bringing something new to the tried and true Gojira formula. The opening songs bring forth some of the most catchy and memorable Gojira songs like "From The Sky" and "Heaviest matter" to some of their more heavy and brooding tracks like the final title suite and flying whales with its minutes long intro. Each of these songs very much so embraces the bands name origin of having an "overwhelming presence" with non stop technical playing from every member and one of the most memorable guitar tones ever. The lyrics take the typical Gojira route, describing the bleak future of our planet and fantastical destruction. The closing track, "Global Warming," ends with a repeated refrain that will stick with you, not only because it's got one of the best metal riffs of all time, but that "We will see our children growing." Its one of the most clearly heard lines of the album so after its all done you keep thinking about that phrase.

A New beginning was Massimo's debut solo album released in 2022. Massimo is an accomplished pianist and keyboard player from Rome,and delivers his solo album track perfect in a live setting accompanied by a great band and vocalist Germana Noage. Intro is an atmospheric beginning -cinematic like and leads into Oh Father which has heavenly guitars and synths and features Germana's wonderful vocals. This is an album to listen from start to finish - no keyboard or guitar pyrotechnics but emotive,personal songs - mostly short - which are thought provoking with rich melodies. In November was a favourite of mine on the debut album which Germana does vocals solo - I think it would be good for Massimo to duet on this track. Out of this World is very atmospheric - a call to arms for ordinary people to overcome dictators and adversity -very topical ! Germana's voice is very soulful on Things to Live. She is a wonderful vocalist who can rock as much as operatic style. Family Business is a great band track: A great intro from guitar and keys and a snarling organ above which Germana rocks out at 3.31 and has a big finale -excellent ! New Beginning begins slowly but increases in tempo with Massimo's piano in Part 2 increasing the pace. Creatures of the Night is a great finale : Part 1 is very operatic and Part 2 delivers a strong guitar intro and powers through to the finish. The three acoustic tracks are slower renditions of previous tracks. Massimo's piano and Germana's voice really shine here. Mention must be made of Roberto Falcinelli and Simone Cozzetto on guitars,Michele Raspanti on bass and Andres Gualco on drums who are note perfect on this live album. Relax and enjoy this live album whilst we await the second studio album 'The Next Dream'

A tribute to Syd Barret.

It's about time I dive into one of rock music's most praised and celebrated albums of all time, Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here. If some of you don't know by now, Pink Floyd is easily one of my favorite bands of all time (top 3 actually), and their four-album run from 1973's "The Dark Side of the Moon" to 1979's "The Wall" is one of the greatest runs in music history. But today we are talking about Wish You Were Here, because... s incredible.

Wish You Were Here is the band's seventh studio album. Its predecessor "The Dark Side of the Moon" is obviously one of the most iconic albums of all time, arguably Pink Floyd's most celebrated effort in their discography, and also their commercial breakout, gaining the band massive recognition. Dark Side of the Moon was the band first true masterpiece, and it resonates with listeners even 50 years after its initial release So yeah, after such an enormous success with Dark Side Of The Moon the expectations were high, and the band's label pressured them to deliver another great project sooner rather than later. Of course, Pink Floyd blew expectations out of the water, and answered their label in a classic Pink Floydish way, with an album mainly revolving around the corruption of the music industry. The album is now considered one of the most essential albums of the 70's.

Production-wise, this album is prog rock at its peak. Although arguably not as ambitious as the band's predecessor, on a technical level, this album is more impressive, displaying even further the band's talent in creating complex compositions, intricate song structures and of course it showcases David Gilmour's stellar guitar work, with chord progressions that are more adventurous than the ones presented on Dark Side Of The Moon. The band is genuinely the definition of a musical machine on the project, forming sonic highs and dense dynamics that are so mind bending that they almost didn't manage to deliver such a cohesive project musically once again in their career (Animals exists).

Some of the most timeless melodies of all time are on this album, if we are talking about the band's most popular song with the title track "Wish You Were Here", which features some of David's most memorable melodies, or the 9- part opus "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", that you'll recognize immediately thanks to its repeated musical motifs, iconic riffs and transcendent melodies. Talking about musical motifs, the album is a masterclass at creating these repeating nuances that are giving the album its personality sound-wise, like the bombastic noisy synthesizers on tracks like Welcome to the Machine and Have a Cigar, the blues elements or the similar melodic lines throughout most of the songs.

The vocal performances from the band are stunning. There are three vocalists throughout the project, which are the two band leaders David Gilmour and Roger Waters, and there is also a guest appearance on the song Have a Cigar, that features the amazing Roy Harper. The three of them did an impeccable job, each one delivering a different type of emotion according to the song, if it's Roy's mockery vocal delivery on Have a Cigar, David's hunting singing on Welcome to the Machine or Roger's gorgeous vocals on Shine On You Crazy Diamond.

Thematically, the album is presenting a loose yet clear concept revolving around the exploitative nature of the music industry. Now, I want to get something out of the way, many people believe that this album is a tribute to the band's past member Syd Barrett, who was the lead singer of the band on their debut, then later replaced with David Gilmour, because he suffered from serious mental health issues. But he was always a source of inspiration for the band.

This album is NOT about Syd Barrett in the way that In the Aeroplane over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel is NOT about Anne Frank. The two albums have something in common, both of them took a lot of inspiration from different people, and what happened to them, even dedicating songs to these persons, but in the grander scheme of things none of these albums are about the actual person that they are taking inspiration from.

Syd Barrett certainly influenced Wish You Were Here, hell, the 9-part Shine On You Crazy Diamond is clearly a homage to him. However, Syd is only playing a role in the concept of the album, he represents what can happen to a musician due to the merciless and carless nature of the music industry. Wish you were here is an important commentary on the exploitative music industry, labels are seeing the musicians as dollar bills, and not as human beings. It's also about the alienation, loneliness and disconnection from society that one can experience from stardom, losing yourself in the industry and in the fame. It's represented through Syd's experiences as well, alongside Roger's own feelings of alienation on the title track Wish You Were Here. It's about longing, if it's for a long gone friend or for your past-self.

The album cover represents the theme of the album perfectly. With the left person being the music industry, and the right person being the innocent artist, that is burning himself alive when he's shaking hands with the "industry", metaphorically selling his soul and artistic desires in the moment that he's getting into a label.

The songwriting on the album is fantastic as well. Most of the lyrics were written by Roger, which is known as the lyrical mastermind behind Pink Floyd. His writing is incredibly emotional with heartfelt timeless metaphors such as the iconic line on the title song: "We're just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, year after year". I always see people argue on who was more crucial to the band, Roger or David, when it's quite obvious that the band wouldn't be the same without either one of them. Both of them contributed equally, Roger with the ambitious thematic concepts, and David with the phenomenal ear for beautiful melodies and production choices. So this whole argument is completely pointless.

Although the album's relatively short runtime of 44 minutes might be concerning to some new listeners, the album is the definition of "all killer no filler". With 5 lengthy tracks it manages to get across exactly what it wants in the most efficient way possible, without any room for underwhelming moments.

Wish You Were Here is an essential listen, a larger than life masterpiece by one of the best bands of all time. It's a crucial fearless commentary about the exploitatively soulless use of the music industry in its artists, and it's an emotionally powerful expression of longing for a lost friend and for the innocence before stardom.