I Recommend...

I Listened to a song from cinque and it really impressed me, and it became my next goal to buy that album. The only song i've listened seems to be more like fusion, but it's clear that it has symphonic influences. It was really dinamic and unpredictible, i loved it

I have noticed some mis-genre-izations in the site lately. One of them is the following band I want to recommend. It is the French NeBeLNeST and the album is NoVa eXPReSS 

It is listed under symphonic prog, which is misleading. This is more of a RIO band and this album was released through Cuneiform, which can tell you a bit about their general style. This is an instrumental album, dynamic with many time sig changes. They sometomes give the impression the music you hear is improvisation and at other instances you realize what talent they have to play this kind of music and that everything is well planed. Each piece is evolving and does not linger too much in place. They are definitely talented musicians. This album needs to be listened to (like most prog records) with complete concentration to fully enjoy their musical talents and the complexity of the music. This album is not for everyone, and people who search for melody and a variety of instruments won't find it here. I think people who love Univers Zero, Shylock and Present will love this. This is intended for people who want to journey far away while listening to the music, but you must be aptient in order to get into this.

There are smaples on their website:

http://www.nebelnest.com/flash_index.htm

Their PA page:

http://www.progarchives.com/Progressive_rock_discography_BAN D.asp?band_id=259

Enjoy

I'll be brief this time. The album this is from the Italian band METAMORFOSI, Inferno.

By the title of the album you can guess what it is based on. What a great album, each time I hear it I'm excited all over again. The music delivers a sense of dramatic events and the whole sound of the album (old due to production) just anhances the feelings brought up by the music. It is perhapse not as complex as pther bands, but it is very good symph prog. I love Davide's vocals, he does a great work. The keyboards here are very much responsible for the mood of the album. A must have IMHO.

What is great and frustrating at the same about Italy's prog is its abundance, there are so many bands and many unknowns. I suggest you go over the list of bands by country and just see for yourselves (that is how I discovered many bands (that, and also Andre Cortese and ANDREW's recommendations).

Let me offer you something different than the previous band. I'll make it short without too much descriptions like the previous messy one...

SINKADUS - they are from Sweden. They play symph prog, not too dissimilar from old symph proggers, but they add their touches and personal tones. The album to which I refer is Aurum Nostrum.

This is the lineup of this release:

Line-up
- Rickard Bistrom / bass, vocals, guitar
- Fredrik Karlsson / keyboards
- Mats Svensson / drums
- Lena Petterson / cello
- Robert Sjoback / guitars
- Linda Johansson / flute, vocals

Their sound is made up of several elements. You have the flute relaxed element (Camel), the guitar dynamic element (KC, Anglagard) and the synth extravagant element (ELP). And they intertwine it all very well. for those intimidated by foreign lyrics, they are sung in Swedish. Overall, a very good album and performed very well. I can't see why any symph prog progger would not love this album, unless she/he really can't bare something modern that is influenced/copies old stuff.

Their website:

http://home1.swipnet.se/~w-18973/sinkadus/

Enjoy and a good weekend to all the PA community.

Not a recommendation, just a short post. On Saturday mornings I somtimes love to make myself a small playlist of somehow related bands, music etc. So this Saturday  (again) choe to make it an Italian morning (did it already some time ago). The playlist includes:

That's it.

Overdose...

This one is not a recommendation but a sort of a poll.

I an going to buy some albums next week and I can only afford 4 out of six albums I planned to buy (gotta pay the rent, unfortunately).

So, out of these next 6 albums, which 4 would you choose? bare in mind I know and love all of them, so its not a matter of buying something unknown for me. So for me its like a contest, but I don;t promise I'll honour the results . Let the race begin:

1. Alphataurus –s/t 16$
2. Wobbler – Hinterland 14$
3. Bubu – Anabelas 18$
4. Moon Safari – A doorway to summer 18$
5. Il Ballertto Di Bronzo – Ys 18$
6. Mezquita – Recuerdos de mi tierra 20$

you can disregard the prices.

Remember choose 4 of these fine 6 albums.

Let me start by saying I tend to choose 1, 2, 3 for sure and I hesitate between 4 and 6.

The albums that loose will be bought next time...

BTW - I recommend each and everyone of these releases.

OK, I get the picture, nobody gives a damn.

I guess I'll have to buy all 6 and risk being thrown out of my apartment because my bank will not respect my cheque for the landlord.

I want to focus tonight (today) on a daughter band / solo project / side project. The band is KARMAKANIC and their two albums Entering the Spectra & Wheel of Life .

This is pretty much a side project of the Flower kings, having there Jonas Reingold the bass player, Zoltan Csorsz the drummer and contributions by Roine stolt and Hasse Bruniusson.

The first release Spectra is more similar in style and spirit to the flower kings. They put some more heaviness to the music, however, and the music is less symph-prog in nature than that of TFK. There are some songs variating away from TFK like The Spirit Remains the Same and Cyberdust From Mars. It a good album , although not essential, as we say in PA. Maybe it'll change, but for now this album is not enough determined on its identity. It is like they were trying several styles of songs to see what would be better and then decide which direction the band would go. Either that, or they were just having fun. That is not to say the songs aren't good, but the album as a whole is not as good as the songs that make it (no synergistic effect ). 

I prefer their second release Wheel of Life, First of all here too there is this sense of trying out different types of songs to come up with the best style, but to a lesser extent than the debut. Jonas Reingold and Zoltan Csorsz propel the rhythm here. Here you have some groovy and jazzy songs like Alex In Paradise & At The Speed Of Light and Wheel Of Life. The opening song Masterplan Pt. 1 is very good, epic track, maybe similar to TFK but differs in heaviness and vocals (Göran Edman). Do U Tango is a good slightly experimental track, weird and great, it is the track I rememberred after first hearing this album. Anyway, I'm tired so I won't elaborate on, but I think that anyone who wants to listen to them should focus, or at least start with Wheel of Life. A more rewarding album. 

Goodnight (gooday) to the PA community, wherever you may be.  

Tonight/today I'd like to recommend an Italian band which has released its first s/t album in 1995. The band is FINISTERRE. The two albums to which I will refer are In Limine & In Ogni Luogo.

As always this is gonna be messy and unorganized so my apologies in advance.

This is basically a symph-prog band with some fusion and jazz tendencies and also some experimental character to it (as can be witnessed throughout their songs, as they like to incorporate strange soundscpaes in them or just plain experimental songs like Preludio and Ideenkleid Leibnitz Frei in In Limine and Snáporaz in In Ogni Luogo). I used the word songs but it is mostly instrumentals and some songs sung in English (i.e. XXV  - In Limine) and some in Italian (i.e. Hispanica, Orrizionte Degli Eventi - In Limine).

The music is filled with jazz influences and also some quirky musical moments, all backed up by the symphonic backbone. There is a dominant flute which performs beatiful tunes and an acoustic guitar to add to the folkish mood and guitars that back the whole music altogether. They also have rock melodies driven by guitars like Tempi Moderni in In Ogni Luogo. There is a beatuful songs in In Limine, XXV in which the singer almost whispers in English along side the ,ellow quiet music, a simple and beatiful tune. This is after the beautiful flute lead first songs that has the usual symph base with a jazz/fusion bit inserted inside it in which the band members are free to jam a bit. The third track is suitable to enter an experimental rock album, very hazy and unstructured. I'll stop describing the album cause I think you get the picture.

My impression is that In Limine is more jazz oriented and more of a mellow mood album (i.e. In Limine, Ideenkleid Leibnitz Frei) and In Ogni Luogo has a more rocky nature and an album to get you more involved and energetic (i.e. Tempi Moderni, Ninive, Coro Elettrico, Agli Amici Sinestetici and Peter's House).

I think In Limine is the place to start with Finisterre.

The following is a link to a short bio of the band from Mellow records for anyone interested:

http://www.mellowrecords.com/finis-en.html

A good day / night to all PA community

Assaf