http://www.progressiveworld.net/stride.html - http://www.progressiveworld.net/stride.html

That's a link to a review of their 1st album "Music Machine" by Stephanie Sollow of "Progressive world.net" which was released by Fossile Records.

From the review:

"Only rarely am I moved to begin a review by saying something like "holy sh*t!" and even then I often find some other way of saying that that won't have us fined by the FCC… though I'm sure we're not on their radar, so I won't worry for now. Nevertheless, I think it's apt to exclaim "holy sh*t!" at this point, emphasis on the holy part. Because this band cooks!"

Music Machine is an all instrumental project, but their new album, "Imagine" which is being mastered at this time, and should be released in October by Lasers Edge Records, has 9 tracks and 7 of the 9 have vocals.

I didn't see them in the band list, and I'm not sure if I'm able to add them, but they definately fit in the "progressive" catagory, and they're really good, they just haven't "broken out" yet, although I suspect that may change with this latest album.

When I listen to their music, I hear nods to a number of their influences, (Rush, Yes, and others) but they tend to be fleeting.  

As for now, they're a local band in Houston, Texas, and they do a Journey tribute on the side under the band name "Escape." Most the people that I know that have heard them agree that they do Journey better than Journey does lol.

It's not easy finding a vocalist that can outperform Steve Perry on his own music, but Gary was up to the task.

You can hear some examples of their music on their web site, but the songs available there, while very good, don't give a good sampling of their range of style in my opinion, and you can leave there imagining their overall style to be considerably different than you likely would if you heard more of their music. http://www.strideonline.com/ - http://www.strideonline.com/

I'm just fortunate enough to take lessons from Joel Gregoire, their guitarist & song writer, or I may not have learned about them myself. I've heard all of "Imagine" already, and am eagerly awaiting it's official release. The songs are well constructed, and masterfully performed, and cover the gambit from nice and mellow to hard and gritty. Sometimes all in the same song.

Keep an eye out for these fellas.