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jimmy_row 
Forum Senior Member 
Joined: July 11 2007 Location: Hibernation Status: Offline Points: 2601 |
 Posted: September 24 2007 at 17:50 |
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okay, I sort of had a feeling that they would fall under the Maschera di Cera style (btw, I ordered LuxAde the other day, I'm excited to hear it
 ), and that's good because I thought both of the Notabene albums were uneven and La Torre dell"Alchimista has a tendency to saturate with the same sounds and ideas (but Neo is still a great album, *** 1/2).
Now I really have to explore some of this prog Sudamericana you speak of....I like William Gray and Nexus is promising; perhaps my next stop should be Quaterna Requiem and Bacamarte...
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erik neuteboom
Prog Reviewer 
Joined: July 27 2005 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 7659 |
Posted: September 24 2007 at 17:43 |
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Well Jimmy Row, it's no coincidence that I started a thread entitled "Has South-America become the new progrock leader" a few months ago because as a huge Italian progrock fan I am disappointed about the current Italian bands. But now I am dleighted about Obscura and if I compare this new Itlian band with La Maschera and Notabene I would say that Obscura is more similar to La Maschera because of the wonderful Italian vocals and the warm Seventies inspired atmosphere, just compare my reviews.
Edited by erik neuteboom - September 24 2007 at 17:43 |
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jimmy_row
Forum Senior Member
Joined: July 11 2007 Location: Hibernation Status: Offline Points: 2601 |
Posted: September 24 2007 at 17:38 |
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jimmy_row
Forum Senior Member
Joined: July 11 2007 Location: Hibernation Status: Offline Points: 2601 |
Posted: September 24 2007 at 17:35 |
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^^that one's been on my list lately, haven't ordered it yet because I can't find much information on it.
Erik, how would you compare Obscura to other new Italian bands like La Torre dell'Alchimista, Notabene, and Maschera di Cera?
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erik neuteboom
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 27 2005 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 7659 |
Posted: September 24 2007 at 16:01 |
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At this moment I enjoy listening to:
OBSCURA – Le Citta Invisibili (***1/5)  This is a new Italian sextet, their music sounds as a pleasant and alternating blend of several styles in which the contrast between the sparkling Grand piano and heavy guitar riffs like Black Sabbath are very remarkable! It give an extra dimension like in the varied compositions Limbo Cosmico Part I (from mellow flute to heavy guitar and a wonderful, very sensitive guitar solo, supported by huge Mellotron waves, Progheaven!), La Citta Del Sole (sparkling piano and heavy guitar riffs, an accellaration with organ and guitar and finally Fender Rhodes and again heavy riffs), Limbo Cosmico Part II (beautiful interplay between piano and flute, a moving guitar solo with lush organ and a great final part with good vocals, flute and choir-Mellotron)) and the excellent final composition Guernica (alternating with Fender Rhodes piano/flute and neo-prog with fluent synthesizer flights, organ and propulsive drums and a compelling part with wah-wah guitar, first supported by organ and then by majestic choir-Mellotron, goose bumps!). This CD delivers two short pieces: Bersebea featuring Grand piano arpeggio’s and mellow flute and Ipazia with a flute/acoustic guitar duet, wonderful.
Although they still have to mature a bit in composing, to me this debut album by new Italian band Obscura sounds as a very pleasant blend of symphonic (tasteful vintage keyboards), classical and hardrock
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erik neuteboom
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 27 2005 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 7659 |
Posted: September 23 2007 at 18:35 |
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Well Avestin, I digged up my review about Big Big Train their previous effort
:
BIG BIG TRAIN — Gathering SpeedReview by erik neuteboom (erik neuteboom)SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Symphonic Prog Expert
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avestin
Special Collaborator 
Honorary Collaborator Joined: September 18 2005 Status: Offline Points: 12625 |
Posted: September 23 2007 at 16:50 |
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I already posted about receiving the Big Big Train promo new album and I must say, that this is becoming better and better with each listen. I can already see the positive review. There's already a 5 star review, but since I hardly give any album 5 stars, this won't be the case for me, but I sense that stating this to be an excellent addition to your progressive collection would not be an overstatement. EDIT - review posted:
Edited by avestin - September 23 2007 at 18:10 |
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Ricochet
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: February 27 2005 Location: Nauru Status: Offline Points: 46301 |
Posted: September 23 2007 at 15:54 |
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Good luck with that, it's very rare, you might take it as a rare gift even before listening to its music.   |
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avestin
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: September 18 2005 Status: Offline Points: 12625 |
Posted: September 23 2007 at 15:49 |
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I'm looking forward to it as well!
 About Anton, I think it's a splendid idea!
I'll get in touch with him. I also see that he's been preforming in my vicinity (NY, NJ) so I could suggest a meet-up if he is willing and has time.
Edited by avestin - September 23 2007 at 16:21 |
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erik neuteboom
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 27 2005 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 7659 |
Posted: September 23 2007 at 15:13 |
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Thanks Angelo, that was a great gig with Bootcut that we both enjoyed, a big hand for the Hammond organ, at this moment I am preparing a huge Hammond organ article for Prog Archives, similar to my Mellotron
 article.
By the way, never heard of that band Palinckx, weird name!
Ricochet, I will check out Mammut, your description sounds interesting
Avestin, I am looking forward to our Senogul interview, what about Anton Roolaart as our next interview?
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Angelo
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin Joined: May 07 2006 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 13244 |
Posted: September 23 2007 at 11:22 |
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Erik - nice review on Bootcut. The album's been in my car CD player ever since we saw the gig at Symforce. I'm glad we were there...
At the end of the review, you refer to the turntable player in Mutta - which reminds me of something else. Dutch band Palinckx also use turntables in combination with rock and exoctic instruments, have you ever heard them? Some samples and two live tracks are available on their web site http://www.palinckx.nl Edited by Angelo - September 23 2007 at 11:23 |
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ISKC Rock Radio
I stopped blogging and reviewing - so won't be handling requests. Promo's for ariplay can be sent to [email protected] |
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Raff
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: July 29 2005 Location: None Status: Offline Points: 24429 |
Posted: September 23 2007 at 10:43 |
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Thanks for the mention, Assaf!
 The bio is way too short, but there was no further info to be had on the band. If anyone here should know something more about Deformica, we'd be very happy to add it to the existing bio. |
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avestin
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: September 18 2005 Status: Offline Points: 12625 |
Posted: September 23 2007 at 10:39 |
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Raffaella and David from the Heavy Prog team have done a quick and well done job at adding this Argentinian band DEFORMICA* who present us an interesting mix of instrumental prog with several points of reference (I seem to recognize some NeBeLNeST there, but that might be due to the mutual KC influence).
Here's what Raffaella wrote in their bio here in PA and I think it's a good description:
"Hailing from Buenos Aires, Argentina, DEFORMICA are a young five-piece band playing a highly energetic, King-Crimson-inspired, yet original brand of progressive rock, with echoes of avant-garde, fusion, and even modern psychedelia. Their debut album, "H", was released in 2006 for the independent label Viajero Inmovil, gaining recognition in the prog community for its complex, intriguing musical approach.
" http://www.deformica.com.ar/ |
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Ricochet
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: February 27 2005 Location: Nauru Status: Offline Points: 46301 |
Posted: September 23 2007 at 09:47 |
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If the album wouldn't actually be an absolute rarity (I myself took it from a website, due to the fact that I had to listen to its music, in order to approve the band's addition), I would wholeheartedly recommend to you to search and purchase the classic Heavy Rock/Prog/Psych/Concept band MAMMUT and their sole, self-titled, album. It sounds pretty good, for both the heavy rock taste and the progressive state of art.
 (I also reviewed it...) |
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erik neuteboom
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 27 2005 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 7659 |
Posted: September 22 2007 at 18:28 |
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Next week I will receive the new Black Bonzo album, I have heard nothing but very positive stories
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erik neuteboom
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 27 2005 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 7659 |
Posted: September 21 2007 at 05:00 |
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Well, fellow progheads, looking at the positive After Crying
atmosphere, here is my review about their outstanding DVD:
AFTER CRYING — Live (****)
 - Halfway the Nineties I had my first musical encounter with the unique Hungarian formation After Crying when I got their album De Profundis as a promo CD while working for Dutch progrock paper Background Magazine. To me it still sounds as their most captivating progrock effort since their debut album Overground Music from 1990. A few years ago I witnessed a concert in The Netherlands (only 60 spectators, what a shame!), the lion’s share of the tracklist con be found back on this exciting live DVD, taken from a Periferic Music Festival in the Hungarian capital Budapest, late 2004. After Crying their sound is not very accessible, you have to be up to the blend of classical, prog like Seventies King Crimson and ELP and the frequent explorations in avant-garde and experimental, often captivating but also often complex! The band succeeds to make impression from the very first second: excellent and versatile musicians and varied and captivating compositions, supported by a wonderful light show and a great sound. A few examples of their exciting and alternating music: fiery guitar, Emersonian keyboards and trumpet in Viaduct, a swirling and virtuosic piece feautring two musicians on one keyboard in Burlesque, a dynamic solo on cello in Stonehenge, a Latin-American atmosphere delivering keyboards, trumpet and strong soli on keyboards and guitar in the swinging Life Must Go On, a great duel between cello and guitar in Cello-Guitar Duet, followed by short compositions that contain soli on piano, drums and trumpet. At least half of the track list features the pleasant Hungarian voice of Zoltan Batky-Valentin (via the menu you can subtitle it into English), his vocals fit perfect to the sound of After Crying. Again, this is not very easy music to experience (for me sometimes a bit too avant-garde and experimental) but in general I was carried away by this After Crying live performance! Edited by erik neuteboom - September 21 2007 at 05:02 |
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johnobvious
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 11 2006 Location: Nebraska Status: Offline Points: 1367 |
Posted: September 20 2007 at 20:29 |
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I have Show from AC and really like it. So I got Struggle for Life, the 2CD version, and found it pretty underwhelming. Don't even know if their older stuff is available in the States.
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Biggles was in rehab last Saturday
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Prog-jester
Prog Reviewer
Joined: June 05 2005 Location: Love Beach Status: Offline Points: 5909 |
Posted: September 20 2007 at 15:23 |
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Thanks for reminding me of AFTER CRYING - I have most of their stuff and it's quite a possibility to refresh my impressions and share my thoughts on this wonderful band in reviews
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Dirk
Forum Senior Member
Joined: August 11 2005 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 1043 |
Posted: September 20 2007 at 14:11 |
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^Yes i can also get Overground Music and Show. I'll pick them up next if i like De Profundis.
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avestin
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: September 18 2005 Status: Offline Points: 12625 |
Posted: September 20 2007 at 12:23 |
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Fantastic album!
I love that one. If you get the chance also try and get Overground Music and though less mentioned but one I find to be also of high quality - Show
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My lesser known and unknown new prog bands thread
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jimmy_row wrote:
With their fourth release entitled “Gathering Speed” the UK band BIG BIG TRAIN seemed to have taken a giant step into the ‘prog rock zone’. To be honest, I was stunned by their ‘progressive progress’ because I knew this band and was far from delighted about them. I think this CD will appeal to many prog rock fans: seven melodic, warm and tasteful compositions that contain many shifting moods and lots of good musical ideas. The music has strong hints from mid-GENESIS (twanging acoustic guitars and moving Mellotron waves) but also elements from YES (vocal harmonies) and Alan PARSONS PROJECT (pleasant progressive pop) can be traced. At some moments BIG BIG TRAIN still sound a bit poppy, the music is not very original but most of this CD was a pleasant session, I’m looking forward to their next one!