CLASSIC ROCK SOCIETY - NEW SPECIES - VOLUME V

This sampler disc features 66 minutes worth of progressive rock from albums that were more or less new in 2012. I'll simply run through the ten tracks giving source album information if it's easily available -- for I don't have the magazine -- and my view on music.

BIG BIG TRAIN's 'The First Rebreather' (from English Electric Pt. One) is a good example of the band's symphonic style, featuring very nice keyboard parts. NEAL MORSE is represented by Momentum's title track, an energetic and fast-paced prog-rocker. THE FLOWER KINGS' album Banks of Eden starts with a 25-minute epic 'Numbers', of which this sampler offers a 5-minute medley, ie. a few cuts with quick fadeouts and changes into the next cut. Hmm, not a wise idea, the result is such a mess.

The fourth artist is a new acquaintance for me, and not in the ProgArchives database: ROB GOULD. 'The Broke Road' (3:48) is a mellow and moody composition featuring female vocals. Very nice, and the question of how 'prog' it is, seems irrelevant. FINAL CONFLICT: 'Babylon' (from Return of the Artisan) is also rather melancholic; the melody reminds me of 'Incomplete' by Fish. KAIPA: 'Our Silent Ballroom Band' (from Vittjar) also seems to be a 5-min. edit from an epic, but at least it's a singular excerpt. Kaipa makes modern symphonic prog that's often too bombastic for my taste, and this one's no exception. The male vocals are unpleasant.

The Norwegian RHYS MARSH AND THE AUTUMN GHOST is labeled as Crossover Prog. 'The Place Where You Lay' (from The Blue Hour) makes me think of him as a poor man's Steven Wilson. The arrangement has nice acoustic elements but the sad song itself is a bit boring. HAND is a British Alternative/Gothic Metal band with a female vocalist. 'Mimicry' (from Breathing, 2011) is an OK song of the genre I'm personally not fond of. The Swedish BEARDFISH and 'Note (Edit)' from The Void. I suppose it's the opening part of the near-16-min. piece, and it functions decently as a separate track. And finally, TINYFISH from England. 10-minute song 'Wide Awake at Midnight' comes from The Big Red Spark (2010). Well, seems every other modern prog band sounds like this, and the vocalist is mediocre. Furthermore the album wasn't fresh at the time anymore.

This sampler contains some usual good stuff from the contemporary big names, and tasters from acts less familiar to me, of which only Rob Gould enters my check-out-some-more -list. Not many delightful new names, nor is the diversity of modern prog very widely represented here, or maybe the year 2012 wasn't that great? I think two stars is enough.