Tag Haken
This is the third album of progressive metal songs from Vicinity, a long-standing band out of Trondheim in Norway. The melodies and rhythm patterns are said to be of appeal to fans of Threshold, Circus Maximus and Dream Theater. The… Continue Reading →
Collaborations between members of different bands are not unusual, but this is a particularly interesting one. The idea of the band came about in 2017 when two of the band members were together in Mike Portnoy’s Shattered Fortress, so clearly… Continue Reading →
If the title of this album sounds like some grandiose prog album from the 1970s, then the accompanying publicity suggests that this isn’t so far out. Nods are given to bands like Dream Theater, Threshold, Rush, Tesseract, Haken and Vola… Continue Reading →
From the admirable ViciSolum label comes Ring of Gyges with this album. I hadn’t heard of this band previously, but on the face of it they’re right up my street. Peddling progressive metal with intriguing “odd rhythmic patterns”, the stated… Continue Reading →
A bit more mainstream than some of the works reviewed on this site, Black Orchid Empire do pride themselves on a combination of heaviness, melody, emotion power and rhythmic complexity. If done well, this is a potent combination. The band… Continue Reading →
A new Haken album is always a treat. Grandiose, playful and above all prog, all of the band’s back catalogue has burst with imagination. My personal favourite is “Affinity” (2016). But I can hear harrumphing from other followers of the… Continue Reading →
My first observation on this album is to compliment the artwork and packaging. Of course this doesn’t tell us that it’s a great album. The packaging is also a question of money as well as creativity, although this is self-released… Continue Reading →
From the prog stable of Layered Reality Productions comes this fifth album by Italian quintet Soul Secret. The band’s keyboard player made an interesting observation when talking about the theme to explain “Blue Light Cage: “People think they are actively… Continue Reading →
With their previous release “From Silence to Somewhere” (2017), Norwegian band Wobbler managed a thoughtful, retro and rustic prog album while infusing it with freshness and creativity. “Dwellers of the Deep” is their fifth album, and my hope was for… Continue Reading →
I went to check out the credentials of this band but unfortunately my initial general search led me to a lot of advice about post death legal documents and settling disputes. The reality of this nicely packaged album couldn’t be… Continue Reading →
I was hugely impressed by Caligula’s Horse last album “In Contact” (2017), and the way they stepped up to the plate and proved worthy of being the main headliners at ProgPower Europe in 2018. “Rise Radiant” is the Australian progressive… Continue Reading →
It won’t have escaped anyone’s attention that the title of this album is topical. In fact Haken are not jumping on any current bandwagon here, not that that ever is their way, but it’s a kind of sequel to the… Continue Reading →