Lesser-Known Gem: Mezquita – Recuerdos de mi tierra

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Band: Mezquita | Album: Recuerdos de mi tierra | Year: 1979 | Genre: Progressive rock, Flamenco-rock

From: Córdoba, Spain | Label: Chapa Discos

For Fans Of: Yezda Urfa, Gentle Giant, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Flamenco music

Córdoba was a stronghold of Islamic culture and influence from its conquest by the Umayyads in 711 until its recapture by the Castilian-Leonese king in 1231. Those five centuries of Islamic rule left an indelible influence on the region’s culture, most notably in music and architecture.

Mezquita was formed in Córdoba in 1978, in the wake of the death of Francisco Franco and Spain’s transition to democracy. This quartet drew heavily upon local Andalusian history as a center of Islamic culture: “mezquita” is Spanish for mosque, the album cover features Arabic text, and the music is powered by Moorish influences alongside Spanish ones. Continue reading “Lesser-Known Gem: Mezquita – Recuerdos de mi tierra” →

Album Review: Not Otherwise Specified – Deadweight

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Band: Not Otherwise Specified | Album: Deadweight | Genre: Progressive rock | Year: 2019

From: Atlanta, USA | Label: Weeping Angel Studios

For fans of: Dream Theater, Kansas, IQ, Riverside, Spock’s Beard

Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon | Apple Music

When progressive rock first emerged as a distinct genre, the United States were slow to make a sound for themselves. The Brits were the genre’s progenitors, and they largely defined its archetypes and evolution. “Anglo-prog” is an awfully broad swathe of musical styles, but it conjures up a definite set of sounds. The Italians forged a unique niche, and the French, Spaniards, and Yugoslavs had their own identifiable quirks as well, to say nothing of Krautrock.

The American sound that eventually did emerge was pioneered by bands like Kansas and Starcastle: derived from the Anglo sound but grander, more bombastic, and less subtle. Not Otherwise Specified (NOS), while unmistakably modern, draw heavily from that mid-70s American sound. Continue reading “Album Review: Not Otherwise Specified – Deadweight” →

Album Review: Dream Theater – Distance over Time

Band: Dream Theater | Album: Distance over Time | Genre: Progressive metal | Year: 2019

From: Long Island, USA | Label: Sony Music

For fans of: You know if you like Dream Theater or not.

Buy: Many options

I must be some sort of masochist. Every other year or so, Dream Theater put out an album, and I self-flagellate by listening to and thoroughly disliking it. The last time Dream Theater put out a good album was in 2004, with Octavarium, and even that was spotty at moments. I’m pretty sure I’m still traumatized from just how bad their last album, 2016’s The Astonishing, was.

Nonetheless, Dream Theater are one of the founders of progressive metal and one of the giants of the contemporary scene. From the early ‘90s into the early ‘00s they put out a string of fantastic records, including two of the most vaunted albums in all of progressive metal. So, it’s with a sense of obligation that I subject myself to every new release from this band, knowing it will likely be uneven and masturbatory to the extreme. Continue reading “Album Review: Dream Theater – Distance over Time” →

Album Review: Ananda Mida – Cathodnatius

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Band: Ananda Mida | Album: Cathodnatius | Genre: Psychedelic rock, Progressive rock, Stoner rock | Year: 2019

From: Venice, Italy | Label: Go Down Records

For fans of: ‘80s King Crimson, Spock’s Beard, Led Zeppelin, Kyuss

Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon | Apple Music

Italy has a proud history of producing some of the best progressive rock out there. At its peak in the early 1970s, the Italian scene was arguably on par with the British. The Italians carved out a unique sound for themselves, drawing heavily from jazz, classical, and folk and singing in their native language. Even now, a few bands play in this distinctly Italian style. Ananda Mida are not one of those bands.

That’s by no means a swipe against Ananda Mida. I’ve listened to and thoroughly enjoyed both their albums, but if you had played their music for me and asked me to guess, I would’ve told you they sound like they come from the American Southwest. They’ve got that sunny, desert-y stoner vibe commonly found in bands from the region. Blues riffs loomed large on their debut, 2016’s Anodnatius, interspersed with spacier interludes and a handful of more adventurous moments. Their new album, Cathodnatius, keeps that desert vibe, but they’ve amped up their experimentation, drawing influences from sources as diverse as early 1970s Pink Floyd, new wave, and math rock. Continue reading “Album Review: Ananda Mida – Cathodnatius” →

Odds and Ends – February 18, 2019

Odds and Ends is a segment where I do brief reviews of albums I either didn’t prioritize for longer-form reviews, or ones for which I don’t have that much to say.

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Band: Cosmocracy, Inc. | Album: A Ride Across Your Mind | Genre: Progressive rock, Psychedelic rock | Bandcamp

This is a delightful album. It’s a high-energy, progressive garage rock piece, and it’s a ton of fun. The guitars have a distinctly bluesy twinge, and the keyboards lend a wide, galactic atmosphere. The bass tone used here comes across as downright funky. The vocals are a little rough and weak, but I’m hoping that’ll be improved on future releases. This band have some room for improvement, but they’re starting off strong.

Score: 80/100 Continue reading “Odds and Ends – February 18, 2019” →

Album Review: Piah Mater – The Wandering Daughter

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Band: Piah Mater | Album: The Wandering Daughter | Year: 2018 | Genre: Progressive metal, Progressive rock, Death Metal

From: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Label: Code 666

For fans of: Opeth, Riverside, Porcupine Tree/Steven Wilson

Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon | Apple Music

Piah Mater are a Brazilian trio performing a style of progressive death metal highly reminiscent of Opeth’s classic material. That’s not an easy sound to execute, but these guys pull it off excellently. Had Mikael Åkerfeldt and his crew put this out, this would be hailed as Opeth’s best album since Watershed.

After the brief, idyllic opener, growls and aggressive, chugging death metal riffs take the spotlight and drive “Solace in Oblivion” forward. As is to be expected of a band so heavily drawing from Opeth’s sound, these extended pieces have frequent breaks of quiet jazz guitar and moments of soaring clean vocals. Many of the softer moments would not feel out of place on a Camel album. The narration on this song is pretty corny, but it’s a minor issue overall. Continue reading “Album Review: Piah Mater – The Wandering Daughter” →

Album Review: Numidia – Numidia

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Band: Numidia | Album: Numidia | Year: 2019 | Genre: Psychedelic rock, Progressive rock, Blues rock

From: Sydney, Australia | Label: Nasoni Records

For fans of: Elder, Erkin Koray, Quiet Child, Pink Floyd, North African blues

Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon | Apple Music

There seems to be a correlation between regions that are mostly desert and the production of psychedelic blues. The American Southwest has a fertile scene, and the Berber peoples of the Maghreb and Sahel have given birth to a unique fusion of blues, blues-rock, and their own native traditions. Maybe it’s something about the vast stretches of empty land that leads to this particular brand of earthy, mantra-like rock music. It would make sense, then, that Australia would have some contributions to this sound.

Numidia are a quintet hailing from Sydney (which, notably, is wetter than the Pacific Northwest or the British Isles) that plays a brand of meditative, desert-tinged blues rock with the sensibilities and stylings of classic 1970s progressive rock acts blended in. Explicit overtures are made toward Middle Eastern and North African music as well. Continue reading “Album Review: Numidia – Numidia” →

Album Review: All Traps on Earth – A Drop of Light

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Band: All Traps on Earth | Album: A Drop of Light | Year: 2018 | Genre: Progressive Rock

From: Stockholm, Sweden | Label: AMS

For fans of: Änglagård, Magma, early King Crimson, Wobbler

Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon | Apple Music

Any discussion of All Traps on Earth requires at least briefly discussing Änglagård, the band’s progenitor.

Änglagård were one of the best (read: one of the few good) progressive rock acts of the 1990s. They put out two classic albums, Hybris (1992) and Epilog (1994). These releases brought the sounds of classic ‘70s prog acts like Yes and Gentle Giant into a new era with a fresh twist and breathed new life into the long-out-of-favor genre. Those two albums deserve every bit of the praise they get. In 2012, 18 years after their last one, Änglagård put out their third album, Viljans Öga, to much acclaim. (I like it overall, but I think it’s too long and doesn’t do anything too special.)

Based on their past release schedule, Änglagård’s next album won’t be out until 2030, so in the meantime, the band’s bassist, keyboardist, and drummer have formed All Traps on Earth. This band’s debut, A Drop of Light, feels very much to be the spiritual successor of Viljans Öga. Both albums are mostly-instrumental, feature vast, Mellotron-soaked suites, and display a high degree of complex songcraft. But both also feel like they’re lacking some impact. Continue reading “Album Review: All Traps on Earth – A Drop of Light” →

Lesser-Known Gem: Эпос – Илья (Epos – Ilya)

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Band: Эпос (Epos) | Album: Рок-Былина Илья (Rok-Bylina Ilya) | Year: 1989 | Genre: Progressive rock, Progressive folk

From: Leningrad, USSR (now Saint Petersburg, Russia) | Label: Мелодия (Melodiya)

For fans of: Magma, Batushka, Sigur Rós

I have an inexplicable affinity for Eastern Bloc progressive rock. I suppose it extends to music from oppressive regimes more generally, but Communist Europe had a rather thriving artistic scene (outside of Albania). Epos was among the most distinct groups to come out of the Soviet Union, a bizarre blend of cosmic synthesizers, earthy strings, and haunting vocal arrangements. That being said, there is almost no information available about the band. The musicians’ names are listed on the back of the record sleeve, but the (English-language) internet holds very little background about the group. Even looking through the first two pages of Russian-language Google results didn’t yield anything at the time of writing.

This album tells the story of Ilya Muromets, a folk hero of the Kievan Rus. It bills itself as a “rock-bylina” (a bylina being traditional East Slavic style of epic poetry), and this album is one of relatively few that actually feels uniquely Slavic. Continue reading “Lesser-Known Gem: Эпос – Илья (Epos – Ilya)” →

Album Review: The Dark Third – Even As the Light Grows

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Band: The Dark Third | Album: Even As the Light Grows | Year: 2018 | Genre: Post rock, Progressive rock, Post metal

From: Auckland, New Zealand | Label: Sony BMG

For fans of: Pure Reason Revolution, Alcest

Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon | Apple Music

I was surprised at just how much I liked this album. It’s a very strong debut outing, and I’m very interested to see what this New Zealand quintet will do in the future. The Dark Third use atmosphere as an instrument unto itself, and there’s a nice balance of loud and soft elements.

The opening epic begins with a wall of distorted guitar which transitions into an impressive instrumental exercise. Guitar lines soar over complex rhythms, only to be overtaken by majestic violins. Hints of blackgaze (black metal shoegaze) show up momentarily, but they’re soon replaced by the melancholy verse. Broad guitar arpeggios complement the vocals, which sound like they’re adrift in space. Near the 8-minute mark, the song becomes a quiet acoustic piece, led by piano and folk-inflected guitar patterns. This shift leads back to the earlier bombast to close the song out. Continue reading “Album Review: The Dark Third – Even As the Light Grows” →