Author: Tim Hall

A band looking to the future rather than the past [Karnataka]

dropcap style=”font-size:100px; color:#992211;”I/dropcapt’s been more than two years since Karnataka last toured the UK. Fronted by their third lead singer (former Riverdance singer...

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Lonely Robot : Please Come Home

The first essential record of 2015 from the British progressive rock scene...

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Napalm Death : Apex Predator – Easy Meat

The visceral fury of punk with the dexterity and precision of metal...

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Loitered Lens : Chantel McGregor

Photos of Chantel McGregor at the Bilston Robin 2, December 2014...

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Fish : Sub89, Reading [Live]

With Fish giving indications that this may well be his final tour of club venues on this sort of scale, it's a case of "see him while you can"...

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Luna Rossa : Secrets and Lies

Luna Rossa increasingly feels not so much "Panic Room unplugged" as a separate parallel band in its own right. ...

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Bigelf : The Garage

This was one of those gigs that prompts the usage of words like "Progtastic"....

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Steve Rothery : Bush Hall [Live]

The closest thing to Fish-era Marillion in their mid-80s prime as you're likely to get...

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Luna Rossa : The Borderline

Stripped-down intimacy rather than full-on rock. Luna Rossa at the Borderline...

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Trojan Horse : World Turned Upside Down

Unlike lesser bands who attempt derivative pastiches of the sounds of 70s progressive rock or 80s post-punk, Trojan Horse actually capture the spirit of the things...

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Transatlantic : KaLIVEoscope

For all the fabled self-indulgence of their sprawling studio albums, this recording gives a taste of just why Transatlantic are held in such high regard as a live act....

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Haken : Restoration [EP]

Haken have the instrumental virtuosity and musical scope of the best in progressive rock, but unlike some other bands they aren't content to create reverential pastiches of 70s greats....

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Frontiers Records : AOR and Proud

Three new releases from Frontiers Records give a taste of what the current AOR scene has to offer....

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Empty Yard Experiment : Kallisti

With a sound that stretches from the sparse classical piano of "Sunyata" to the claustrophobic heaviness of "Entropy", Empty Yard Experiment are a band with a strong music identity of their own...

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When Empires Fall

An interesting and highly varied mix of indie-rock and progressive rock. Uptempo rockers with trebley guitars sit alongside atmospheric keyboard-led ballads....

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enkElination : Tears of Lust

dropcap style=”font-size:100px; color:#992211;”J/dropcapust when it seemed that Valkyrie-fronted metal has reached saturation point, along comes Anglo-Finnish outfit enkElination to...

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Cambridge Rock Festival [Part 2]

The veteran acts topping the bill pulled in the punters while the newer acts lower down the bill ended up giving the best performances....

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Cambridge Rock Festival [Part One]

The brother of Jimi Hendrix fails to impress, but the rest of Cambridge Rock Festival comes up shining....

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Steve Rothery : Live in Rome

Rothery's playing has always been about melody and textures rather than technical showing off....

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Neal Morse : Songs from November

This is quite explicitly a singer-songwriter record, with straightforward songs rather than multi-part prog epics...

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Knifeworld : The Unravelling

Fans of Zappa should find a lot to like about this record, as should anyone who thinks there should be more bassoons in rock. ...

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Cloud Atlas : Beyond the Vale

It's Heidi Widdop's distinctive vocals that set Cloud Atlas apart from many of their obvious peers, but this album's sound is as much about Martin Ledger's soaring melodic lead guitar...

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Jon Edwards, Anne-Marie Helder (Panic Room) : Interview

It’s fun for us as musicians to see how the material subtly changes and develops when you play it live...

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Loitered Lens : Arena

Arena’s brand of heavy neo-prog is as cheesy as hell. But they do the whole thing so well it just doesn’t matter...

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Mostly Autumn : Dressed in Voices

From full-on rock to passages of delicate beauty and back again - Mostly Autumn, Dressed in Voices...

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Trinity Live

Good as Arena were, it was still Magenta who ultimately stole the show, and I can't imagine any other artist begrudging them for it...

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Haken [Live, The Garage]

Despite the obvious virtuosity of the whole band there was relatively little in the way of soloing; the strength of their music is in the composition. ...

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Polar Bear : XOYO

This was jazz, but it was jazz with the raw energy and ferocious intensity of a rock show....

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Riverside : O2 Islington

An ideal band for the many people still missing Porcupine Tree, but on the basis of performances like this, they're far, far more than that....

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HRH Prog 2 Festival

There were complaints from some quarters that it was an inconvenient location. But it was an equal opportunity inconvenience; it takes just as long wherever you're coming from. HRH Prog 2...

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