MIKE PATTON's first solo album ADULT THEMES FOR VOICE is a bona fide journey into the avant garde. Unlike anything else in his career before or after he decided to splice and dice vocal recordings he made in hotel rooms on a mini-recorder and for whatever reason released them for the world to scrutinize. This is just his vocals and some production manipulations. With such a low rating it seems like much of the world is not in tune with Mr PATTON's strange and bizarre world of vocal shredding. This album is in the same vein as Demetrio Stratos' solo albums where Mike is simply showing us his ability to take his voice to strange unthought of places. Strange indeed. At times he screams, squeaks and moans, howls like a monkey and does things I lack the proper vocabulary to describe.

This album was inspired by his love of Japanese noise bands like Hanatarash. I have owned this for quite a while but have only listened to it a handful of times. It is basically a sonic diary of a creative vocalist spontaneously doing what he feels inspired to do and then taking it apart and sewing it back together. The result is a very mixed bag. I actually find some of this stuff highly creative and a tad interesting. This isn't however an album that one puts on often because 45 minutes of its inconsistency is a little too much. Some tracks taken on their own are downright ingenious and beyond bizarre. An interesting experiment but I would definitely file this one in the "collector's / fan" category because very few will find anything redeeming in this. I actually much prefer Mike's following album "Pranzo Oltranzista." That is a truly bizarre avant-garde album that works for its entirety.

EMPEROR

This debut EP by EMPEROR was originally released as a split album with Enslaved's debut EP Hordanes Land but has since been remastered and released independently and together with the demo "Wrath Of The Tyrant." On this release Ygg changed his name to the more familiar Ihsahn and Faust made his debut delivering us to evil with his impressive drumming skills. This would be the last effort for Mortiis who would jump ship only to pursue his dark ambient musical fetish.

On this debut EP by the mighty EMPEROR we hear the transition from the muddy live wire demo band to the in-transit zone between death, thrash and the second wave of black metal but starting here we get a more smoothed out madness with an atmospheric keyboard backing. The music is just as intense and brutal but the symphonic backing adds a rather calming feel that makes this seem a little less startling and less like it was recorded in the depths of hell than the previous demo. The real proof is by listening to the two tracks which appeared on the demo and were re-recorded for this EP. Those two tracks being "Wrath of the Tyrant" and "Night of the Graveless Souls." It's easy to hear how the full debut album "In The Nightshade Eclipse" picks up from here. This is a satisfying four song interlude in their discography that shouldn't be ignored.

ENSLAVED

ENSLAVED's first official release HORDANES LAND came out as an EP just a year after their 2nd demo "Yggdrasill." It was released independently at first and then a few weeks later also as a split with the first Emperor EP. I have the remastered edition that was released in 2004 with the debut album "Vikingligr Veldi." The lineup is the same with the two founders Ivar Bjørnson on guitar, keyboards and vocals and Grutle Kjellson handling bass. Trym Torson is still on board on drums.

There has been a major leap in songwriting on this first release as the three tracks are much more varied and complex than the demos. The track "Allfáðr Oðinn" which is included on this EP was the strongest and most progressive on "Yggdrasill" and the band recognized that and used it as the template for their further evolution down the path of ever more progressive black metal. Already at this stage they have a unique sound that despite keeping the basics of second wave black metal in tact, they offer a whole variety of ideas that is layered upon it.

From the opening track "Slaget..." that offers a somewhat artificial sounding choral chant we get a strange keyboard progression that is actually quite catchy and succeeds in overpowering a brutal buzzsaw wall-of-sound with the typical black metal style of shrieks and growls for vocals. The track also shows a much more epic approach in the music as it is divided into three distinct acts and just creeps over the 13 minute mark. In addition to brutal black metal parts there are slow sections that even have classical acoustic guitar sections in the mix. The other two tracks are no less brutal in their delivery, catchy in their hooks or progressive in their developments. They both are well over the 7 minute mark.

The production is still lo-fi but not as so as on the demos. I find myself listening to this EP a lot for although it lacks the complexity of 21st century releases by the band, it is a satisfying listen that is interesting for its own sake as well as putting the band's history in some sort of context. I enjoy this early period of ENSLAVED just as much as the later releases. This is a surprisingly well crafted musical experience and this is only the band's first release. It demonstrates that the band not only mastered the brutality of black metal but that they could also adapt it to include some truly interesting and diverse elements. For me this is beyond for collector's only and I highly recommend this.

ENSLAVED's first official release HORDANES LAND came out as an EP just a year after their 2nd demo "Yggdrasill." It was released independently at first and then a few weeks later also as a split with the first Emperor EP. I have the remastered edition that was released in 2004 with the debut album "Vikingligr Veldi." The lineup is the same with the two founders Ivar Bjørnson on guitar, keyboards and vocals and Grutle Kjellson handling bass. Trym Torson is still on board on drums.

There has been a major leap in songwriting on this first release as the three tracks are much more varied and complex than the demos. The track "Allfáðr Oðinn" which is included on this EP was the strongest and most progressive on "Yggdrasill" and the band recognized that and used it as the template for their further evolution down the path of ever more progressive black metal. Already at this stage they have a unique sound that despite keeping the basics of second wave black metal in tact, they offer a whole variety of ideas that is layered upon it.

From the opening track "Slaget..." that offers a somewhat artificial sounding choral chant we get a strange keyboard progression that is actually quite catchy and succeeds in overpowering a brutal buzzsaw wall-of-sound with the typical black metal style of shrieks and growls for vocals. The track also shows a much more epic approach in the music as it is divided into three distinct acts and just creeps over the 13 minute mark. In addition to brutal black metal parts there are slow sections that even have classical acoustic guitar sections in the mix. The other two tracks are no less brutal in their delivery, catchy in their hooks or progressive in their developments. They both are well over the 7 minute mark.

The production is still lo-fi but not as so as on the demos. I find myself listening to this EP a lot for although it lacks the complexity of 21st century releases by the band, it is a satisfying listen that is interesting for its own sake as well as putting the band's history in some sort of context. I enjoy this early period of ENSLAVED just as much as the later releases. This is a surprisingly well crafted musical experience and this is only the band's first release. It demonstrates that the band not only mastered the brutality of black metal but that they could also adapt it to include some truly interesting and diverse elements. For me this is beyond for collector's only and I highly recommend this.

ENSLAVED made a steady progress from their debut demo "Nema" to their 2nd demo YGGDRASILL. On this release it is clear that the band was setting themselves apart from the rest of the second wave black metal pack by not only adding more progressiveness to their music but by focusing their lyrical content on their Norwegian Viking heritage instead of the majority of other black metal bands of the day who were more interested in attacking Christianity and the rest of the world at large. The title YGGDRASILL in fact refers to an immense tree in Norse cosmology which represents the existence of nine different worlds. Unfortunately all lyrics are in Norwegian and they could be singing about inflatable life rafts as far as I know.

This release is very much second wave black metal with extreme aggression, lo-fi production and all the usual shrieks and growls and blastbeats and buzzsaw tremolo guitar work. On the progressive front most songs are much longer with four out of six hitting the six minute mark. The addition of keyboards is more prominent and the song structures have incorporated interesting changes that display a clearer view of the path the band was embarking upon. The track "Allfáðr Oðinn" is so good that the band included it on their first officially released EP "Hordanes Land." This demo shows a mature songwriting that is quite impressive for these young musicians who were paving their own way very early in the black metal game. I suspect the production will scare off many but I have a hi-tolerance for lo-fi and enjoy this release more than "Nema."

As a lover of both black metal and progressive music I find the combination of the two very exciting and few bands have consistently been as adept at putting those two worlds together than ENSLAVED has done with their vast canon and throughout all these decades they haven't released one uninteresting album. I find it fascinating to dig deep into the vaults of such a band's history to experience the origins of such a unique musical force and one cannot dig any deeper than their first demo NEMA which was released the same year the band officially formed.

On this very first release from ENSLAVED we find the two founding members Ivar Bjørnson and Grutle Kjellson, then only 13 and 17 years old hooking up with Trym Torson who would go on to join Emperor. This is definitely one for the collector's and hard core fans only, of which I am one. The music on here is very lo-fi and very basic second wave black metal, however despite these tracks being light-years away from albums like "Monumension" and "Riitiir," there are small signs of nascent progressiveness in the mix. Even at this early stage ENSLAVED had a good sense of the dynamics of shifting through different styles to keep it interesting. The opening and closing tracks are even a bit ambient. All in all a display of potential but probably not something most fans will rush to seek out.

I have enjoyed this album more than I thought I would. At first blush it reminded me of Open Your Eyes, tuneful but ultimately forgettable. And while the tracks have an easygoing relaxed approach, I feel that is the maturity of a band that doesn't have to prove something. And yet there are some particularly musically challenging parts, particularly in "Subway Walls," a piece that combines sweet chord progressions (and some very Classical/Baroque riffing from keyboardist Geoff Downes) with various asymmetrical meter sections and tasteful playing from Howe, Squire and White. That mix of "sweet" and "challenging" works for me in the large on this album even if it is not on the epic scale of "Close to the Edge" or "Gates of Delirium." That was Yes then; young and brash staking their claim in the music world. Heaven and Earth is Yes now; calmer, more relaxed and contented.

Jon Davison ably fills the vocal duties previously filled by Benoit David and Jon Anderson. He sounds like his own man although his range is similar (and Benoit sounded like himself on Fly From Here as well). His songwriting credits are of course the strongest on this album and he has given Yes a slightly new direction; quite different from the last album.

Back in the day I would be upset with a band when they didn't break new ground or stretch things as far as they could in the prog arena. Perhaps my mellowing with age is commensurate with Yes doing the same.

I've been a fan of Yes music on and off for almost 40 years. I first saw them on the Relayer tour and was absolutely blown away. So I really wanted to like this album, despite the bad comments on here and elsewhere.

Listening to the opening notes of the first track I thought 'OK, not too bad - quite recognisable as Yes, I'm OK with this, its still good. Quite nice chorus, nothing to write home about but OK, its still good.

Then the guitar solo kicked in and I had to concede that no, they're not still good, they're a pale shadow of themselves, both playing and writing. Steve Howe sounds like he's afraid to touch the strings, and Alan White's playing is truly bland - did the producer just cut and paste those bars?

I'd like to say that the rest of the album got better. Oh how I wish I could say that. But no.

If they were sounding like a Yes tribute band it wouldn't be too bad, but its even worse than that. Remember those 'Top of the Pops' albums from the seventies where you got bland, cheesy covers of chart hits? This is it folks...

I was truly saddened to hear this album - how could they put this out? A great, great band reduced to this. No, I don't want them to call it a day because that would be really sad, but please guys, take your time next time and write something halfway decent.

Open Your Eyes. The One. The biggest disappointment, Yes' BAD album. I've tried, but there is nothing that stands outin this one, it is, from track one until the end, weak, painfully weak unmemorable and boring. And I think that "weak" is actually the word to describe it, there is nothing in it actually horrible, the music is not unbearable, but it simply doesn't go anywhere, reaches nothing. Even the best moments look pale when compared to good Yes. Fortunately Yes opened their eyes after thisand went on to make the Ladder, not especially remarkable but more than decent.

Conclusion: you can avoid this one, it well deserves a one star rating.

A tricky album to listen to: If you're expecting the classic Yes sound, meh, you'll probably think "crap". It happenned to me. But then one day I decided to play it again and, hey, the music is actually quiet good, better than a lot of stuff made in the 80s. So, it turns out that an album I thought was unlistenable rubbish is actually good (but -definitely- not essential). In fact, I think that it can stand side to side with 90125 without problems, I don't know why after that album this similar follow-up was rated so poorly (okay, 90125 had a bit more force than this one, but it is not THAT good, and Big is not that bad) My point: give Big Generator a chance, it is underrated and it deserves one. And all this applies toTalk too.

As Steve Hackett's double album Genesis Revisited II (2013) got a lot of warm response among prog fans, let's take a brief look at what was on offer in the first revisitation nearly two decades ago. I own the 2-CD called Genesis Files that contains also material from some other Hackett albums, but for the most part it naturally recycled his new versions of the GENESIS classics.

This single includes the songs 'Your Own Special Way' and 'Fountain of Salmacis'. These songs - and their versions - are almost opposing each other; the other is a polished, sleeky, AOR-ish, serene ballad sung by Paul Garrack, who was in Mike Rutherford's pop group Mike + The Mechanics. Hackett chose this Wind & Wuthering song as a gesture of respect towards Rutherford, its writer, and so Garrack was a perfect choice. This is surely one of the most commercially accessible of all songs in the Genesis Revisited albums. And as well-done as it is in the chosen style, I don't believe any prog fan likes it very much.

And the other, the powerful mini-epic originating from Nursery Cryme, is given some extra twists in this modern arrangement, sung by Hackett himself. In my opinion the modernization slightly sticks to one's ears. But quite a magnificent song it is also as this version! It's perhaps questionable how wise it was to put these very different songs into the same single. Or then it was very clever. But anyway, this falls into the "good, but non-essential" rating.