About Progarchives.com

I have to admit that this album confounds me. It has the reputation of being one of the essentials of the RPI canon, but try as I might I just can't get into it. I can appreciate that Melos is a bold and challenging work; it's certainly brimming with complex musical strands, but it's just a bit too ''difficult'' for my taste. I'm not saying that I only like simple song structures, but the music here is constantly changing which makes it quite confusing; or should that be confused? It's like musical sleepwalking; there is certainly variety, but themes appear then disappear with little thematic development and variation. The band appears to have used a cut and paste approach, with no apparent link to different parts within songs.

The other side to this argument is that Melos is a genuinely singular work. Paragraphs of sound are built from short phrases and it all seems very spontaneous, as if the band were in stream-of-consciousness mode. As I alluded to above, song structures are very loose and the music is characterized by a marked volatility of mood. Broadly speaking, most of the tracks move from mellow and acoustic to harsh and aggressive. For example, the opening section of Euterpe has recorders and acoustic guitar, while the closing part features the electric commotion of squeaking sax and piercing guitar. Instruments are used imaginatively to create a unique sound world, with winds and vibes employed to compensate for the absence of keyboards. Galassia features what sounds like a Mellotron but is in fact an electric saxophone, whereas Scinsione (T.R.M.) features some odd guitar that sound like sci-fi effects. Variety of timbre and texture are important components of the album's sound-scape as vibes and pure toned flutes and recorders alternate with the electric instruments. Vocals range from ritual incantation and treated voice on the otherworldly sounding Canto Del Capro to light and lyrical on Trittico, which in my opinion has the most aesthetically pleasing melody on the album.

For anyone building a comprehensive RPI collection, this is an essential addition to that collection. However I would personally only rate this album as, at best, good i.e. 3 stars. Benchmark albums are Osanna's Palepoli and Il Balletto Di Bronzo's Ys; I would place Melos between these two in terms of both quality and accessibility, with my recommendation going to Palepoli. Another album that I would recommend is Biglietto Per l'inferno, which has a stronger sense of melody than Melos. One final thought on the album sleeve of Melos. The album is seemingly a concept album based on Greek mythology, although the front cover features a picture of a tin of tomatoes being opened. Stranger yet are the peas on the back cover photo. Can anyone explain that please?

I dont know how to start to even write a word on this monstruosity! This disc is like nothing ive heard in my life, is a unique record anyway you want to put it. "First Utterance" is a devilish, ultra-pagan, really funny and creepy opus magnus. In it the Milton´s poem is twisted upside down so the animal demonic lust ( Comus) wins by the hand to the virtue, and you can imagine is not for anyreason..... But that is not saying almost nothing of this recorded grandeur. I read Comus members were friends of Bowie, and that makes a lot of sense by a lot of reasons, first because one of the roots of Bowie (being the other the Warhol Reed New york urban escene) is a tricky pagan stand, second because you can hear Bowie using Roger Wooton singing antics and technics in "Black Country Rock" for example. Also i think some lines in "The Man Who Sold the World" disc are refering to Comus members ( dont know wich song exactly) were "they pushing his friends to the dark side of town" That is normal because theres no way Comus have been a should out, they thing is so aunthentic, so disturbing, so evil.... that Black Shabbat seems nursery music in comparision. But i tink is funny to think Bowie and Comus taking some of theyr (utterly demonic) musical skills from an Aquelarre, or a very dark witch english ( I should say Celtic?) coven. In fact the first thing that amazes the listener is the vocal tricks and goblin like voices theyr so disturbing that you wonder if its just really technical modulations. Then you are raptted ( not a metaphor) by the most pagan and dark music you ever heard, just "Venus in Furs" can be compared to that. But one of the things that really hook me is...they are simply funny, like Reed have never been ( althought he have pretended to ). Theyr music blends cruelty with exilaration in a incredibly way, because the dark side enances the funny side and the oposite is also true. But this is in no way urban.....is some ritual "deep in the woods" music. You have the feeling sometimes this is the music from the Hiperborean age that made human and monsters have theyr "finnal fisical comunion" in the Leng plain ( Lovecraft of course). They really know how to be hipnotyc, ghostly, carnal, demonic, witchy....!wicked!

"Diana" starts with a wonderfull bass line ( yes the first thing that comes to your mind is trolls in the forest) and the vocal halucinations that your gonna hear all along the discs. In the middle part you can hear some dark violins from a Celtic hell. !So great!

"The herald" the acustic song with strange and blisfull melodies. Theres some really great acoustic guitars and several fadings and comings of the music. It makes me feel like im hearing the Sirens that almost killed Ulises, a strange dreamy atmosphere blowing trought the song.

"Drip, Drip" Whoa! This is genius especialy for the 70. It starts with a creepy musical phrase and then it goes to a celtic wonderfull section wich then turns into the chorus so nicely ( chorus that is the grandfather of every dark metal music ever). Then the music fades and a pagan bubling freak out begins, the violins crescendo leaving you without breath ( who says that you cant dance to Prog music?). Then you are lead into the ubber hilarious and terrorific section of the"fisical comunion..ill be gentle"...it always makes me laugh! is so impossible and weird!! and then some freaking melodic nightmare and incredible acoustic guitar dark riffs. In theyr defense ( if possible) i would say that the topic of the song seems to be an ambiguity between a ritual murder and the Miltons Comus. In the poem Comus gives a brew to the girls that makes them as dionisian as the Bacantes. Thats why this something dripping from the saging lip could be as well blood as the Comus poison.

"Song to Comus" Fantastic! A dark masterpiece with an inminent atmosphere substained on one chord. Roger Wooton making the most incredible voices and effects: He beats his cheast in a hiccuping stravaganza i never heard before, and of course he sings like a black goat. The celtic ending of phrases is stimulating at least.

"The Bitte" start with what it seems to be the "Cat Scracth Fever" riff but faster darker and..acoustic. The music is wonderfull with different changes a pagan blown-out, with dramatic crescendos. The song´s lyrics are the narration of they last and creepy day of a christian hollowed by his creed...to death, of course.

"Bitten" is a demonic violin mood, made of disonances ( some triton or just hundreds?).

"The Prisioner" is one of the most funny songs ive heard. It starts with a joyfull melody, even too melodic and pastoral for my taste, but the lyrics.....are at least making a counterpoint...they sing about a guy wich thinks is crazy, and is about to recive shock tratment...he seems to be happy to be normal...but hes just an introvert freak and is destroyed in a mental assylum. The message seems to be "Dont be worried of being mad unleash you are caged in a mental hospital". The dramatic hard sections are very dramatic and freaky.

Of course five stars.

Crazy well oriented music.

There's no other way to describe this music. While most of the music is getting formulaic, DSO manages to make very original music putting their feet into a very complex and dangerous places. Merging twist, jazz, tap, boogie and even spanish guitars with prog metal was enough, but putting operatic voices on it is maybe too much. But I don't care, I really enjoy the originality and the versatility of the players.

It's complicated to describe, you have to hear it to believe it. The female vocalist sound a little bit different than Tarja and the music will take you to a complete different place than Nightwish and all the bands alike. While the style on each song is different, the vibe of the album is very up lifting. The musicians really projects a pleasant mood and is evident that they are having fun while making great and entertaining music.

Now, if you are not that much into crazy music (some could call "misdirection" to this music) or into operatic voice, maybe it can be annoying. But I really enjoy when the bands make metal interesting and experiment way out of the regular standards of music. This is the best case I have seen in years and deserves a lot attention.

Diablo Swing Orchestra made a great opening with this album, but better things were in the future. For stars because it really is a excellent add to any collection...

Too much brilliancy... maybe too much...

When I first heard this project I felt a lot overwhelmed by the whole concept. Maybe two discs is too much and the amount of guest players and the variation of the music is quite impressive, so maybe this album is not for an outsider or someone who has not "get" prog metal.

Once said that, I feel that the album is too much eclectic to be considered as an exclusive "prog metal" album. It has a lot folk-eclectic-heavy prog elements that merges into a complete new thing that sounds great and you can really dive in and enjoy the journey. But, be prepared, maybe is too much to digest in one sitting.

Some people said this is cheesy but I don't agree with that. The story flows with a lot of great singers who develops a different character each and have talks about many existential things. In some vein, this can be categorized as a "Christian Rock Opera" but in a good way. The music works for the story and the guest player work for the songs. There's metal themes and some ambience and folk little spaces for the story to breathe more. I won't mention all the guest players because they are a complete army. I'm happy with the participation of James Labrie (from Dream Theater) who is the key roll in the story, but all the characters made a great work in their each part.

I think the creativity is evident. Having violins, cellos, flutes aside of keyboards, mellotrons, hammonds, heavy guitars and some growling vocals, you have to be very good to merge all that in a good form.

So, I won't detail each song because it will take too much time. My advise is that you come and try this album only if you are already familiarized with long themes and epics. If you like prog metal, you HAVE to hear this. If you like folk and prog rock in general, you can give it a try. A masterpiece, maybe, but for the doubts I will leave it in four stars. Sometimes I feel exhausted when I end the album? so, maybe is great but too much. This is an album that any prog fan needs to listen to before they die.

This is a pretty good Jazz/Fusion album from Italy released in 1974.For me it's really lacking on dynamics,which is okay if they used a lot of atmosphere instead,but they don't.So the music sort of plods along changing slightly at times as it goes.I enjoy the vocals on the side long track but that's the only time we get to hear them. "Il Ribelle Ubriaco" picks up before a minute with piano playing over top.It turns jazzier after 2 1/2 minutes.The guitar takes the lead 3 minutes in but it's brief.A calm with piano before 5 1/2 minutes.it kicks back in before 8 minutes. "Tramonto D'ottobre" is a short,mellow track with acoustic guitar and piano leading. "Esperanto" opens with piano as drums and bass join in.The song sort of meanders along aimlessly. "L'ebete" is the side long suite.I really like the vocals here and the melancholic mood.It picks up 3 1/2 minutes in.A calm after 5 minutes with synths.Guitar before 6 1/2 minutes.It settles a minute later.A change before 11 minutes as piano and drums lead.Guitar before 12 1/2 minutes.Good sound here.Guitar stops after 14 minutes as bass,drums and piano play in a relaxed way.Guitar is back after 15 minutes.It picks up 16 1/2 minutes in with piano out front.A catchy way to end it. Good album but not great.

A few months ago I was quite surprised to see a number of Death reviews making their appearance on the PA home page. Although I have the odd death-metal album in my collection, I had never checked out Death as I assumed they were over-hyped. Well, that's my natural disposition I'm afraid. However, when they made their appearance on PA I suspected I might have missed something after all.

Indeed, when it comes to death metal, this is exactly my kind of thing: good musicianship, not only brutal but also clever, not just aggressive but affecting as well, full of real pain and extreme anxiety pouring out of freshly dug wounds. Oh yes I'm getting in the mood here! As with most extreme metal, I enjoy the music rather easily, but whether a band will captivate me or not largely depends on the vocals. Luckily those are very strong here, exactly that very mournful gruff wail that I like so much. Pretty similar to Obituary I would say.

As a death metal album this is pretty much as good as they come, but it hardly registers on my proggo-meter. The compositions and arrangements are straightforward slow-fast death metal thrash, with the guitars as the most accomplished element but without doing anything innovative. The drums are generic metal beating and I've yet to discover any bass.

Being a novice to Death, I'm not sure yet where exactly to place this album in their musical development, but it sure is a solid album in its style.

This is excellent , tight, well-constructed prog-metal. It has the usual ingredients of heavy guitar riffs, exotic keyboards and plenty of solos. What Threshold have in addition, is strong melodic vocal lines rather than tuneless growls and these are excellently performed by Mac. (Is there a better prog-metal vocalist?) 'Pilot in the Sky of Dreams' is a minor masterpiece, with different moods, beautiful ballady sections interspersed with wilder instrumental passages, and interesting lyrics. 'Safe to Fly' is ther other highlight with, again, a strong vocal line. The shorter tracks are usually quite catchy. The absence of a second guitarist gives more space for keyboard solos. Altogether, a fine effort.

One Live Badger was one of the many albums that emerged from the early seventies art rock effusion that owed a lot to the creative talents of Roger Dean. In the early seventies his sureal concepts and paintings began to adorn the covers of albums such as Uriah Heep's Demons & Wizards and Fragile by Yes where the music contained as much allure as Dean's canvasses. Unfortunately this is not the case here despite some lively moments from ex-Yesman Tony Kaye's keyboards interacting with Brian Parrish's respectable rhythm and lead guitar licks. The association between these 6 enlogated Three Dog Night meets Grand Funk Railroad spiritual rave-ups and the hyperboreal image of two ( rather cute ) little Badgers weathering out a storm has always eluded me. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad record and the live enviroment certainly compliments the energy and spontaneity of the pieces which get into some cool jamming moments but it lacks the substance ( unless you want to consider the religious overtones in the lyrics ) that you would expect from an album embelished with Roger Dean artwork. Original vinyl editions had a pop-up badger which confused things even more. But at the time I guess kids were just thrilled with the novelty of having a record with a Roger Dean cover.

Invariably, someone who picks the CD edition up for the first time in 2010 will be overcome by the Dean artwork and will be further thrown off by the knowledge that Tony Kaye was the original keyboard player for prog leviathans Yes and swayed further still by the fact that it was produced by Yes guru man Jon Anderson. The best preparation for this anamoly would be to forget about the two cuddly badgers and think of the album as an extension of Yes' 1970 album Time And A Word when they were still in a sixties groove. Things started to get too serious on the subsequent Yes Album after which Kaye was given his pink slip and One Live Badger sort of de-mystifies at least some musical reasons for this departure with it's bluesy, upbeat and sometimes funky compositions .

Not a monumental catastrophe by a long shot but an album that will come under scrutiny by hard core fans of Yes music with Roger Dean covers from the same period. Proceed with caution and beware of badgers.

This is one of the few items in PT's catalogue that I wouldn't generally recommend. It can still largely appreciate it but I guess it will be way too lengthy, self-indulgent and pointless for many other people.

Phase I & II are extended space rock jams with fine guitar improvisations. Rather then a compelling listen by their own merit, it's a tribute to Floyd, Hawkwind, Neu! and Tangerine Dream. For most PT fans, these phases are the preferred trips because they are closest to the main PT sound of that period. I think they are ok but nothing special really.

As you may have noted from other reviews, Phase III is the most debated phase. Usually it's much criticized but it's probably the most relevant addition to your Porcupine catalogue. It stays clear of the rocking elements that made the previous phases a bit dragging. Instead it goes for a credible ambient techno flavour. It's the grooviest trip on the album, citing Klaus Schulze with its slowly building lush sonics. There are some spacey guitars in the background that remind me of Tangerine Dream's Edgar Froese.

Also Phase IV stays in cosmic dream stratospheres and elevates my enjoyment album another notch. Be warned though, for people that need constant flashing action in music, this will be another "nothing happens here" track, but if you can appreciate the art of abstract music, this is a 4 star moment.

Phase II was the very first track I heard from PT. It left me pretty much unmoved and it took me a few more years till I gave the band another try. Needless to say this shouldn't be the first album you should hear from the band. Of course it's still good enough on itself to deserve a 3 star average. Later on in his career, Wilson would reserve this kind of kraut tributes for one of his other musical persona called I.E.M.

Second's Out. I never would have thought that the departure of vocalist 'Snake' would have had such an impact on Voivod's sound. The style change after 'Blacky's earlier departure on Outer Limits was a lot smaller actually. But maybe the personal changes weren't a decisive factor at all, maybe Negatron was the trajectory that guitar mastermind 'Piggy' wanted to steer Voivod into anyway. It's a direction that would take Voivod back to their thrash beginnings, entirely forsaking melody and their grown progressive standing.

There's absolutely nothing here that reminds us of the stellar, multidimensional music that Voivod had written before. Negatron is a mechanical sounding death metal-inspired thrash album that has a lot of power but that is completely devoid of interesting riffs and melodies. The vocals are gruff and tuneless throughout and will surely be repelling to everybody that is not into some or other form of extreme metal.

But it's not the change of style as such that disappoints me; it's the uninspired song writing and the low quality execution. This is generic metal fluff with a faint Voivod after-taste, a hint of what this band used to be capable of that is frustrating rather then appealing. In fact, to me this sounds like Pantera on a bad hair day. A Voivod release that is better avoided.