CROSSOVER PROG

They are VERY MUCH of their generation! Nothing Sixties there and nothing Frank; but two accomplished musicians doing their thing... and it requires serious stretch of the imagination to hear what one could call Progressive Rock here; unless we label this Progressive Grunge... A really good album which takes a few listens before one can fully appreciate it ...

This album is great from start to finish. "Spanish 411" and "Faded Photographs" are both fantastic songs, but the unequivocally best song on this album is "The Willing Victim". This song is simply stunning in every way. The structure is superb and the vocals are breath- taking!! It takes you and allows you to soar on the crest of the melody. This would have been a 5-star album for sure had the rest of the album been as fantastic. As it is, it is a strong 4-star album. Highly recommended!

It sounds to be their latest review (actually, 2013). Well, there's no boring song here. Nature's Imagination (Chapter 2) is a good EP, and it's interesting how it works. The songs are all different from each other. The first song intro, Landmark of Vascular Catastrophe, is nice. When the vocals start, I clearly remember Coldrain (japanese alternative) vocals. The atmosphere is good, and I like (a lot) the guitar riffage at 1:30" - 2:10". The second song, Photoperiodism, is mainly acoustic and clean, a nice mood frame.

My favorite track here, Oil Hurricane. I love MIDI songs and oldschool video-game ost's, one of my favorite albums ever is the F-ZERO soundtrack, very creative and... Nostalgic tune. And this track is nostalgic, even at the first time. But it's not boring as nintendo-core and modern poop. Foliage Flower and Keeper of the Stars are light hearted and slow tracks, maybe the weakest side of the EP. But not bad. Some good effects. And I like the last half from the last track.

You can find Nature's Imagination (Chapter 2) at their bandcamp. Check it out.

It's the first thing you hear, and it is indicative of the style of the album. An album deliberately rough and crude (in some ways minimalist) and unfortunately, in my opinion, not very successful.

"The Great Leap" is the first album of a trilogy dedicated to the crisis of the ecosystem. In terms of musical style, is a continuation of what has already been heard in the previous album "313". Although the tracks are closely related, this album has a few characteristics of progressive rock. The songs are short and direct, with no frills or unnecessary pomp, with a prevalence of distorted guitar riffs and aggressive tones: it seems a strange mixture of punk and melodic pop. The voice of Valerie Gracious remains in the background, all the tracks see Phideaux as lead vocalist, and his tones are aggressive and not very reassuring.

Unfortunately, only a few songs are effective. Almost always prevails monotony, and the melodies do not intrigue. The opening track Wake Up, for example, is a crude and obvious song with a hard rock guitar riff and nothing more. In other tracks, such as Tannisroot , One Star and I Was Thinking melodies have little appealing; they are boring even from the first or second listening.

They Hunt You Down is in my opinion the least successful song of the album. It has a slow and exhausting pace and miss the mark completely. In the middle of this song there is a disturbing contrast in styles, and it's really hard to overcome the temptation to skip the track.

Things go better with Rainboy, despite a questionable choral introduction and a poor first singed part. The second half of the song is one of the best moments of the album. Not bad even the catchy Long And Lonely Way and The Waiting, where finally the melodies are enjoyable, and the final track, the melancholic Last.

Of excellent quality, however, the aggressive and dark Abducted, characterized by the slow rhythm of the bass, the distorted guitar and a nice change of pace in the instrumental part. Even excellent, for rhythmic variations and atmosphere, the melodic You And Me Against A World Of Pain, the best track on the album.

Despite some good track, I recommend it only to hardcore fans of Phideaux, and only to complete the "trilogy". The most amazing thing is the contrast (for the style of the work, and also, in my opinion, for the quality of the music) with the second chapter "Doomsday Afternoon", which is a masterpiece of contemporary progressive rock.

****star songs: You And Me Against A World Of Pain, Abducted ***star songs: Long And Lonely Way, The Waiting, Rainboy, Last **star songs: Wake Up, Tannisroot, One Star, I Was Thinking *star songs: They Hunt You Down

My final rating is 4/10.

Best song: You And Me Against A World Of Pain

"Chandelier Suite" is one of their masterpieces. Shows a variety of sound appearances ... sometimes powerful, sometimes sensitive, and sometimes dry and cool, along with speedy and kaleidoscopic warmth of sound. The voices are too weak, delicate for this soundgarden, but we can be taken to a dreamland with their beautiful heavy rock chords. On the other hand the following track "Soft Napalm Pillow Dreams" is a slow ballad, with superb chorus, crying guitar works, and graceful piano solos. Safe and sound via such a hearty stuff we can gain into our heart. "Mount Davidson" is a fragile song, that has warm stability and cold instability. Well matured, well balanced with the two contradictory flavours, quite amazing one really.

"Unclouded Eyes" sounds like a heavy symphony with cynical tone colour alterations and mixture with plainness and eccentricity. Such a complex chord progression cannot confuse us at all but notify us something comfortable. Cannot digest this song easily but get invaded smoothly, oh well. Another drastic sound theatre "Save The World" runs like a whirlwind of colourful explosive flowery flavour launcher ... simple riffs based upon fascinating rhythm kicks and cool but deep bass quakes let us dream a clear dream. And the last magnificent suite "My Fantasy" blows our ears onto the dark side of the moon, where are complete distorted harmonies and sensitive percussive sonic theatre. What is showed by the heavy and sharp ending? Real mystery, enjoy much.

Amarok plays mostly instrumental music in this album. And, as its name suggests, with some subtle hints or not so, the style of the great Mike Oldfield. There are also some shades of Pink Floyd. I do not think that this approach is detrimental to the product, on the contrary.

The acoustic and electric guitar is the main instrument here, with a transparent sound and neatly executed. A good dose of violin and flute add color and depth to the music.

Fildmour part I and part III are extraordinary. Aqu, Meriba, Seya and Massa are other highlights, to name a few more. The album is balanced.

The cover photograph is appropriate, and outlines a good idea of ​​what is presented in the music.

Later, Wojtas was looking for something different other sound. Neo Way is less original and Metanoia too experimental, at least for me.

I came by chance to listen to the first installment of Amarok, and welcome. I´m pleased.

Their first release is this very short album, with just over five minutes of music divided over two songs. The first song is 'Enjoil'. It fades in with heavy electric guitar and sonic drumming, and sadly, it ends with that as well. The sound quality is very good, and the musicians are very talented, but there is just not so much to enjoy here. After two minutes, it fades out, and than starts 'Seven, Certainly'.This song fades in as well, again with just guitar and drumming. This song is calmer than the previous, and after a while, you will hear some lines from the mellotron, which were added by Qualieri afterwards. The warmer guitar play makes this song better than the first one, but still much to short, and much to little to enjoy.

The music here is not bad, the sound quality is good, the musicians are good, but that does not make that this is a good record as a whole. Just the fact that it takes only five minutes makes that it's hard for it to be a great record, but even within those five minutes, very little happens. Because of this, I don't really see a reason for anyone to purchase this as an album, or to listen to it regularly. Therefore, this will be only for people who are out to collect this kind of music, and not much more. 1,5 stars for good musicianship.

Well, this is a good album, but nothing too special about it. I could normally live my life without it. I do not feel tempted to listen to it.

Those guys definitly are terrific musicians and they have the right influences. If you love classic synphonic prog rock of the 70´s you must get to know BBT. And more important: they know how to write excellent tunes in that vein with much personality and a style of their own. It´s really refreshing to find a band that sounds so familiar and yet had something so up to date and unique. By the way, hardcore proggers will love the 17 minute epic Wide Open Sea for its many twists and turns, coupled with fine mellotron waves.

Production is crystaline: you can hear everything. And the band haa the luck to find a very fine singer in the person of David Longdon, who not only has a good voice, but also knows how to give the songs the right emotional interpretation. As if that was not good enough the guy also plays several other instruments (among them a mean flute!)! I´m looking forward to hear their newst releases.

Conclusion: a must have to any prog collection. Highly recommended!!

Special side-project of Anekdoten guitarist Nicklas Barker; he's here witing and perfoming a soundtrack for Spanish director Norberto Ramos. Although not yet a household name in the Hispanic peninsula's film industry, Ramos has done a few movies, of which Ultimo Fin De Semana ranks as one of his most remarkable. Our Last Week End Together (the English title) is a thriller about four women fleeing everyday's pressure for one week-end on the country's north coast. Despite the limited budget, the movie is well-worth seeing; although I gather that most Hollywood-accustomed movie freak will probably only moderately appreciate it.

Getting back to the (instrumental) music, Barker plays almost everything himself, but then again, a large part of it is the Mellotron (a forefront feature of his band's soundscapes) or apparently Tron-simulating synths. Musically this soundtrack is somewhat similar to Anekdoten's other side-project of a few years ago called Symphonic Holocaust, which was a fantasy project of soundtrack to imaginary Italian horror movies. The main difference I will point out between the two affairs is that Holocaust was four musicians making a full symphonic raucous, while Semana is much more intimate solo affair. As I said above, Barker plays almost everything on the album, but he's still joined by Anekdoten buddy and drummer Nordins and family members (wives or sisters most likely) of Nicklas and Doten bassist Bergstrom, for additional strings. As for Nicklas, he's playing the Trons, synths,bass and a Theremin. Obviously the Trons is the music's main ingredient and its melancholic layers provide plenty of tension and sentimental and scary moods (at least when watching the movie)., but in the end, one can't escape its beauty. Most of the music beongs to the rock realm, though a few moments (like the closing track) may sound a bit like village-fair stuff, which distracts a bit the cohesion of it all.

Although the soundtrack's music is already plenty poignant enough, you'll easily understand that it gains even more to have seen the movie to appreciate the context of the music. Furthermore, the movie includes an extra-track, one Anekdoten track (from their Gravity album), but that didn't find space on this CD, most likely for contractual reasons. The DVD of the movie also features a Barker interview and a studio video of the soundtrack's most vibrant track. Although the album is very worthy, you might want to directly order the movie, which seels for cheaper if you order it directly from the director himself via his website.