O.R.K., a voice and a sound reminiscent of PAIN OF SALVATION, SOUNDGARDEN, SYSTEM OF A DOWN, KING CRIMSON, and PORCUPINE TREE, all supercharged. Incisive, metallic tunes.

"Blast of Silence" takes off with a heavy metal rock sound, with a powerful riff, gravelly vocals, and guitars as screaming as the Zeppelin-esque choruses; an alternative torrent of lava. "Hello Mother" for its ultra-bass rhythm and its heady, belching vocals, à la ALICE IN CHAINS. "The Other Side" is a nervous intro, a repeat performance before moving into an ambient sound, returning to dirty rock worthy of SOUNDGARDEN with a touch of madness behind it. This alternation amplifies the raw, raw edge and gives surprise guest Giuseppe NEGRI's riff the power of percussive hard rock. "16,000 Days" follows, a spacey micro-intro before Lef's delicate phrasing and the track's catchy mid-tempo with a stratospheric chorus. The progressive sound suddenly arrives on the album, ideal for asking the question 'where are we going?' A beautiful, strong, expressive track that ends with an ethereal feel.

"PUTFP" returns to the punchy metal-rock energy with a relative melodic drift; it's in the break that the progressive resurgence suddenly emerges with a haunting, surprising tune that makes us forget the heavy side. "Seven Arms" is a heady southern rock tune, with prominent guitars and vocals reminiscent of Led Zeppelin; astonishing, astounding with rhythm, energy, and modern rock. "Beyond Reach" continues this dark atmosphere with a strident guitar exploration à la RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE contrasting with the passive vocals. A melancholic track where Pat's expressive pad break echoes PINEAPPLE THIEF with its haunting melodic variation. "Mask Becomes The Face" features guest vocals from PORCUPINE TREE's John Wesley on this rhythmic and captivating track, somewhere between haunting and contemplative, for a tearful rock sound with a sparkling solo and a progressively apocalyptic, Dantesque finale of the choir à la 'Dark Side'. "Dive In" is available as a bonus track and is not to be missed, a long, captivating track, based on ambient alternative rock, with a syncopated rhythm and expressive percussion. Lef, languid and raw once again, supported by a melancholic trumpet, the guitars shearing the air with riffs make this the album to listen to.

O.R.K. continues to pour out a rock metal style full of tension, exploration of our desperate world, a schizoid sound enters it, hard with ambient swirls at times. If everything had been at the level of the bonus, this album would be a top of the month. Origin Profilprog.(3.5)

Despite some future weak LP's or mainstream/cashing machine approximations, there's no way to ignore the fact that Brian Auger is a master groover and one of the first to have successfully plunged in Fusion (taken in its wider meaning) waters; on the other hand Julie Driscoll appears as having always functioned as a creative/inspirational muse for Auger, in that all their collaborations bore tasteful fruits; that said this album is in my opinion here to prove it! Backed by Clive Thacker on drums/percussion and Dave Ambrose on basses, guitars and vocal help, BA and JD lend their keyboards and vocals energetic, soulful and unmistakably personal skills to an interesting and varied batch of songs ] The four tracks written by B.A are pulsating Jazz infected grooves with a classic theme in an Emerson vein (Tropic?), full instrumentals with flashy organ work, Motown infected swinging Jazz (Ellis Is?) or Funky grooves (Finally found?), or have our man singing behind his acoustic piano in melancholic ways (Looking in the Eye?); On her own tracks J.D strums or plucks her acoustic guitar in a poignant, three parted, politically charged manifesto against "Czechoslovakia" invasion, in a piercing short solo piece (Word about colour) or with ravishing, long and complex vocal performances, either solely backed by the organ (on the traditional tune arranged by her, "When I was young") or by her acoustic guitar. A similar high level is obtained in the other half of the tracks, all very personalized covers ( a topic where they excel), of almost as many songwriters/artists: in short, there's a 2 speeds piano driven Gospel rendition of Nina Simone's "Take me to?", a peculiar, tension mounting version of the Doors "Light my Fire" with a classy, glassy organ work, a Jazz infected R&B cover of Richie Havens's "Indian?", which asserts it self as a template for much of the sound of bands like Affinity and Gospel and Soul tinged treatments, filled with stunning organ work, of the Rado/Ragni/mcDermot songwriters trio "Let the sunshine in" (yes the one from Woodstock) and "I've got Life; Written by Ambrose, who's in charge of the lead vocal too, "In search of the Sun" is fascinatingly reminiscent of Pete Brown's Piblokto style, where as the band and singer are strongly engaged on the mid tempo acoustic version of Miles's "All Blues" and close the album with an heartfelt, punchy rendition of Laura Nyro's "Save the Country" which is better than the original in my opinion. 5.0 this is one of Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll's best.

1. The Stubbs Effect and Big Jobs (Poo Poo Extract) as canter openings, soft, jazzy soft pop; soft rock, experimentation, already. 3. Going Up to People and Tinkling follows, a muted pop air, a fusion of genres from a jazzy bar night, ah, it's becoming clearer, sound effects too, cinematic one would say today. 4. Calyx continues, trumpet and backing vocals or both at the same time, vocal rambling above all with the great Robert leading the way. 5. Son of "There's No Place Like Homerton," an epic track whose sequencing is once again noteworthy, hence the prog vein certification; a beautiful peregrination with wind instruments at the forefront, the melody flowing unrestrainedly on an avant-garde side of the time, combining classical, hushed ambiance and suave compositions, the moment when we can understand the progressive wanderings of Pink Floyd, Genesis, Magma, Robert Wyatt. A subdued bon mot for this purely progressive take on the early 70s. An atmosphere that flirts with the works of the great King Crimson in the final third, with sax and shrill backing vocals. 6. Aigrette, not sour but almost, with this more instrumental vocal for the pastoral, floral interlude. 7. Rifferama and Richard with his swirling bass, a Camel, Caravan, born in Canterbury. Phil uses his energetic guitar to flirt with free jazz-rock, harking back to the future of Return to Forever.

8. Fol De Rol follows with this mantra from another age, a moment where each note coming together becomes nostalgic, vibrant, or exasperating, depending on the listeners' tastes; perfection of the moment, soulless tinkering.

9. Shaving Is Boring follows with the typical Canterbury take; It starts out of nowhere, it's barely audible, and then, and then it transforms into a minimalist electronic musical mishmash that holds up, like the work of Tangerine Dream; confusing, astounding, gradually captivating; an open-door break, the sound of footsteps, and the finale, as if coming from elsewhere, for the organ-bass-guitar assault on Canterbury time, the one that melts time with notes. 10. Licks for the Ladies follows, as if there were no sides on LPs at the time; a rural atmosphere with a distant vocal on an acoustic guitar and its electric organ. 11. Bossa Nochance follows, just more energetic. 12. Big Jobs No 2 (by Poo and the Wee Wees) in the same vein, well, why separate tracks that are only the musical continuation? Soft vocals and guitar play the part with a honeyed undertone. 13. Lobster in Cleavage Probe arrives, electric organ on choirs of sirens or nuns in bloom, the bucolic scene is confirmed; a battle without weapons between two female choirs wandering in cloudy limbo before the powerful solo, launching 14. Gigantic Land-Crabs in Earth Takeover Bid and its unashamedly crimsonian solo into violent, archaic, heavy territory?yes, the word is out, which makes me smile at the look of my prog friends, impervious to the prog metal movement, in short; a little sweetness, clarinet, tweet, tweet, or almost, before the new deluge and 15. The Other Stubbs Effect closes the debate with the psychedelically disturbing outro.

Having heard a number of random tracks over the years, Anubis Gate are a band I've always held in pretty high regard. Typical of most European progressive metal bands, they're not very well known, but despite remaining mostly off the grid, they've put out an impressive array of high-quality albums. Keen to delve properly into their discography, 2004's debut, 'Purification', seemed like the best place to start.

Except it probably wasn't.

Sadly, to my surprise, I've found this a very hard album to get into. I've had it in my playlist for what feels like forever, and I just can't seem to really remember anything from it. Every time I play it I zone out. The playing is fantastic and there are a few rather tasty guitar riffs, likewise, vocalist Torben Askholm has a great voice that really suits the music and its themes. But the overall writing is just so dull, all the songs seem to mesh together and just plod along at the same pace, all sounding similar to each other and thus, making it impossible to really distinguish most of them.

If I had to pick out any highlights, 'In the Comfort of Darkness', 'Hypernosis' and 'Downward Spiral' are all decent enough, but even then, I don't think I could sit and listen to them all the way through without losing interest. And it's a shame, because I know this band are capable of much better than this. But overall, 'Purification' just does nothing for me, and it's fortunate that I'm already familiar with some of the bands later material, otherwise, had this been my first exposure to them, I probably wouldn't bother coming back.

Ritchie Blackmore and Ian Gillan, two complex personalities who permanently argued to impose their points of view on the musical direction of Deep Purple, with eventual interventions by the less belligerent Jon Lord, who also showed his interest in adding classical music elements to the purple proposal, paradoxically ended up generating the fundamental energetic spark for the creation of "Machine Head" (1972), the fifth album by the British band and one of the stellar works in the history of rock.

Lord's lush Hammonds and Blackmore's baroque-scented guitar solo on the thundering "Highway Star", the immortal, universal riffs of the timeless "Smoke on the Water" (which describes the cinematic fire that occurred during Frank Zappa and his band's performance at the Mountreux Casino Theatre on the shores of Lake Geneva, the very place Deep Purple chose to record "Machine Head"), Lord and Blackmore's virtuosic display on the robust blues rock "Lazy", and the thick riffs on the fantastical, galactic "Space Truckin'" with Gillan's vocal wailing, are carved into the foundations of hard rock and incipient heavy metal, and immortalised on the legendary live double "Made in Japan" released months later.

Just below the famous tetralogy, there is the mid-tempo bluesy riff of "Maybe I'm a Leo" and the determined and unstoppable keyboards of the vertiginous "Pictures of Home"' with a similar structure to "Highway Star"; And if the excellent and melancholic ballad "When a Blind Man Cries" (B-side of the simple and correct funky single "Never Before") had not been left out, partly because of the technical limitations of the vinyl and partly because Blackmore was not convinced by the song, the album would have been even more rounded.

The stupendous "Machine Head", which reached the first place in the music charts in the UK and several European countries, and in the top ten of the US Billboard with around 3 million copies sold, is an obligatory reference and source of inspiration for countless bands that emerged in the following years (Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Metallica, and Alice in Chains, among others).

Essential

4.5 stars

3.5 stars. Teddy Lasry came from France, and from a musical family. His parents were in an experimental band that released many albums, with the first being in 1960. In fact Teddy would play on some of those beginning in the late sixties. Lasry also was a horn/flute player for MAGMA. Playing on their first three records before quitting and going solo. This 1976 release is one of Teddy's solo records, and many are tagged with Library music by RYM, including this one.

While Lasry does it all pretty much, he did get a drummer and a bass player to help out. The drummer is on two tracks, and that bass player happens to be Janick Top and he also plays on two tracks. Neither guest really stands out, rather they are part of the sound. It's a 38 minute record with 8 tracks. The opener and closer are really the same song with minimal keyboard sounds over 1 1/2 minutes. The intro and outro you could say. So yes, Lasry is all over this record playing clavinet, marimba, soprano sax, clarinet and adding electronics and effects.

While this album did grow on me, I really am on the fence with it. I didn't even like it at first, but after 4 spins I was feeling like it was actually pretty good. Still, it's too inconsistent for me to go 4 stars. The one song that stands out is "Quasar". A dizzying array of sounds on this one, but it's the last 2 minutes where the we get the best section of the whole album. They just step it up a notch, and it's great. "Earth" is another good one with a fair amount of piano.

It's odd that on the song "Nebular", before the 5 minute mark, we get sax coming out both speakers but playing different melodies. This happened with the piano on "Earth" as well. I'm not big on a lot of the high pitched electronic sounds on this record, like to start "Birth Of Galaxy" for example. And then "Birds Of Space" features chirping birds for over 3 1/2 minutes. Way too long! And even when we do get soprano sax like to start "Nonsense" it just sounds so old school. It's brief, but the drum and percussion section that follows goes on for far too long.

There is this attention to detail here that I admire, but this is a recording that I have trouble enjoying.

When I think of black metal, I never really picture cities as a visage point. Usually I imagine dark, gloomy forests, snowy mountain tops, maybe even the occasional medieval weaponry. But New York? Now that's something different in the black metal sphere I never thought of, though a city could theoretically work. A concrete forest oftentimes can hide the cruelties of man just as well as a forest can. In a way, that's where Imperial Triumphant's newest release of Goldstar comes into play.

I knew of Imperial Triumphant from their 2022 release of Spirit of Ecstasy. I liked that album, but not enough for me to revisit it over and over again. However, I was pleasantly surprised the moment I heard Goldstar, as not only was it really good comparatively, it made me more interested in checking this band out more in the future.

I've never been the most huge on dissonant black metal, but I have always been quite in favor towards avant-garde metal, and hearing them combined is always quite a treat admittedly. Imperial Triumphant creates a storm of chaos through each of their chords and percussion-lines that range from Gorguts-like technicalities, to old school Ulver blackness. It is honestly really enjoyable for what it's worth, and adds a lot of weight to a pretty short album.

I also really enjoy the concept here, being an album based around the quote unquote 'sounds of New York as we hear them'. They take the ideas of metropolitan United States, and mashes the commercialism and constant ads of the city's skyline as a sort of occult-like nature. In an offshoot way, this album did release at a perfect time when you consider American politics. I know, I know, we're all tired of political nonsense, but hear me out. With America politics becoming more and more in favor towards the rich and wealthy, especially when we have a bumbling rich idiot in office, with a fascist wealthy brat who cannot make a car for God knows what right by his side, viewing these aspects of American greed and consumerism as a sort of cult wouldn't be too far off. I mean, what's too different from a Satanic cult in comparison to the diehard bigots who support our current president's every move?

I do think sometimes the execution of this concept can be a bit too hamfisty, like with the 'hail satan my child' part, and the entirety of the title track. Kind of wish they did more subtlety within the lyrical aspects. It's a really good concept, again, but I don't think the lyrics are the best aspect here. In fact I do think they're kinda the worst aspect on the record. Great concept musically and conceptually, but written on paper'it could use some work.

Safe to say, Goldstar is a gold star of a black metal record. It has a lot of things one can love from a good ol' bm album, and many more. I definitely say check it out, cause it's not only a really fun time, but certainly an album for a modern day America happening right now.

Best tracks: Eye of Mars, Gomorrah Nouveaux, NEWYORKCITY, Industry of Misery

Worst track: Goldstar

A line up that included John Wetton, Eddie Jobson, Bill Bruford and jazz guitarist Alan Holdsworth was never going to stay together long. Jobson and Wetton were rock and roll guys (having played with Roxy music, Uriah Heep, Zappa) while Bruford and Holdsworth were interested in jazz music. They did make some interesting music with this album, but it's no surprise that they soon broke up after this album was completed. The opening suite of "In the dead of night", "By the light of day" and "Presto vivace" is outstanding. "Thirty years" also has its moments, but is ruined by Wetton's loud bass during the instrumental bits. "Alaska" is mostly Jobson playing keyboards and "Time to kill" is the kind of boring AOR Wetton started to do on the later Asia albums and his 90s/00s solo albums. "Nevermore" is the album's highlight. It's full of Bruford and Holdsworth's jazz influences, yet Wetton and Jobson are in top form as well and for once the combination between jazz influences, Jobson's keyboards and Wetton's bass and vocals sounds exactly right. "Mental medication" is again a poor track. Overall the album's inconsistent, but with half of the tracks being that outstanding it is well worth getting for any fan of one of its members. Those who, like me, prefer Bruford and Holdsworth's contributions to the album should check out Bruford's "One of a kind". 4.5

While Germany or Britain are most known for being at the forefront of electronic psychedelic music, Japan certainly had its share of cosmic travelers. One of the best of these groups was Far East Family Band, a band who would gain some stature throughout the world during the latter part of the 1970s. These guys would frontier Japanese prog.

Klaus Schulze was one such luminary to be attracted by this six-piece Japanese ensemble. Helping produce their early albums (the first two albums are very similar, the latter of which was re-recorded and sung in English, and other slight variations), Schulze saw an opportunity to promote cosmic rock all over the globe. However, I always felt the debut album/successor tried too hard to be the next Dark Side of the Moon. The instrumental bits are great only to be ruined by sensitive pop ballads - not Far East Family Band's strong suit I'm afraid.

But it all came together on Parallel World. Focusing on their instrumental cosmic sound and pretty much foregoing the pop commercial-oriented songs, the six-piece Far East Family Band unleashed a gem that easily could have found itself on the Kosmische Kouriers label. In fact, the recording comes closest to sounding like the first Cosmic Jokers album with more focus given to the whooshing synthesizers than the guitars (Schulze's influence?). As one can guess, the two keyboard players are featured most prominently, and it's hard to imagine that Far East Family Band actually had two guitarists as well!

The album opens with 'Metempsychosis' which is a tribal drum and synthesizer atmospheric backdrop piece that sets the stage for 'Entering' which contains some intense fuzz bass and a ripping guitar sequence among the 12 minutes of keyboard ecstasy. Brilliant, and this is one of finest tracks Far East Family Band has ever recorded! 'Kokoro' is psychedelic ballad. This is the sort of piece their first albums featured, so one can get a whiff of this style, if not familiar. The side long closing title track sounds like a long-lost Galactic Supermarket recording and aptly finishes a masterwork of cosmic progressive space rock. 5.0

Review Nº 890

Brand X is a British progressive rock band that was founded in London in 1975. Brand X was a jazz fusion band that was active between 1975 and 1980 and that had a hiatus from 1980 to 1992. The band was disbanded in 1999 and was reformed in 2016. So, Brand X had a lifespan of about forty six years, and existed on and off between 1975 and 2019, though technically, their last studio creation as Brand X dates back to 1997. At the height of their success, the 70's, they were often considered a jazz-fusion act, but over the time, were rounded up into the progressive music label. That was due in part to their own gradual shape shifting. The fact that upwards of 25 separate and international session players appeared with them in studio or on stage, their frequent reputation of working as a revolving door musical experiment was erroneous. In reality, Brand X was only ever three British musicians who signed on and were defined as "the band", John Goodsall, Percy Jones and Robin Lumley. Brand X was lucky to have signed a recording contract with the Island Records. And as we all know, Island Records has been home to many reputable artists all over the years.

Brand X released four studio albums in the 70's. Their debut studio album "Unorthodox Behaviour" was released in 1976. Their debut live album "Livestock" and their second studio album "Moroccan Roll" were both released in 1977. Their third studio album "Masques" was released in 1978. Their fourth studio album "Product" was released in 1979. Finally, we have the subject of my review, their fifth studio album "Do They Hurt?" that was only released in 1980.

So, "Do They Hurt?" is the fifth studio album of Brand X and that was released in 1980. The line up on the album is John Goodsall (guitar), Peter Robinson (keyboards and tam-tam), Robin Lumley (piano and keyboards), Percy Jones (vocals and bass), John Giblin (bass), Michael Clark (drums), Phil Collins (drums) and Morris Pert (percussion).

"Do They Hurt?" contains material from what's left over from the multivalent sessions for their previous studio album "Product". Commercially, the album wasn't a huge success, but that was pretty much the norm in the Brand X's case. If Phil Collins hadn't been running the band as a kind of a side project as the drummer, the band might have remained even less known. That it would have been too bad, because the level of the band was good. Unfortunately, the rest of the band often got a little lost beside him. That is also too bad, because the musicians are all among the best in their field, guitarist John Goodsall, bassists Percy Jones and John Giblin, keyboardist Robin Lumley, percussionist Morris Pert and drummer Mike Clark. They were also the main musicians on this album. Collins basically played a guest role.

"Noddy Goes To Sweden" is a jazz fusion track that doesn't require a guitar. The dominant instrument is Jones' fretless bass. The song is sparsely instrumented, but grooves pleasantly and sneaks funky-casual. To hear it is a real joy to our ears. "Voidarama" is a very guitar-oriented track. It begins with a nice and catchy relaxed melody. In the middle section Goodsall dares to play somewhat more complex parts. This track is a reminiscent of the Mahavishnu Orchestra style. "Act Of Will" is a piece sung through the vocoder. It's probably catchier than its predecessor. Sometimes is rocky and sometimes is melancholic. I like it even if it sounds rather conservative and commercial by the Brand X's standards. "Fragile!" is probably a bit more complex than the previous track, mildly experimental. It's beautifully an intricate jazz-prog rock number with some bass guitar leads. It's a fine light funky jazz-rock, a reminiscent of the "Masques" album. "Cambodia" is another very guitar-oriented track that follows the Mahavishnu Orchestra path. It oscillates between rock and jazz rock. It's one of the highlights on the album with Goodsall's excellent guitar work and Jones' good bass parts. "Triumphant Limp" is a fusion piece with a very dense drumming. It leans more towards the jazz fusion style. The song lives less on big ideas and more on Jones' excellent bass work and Collins' impressive drum parts. It's a triumphant statement of a great jazz fusion/rock band. "D.M.Z." is typical of Brand X. It seems playful and varied that thrives on the humming singing bass of Jones. The track represents the highlight on the album with Goodsall's excellent guitar work and Jones' good bass parts. This composition is a very successful conclusion of a solid jazz rock/fusion album, really.

Conclusion: With "Do They Hurt?", Brand X continued in the path of simplifying the sound that they had embarked on with "Product". Overall, the album oscillates somewhat indecisively between the jazz rock and rock, between complex and catchy. For some, the album lacks the effervescence of its predecessor maybe because it feels like a collection of outtakes from the "Product" sessions. However and despite of that, it has become a solid album between the jazz rock, prog and rock. It has the typical Brand X signature, bubbling bass lines, weird guitar runs, cool drumming and colorful keyboards. Despite Brand X have created more accomplished music before, "Do They Hurt?" still stands a great album. Here you can hear a number of experts in their field jamming blithely without losing the structure of the band's music.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)