PROGSPHERE'S PROGSTRAVAGANZA COMPILATION OF AWESOMENESS - PART 5

Long time has passed since I last reviewed a Prog-Sphere compilation of awesomeness album, which by the way, is a great initiative from these guys who support low profile musicians/bands that create progressive rock around the globe, so if you can go to Prog- Sphere's site and download these compilations, you will discover loads of new bands and I assure you will find real gems within these albums. This time I am reviewing their fifth saga, which was named "Extreme edition" due to its metal tendency, in other words, if you are a fan of prog metal you will have a feast in this album.

Though I am not a true metal fan, I took the time to listen to it and with my honesty I can say I did not become fan of the most of the bands, however, there were some tracks that really caught my attention and made me look for more music of those bands. If you are not a metal fan like me, you may probably want to skip this compilation, but well, you can give it a chance. What I love from the guys of PS is that they include bands from several countries, obscure bands that are not that known but that are building their road little by little, so their exposure in these kind of recompilations is really valuable.

Let me give you an advice, make yourself some enough time to listen to it, because it is actually long, featuring 21 songs from 21 different bands. To my listening pleasure I honestly had only few moments, however those moments were truly interesting, such as the Azure Agony song, instrumental and bombastic prog metal at its best, or the song from Hemina, a very interesting mixture of heavy prog with metal, and of course a band that I actually recommend, which closes this compilation, Grayceon, those guys are talented and create not the typical metal sound, they have a distinctive sound which make them unique. I should also mention Serbian band Chroneiros, instrumental prog metal with a nice touch. On the other hand, there were songs I totally skipped such as the ones from Agnosia, Fornost Arnor or Neuromist. And a touch of humor with Hookahthefuzz whose singer sounds like the one from Metallica, sorry, I could not omit this.

Well, a cool compilation and as I said, great for the metal fans, not that cool for the ones who don't follow this musical tendency. My final grade will be three stars, but don't pay attention to it, just download and listen to the bands here, that's what matters.

Enjoy it!