My lesser known and unknown new prog bands thread

— First review of this album —

I remember vividly that I listened to Galleon their just released debut CD entitled Lynx in the early Nineties. Their simple but tasteful sound appealed to me, especially the compelling parts featuring fat synthesizer flights, deep Moog Taurus bass pedals and dramatic vocals with a bit melancholical undertone.

After many years this new album is my renewed musical meeting with Galleon and I notice that they have matured in all ways. Remarkably is the amount of fluent songs with bombastic climates, fiery guitar solos, propulsive guitar riffs and flashy synthesizer runs like in A.I. (wonderful bass pedal sound), The Assemblers (from sparkling piano to blistering wah-wah guitar), Signals, the titletrack (howling guitar and intense Mellotron waves), Machine Mother (flashy synthesizer solo) and Lightworks. My highlight on this CD is the composition Men And Monsters (almost 10 minutes), it contains lots of shifting moods and breaks, howling guitar, pleasant keyboard variety (organ, synthesizers and Mellotron) and a great final part with a bombastic atmosphere, the biting guitar solo and the slow synthesizer make it a progrock party!

I am sure this new Galleon album will appeal to many progheads, it sounds both accessible as pleasant and dynamic with good work on guitar and keyboards and the vocals add an extra dimension.

— First review of this album —

This interesting new Italian formation invites us for a trip with their musical time-machine to the early Seventies. In those days most of the big record companies had small sub-labels in order to host their progressive rock acts (like EMI had Harvest for Pink Floyd), there they got room for adventure and experiments. Well, listening to Areknames you can easily confuse this for a Seventies rooted band. This live CD was recorded during the Burg Herzberg Festival 2007, I hope a DVD will follow soon, what a stunning sound!

1. Dateless Diary : After a dreamy climate with wonderful violin-Mellotron and a bit melancholical vocals (evoking Peter Hamill),we can enjoy powerful Hammond organ, propulsive guitarwork and fat synthesizer flights in a compelling atmosphere. In the end the dreamy climate returns delivering Mellotron, Hammond and flowing electric guitar.

2. A Prison That Few Can See : The first part is mellow, the music reminds me of Anekdoten because of the violin-Mellotron and warm but a bit dark vocals. Gradually the sound turns int more lush with powerful Jammond waves, strong drumming and howling electric guitar runs, followed by a long and very compelling Hammond solo similar to Dave Greenslade his work during Colosseum and Greenslade, what a lovely early vintage sound!

3. A New Song : It starts with a slow rhythm and fragile guitarplay, mellow organ and warm vocals (again evoking Anekdoten), then a mid-tempo with majestic Hammond and powerful guitar, culminating in a kind of bombastic psychedelia. Again we can enjoy a long Hammond solo, this time swirling with great support of the rhythm-section. The final part contains soaring Mellotron, it is short but I get goose bumps!

4. Outcast : This short piece sounds a bit psychedelic with propulsive drums, fiery vocals, heavy guitar and hypnotizing organ work, it reminds me of early Italian gem Il Balletto Di Bronzo, very dynamic!

5. Boredom : Again the focus is on the Hammond (along a sensitive electric guitar solo, fat synthesizer flights and wonderful violin-Mellotron): from fluent runs and sumptuous eruptions to a swirling solo with psychedelic undertones, this man know how to push the right buttons!

Don't expect elaborate music but let you carry away by Areknames their compelling vintage sound, loaded with mindblowing work on the Hammond organ!