Muziekrecensies
Armed Cloud is a symphonic metal band from Nijmegen (The Netherlands). They have already been active for seven or so years. ‘Master Device & Slave Machines’ is the follow-up to ‘Obsidian Desert’ (2015). ‘Save Yourself’ starts out with sampled noise, which sounds very spacy. Soon, a bit of metal is added. Daan Dekker has a … Read more, available in English and Dutch
‘Static‘ is the second solo album by singer and multi-instrumentalist Dave Kerzner. His debut album ‘New World’ received praise in the prog world. ‘Static‘ is a concept album / rock opera. In short, this concept is about the individualistic society. Making unfounded judgments, giving blunt criticism are a few elements that are discussed. ‘Prelude‘ contains … Read more, available in English and Dutch
Clockwork is a Dutch symphonic progressive-rock band that was founded ten years ago in Brunssum. However, the EP “Unbreakable” is only their second official release so it is not surprising that I only recently heard of the band Clockwork. By coincidence I have heard their music on the internet which sounded really good. This is … Read more, available in English and Dutch
VUUR is the new band of internationally beloved Anneke van Giersbergen. She had her breakthrough with ‘The Gathering’ in the prog-metal scene. Anneke also cooperated several times with Arjen Lucassen, for example on the Ayreon CD ‘Into The Electric Castle (1998)’. Also two years ago with The Gentle Storm: ‘The Diary’. Anneke likes contrasts: heavy versus acoustic. … Read more, available in English and Dutch
TDW is the abbreviation of Tom de Wit. He is a singer, keyboardist / guitarist and founder of this symphonic progressive metal band. In addition to Tom there are three more guitarists. The total line up is eight people. Five of them are vocalists. In 2016 the EP ‘Aphrodisia’ was released. This was a promo … Read more, available in English and Dutch
Art Against Agony was founded in the autumn of 2011. All band members only use their alias names. During performances, they wear masks. So, this German progressive instrumental metal band is quite mysterious. They mix metal with rock and experimental jazz. By experimenting (live), the songs from their first album ‘Three short stories’ have rather … Read more, available in English and Dutch
Last year the Belgian prog rock band Murky Red launched their album ‘No pocus without hocus’. At that time, only available as download. Now also available as hard copy (under the label of Melodic Revolution Records). This is a limited edition with three bonus tracks. Such a special edition needs a single/video launch. The first … Read more, available in English and Dutch
A few weeks ago singer/multi-instrumentalistKristoffer Gildenlöw (ex-Pain of Salvation) raised the Foundation ‘Breaking the Chains’. Breaking the Chains comes from ‘Break the Chains of abuse’. This is the slogan of B.A.C.A. = Bikers Against Child Abuse. Some years ago, Kristoffer saw this organization on internet. He was and still is impressed with their work. These scary … Read more, available in English and Dutch
The five-member Swedish band Pain of Salvation was founded 1991. Singer/ multi-instrumentalist Daniel Gildenlöw is the only one who joins this prog-metal band from the beginning. On this album he plays at least eight(!) instruments. Ragnar Zolberg and Daniel D2 Karlsson are also multi-instrumentalists. ‘In the Passing Light of Day’ is a fairly heavily loaded … Read more, available in English and Dutch
The Belgian prog rock band Murky Red was founded about seven years ago. Over a year ago, they released the digital version of their second album ‘No Pocus Without Hocus’. Of course they also wanted to launch a physical album , but their budget was too tight. Meanwhile, guitarist Patrick Dujardin and bassist Luk Lantin, … Read more, available in English and Dutch