Sammary – Monochrome

Monochrome is the debut album by the German band Sammary. Multi-instrumentalist Sammy Wahlandt founded this art rock/indie project. He started with electronic, musical experiments. ‘Monochrome’ is a concept album and is about the gloomy versus the happy side of man, and hate versus love. ‘Black And White’ has a special, mysterious start, the sound is … lees verder

Iris Divine – Mercurial

‘Mercurial’ is the fourth album by the prog metal band ‘Iris Divine’, but the first album to be released through Layered Reality Productions. Drummer Scott Manley took the place of Kris Combs (drums, keyboards and programming) he left the band in the Corona era. That doesn’t mean you won’t hear any keyboards/programming on ‘Mercurial’. Singer/guitarist … lees verder

Iron Maiden flipped Navid Rashid over to the ‘dark side’

Navid Rashid is frontman (vocalist and guitarist) of Iris Divine. Sometimes people mix up his first name and surname. Navid is his first name and Rashid is his surname. Navid grew up in the ’80’s, in those days hard rock was very populair. Navid had plenty of exposure on radio and MTV.  He still loves what … lees verder

Melanie Mau & Martin Schnella – Invoke The Ghosts

Melanie Mau & Martin Schnella are getting more and more known in the prog circuit, and that is well deserved. Recently ‘Invoke The Ghosts’ was released, this is the second album on which you can only hear their own compositions. They call their style acoustic metal. ‘Nur Ein Spiel’ starts with a vocal solo by … lees verder

Lobate Scarp – You have it all

The prog album ‘You have it all’ is an extension of the EP ‘Spirals and Portals’, which Lobate Scarp released in 2019. From that came the singles ‘Nothing Wrong’ (remixed) and ‘Beautiful Light’. These are interwoven within the new album to create more cohesion. Several very well-known guest musicians participate. Like Ryo Okumoto (Spock’s Beard) … lees verder

Project: Patchwork – Ultima Ratio

About ten years ago Gerd Albers founded a prog project called ‘Project: Patchwork’. On each album a large number of guest musicians worked together, more than 45 in total. These musicians come from prog bands such as Mystery, Subsignal, and many others. Also on the latest album, ‘Ultima Ratio’, a large number of musicians worked … lees verder

Kaipa – Urskog

Swedish progressive folk-fusion-rock band Kaipa recently released their 14th studio album. With “Urskog,” Kaipa takes you on a journey through the wilderness of Sweden and through the seasons. Hans Lundin used some sampled sounds from the 80s for this album. Perhaps more importantly, Darby Todd is the new drummer. He has played with Devin Townsend … lees verder

The sign of Leo – Blow up

Singer, multi-instrumentalist and composer Martin Erich has been active on the Groningen music scene (the Netherlands) for about 35 years. In the eighties he played in bands like ’12 Inch from Heaven’ and ‘The Happy Few?’ After a silence he founded the band ‘The Sign of Leo’ about ten years ago. During the Corona crisis … lees verder