Muziekrecensies
Guitarist Marcel Coenen has played in various (tribute) bands since the ’80s. With these, he performed both in venues and at festivals, including Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium. He released CDs with some of these bands (e.g. Sun Caged and Godscum). He also launched a number of solo albums. His latest album is called ‘Resurrection’. … Read more, available in English and Dutch
Residuos Mentales (Greece) consists of Stratos Morianos (keyboards) and Alexandros Mantas (guitars, bass and flute). This instrumental studio project was founded over a decade ago. In 2018, they launched ‘Introspection’. Now ‘A Temporary State of Bliss’ is released. This prog rock album has cross -overs to metal and funk, among others.The first piece of ‘The … Read more, available in English and Dutch
Multi-instrumentalist Thomas Glönkler was (in the 1980s-90s) the leader of German prog band ICU. After that band broke up, he released some solo albums: Auszeit (2005) and Goldstadt (2010). His new album is called ‘Tiefenland’. This concept album is about a fictional world, with an origin, and intermediate world and a future world. Thomas says … Read more, available in English and Dutch
Hekz is an international prog rock/metal band, Terra Nova is their fourth album. In a nutshell, this double album is about the personal struggle regarding ambition, duality and personal development. Part one of the title track has a catchy opening. Frontman Matt Young’s voice is less heavy than you might expect in this genre, but … Read more, available in English and Dutch
Multi-instrumentalist Darrel Treece-Birch is keyboardist of TEN and Nth Ascension. He also released a number of solo instrumental albums under his own name, including ‘Healing Touch’ (2017.) Now ‘Choices’ is out, the debut album by his Melodic prog rock band ‘Atlantea’. This concept album is about situations in life, such as hope and fear. And … Read more, available in English and Dutch
Poor Genetic Material is a prog band. For the album ‘Elsewhere’, they worked with a smaller line-up. As a result, there are some differences, but also definitely similarities with the earlier albums. ‘The Colour Of Happiness’ has a pleasant mid-paced start. The rhythm section has an important part which is nicely complemented by higher notes. … Read more, available in English and Dutch
‘Foxtrot’ is perhaps Genesis’ most beloved album. In honour of the fiftieth anniversary of this album, guitar virtuoso Steve Hackett planned a tour. He was joined by Rob Townsend, Nad Sylvan and Amanda Lehmann, among others. On ‘Foxtrot at Fifty + Hackett Highlights: Live in Brighton’ you will not only hear tracks from the album … Read more, available in English and Dutch
Multi-instrumentalist Duncan Parsons’ previous album ‘On Earth, As It Is’ (2022), received rave reviews. In the past ten years, he released six official solo albums. The new album is called ‘I’m Here, All Weak’, which is a throwback to the past. Because 15 of the 17 songs were on one of those 6 albums. There … Read more, available in English and Dutch
A highly versatile guitarist and composer, Nick Fletcher has collaborated with many musicians. For his solo album’ Quadrivium’, he asked drummer Anika Nilles (Jeff Beck). ‘Quadrivium’ is the Latin word for four-cross. Plato gave this name to the four noble arts: mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy. ‘A wave On the Ocean of Eternity (Prelude)’ has … Read more, available in English and Dutch
Beatrix Players is a band with a very distinctive style. They themselves describe their style as, “adventurous music that operates at the interface between folk rock, singer-songwriter acoustic, prog and quasi-classical baroque chamber pop”. ‘Living & Alive’ is their second album, the lyrics, in short, are not just about life itself. But also about the … Read more, available in English and Dutch