Category: Progressive Rock

Progressive rock, also known as prog rock or prog, is a rock music subgenre that originated in the United Kingdom, with further developments in Germany, Italy, and France, throughout the mid-to-late 1960s and 1970s. It developed from psychedelic rock and originated, similarly to art rock, as an attempt to give greater artistic weight and credibility to rock music.

Centric Jones – The Antikythera Method (2012)

Prog duo Centric Jones has announced the March 6th release of its second album titled ‘The Antikythera Method‘, on Prog Rock Records. The band is influenced by progressive rock legends UK, Yes and King Crimson, as well as hard rock bands like Rush and Porcupine Tree and heavy metal band Dream Theater.

 

Centric Jones includes Chris Fournier and Tobe London, accompanied by an eclectic set of revolving musical guests. Chris plays bass, guitars, keyboards and electronic percussion, and Tobe plays drums, acoustic/electronic percussion and keyboards.

Fournier and London met in 2007 and discovered a shared goal: to create songs that broke through musical boundaries without sacrificing feel and an emotional connection to the audience.

Centric Jones released a critically acclaimed debut CD ‘Foreign Tea‘. When asked if there was a concept behind the new Centric Jones album Tobe had this to say: “I’ve always had a fascination with mechanical devices and gizmos. Of particular interest to me is the Antikythera mechanism – the ancient Greek mechanical computer designed to calculate astronomical positions. I’d like to go on and on about the thing, given the fact that it predates anything like it by about a thousand years. The most fascinating aspect of it for me would be its inherent rhythm. I picture all those handmade gears turning and churning in an amazing visual if not audible display of polyrhythmic wonder. Centric Jones loves to apply this as much as we can to our music. We call it The Antikythera Method.”

In support of their new CD release, Fournier and London are currently putting together a live show consisting of some of their favorite album songs combined with improvisations and some theatrics. The duo plan on performing locally on the Front Range of Northern Colorado in addition to some of the progressive rock festivals going on in the U.S. and elsewhere during the summer of 2012. They are also implementing a new recording setup in Tobe’s studio in order to more directly compose and trade tracks together.

1. Crushed (4:22)
2. Shadow Song (5:58)
3. All For One (7:13)
4. Boomer (6:10)
5. Dream In Threes (6:43)
6. Pyrrhic Victory (2:24)
7. Fading Time (7:11)
8. Morphogenic (6:24)
9. Save Me (6:31)
10. Then (6:05)
11. Pulse (3:22)
12. Antikythera Mechanism (7:03)

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Progressive Rock | Rock
Posted on February 12, 2012 by admin

Reason – The Darkest Star (2012)

Coming from Cheltenham, UK, REASON was formed in 2009 by ex-Vandamne / Fyrebyrds / Empire / Crywolf guitarist & songwriter Chris Gyngell and vocalist Paul Mace. The band has just released their debut “The Darkest Star”.

Gyngell and Mace grew up in the same small town in central England. In fact, they grew up in the same street. Both aspired independently to become rock musicians, and even crossed musical paths in their teenage years.
Inevitably, as they all learned their trades, their paths separated, and both of them progressed through the variety of musical ventures.
Then in early 2009, by chance, Chris and Paul met up and came to the same conclusion; that they should invent their ideal band.
Chris was already a proven and accomplished songwriter, and set about creating an initial set of songs which embodied all of the things that they loved.
After recruiting the remaining members, Reason signed with a Swedish label.

“The Darkest Star” sums several influences from ’80s and ’90s classic bands, resulting in a more than interesting Melodic Hard Rock sound with a Progressive influence.
Possibly my favorite track on the album is opener “Another World”, a strong melodic hard rocker with a mysterious aura accented by the massive use of synths in the background.
Follower “Rise” is another really good track with a classic eighties vibe. This one has been mixed by veteran Beau Hill.
On tracks such as “Before The Dawn”, “The Darkest Star” and “Cool Starry Night”, Reason glides into a more progressive territory, adding to the songs colorful textures to enjoy.
The diversity of this band doesn’t ends here, as “Fire Eternal” has a commercial approach driven by a punctuated guitar line, “Life To A Flame” brings to the table traditional British metal sounds, and “Forever” has some American AOR elements in the style of earlier Journey, complete with nice keyboards.

On “The Darkest Star”, Reason makes clear their love for the classic sounds, evidenced by the arrangements and the overall vibe of the album.
Composer Chris Gyngell has learned the ’80s lesson, and his guitar licks (specially the solos) are solid, with a vintage sound. Paul Mace is a fine singer, owner of a tenor register which suits these songs well, while the rest of the band bring to the core a good musicianship.
The drawback here is the poor production, handled by the band. A pity, because the material on offer is really consistent and finely elaborated. But considering that “The Darkest Star” was initially conceived as an indie release, this a point to improve on the next release.
Reason is a more than promising new band, talented and well focused. Check them out.

01 – Another World
02 – Rise (Beau Hill remix)
03 – Before The Dawn
04 – Life To A Flame
05 – Fire Eternal
06 – The Darkest Star
07 – Forever
08 – The Crusade
09 – Evil Angel
10 – Cool Starry Night
11 – Revelation (2012 remix)

Paul Mace – Lead Vocals
Chris Gyngell – Guitar
Gil Hird – Keyboards
Graham Corbett – Bass
Sean Feeley – Drums

UK
Melodic Hard Rock
192
103 MB

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Progressive Rock
Posted on February 10, 2012 by admin

Sebastian Hardie – Blueprint (2012)

After going their separate ways in the late ’70’s Sebastian Hardie reformed in 1994 and performed a one-off concert in Los Angeles at Progfest ’94. The show was recorded featuring tracks from their two classic albums ‘Four Moments’ and ‘Windchase’ and the cd ‘Live in LA’ was released.

In March 2003 Sebastian Hardie again reformed for a performance at The Metro Theatre, Sydney followed by a concert tour of Japan. Returning home to Australia, enthused and inspired, the band decided to record their third studio album. What followed were six new tracks and the album Blueprint

http://www.sebastianhardie.com.au/

1. I wish (7:43)
2. Vuja de (8:21)
3. Art of life (6:22)
4. I Remember (7:36)
5. Another String… (7:09)
6. Shame (3:22)

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Progressive Rock
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Cast – Art (2011)

The Mexican progressive rock band, founded in 1978 by concerns of the founding and current member, Alfonso Vidales, inspired by the idea of creating music with symphonicpassages with the art of progressive rock.

I. 01 – Duction from the Intro (8:05)
II. Between the Face and the Mask
02 – a) A night of Candles / Our many hands (6:50)
03 – b) Handing a Challenge (4:00)
04 – c) Equal Strokes (3:50)
05 – d) Between the Face and the Mask / Reprise (10:09)
III. 06 – Return to Same (5:19)
IV. 07 – Ojales (2:39)
V. 08 – Selajo (3:21)
VI. The Rescue
09 – a) Intrada (3:50)
10 – b) Less Complicated / The Rescue (9:18)
11 – c) More Complicated (4:29)
12 – d) In front my Eyes (4:01)
VII. 13 – Pyro-Lamb (3:09)

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Heavy Metal |Power Metal | Progressive Rock
Posted on February 8, 2012 by admin