Mark’s Quick Review: Magenta’s – We Are Seven.

Mark’s Quick Review: Magenta’s – We Are Seven.

The year was 2005 and I was just getting into progressive rock where my wife and I made a road trip down to Phoenixville for our first Prog Festival. We went to see Kino and Arena of all things and left there being a huge fan of Magenta who were touring seven.

The album, Seven is featured in its entirety for disc one. Disk two is a dream set list including two epic tracks from We Are Legend.

Christina’s voice is in perfect form and sound of the recording is superb as well.

If you have heard Magenta and didn’t like them I am not particularly saying that this album would win you over, but it might be worth checking out a track such as gluttony which I have a link to below.

So this album is getting a rare 10 and true to my 10 ratings this band has been offered an all expense trip to Chicago to play live. That’s what I think of this album.

ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS: Request Gluttony Here

Click above to purchase at Amazon US or Amazon UK and we’ll get a little referral bonus on your whole order. Even if you don’t order this album

If you have never read the key for my ratings below please do so one time. I feel my ratings are tougher than my peers. Some other reviewers may inflate their ratings in hopes to get people and bands the share the link to the review. When you have a domain like progrock.com you don’t need to drive traffic to your site.
So you can count on my reviews to be fair and any bias I might have whether positive or negative will be clearly explained including a rating for my opinion of the band prior to reviewing the album. Also Check my last.fm link to see how compatible our music tasts are.

https://www.last.fm/user/mon40/library/artists

Key:
These ratings are just attributes and may not have correlation to the most important: OVERALL RATING

PREVIOUS BAND RATING
0: Never heard of them or debut album.
2: Someone recommended. I give them another shot.
4: Some good moments in the past but never put together an album I really liked.
6: Some 4 or 5 star songs but albums can be hit or miss for me.
8: I like 80% of their songs and probably went to see them live.
10: I would, and probably have gone on a plane to see them live.

ACCESSIBILITY EXAMPLES
2: Weather Report
4: Zappa
6: Genesis – Selling England by the Pound,
8: Marillion – F.E.A.R
10: Kino – Picture

HEAVINESS EXAMPLES
2: IQ – Seventh House
4: Discipline – Unfold Like a Staircase
6: Porcupine Tree – In Abstentia, Shadow Gallery – Tyranny
8: Vanden Plas – Chirst 0, Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
10: Opeth – Black Water Park

MELODIC EXAMPLES:
2: Opeth – Black Water Park
4: Vanden Plas – Chirst 0, Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
6: Porcupine Tree – In Abstentia, Shadow Gallery – Tyranny
8: Discipline – Unfold Like a Staircase
10: IQ – Seventh House

OVERALL RATING:
2: Will Never listen to again and deleted under no circumstances should you buy this
4: Not my thing maybe one redeeming song.
6: I like parts of this and I would check them out if they were near me.
8: I would get in the car and road trip to see this album live
10: I would get on a plane to see this performed live

Packaging:
0: Did not send
2: Sleeve or jewel-case with only single card front.
4: Some interesting information in packaging.
6: Nice art and some information
8: Nice art and full lyrics
10: Full lyrics, composer credits, are for each specific song

See if our likes are similar See my Last.fm Page

Mark’s Quick Review: Karfargen’s – Messages from Afar: First Contact

Mark’s Quick Review: Karfargen’s – Messages from Afar: First Contact

Karfargen does not list Pink Floyd as an influence but the vocal tracks are straight out of Pink Floyd’s Momentary Lapse of Reason.

This atmospheric mostly instrumental album check all the boxes for me.

Nice melodies, nice changes, some drama in places and an epic track.

For fans of neo/crossover prog.

ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS: Request Curious Talk Here

Click above to purchase at Amazon US or Amazon UK and we’ll get a little referral bonus on your whole order. Even if you don’t order this album

If you have never read the key for my ratings below please do so one time. I feel my ratings are tougher than my peers. Some other reviewers may inflate their ratings in hopes to get people and bands the share the link to the review. When you have a domain like progrock.com you don’t need to drive traffic to your site.
So you can count on my reviews to be fair and any bias I might have whether positive or negative will be clearly explained including a rating for my opinion of the band prior to reviewing the album. Also Check my last.fm link to see how compatible our music tasts are.

https://www.last.fm/user/mon40/library/artists

Key:
These ratings are just attributes and may not have correlation to the most important: OVERALL RATING

PREVIOUS BAND RATING
0: Never heard of them or debut album.
2: Someone recommended. I give them another shot.
4: Some good moments in the past but never put together an album I really liked.
6: Some 4 or 5 star songs but albums can be hit or miss for me.
8: I like 80% of their songs and probably went to see them live.
10: I would, and probably have gone on a plane to see them live.

ACCESSIBILITY EXAMPLES
2: Weather Report
4: Zappa
6: Genesis – Selling England by the Pound,
8: Marillion – F.E.A.R
10: Kino – Picture

HEAVINESS EXAMPLES
2: IQ – Seventh House
4: Discipline – Unfold Like a Staircase
6: Porcupine Tree – In Abstentia, Shadow Gallery – Tyranny
8: Vanden Plas – Chirst 0, Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
10: Opeth – Black Water Park

MELODIC EXAMPLES:
2: Opeth – Black Water Park
4: Vanden Plas – Chirst 0, Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
6: Porcupine Tree – In Abstentia, Shadow Gallery – Tyranny
8: Discipline – Unfold Like a Staircase
10: IQ – Seventh House

OVERALL RATING:
2: Will Never listen to again and deleted under no circumstances should you buy this
4: Not my thing maybe one redeeming song.
6: I like parts of this and I would check them out if they were near me.
8: I would get in the car and road trip to see this album live
10: I would get on a plane to see this performed live

Packaging:
0: Did not send
2: Sleeve or jewel-case with only single card front.
4: Some interesting information in packaging.
6: Nice art and some information
8: Nice art and full lyrics
10: Full lyrics, composer credits, are for each specific song

See if our likes are similar See my Last.fm Page

Mark’s Quick Review: Audio70’s – ElectRockProg(con)Fusion

Mark’s Quick Review: Audio70’s – ElectRockProg(con)Fusion

This debut instrumental album from Vento region of Italy is a one man show with Luigi on the keyboards has above average song writing and the each song I like. There is some drama too with the 10 minute track Hypersequence.

This is about as good as a one man band can do. This might be for fans of Brian Eno and people looking for very mellow sound and nice melodies.

The only problem is with so much great music out there it might be tough to make time for this smart but less polyphonic than I would like album.

Give it a shot I have a link to their 10 minute song below.

ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS: Request Hypersequence Here

Click above to purchase at Amazon US or Amazon UK and we’ll get a little referral bonus on your whole order. Even if you don’t order this album

If you have never read the key for my ratings below please do so one time. I feel my ratings are tougher than my peers. Some other reviewers may inflate their ratings in hopes to get people and bands the share the link to the review. When you have a domain like progrock.com you don’t need to drive traffic to your site.
So you can count on my reviews to be fair and any bias I might have whether positive or negative will be clearly explained including a rating for my opinion of the band prior to reviewing the album. Also Check my last.fm link to see how compatible our music tasts are.

https://www.last.fm/user/mon40/library/artists

Key:
These ratings are just attributes and may not have correlation to the most important: OVERALL RATING

PREVIOUS BAND RATING
0: Never heard of them or debut album.
2: Someone recommended. I give them another shot.
4: Some good moments in the past but never put together an album I really liked.
6: Some 4 or 5 star songs but albums can be hit or miss for me.
8: I like 80% of their songs and probably went to see them live.
10: I would, and probably have gone on a plane to see them live.

ACCESSIBILITY EXAMPLES
2: Weather Report
4: Zappa
6: Genesis – Selling England by the Pound,
8: Marillion – F.E.A.R
10: Kino – Picture

HEAVINESS EXAMPLES
2: IQ – Seventh House
4: Discipline – Unfold Like a Staircase
6: Porcupine Tree – In Abstentia, Shadow Gallery – Tyranny
8: Vanden Plas – Chirst 0, Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
10: Opeth – Black Water Park

MELODIC EXAMPLES:
2: Opeth – Black Water Park
4: Vanden Plas – Chirst 0, Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
6: Porcupine Tree – In Abstentia, Shadow Gallery – Tyranny
8: Discipline – Unfold Like a Staircase
10: IQ – Seventh House

OVERALL RATING:
2: Will Never listen to again and deleted under no circumstances should you buy this
4: Not my thing maybe one redeeming song.
6: I like parts of this and I would check them out if they were near me.
8: I would get in the car and road trip to see this album live
10: I would get on a plane to see this performed live

Packaging:
0: Did not send
2: Sleeve or jewel-case with only single card front.
4: Some interesting information in packaging.
6: Nice art and some information
8: Nice art and full lyrics
10: Full lyrics, composer credits, are for each specific song

See if our likes are similar See my Last.fm Page

Mark’s Quick Review: Riverside’s – Wasteland

Mark’s Quick Review: Riverside’s – Wasteland

One of the stand out performers of any genre, Riverside has released a new album this year and although I think that the hard core fans of the band are not very excited by it, I think it is another great album by this Polish prog band. Granted the loss of Piotr is certainly a loss for the band but they have persevered.

We did see them live at Night of the Prog which they chose not to play any songs from this album so I was wondering if maybe they were not too excited about the album either.

Mariusz Duda’s voice and the arrangements from this band is a magical combination. This is their fifth consecutive album to hit 2 or higher on the polish charts and will probably be their fourth Polish Gold album.

After listening to many albums this year over 400 in all, you really start to appreciate the talent that this band has.

ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS: Request Acid Rain Here

Click above to purchase at Amazon US or Amazon UK and we’ll get a little referral bonus on your whole order. Even if you don’t order this album

If you have never read the key for my ratings below please do so one time. I feel my ratings are tougher than my peers. Some other reviewers may inflate their ratings in hopes to get people and bands the share the link to the review. When you have a domain like progrock.com you don’t need to drive traffic to your site.
So you can count on my reviews to be fair and any bias I might have whether positive or negative will be clearly explained including a rating for my opinion of the band prior to reviewing the album. Also Check my last.fm link to see how compatible our music tasts are.

https://www.last.fm/user/mon40/library/artists

Key:
These ratings are just attributes and may not have correlation to the most important: OVERALL RATING

PREVIOUS BAND RATING
0: Never heard of them or debut album.
2: Someone recommended. I give them another shot.
4: Some good moments in the past but never put together an album I really liked.
6: Some 4 or 5 star songs but albums can be hit or miss for me.
8: I like 80% of their songs and probably went to see them live.
10: I would, and probably have gone on a plane to see them live.

ACCESSIBILITY EXAMPLES
2: Weather Report
4: Zappa
6: Genesis – Selling England by the Pound,
8: Marillion – F.E.A.R
10: Kino – Picture

HEAVINESS EXAMPLES
2: IQ – Seventh House
4: Discipline – Unfold Like a Staircase
6: Porcupine Tree – In Abstentia, Shadow Gallery – Tyranny
8: Vanden Plas – Chirst 0, Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
10: Opeth – Black Water Park

MELODIC EXAMPLES:
2: Opeth – Black Water Park
4: Vanden Plas – Chirst 0, Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
6: Porcupine Tree – In Abstentia, Shadow Gallery – Tyranny
8: Discipline – Unfold Like a Staircase
10: IQ – Seventh House

OVERALL RATING:
2: Will Never listen to again and deleted under no circumstances should you buy this
4: Not my thing maybe one redeeming song.
6: I like parts of this and I would check them out if they were near me.
8: I would get in the car and road trip to see this album live
10: I would get on a plane to see this performed live

Packaging:
0: Did not send
2: Sleeve or jewel-case with only single card front.
4: Some interesting information in packaging.
6: Nice art and some information
8: Nice art and full lyrics
10: Full lyrics, composer credits, are for each specific song

See if our likes are similar See my Last.fm Page

Mark’s Quick Review: El tubo Elástico’s – Impala

Mark’s Quick Review: El tubo Elástico’s – Impala

There isn’t an abundance of prog coming from Spain, but when it does come its usually pretty good. This album is no exception. This instrumental album is multi layered thanks to two guitars and keyboards. The song writing is top notch and songs are unique.

And if you have read my other reviews you know I am not that keen on instrumentals but this album avoids the tropes of some instrumental bands that rely on shredding guitars and tons of notes. This album is full of groves and atmosphere and is a welcome edition to your library.

ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS: Request La avispoteca Here

Click above to purchase at Amazon US or Amazon UK and we’ll get a little referral bonus on your whole order. Even if you don’t order this album

If you have never read the key for my ratings below please do so one time. I feel my ratings are tougher than my peers. Some other reviewers may inflate their ratings in hopes to get people and bands the share the link to the review. When you have a domain like progrock.com you don’t need to drive traffic to your site.
So you can count on my reviews to be fair and any bias I might have whether positive or negative will be clearly explained including a rating for my opinion of the band prior to reviewing the album. Also Check my last.fm link to see how compatible our music tasts are.

https://www.last.fm/user/mon40/library/artists

Key:
These ratings are just attributes and may not have correlation to the most important: OVERALL RATING

PREVIOUS BAND RATING
0: Never heard of them or debut album.
2: Someone recommended. I give them another shot.
4: Some good moments in the past but never put together an album I really liked.
6: Some 4 or 5 star songs but albums can be hit or miss for me.
8: I like 80% of their songs and probably went to see them live.
10: I would, and probably have gone on a plane to see them live.

ACCESSIBILITY EXAMPLES
2: Weather Report
4: Zappa
6: Genesis – Selling England by the Pound,
8: Marillion – F.E.A.R
10: Kino – Picture

HEAVINESS EXAMPLES
2: IQ – Seventh House
4: Discipline – Unfold Like a Staircase
6: Porcupine Tree – In Abstentia, Shadow Gallery – Tyranny
8: Vanden Plas – Chirst 0, Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
10: Opeth – Black Water Park

MELODIC EXAMPLES:
2: Opeth – Black Water Park
4: Vanden Plas – Chirst 0, Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
6: Porcupine Tree – In Abstentia, Shadow Gallery – Tyranny
8: Discipline – Unfold Like a Staircase
10: IQ – Seventh House

OVERALL RATING:
2: Will Never listen to again and deleted under no circumstances should you buy this
4: Not my thing maybe one redeeming song.
6: I like parts of this and I would check them out if they were near me.
8: I would get in the car and road trip to see this album live
10: I would get on a plane to see this performed live

Packaging:
0: Did not send
2: Sleeve or jewel-case with only single card front.
4: Some interesting information in packaging.
6: Nice art and some information
8: Nice art and full lyrics
10: Full lyrics, composer credits, are for each specific song

See if our likes are similar See my Last.fm Page

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