by Mark Monforti | Jul 25, 2017 | News, Reviews
So here is a band I heard for the first time at Rosfest 2009 where they were a last minute replacement. I went in there with no expectations and saw a wonderful performance. At the time they were supporting what became my favorite Galahad album, Empires Never Last(ENL). I was immediately captivated by Stu’s vocals and stage presence where I was knocked on my back side to their rendition of I Could be God Since then this band has been very prolific and for my money maybe has never made an album as good as ENL but everyone has been well worth the purchase. Like all the other albums I highly recommend this album.
This particular album as is inferred by the title is much mellower than their predecessors.
This is one of the few bands that have an open invitation to play Chicago if they ever decide to take me up on that offer we will let you know here. To give you an idea of my taste in music, other bands that have taken me up on that offer are Phideaux, Guy Manning, Unitopia, Unreal City, Discipline.
If you are wondering why Guardian Angel sounds familiar it was on their live release Solidarit. This life Could Be My Last is also from the a fore mentioned ENL.
ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS: Guardian Angel, Iceberg, Willow Way,Easier Said Than Done, Marz (And Beyond)
Click Below 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
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.
1: Someone recommended. I give them another shot.
2: Some good moments in the past but never put together an album I really liked.
3: Some 4 or 5 star songs but albums can be hit or miss for me.
4: I like 80% of their songs and probably went to see them live.
5: I would, and probably have gone on a plane to see them live.
ACCESSIBILITY EXAMPLES
1: Weather Report
2: Zappa
3: Genesis – Selling England by the Pound,
4: Marillion – F.E.A.R
5: Kino – Picture
HEAVINESS EXAMPLES
1: IQ – Seventh House
2: Discipline – Unfold Like a Staircase
3: Porcupine Tree – In Abstentia, Shadow Gallery – Tyranny
4: Vanden Plas – Chirst 0, Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
5: Opeth – Black Water Park
MELODIC EXAMPLES:
1: Opeth – Black Water Park
2: Vanden Plas – Chirst 0, Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
3: Porcupine Tree – In Abstentia, Shadow Gallery – Tyranny
4: Discipline – Unfold Like a Staircase
5: IQ – Seventh House
OVERALL RATING:
1: Will Never listen to again and deleted under no circumstances should you buy this
2: Not my thing maybe one redeeming song.
3: I like parts of this and I would check them out if they were near me.
4: I would get in the car and road trip to see this album live
5: I would get on a plane to see this performed live
See if our likes are similar See my Last.fm Page
https://www.last.fm/user/mon40/library/artists
by progrock.com | Jul 25, 2017 | News, Prog Report
Periphery and Animals As Leaders team up for what is sure to be one of the year’s most talked about tours, launching a North American trek, dubbed The Convergence Tour, on Oct. 31.
“This tour is a long time coming,” said Animals As Leaders’ guitar player Tosin Abasi. “Beyond being some of our favorite musicians, the guys in Periphery are some of our favorite people! Our careers share common roots and at times, common members. We can’t wait to bring this show to you all.”
“We are incredibly excited to hit the road with our good friends in Animals as Leaders this fall,” adds Periphery guitar player Mark Holcomb. “While we’ve done some short runs and one-off shows with AAL over the years, the idea to do a full-scale, co-headlining tour of North America has been something both our camps have discussed for the better part of seven years. Unfortunately, we were never able to line things up. Until now. We were also able to snag two amazing bands for portions of this tour as well, Car Bomb for the first half and Astronoid for the second half. ”
The Convergence Tour:
October 31 Columbus, OH Newport Music Hall
November 1 Chicago, IL The Vic Theatre
November 3 Grand Rapids, MI The Intersection
November 4 Detroit, MI St. Andrew’s Hall
November 5 London, ON London Music Hall
November 7 Norfolk, VA The NorVa
November 9 New York, NY Playstation Theater
Novembr 10 Providence, RI Lupo’s
November 11 Philadelphia, PA The Electric Factory
November 12 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE
November 14 Atlanta, GA The Masquerade
November 15 Nashville, TN Marathon Music Works
November 17 San Antonio, TX Alamo City Music Hall
November 18 Dallas, TX Gas Monkey Live
November 19 Houston, TX White Oak Music Hall
November 21 Phoenix, AZ The Marquee
November 22 Las Vegas, NV Brooklyn Bowl
November 24 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern
November 25 San Francisco, CA The Regency Ballroom
November 27 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom
November 28 Vancouver, BC The Commodore Ballroom
November 29 Seattle, WA The Showbox
December 1 Salt Lake City, UT The Complex (The Grand)
December 2 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre
Car Bomb opens Oct. 31 – Nov. 15 while Astronoid supports Nov. 17 to Dec. 2. Tickets for all shows are available this Friday, July 28 at 10 am local time.
by Mark Monforti | Jul 24, 2017 | News, Reviews
So I apparently missed their first 2 studio releases and never heard of this band until I heard our Monday night DJ spin this album on his Music Unframed show.
I was immediately taken with this album. It ticks three boxes for me, Melodic, Accessible, and Concept album. The lyrics are interesting and the vocals are clear. This album which is best suited for fans of Pink Floyd is really wonderful, dripping with drama and wonderfully multi layered. I have seriously tried to get my friends with UPF to do a double bill with this artist.
I wouldn’t fly to Australia to see this band, but I don’t think I could go to Australia without a show of theirs to see.
Click Below 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
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.
1: Someone recommended. I give them another shot.
2: Some good moments in the past but never put together an album I really liked.
3: Some 4 or 5 star songs but albums can be hit or miss for me.
4: I like 80% of their songs and probably went to see them live.
5: I would, and probably have gone on a plane to see them live.
ACCESSIBILITY EXAMPLES
1: Weather Report
2: Zappa
3: Genesis – Selling England by the Pound,
4: Marillion – F.E.A.R
5: Kino – Picture
HEAVINESS EXAMPLES
1: IQ – Seventh House
2: Discipline – Unfold Like a Staircase
3: Porcupine Tree – In Abstentia, Shadow Gallery – Tyranny
4: Vanden Plas – Chirst 0, Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
5: Opeth – Black Water Park
MELODIC EXAMPLES:
1: Opeth – Black Water Park
2: Vanden Plas – Chirst 0, Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
3: Porcupine Tree – In Abstentia, Shadow Gallery – Tyranny
4: Discipline – Unfold Like a Staircase
5: IQ – Seventh House
OVERALL RATING:
1: Will Never listen to again and deleted under no circumstances should you buy this
2: Not my thing maybe one redeeming song.
3: I like parts of this and I would check them out if they were near me.
4: I would get in the car and road trip to see this album live
5: I would get on a plane to see this performed live
See if our likes are similar See my Last.fm Page
https://www.last.fm/user/mon40/library/artists
by Mark Monforti | Jul 23, 2017 | News, Reviews
Sorry guys the album really does nothing for me. I am underwhelmed with the recording quality seems like a very low fidelity recording. I don’t know what key the lead singer is in but I wish it was a different one. Let’s be clear these guys have much more talent that I could ever hope to have but in a world where there are literally 100’s of progressive rock releases a year this is by no means anything you should spend your time on.
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.
1: Someone recommended. I give them another shot.
2: Some good moments in the past but never put together an album I really liked.
3: Some 4 or 5 star songs but albums can be hit or miss for me.
4: I like 80% of their songs and probably went to see them live.
5: I would, and probably have gone on a plane to see them live.
ACCESSIBILITY EXAMPLES
1: Weather Report
2: Zappa
3: Genesis – Selling England by the Pound,
4: Marillion – F.E.A.R
5: Kino – Picture
HEAVINESS EXAMPLES
1: IQ – Seventh House
2: Discipline – Unfold Like a Staircase
3: Porcupine Tree – In Abstentia, Shadow Gallery – Tyranny
4: Vanden Plas – Chirst 0, Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
5: Opeth – Black Water Park
MELODIC EXAMPLES:
1: Opeth – Black Water Park
2: Vanden Plas – Chirst 0, Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
3: Porcupine Tree – In Abstentia, Shadow Gallery – Tyranny
4: Discipline – Unfold Like a Staircase
5: IQ – Seventh House
OVERALL RATING:
1: Will Never listen to again and deleted under no circumstances should you buy this
2: Not my thing maybe one redeeming song.
3: I like parts of this and I would check them out if they were near me.
4: I would get in the car and road trip to see this album live
5: I would get on a plane to see this performed live
See if our likes are similar See my Last.fm Page
https://www.last.fm/user/mon40/library/artists
by Mark Monforti | Jul 22, 2017 | News, Reviews
So this album starts out very strong. Again the haunting piano opening I have an affinity for. Lead vocals at times sound like Paul Carrack other time harmonies are very strong almost as strong as Moon Safari. The strong opening leads to an average middle of the album then a very strong finish.
Their announcement at RosFest already makes the 2018 lineup stronger than the 2017 lineup.
I would say give this album a listen and you will be happy you did.
Peter Jones – Lead vocals on “Broken” and “Alone”
ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS: Driving Rain, Promises, One Day, A New tomorrow.
Click Below 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
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.
1: Someone recommended. I give them another shot.
2: Some good moments in the past but never put together an album I really liked.
3: Some 4 or 5 star songs but albums can be hit or miss for me.
4: I like 80% of their songs and probably went to see them live.
5: I would, and probably have gone on a plane to see them live.
ACCESSIBILITY EXAMPLES
1: Weather Report
2: Zappa
3: Genesis – Selling England by the Pound,
4: Marillion – F.E.A.R
5: Kino – Picture
HEAVINESS EXAMPLES
1: IQ – Seventh House
2: Discipline – Unfold Like a Staircase
3: Porcupine Tree – In Abstentia, Shadow Gallery – Tyranny
4: Vanden Plas – Chirst 0, Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
5: Opeth – Black Water Park
MELODIC EXAMPLES:
1: Opeth – Black Water Park
2: Vanden Plas – Chirst 0, Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
3: Porcupine Tree – In Abstentia, Shadow Gallery – Tyranny
4: Discipline – Unfold Like a Staircase
5: IQ – Seventh House
OVERALL RATING:
1: Will Never listen to again and deleted under no circumstances should you buy this
2: Not my thing maybe one redeeming song.
3: I like parts of this and I would check them out if they were near me.
4: I would get in the car and road trip to see this album live
5: I would get on a plane to see this performed live
See if our likes are similar See my Last.fm Page
https://www.last.fm/user/mon40/library/artists
by Mark Monforti | Jul 21, 2017 | News, Reviews
So when I head that Mariusz Duda was a guest on this album I knew I had to check it out. This album may not measure up to a riverside album to me but its a very good album. An album I was happy to spin a few times for this review. Mariusz Duda’s track is the highlight of this album. One wonders if they saved the best song for him or if he made it the best song. That being said the album is solid and each track is above average.
The begining of this album is a highlight of the album and the epic title track is a wonderful way to end this album
Album Highlights: ścieżka 01, ścieżka 02, In Closeness, Unreal , Hunt
Click Below 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
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.
1: Someone recommended. I give them another shot.
2: Some good moments in the past but never put together an album I really liked.
3: Some 4 or 5 star songs but albums can be hit or miss for me.
4: I like 80% of their songs and probably went to see them live.
5: I would, and probably have gone on a plane to see them live.
ACCESSIBILITY EXAMPLES
1: Weather Report
2: Zappa
3: Genesis – Selling England by the Pound,
4: Marillion – F.E.A.R
5: Kino – Picture
HEAVINESS EXAMPLES
1: IQ – Seventh House
2: Discipline – Unfold Like a Staircase
3: Porcupine Tree – In Abstentia, Shadow Gallery – Tyranny
4: Vanden Plas – Chirst 0, Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
5: Opeth – Black Water Park
MELODIC EXAMPLES:
1: Opeth – Black Water Park
2: Vanden Plas – Chirst 0, Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
3: Porcupine Tree – In Abstentia, Shadow Gallery – Tyranny
4: Discipline – Unfold Like a Staircase
5: IQ – Seventh House
OVERALL RATING:
1: Will Never listen to again and deleted under no circumstances should you buy this
2: Not my thing maybe one redeeming song.
3: I like parts of this and I would check them out if they were near me.
4: I would get in the car and road trip to see this album live
5: I would get on a plane to see this performed live
See if our likes are similar See my Last.fm Page
https://www.last.fm/user/mon40/library/artists