by Blake | Feb 23, 2017 | Prog Report
Randy McStine is one of those rare talents that is able to do just about anything. A great singer and songwriter, and an exceptional guitar player, McStine has spent much of the last few years as either a highly sought after session musician or in underground bands like the excellent rock trio The Fringe, with Nick D’Virgilio and Jonas Reingold. Anyone who saw their recent performances on Cruise to the Edge knows that these are some serious top-level players, and McStine, a serious musician’s musician.
Over the last few months, McStine has been working on his latest album, this time a solo album under his own name. The album called The Master, is a personal collection of 8 mostly acoustic and ambient tracks that McStine recorded and produced almost entirely on his own. There are a few contributions from the likes of Adam Holzman (Miles Davis, Steven Wilson) and Jesse Molloy (Panic! At The Disco, Crush Effect), along with string arrangements from Dave Gregory (XTC, Big Big Train). As he says on his website, “This record is my statement to hit the reset button as Randy McStine. My name hasn’t graced an album cover since I was in my early teens. That version of me was another lifetime ago, and with all I’ve been incredibly lucky to do with others since, I feel the time is right to restate my name and redirect my efforts.”
Most that listen to this album might be taken aback by the lack of instrumentation and shredding. But the more the album is listened to, it becomes apparent that this collection possesses a charm all its own. The melodies are subtle but they are powerful while the lyrics are honest and expose a side of the singer in a way that few in the Prog genre often dare to attempt.
The opening track “The Master” sets the stage right away with McStine singer over an acoustic guitar with some ambient keyboards sounds filling the gaps. The song brilliantly shifts halfway through as some rarely used distortion is brought into play. The second track, “Purity of Youth” continues with a bit of a darker vibe as he earnestly pleads “This could be yours and mine.” Much of the album follows a similar path shifting through subtle changes. There are great moments that add to the sonic landscape, like the sax solo in “Election Season” and the Lindsey Buckingham-like guitar playing on “Figured Out”. Overall, the songs accomplish what the singer intended to do, record something heartfelt and authentic and bring music back to the core of what its about, the song.
Randy McStine continues to be an artist in the truest sense of the word, choosing to do his art the way he wants. The only drawback here is that after seeing McStine display his guitar skills in a more rock setting, as a listener, you wish there was more of that here. However, it does not take away from the quality of the material. The songs are solid, and the performance and production excellent. For something a little bit different, this is definitely a collection worth digging into.
Tracklisting:
1. The Master
2. Purity of Youth
3. What You Become
4. Electric Season
5. Evacuation
6. Waves
7. Figured Out
8. Evacuation Plan
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by Blake | Feb 23, 2017 | Prog Report
The new Ayreon album ‘The Source’ is scheduled for release on April 28. Now comes the release of the 2nd video for the album for the track “Everybody Dies”. The song once again features the use of multiple singers and musicians. The concept album is shaping up to be one of the most ambitious projects Arjen has every put together for an Ayreon album. Check out the new video here:
You can pre-order THE SOURCE here: http://www.arjenlucassen.com
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by Blake | Feb 22, 2017 | Prog Report
Nova Collective (featuring members of Between the Buried and Me, Haken, Trioscapes, Cynic) will release their debut album, The Further Side, via Metal Blade Records, on March 10th. Nova Collective’s music can be described as fusion, weaving progressive rock influences with world music, jazz and classical, to create something entirely new that is pure aural candy for prog/jazz fans. Now you can see the new full band play-through video for the new single, “Ripped Apart and Reassembled. can be viewed here. Mixed by Rich Mouser (Neal Morse, Transatlantic), it is immediately clear that The Further Side is a labor of love for all involved, and that enthusiasm shines throughout.
Nova Collective line-up:
Dan Briggs – Bass
Matt Lynch – Drums
Pete Jones – Keyboards
Richard Henshall – Guitar
Perorder at metalblade.com/novacollective.
The post Nova Collective “Ripped Apart and Reassembled” (FULL BAND PLAY THROUGH) appeared first on The Prog Report.
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by Blake | Feb 22, 2017 | Prog Report
Big Big Train, who released their last album Folklore last year, are already back with a new album, entitled Grimspound. The album, which was initially intended as a companion EP to Folklore, became a full album once the band realized it had too much good material. Grimspound, their 10th album, will be released on April 28th and will feature 8 new tracks.
Grimspound will launch on CD, 180g double vinyl, hi-resolution 24/96 download, standard resolution download and via streaming services, with pre-orders beginning March 2.
Tracklisting:
1 Brave Captain
2 On The Racing Line
3 Experimental Gentlemen
4 Meadowland
5 Grimspound
6 The Ivy Gate
7 A Mead Hall In Winter
8 As The Crow Flies
The post Big Big Train reveal new album details appeared first on The Prog Report.
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by Blake | Feb 21, 2017 | Prog Report
In 2016, renowned Dutch vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen announced the formation of a brand new progressive metal band under the name of VUUR. The band now offers a glimpse into the recording process of their debut album at Sandlane Recording Facilities in Rijen, the Netherlands. VUUR’s debut full length is due in the fall of this year.
Watch the behind-the scenes-video here:
In the video, Anneke reveals that the lyrical content of the album is inspired by the many cities she has visited while being on the road.
Anneke comments: “For a long time I’ve wanted to make a kind of concept album about the cities we’ve visited, because we tour so much and see so many countries and cities. I often have a strong feeling for a city. It can be anything – sometimes I visualize a city as a man or a character, or sometimes something happened in that city and I want to write about that.”
The first confirmed tour dates are as follows:
9th June – Neushoorn (warm-up show), Leeuwarden – the Netherlands
30th June – Tuska Open Air, Helsinki – Finland
14th July – Masters of Rock, Vizovice – Czech Republic
15th July – Dynamo Metal Fest, Eindhoven – the Netherlands
Line-up VUUR:
Anneke van Giersbergen (ex-The Gathering) – lead vocals
Ed Warby (Hail of Bullets, Ayreon, ex-Gorefest) – drums
Jord Otto (My Propane, ex-ReVamp) – guitars
Ferry Duijsens – guitars
Johan van Stratum (Stream of Passion) – bass
Marcela Bovio (Stream of Passion) – vocals
The post Anneke van Giersbergen’s VUUR Share Behind-the-Scenes Video of Debut Album Recording appeared first on The Prog Report.
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by Blake | Feb 21, 2017 | Prog Report
dUg Pinnick, bassist/singer for King’s X is back with his supergroup KXM, which includes drummer Ray Luzier (Korn) and George Lynch (Lynch Mob). The trio’s debut album in 2014 took the rock world by storm and pushed the band to return to the studio for the follow-up Scatterbrain, which is due out on March 17th. In this interview we spoke to the King’s X legendary frontman about the new KXM album, getting together with Ray and George, and the latest with King’s X.
Get the new KXM album at: https://www.ratpakrecordsamerica.com/kxm
For the full audio interview click the link below or download the podcast on iTunes.
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