Reviews Archives - Page 25 of 41

Mark’s Quick Review: Ethos’ – Shade & Soil

by Mark Monforti | Dec 4, 2017 | News, Reviews

If you have never read the key for my ratings below please do so one time. I feel my ratings are lower than my peers. Also Check my last.fm link to see how compatible our music tasts are.

Ethos is a heavier prog rock band from Georgia, with a classical piano ever present.

Sound like something I would love, but I thought the songs were pretty much hit or miss for me.

I think what it comes down to for me. Is the songs that are heavier don’t seem to work for me.

I recommend you click the request button and check them out. I think you might like it even though I struggled liking this album in places.

PREVIOUS BAND RATING:	(0.0 / 5)
ACCESSIBILITY:	(2.0 / 5)
HEAVINESS:	(4.0 / 5)
MELODIC:	(3.0 / 5)
DRAMA:	(4.0 / 5)
OVERALL RATING:	(2.5 / 5)

ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS: Request Here

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

Mark’s Quick Review: Dream the Electric Sleep’s – Beneath the Dark Wide Sky

by Mark Monforti | Dec 2, 2017 | News, Reviews

If you have never read the key for my ratings below please do so one time. I feel my ratings are lower than my peers. Also Check my last.fm link to see how compatible our music tasts are.

So maybe random music generator picked this album for me to review. Which is great because I did see them at Rosfest 2013 and I never really took the time to listen to their catalog of music.

So that should tell you something right away. After seeing them live I did not feel compelled to listen to them afterwards.

That being said this album has all decent songs but I never heard any drama in this album. I don’t know really on this crowded “Prog Scene” when I would personally would listen to this.

So in short I think that if you like a little heavier prog music, you might like this. For me with bands like Threshold, Vanden Plas, Ayreon, Shadow Gallery to pick from I don’t see me spending an hour on this album.

PREVIOUS BAND RATING:	(0.0 / 5)
ACCESSIBILITY:	(2.0 / 5)
HEAVINESS:	(3.5 / 5)
MELODIC:	(2.0 / 5)
DRAMA:	(1.5 / 5)
OVERALL RATING:	(3.0 / 5)

ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS: Request Here All Good Things

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

Mark’s Quick Review: For All We Know – Making Sense

by Mark Monforti | Dec 1, 2017 | News, Reviews

So this album is good but lacking the drama I look for in a progressive album. The songwriting is on the whole pretty decent and the musicianship top notch. I would just expect more from Ruud Jolie (within temptation) and Kristoffer Gildenlöw (Pain of Salvation). I guess I was expecting something a little more edgy but instead I got a nice album similar to Lonely Robot.

PREVIOUS BAND RATING:	(0.0 / 5)
ACCESSIBILITY:	(2.0 / 5)
HEAVINESS:	(2.0 / 5)
MELODIC:	(3.0 / 5)
DRAMA:	(1.0 / 5)
OVERALL RATING:	(2.5 / 5)

ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS: Let Me Fly

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

Mark’s Quick Review: Galahad’s – Sleepless in Pheonixville

by Mark Monforti | Nov 30, 2017 | News, Reviews

If you have never read the key for my ratings below please do so one time. I feel my ratings are lower than my peers. Also Check my last.fm link to see how compatible our music tasts are.

So this is a weird album for me to review. I was at this show and I had never heard of Galahad and they were a last minute replacement for another band.

This is a concert supporting my favorite album of theirs empires never last.

I really liked this concert and the songs they played but this I believe was the first attempt at RoSfest to record live at the show and I don’t think the fidelity is where it needs to be.

If you are an audiophile I say you might want to skip this album.

For me though its well worth the $9 download. I love all the songs on this double album and this live show turned me into a Galahad fan.

PREVIOUS BAND RATING:	(4.0 / 5)
ACCESSIBILITY:	(3.5 / 5)
HEAVINESS:	(3.5 / 5)
MELODIC:	(3.0 / 5)
ARTWORK & PACKAGING:	(4.0 / 5)
DRAMA:	(4.5 / 5)
OVERALL RATING:	(4.0 / 5)

ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS: Request Here

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

Mark’s Quick Review: Johnny Unicorn’s – Heavy Jugs to the Moon

by Mark Monforti | Nov 29, 2017 | News, Reviews

If you have never read the key for my ratings below please do so one time. I feel my ratings are lower than my peers. Also Check my last.fm link to see how compatible our music tasts are.

So Heavy Jugs showed up in the mail earlier in the month. Johnny is a multi instrumentalist and his quirky albums make him the ultimate opening act for Frank Zappa. His albums take you on a journey and you never know where you will end up. Could he be singing though a toy horn or will he open with a white stripes grove as he does in Once a man.

I personally think that anyone that likes avant guard music especially zappa would be very excited to get this album. Typically not my favorite style of music but every works for me in this album. I have had the pleasure of seeing Johnny in Phideaux 5 times and I really like his song on Phideaux’s number 7 album Thermonuclear cheese.

I have also seem him live twice as his solo work and once yet again with Autumn Electric so I have the advantage over most listeners of being accustomed to his less accessible music.

Please check this album out if you like more experimental progressive rock.

PREVIOUS BAND RATING:	(3.5 / 5)
ACCESSIBILITY:	(1.0 / 5)
HEAVINESS:	(2.0 / 5)
MELODIC:	(2.0 / 5)
ARTWORK & PACKAGING:	(5.0 / 5)
DRAMA:	(4.0 / 5)
OVERALL RATING:	(4.0 / 5)

ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS: Request Here

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

Mark’s Quick Review: Dream Theater’s – Score

by Mark Monforti | Nov 28, 2017 | News, Reviews

If you have never read the key for my ratings below please do so one time. I feel my ratings are lower than my peers. Also Check my last.fm link to see how compatible our music tasts are.

So when I like Dream Theater I really like them and when I don’t like them, which is rare, I really don’t like them. This is a dream set list for me though. A great review of the last 20 years.

The mix is well done and the playlist is great. It also turned me into a fan of a few songs that I wasn’t that fond of (Raise the Knife). Which is a great sign from a live album

PREVIOUS BAND RATING:	(4.5 / 5)
ACCESSIBILITY:	(4.0 / 5)
HEAVINESS:	(4.0 / 5)
MELODIC:	(3.0 / 5)
ARTWORK & PACKAGING:	(4.0 / 5)
DRAMA:	(4.5 / 5)
OVERALL RATING:	(5.0 / 5)

ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS: Raise The Knife

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

Mark’s Quick Review: Ethos’ – Shade & Soil

Mark’s Quick Review: Dream the Electric Sleep’s – Beneath the Dark Wide Sky

Mark’s Quick Review: For All We Know – Making Sense

Mark’s Quick Review: Galahad’s – Sleepless in Pheonixville

Mark’s Quick Review: Johnny Unicorn’s – Heavy Jugs to the Moon

Mark’s Quick Review: Dream Theater’s – Score

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