Reviews Archives - Page 31 of 41

Mark’s Quick Reviews: Soup’s – Remedies

by Mark Monforti | Aug 27, 2017 | News, Reviews

So I happened upon this Instrumental album. Not sure how. I am sure glad I did. Its been a nice change from the mediocre to just plain bad albums I have been receiving.

This is great melodic music, with wonderful changes and really atmospheric. If you like these three things then this is a must buy.

This is the first album of theirs that I have and according to bandcamp it is their seventh.

This is by far my favorite (mostly) instrumental album of the year so far. (8/25/2017)

PREVIOUS BAND RATING:	(0.0 / 5)
ACCESSIBILITY:	(4.0 / 5)
HEAVINESS:	(1.0 / 5)
MELODIC:	(5.0 / 5)
ARTWORK & PACKAGING:	(4.0 / 5)
DRAMA:	(4.0 / 5)
OVERALL RATING:	(4.5 / 5)

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: Syncage’s – Unlike Here

by Mark Monforti | Aug 26, 2017 | News, Reviews

So I had never heard of this band before but I was encourages that it was on the Bad Elephant Label. I was not disappointing. I needed a couple of listens but it started to pop on the second listen.

It dawned on me that this might be a good album for fans of Bent Knee. There are some vocal gymnastics here that fans of Bent Knee would like and maybe more importantly if you do not like Courtney’s vocal style you may not like this either.

The concept album speaks to a four class dystopian society and their lives after a large earthquake.

Syncage is the formula through which music, theater and visual arts mix and merge, a show where the violin meets the electric guitar. Quote from — hamelinprog

ALBUM HIGLIGHTS: Still Unaware, Redirect, Edelweiss

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

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: Entransient’s – Self Titled Album

by Mark Monforti | Aug 25, 2017 | News, Reviews

This album came in last year and I finally got around to checking it out.

I was hopeful that I would like this grand rapids Michigan band seeing as it is proximate to me in Chicago.

The lead singer Scott Martin reminds me at times of Dead Hero’s club’s lead singer Liam Campbell, which by the way is a good thing.

I am not sure if this band writes music that is in his range consistently. At times I do catch Scott screaming the lyrics instead of singing them. The music is interesting and full of drama. Yet I never found myself interested in the what was going on musically I thought that maybe some of the songs were a bit predictable and I don’t really have a song that I thought stood out.

I would give this album a pass but I am looking forward to hear anything they put out, I think they may be close to putting something above average together.

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

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: The Bob Lazar Story’s – Baritonia

by Mark Monforti | Aug 24, 2017 | News, Reviews

So I guess if I am going to be doing reviews I better start liking instrumentals because I am sure getting a lot of them as submissions. This comes from one of my favorite labels bad elephant.

So I really thought I might like the subject matter. Bob Lazar is a person who said he worked on a top secret project reverse engineering alien tech. But is probably a con artist as his supposed degrees are unsubstantiated by the colleges.

But if you are going to have an instrumental album you need to invoke some imagery via the music and I frankly am not getting that with this album

I look forward to listening to some other work from them but I probably won’t listen to this again.

ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS: Top, Top Switcherooney, Elbow Patch Man

PREVIOUS BAND RATING:	(0.0 / 5)
ACCESSIBILITY:	(2.0 / 5)
HEAVINESS:	(1.0 / 5)
MELODIC:	(4.0 / 5)
ARTWORK & PACKAGING:	(2.0 / 5)
DRAMA:	(1.5 / 5)
OVERALL RATING:	(2.0 / 5)

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: Mostly Autumn’s – For All We Shared

by Mark Monforti | Aug 23, 2017 | News, Reviews

So in case you have not noticed for the foreseeable future I am vacillating back and forth between old and new albums as I build up a large database of reviews.

I have decided to let the PC pick an album at random for me now for the older reviews. Interestingly enough the computer picked Mostly Autumn’s first album after the departure of Heather Findlay for its first pick.

This album gets wonderful reviews from other websites but only the fans of a band are apt to giver reviews on a lot of sites. I have to say for me, I don’t hear anything too memorable on the first half of this album. Certainly not the new singer Olivia’s fault. I have read that Olivia Sparnenn had some composer credits on the last two songs and I think the album does pick up some steam there for the last three songs so maybe that is a good sign for this albums predecessors

Album Highlights: Back To Life,Hold the Sun,And When the War is Over..

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

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: Alan Reed’s – Honey on the Razor’s Edge

by Mark Monforti | Aug 22, 2017 | News, Reviews

So if you were wondering what the unceremoniously fired front man of Pallas was going to do post Pallas, here is your answer.

It’s a decent album from an accomplished singer.

This is straightforward crossover prog and if you liked Pallas I would think that your would like it.

The first song has this great grove but most songs are fine but nothing I really get too excited by.

ALBUM HIGLIGHTS: My Sunlit Room

PREVIOUS BAND RATING:	(0.0 / 5)
ACCESSIBILITY:	(3.0 / 5)
HEAVINESS:	(1.0 / 5)
MELODIC:	(4.5 / 5)
ARTWORK & PACKAGING:	(4.0 / 5)
DRAMA:	(1.0 / 5)
OVERALL RATING:	(3.0 / 5)

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 Reviews: Soup’s – Remedies

Mark’s Quick Review: Syncage’s – Unlike Here

Mark’s Quick Review: Entransient’s – Self Titled Album

Mark’s Quick Review: The Bob Lazar Story’s – Baritonia

Mark’s Quick Review: Mostly Autumn’s – For All We Shared

Mark’s Quick Review: Alan Reed’s – Honey on the Razor’s Edge

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