Марио Милло. Знакомо Вам это имя? Так я и думал. Что ж, придется пояснить.
В середине 1970-х этот человек стоял у руля отличной австралийской симфо-проговой команды Sebastian Hardie. Записав с ними пару альбомов, неугомонный Марио, прихватил с собой органиста Тойво Пилта и создал коллектив под названьем Windchase, стилистически близкий предшествующему. В 1977 г. новоявленная группа издала прекрасную пластинку "Symphinity", полную изящных клавишных оркестровок и зажигательных гитарных партий в духе Карлоса Сантаны. Увековечив себя в анналах истории классического рока, Windchase распались, и Марио Милло перешел в разряд свободных художников, предпочитающих творить сольно.
"Epic III" весьма удачный дебют австралийского итальянца. Свои композиционно-исполнительские таланты маэстро Милло здесь использовал на всю катушку. Как результат, имеем чудесный диск, включающий восемь номеров, добрая часть которых не содержит вокальных партий. Хотя поет Марио довольно неплохо, что и демонстрирует в 14-минутном заглавном треке, скроенном по законам симфо-фьюжн-рока, а также в тонко аранжированной балладе "Harlequin and Colombine - Waltz Theme", где центральное место занимает дуэт мужского и женского голосов. Проходных композиций на альбоме попросту нет. Синьор Марио не бравирует виртуозностью, однако гитарист он отменный, превосходно чувствующий нюансы различных стилей. И потому одинаково убедителен и в игровом джаз-роке с привкусом латино, и в лиричнейших артовых соло, и в акустическом диалоге с флейтой.
Резюмирую: очень хороший релиз, не рекомендуемый завзятым "технарям", но всем остальным - вполне.
http://soundvoyager.blogspot.com

A fine collection of excellent compositions, played well with plenty of feeling. Although not quite the beauty that Oceans Of The Mind is, still a fine progression from Sebastian Hardie and Windchase. Two songs here are more electric versions of songs from the soundtrack to 'Against The Wind', reported to be Mario's biggest seller. After Epic III, Mario went on to record quite a number of soundtracks, most either being symphonic or acoustic, or both. Epc III explores both jazz and symphonic textures, and is about half instrumental. Those who enjoy his trademark melodic feel will not be disappointed.
http://www.progarchives.com

Finnish Kings Of Modesty have created an interesting brand of metal for themselves. You can find elements of power metal, progressive rock, AOR and modern metal in this package, not to mention some gothic flavours here and there. Virtuoso playing, fine production and high'n proud vocals from Jason Flinck (Brother Firetribe bassist) combined with quite original and catchy songwriting make this album a clear winner, even though there might be a couple of less impressive songs somewhere between the better tracks.

A "winner album" needs a strong opener, and that's what the band have in "Never Touched The Rainbow". It's a powerful rocker with a bit of a Sonata Arctica/Malmsteen meets The Disturbed vibe a times. If you can imagine that. The next couple of songs are fast-paced, metallic numbers which merely pave the way for one of the album's highlights, the haunting "Starin' Eyes". It's a fine song with slightly HIM-like keyboards and a fine chorus. The aggro-metal of the title track fails to impress me, but it's followed by a couple of excellent songs, the prog-meets-hardrock anthem "Suicidal Mission" with its' furious guitarwork and the big ballad "Once Upon A Time".

"Tailspin" is a good song too, although the chorus sounds uncomfortably high for a male vocalist. "We Will March Our Way" is another aggressive track, and it also features some exceptionally high vocal melodies. What next, music that only dogs can hear? "Miracle" takes us back to a more accessible direction, as it is a rather good song with a strong chorus and excellent axemanship. Finally, the closing number is a suitably dramatic ballad "Two Hearts Collide" with almost Queen-like harmonies.
rockunited.com

'Now this is what I call brutal stuffed Grindcore; Isacaarum is an old band hailing from the great Czech scene, represented, of course, by one of the best extreme labels out there (Obscene Productions). They gave us Curbed and Cunt Hackers and after a small breach in their career (Menses Exorcism was never a favorite among fanatics) they release Shibari Kata… an album so intense and so extreme that will shock even the guys with Torsofuck's shirts in their closets.

The genre is as simple as Grindcore that's true, but these Czechs manage to add all kinds of Brutal genres including Death and Gore Metal to finally pack their lyrics with pornographic testimonials. I'll give details for the newbie; musically speaking Isacaarum is not a Pornogore or Porngrind band, but their concept (artwork and lyrics) is basically about sex, sado bukkakes and clits if you know what I mean.

Anyway, Shibari Kata… proves that this legendary band will crush your brain for a really long time. This album has the devastating spirit of their older albums and the complexity of Menses Exorcism so you do the math. I can only give you hints about the grotesque scenario we're looking and hearing right now; to digest songs as brutal as Perineum Battlefield or as lyrically sick (and gay) as Blow Job Time PT.2 is just grinding bliss. Though I must say that people with strawberries instead of balls, or with pudding instead of brain won't be able to stand this album, on the contrary, they'll start puking paper, glue, poo and all that stuff that fragile people eats on a regular basis.

How come bands like Isacaarum have such a small fanbase while bands like Unearth keep growing more and more? I'm truly shocked by the Metal scene nowadays; here's an album that liquefies your brain cells and grinds your bones to dust…those guys listening to Metalcore and sort of craps are feeling amateurish shivers at best. Don't mind me but I'll pick Isacaarum any day thank you!.

Side-Note: the video for Shit Paintress is just fucking great!'

Written by Herzebeth
www.metalstorm.ee

After cleaning up and winning numerous awards from the U.K's Classic Rock Society in 2003, British progressive band Strangefish followed that by releasing their critically acclaimed debut CD, Full Scale later that same year. Now almost 2 ½ years in the making, the band has upped the ante considerably with their second full length called Fortune Telling. For this CD the band chose to go the concept route and write music around an overall theme rather than worrying about dealing with each song individually. The thoughts and story line behind Fortune Telling basically deals with how the media has seemingly forever had a fascination with both wealth and fame, but that only scratches the surface as the band also takes the opportunity to inject the story line with other subjects as well, such as how man deals with his ongoing search for happiness in today's world of materialism. If it all sounds a bit pretentious and perhaps just another excuse for some soap box preaching and musical wanking, well I'm happy to say that this is definitely not the case.

The bands sound is symbolic of the newer elements of progressive rock yet it retains more than a passing nod to some of the finest classic bands of the genre. At times Strangefish sound like a combination of Spock's Beard and Genesis, which is definitely the best of both worlds of progressive rock. Your ears will perk up at the fantastic keyboard passages by Paul O'Neil as his solo's bristle with Tony Banks like enthusiasm and skill. Likewise guitarist, Bob's (no last name?) fretwork at times can also have visions of Hackett era Genesis dancing around your eardrums, and yet he's able to fire off many of his own distinctly sounding melodic and restrained chops in his own style. The rhythm section of drummer Dave Whitaker and Julian Gregory hold down the bottom end with apparent ease and it should be noted that while Gregory's primary instrument is the bass, he contributes some fantastic violin work to Fortune Telling and does an absolutely brilliant job on the CD's closing cut "Lighthouse Jig". This all instrumental track is one of my personal favorites. Last but not certainly least is vocalist Steve Taylor; there's obviously a good reason why he's won 3 consecutive awards from the Classic Rock Society for Best Male Vocalist. His vocals are primarily in the mid range and he doesn't stray that far stylistically, but his voice is the perfect match for the music and I heard echoes of Morse and Fish in his overall delivery.

The overall sound and production on Fortune Telling is another area where the band excels, it's clean and crisp but never comes off sounding too slick. In fact there is an overall feeling of warmth in the sound as a whole and the CD has a bit of an analogue feel to it that I really connected to, but don't ask me why. The overall packaging and layout should also be commended as it appears the band spent a lot of time ensuring that their musical vision was matched visually as well; not to mention the fortune teller fish that was included was an absolute riot, all I can say is that it's tied in to the cover image. Strangefish should definitely be mentioned in the same breath with the best of the neo-progressive bands of today and fans of prog will eagerly want to add this one to their collections. The band has a true winner with Fortune Telling, tight musicianship; top notch songs and great overall graphics and design that make for one of the best complete packages of the year so far. Let's hope we see them over on this side of the pond very soon.
http://www.seaoftranquility.org

When I bought this CD, I didn't really know that it was a Soft Machine spin-off. That fact might have been tucked away in my subconscious, but it was seeing the fairly cheap $9 price sticker on it at a prog festival vendor's table, and recognizing the band's name that made me decide to give it a try. If I had realized that Robert Wyatt was the main vocalist, I might have skipped the disc since I'm not very fond of his voice. Fortunately the album is largely instrumental, and what vocals there are don't really bother me much.

The album kicks off in a fairly experimental mode, with "Starting in the Middle of the Day We Can Drink Our Politics Away". The song consists entirely of the title sung over a repeated piano riff. Each syllable of the lyrics is held for so long that it takes the song's entire two and a half minute length to sing the title once and then again about half way through before the track abruptly ends. Oddly amusing.

The next four tracks all segue, creating what seems to be one long piece of music. The eight minute "Marchides" starts out as a blistering jam that wouldn't sound out of place on a Soft Machine album. It has a distorted keyboard (or is that guitar?) solo in the middle that gives way to a quieter and more composed sounding closing section that could still pass for Soft Machine. The album then shifts seamlessly into "Nan True's Hole", which produced an odd feeling of deja vu the first time I heard it — it turned out to be because The Muffins had snuck an instrumental cover version of it into their ProgDay set a year or two earlier. The main riff of the song is memorable enough that it stuck with me. This track in turn shifts into "Righteous Rhumba"; I wouldn't have noticed that it was even a new track if the lyrics hadn't suddenly started saying something about the Chinese. And finally the album side is rounded out by "Brandy as in Benj", a four minute piece with some catchy guitar riffing and lots of electric piano soloing. Very Canterbury sounding.

"Gloria Gloom" starts side two off with some very slow building, very spacey synthesizer experimentation from Eno. After a few minutes that gives way to a section where the balance of volume fades back and forth between a Wyatt-sung song and what sounds like three conversations going on at the same time. The overall effect is like listening to an annoying bootleg where the audience chatter often overtakes the band that everyone came to see but nobody's listening to. Finally for the last couple minutes, the song shifts back to Eno's spacey synth noodling.

"God Song" is a ballad sung by Wyatt over acoustic guitar and bass. The lyrics seem to be some sort of sarcastic advice to God, which normally I'd probably find amusing but I just can't concentrate on them because Wyatt's voice really rubs me the wrong way. "Flora Fidgit" returns to instrumental music that sounds more than a bit like Soft Machine. After a few minutes it goes annoyingly out of tune and then gets overlapped by the beginning of "Smoke Signal", another jazzy jam in the Canterbury style.

Overall, there's enough good music on this disc to make me glad that I bought it. But it's not one that I've gotten the urge to listen to a lot since I picked it up, and I doubt it's ever going to become a favorite.
http://www.progreviews.com

Этот недолговечный проект образовался в 1971 году, когда Роберт Уайатт покинул ряды "Soft machine". В свою новую команду барабанщик (он же вокалист) ангажировал следующих музыкантов: клавишника Дэйва Синклера (р. 24 ноября 1947; экс-"Wilde Flowers", "Caravan"), гитариста Фила Миллера (экс-"Delivery", "DC & The MB's") и басиста Била Маккормика (экс-"Quiet Sun"). Название "Matching Mole" появилось из транскрипции французского перевода "soft machine" ("la machine molle"). Заключив контракт с "CBS Records", группа отправилась в студию готовить дебютный альбом.
Уже после нескольких концертов стало ясно, что Синклеру тяжело работать "в полный рост", и ему на выручку был приглашен другой Дэйв, по фамилии Макрэ. Некоторое время команда существовала в виде квинтета, но после весеннего тура 1972 года Синклер окончательно ушел, предоставив Макрэ дописывать клавишные партии на дебютном альбоме. Когда работа была завершена, слушатели получили отличный джаз-роковый опус с типичным кентерберийским звучанием. Две композиции с "Matching Mole" ("O Caroline" и "Signed Curtain") были изданы синглом, хотя самый сильный трек, "Instant Pussy", остался только на альбоме.
Второй лонгплей, хоть и продолжал кентерберийские традиции, все же несколько отличался от дебюта. Во-первых, авторство здесь принадлежало не одному Уайатту, а было поделено на равные части между всеми участниками. Во-вторых, свою лепту внесли Брайан Ино, появившийся на нескольких треках со своим синтезатором, и Роберт Фрипп ("King Crimson"), выступивший продюсером "Matching Mole's Little Red Record". Оригинальным было и оформление пластинки, выполненное в духе послевоенных советских плакатов. В 1972 году команда много гастролировала, выступая вместе с "John Mayall's bluesbreakers" и "Soft machine". И хотя у себя на родине "Matching Mole" были не сильно популярны, в континентальной Европе их ценили очень высоко. Так или иначе, но конец "кротов" был не за горами и Уайатт все чаще подумывал о роспуске команды и наборе нового состава. Фактически же группа распалась, когда Роберт угодил в больницу, после того как по пьянке вывалился из окна своих апартаментов.
Участники проекта разбрелись в разные стороны, и каждый пошел своим путем. В 1994 году фирма "Windsong" выпустила 30-минутный концертник "кротов", записанный для BBC Radio 1 в июле 1972-го. В другой раз про "Matching Mole" вспомнили в начале нового тысячелетия, когда компания "Cuneiform" издала на CD пару архивно-концертных записей, "Smoke signals" и "March".
http://good-music.kiev.ua

SOUL CAGES is another vivid proof that Germany can produce very inspired and innovative progressive metal. Often not given the proper attention, this band from Hemer, formed in 1990, walks on the paved path of two of the greatest and most influential (although not too famous) prog metal bands in Germany; Sieges Even and Mekong Delta. The band's music, contrary to other German bands of that time e.g. Blind Guardian, Vanden Plas has not evolved from a power metal background to progressive forms: it was 'born' progressive...

I believe the fact that they have signed a contract with Massacre Records did not help them to get the recognition they deserved; often acknowledged as a metal and/or underground band. To my knowledge, the only two countries that have musically 'accepted' them are Germany and Greece. To some extent, their limited recognition is understandable due to the eclectic nature of their sound. A major contributor to this element is the characteristic German accent in the (almost eccentric) male vocals which can sometimes prevent the listeners from appreciating the music.

The second component of this eclectic character is the unusual nature of the melodies; unconventional melodies that are often dressed with beautiful, atmospheric female vocals and bizarre arrangements and harmonies. Riff-wise, the listener can hear several similarities with guitar sounds in Queensryche's (A Part of Me) and Fates Warning's (Imprisoned) late 80's releases; however, the outcome does not resemble directly to these bands and remains quite unique in nature. It is interesting to refer to those female vocals again which time and again generate a gothic, doom feeling (The Light of Day), relatively uncommon in this genre.

In addition to the previous, here you can find some technically challenging prog metal with peculiar time signatures (Result of Convenience, Pressure) that reminds of early Sieges Even and Watchtower. Although all these aspects can be successfully employed to describe CRAFT's musical directions, the main outcome remains an alloy of melodic - in its own way - prog metal. This is evident throughout the album and mostly in tracks like Falling (reminds me of brilliant Shadow Gallery melodies) which is the highlight. The inclusion of Piano and Before balances out the more technical elements of this release with simple, though deep, melodies.

I can not decide if CRAFT is musically at the same level as the band's debut but to my ears is still approaching the term 'masterpiece' and it is highly recommended to prog fans who want to challenge themselves and get out of their comfort zone.
http://www.progarchives.com

Soul Cages followed their debut release with a disc that upped the ante on every level. When you consider that their debut was a very impressive disc, you understand the enormity of what was accomplished with their sophomore effort.

This disc comes off with a very precise and mature sound. It could be compared, musically, to Perfect Symmetry or Parallels from Fates Warning. The tight and unpredictable rhythm changes that punctuate the disc are very reminiscent of Fates Warning’s style of sudden change. The sound is also more laid back and relaxed. The focus is more on the melody. It becomes evident in the singing that a lot of attention was given to the melody of the song and the vocal parts. Consequently some of the edge present of the self titled debut is missing here. If anything it makes the sound even more progressive. There is more attention paid to the vocals and the interweavings of the voices become more complex. The atmosphere and ambience of the sound is heightened too. The two guitars are used to weave separate melodies into a whole.

The song writing is as thoughtful and thought provoking as on the debut. The lyrics rely on symbols and imagery to convey their intent to you. The lyrics fit with the tenor of the songs very well. The atmospheric sound carries the emotion of the words which is expressed very clearly by the singers.

The bottom line is that this is a fantastic disc. Any fan of progressive metal or progressive rock is going to like this. It is intelligent and very well presented.
http://www.ssmt-reviews.com

This is an early French jazz/rock excursion in the vein of Soft Machine 4/5. Hence, there is a certain early Canterbury flair to the music. The emphasis is more towards jazz than rock. The band features future Magma members Francois Moze and Jean-Pol Asseline. There also seems to be a small amount of contemporary Miles Davis influence, a la _In a Silent Way_, in the some of the more psychedelic moments. This album becomes more interesting to me, the more that I listen to it. Recommended if you like early Soft Machine and Moving Gelatine Plates.
http://ezhevika.blogspot.com

The French band Rhesus O was formed in 1971 by future Magma keyboarder Jean-Pol Asseline with musicians from the jazz and jazz-rock field and released one self titled record. Soft Machine is the main influence to be found on the record and to a lesser extent Magma, Miles Davis and Frank Zappa. The record presents a melodic jazz-rock with folk and classical elements, based on an instrumentation of two keyboarders: Alain Monier on organ and Jean-Pol Asseline on e-piano and harpsichord, two bass players: Guy Pedersen on double bass and Francis Moze on electric lead bass, Thierry Blanchard on drums and Alain Hatot's sax & flute arrangements.
http://www.progarchives.com

I ran into this gem on MySpace. As soon as I heard them, I added them to my friend’s list. This epic CD entitled Utopia is very impressive. The band is comprised of Jeff Lane; Guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Vocals and Jim Nahikian; Drums. From beginning to end the music never lets up. It has it all for the prog lover. They move from beautiful acoustic guitar and vocals with symphonic keys to a more progressive feel that anyone who likes progressive rock will appreciate. The CD consists of 12 compositions that run into each other like a flowing river into a majestic ocean. You are engulfed with the music as soon as it begins. Each tune has its own identity, however, it fits together like a concept album should. I would recommend this CD to anyone who likes progressive, concept stories. It is hard to say which song I prefer, since they do all fit together. However, one that sticks out is entitled “The Dream”. It is only 2 minutes and 43 seconds, yet it has everything from an acoustic guitar and strings beginning with very impressive vocals. Then it has synthesizers and heavy guitar riffs that are very tasty. This whole piece is very melodic and well thought out. It resembles bands such as Rush and has influences all the way back to Uriah Heep and everything in between. Don’t take my word for it, though. If this piqued your curiosity, check them out at their MySpace site at http://www.myspace.com/heartofcygnus. There you can listen to them and purchase this well done CD. Also on their page, they do a very good cover of Supertramp’s, “Logical Song”. It is well worth looking into. Rumor has it that they will be on tour early next year. I definitely won’t miss them. Check them out because it’s all about the music. Until next time, rock on!!!