Nightingale Express (BLOW OUT PRICE!)

The landscape of progressive rock continues to evolve. As the dinosaur bands fade away a new breed of thought provoking artistry has emerged. Bands like Porcupine Tree, Tool, Riverside, and Anathema are not about complexity or grandiose arrangements. These are bands that aim for your heart as well as your head. CloverSeeds is a new band following this course. The Opening is their second release. Their debut was released on a small French label and gave the band some national attention including a television appearance on "Ça part en live". The Laser’s Edge is committed to expand CloverSeeds fanbase to a worldwide level.Cloverseeds music is a rollercoaster ride of pure emotion filled with melancholy and dark atmospheres augmented with guitar driven heaviness. The album was recorded in Germany at Spacelab Studios under the direction of Everon’s Christian Moschus. The resulting album is an audiophile spectacular polished to perfection by Grammy winning mastering engineer Bob Katz.

Sophomore release from this Sabaton offshoot.  This time the Swede's fixation is on the American Civil War.  Whatever floats your boat (or sinks it as the case may be).  Digipak edition with two bonus tracks."Civil War: a Swedish metal band styled after the American Civil War of 19th century. I'm not sure I get foreigner's fascination with one of the worst times in my country's history. But here they are. This is my first experience with Civil War, so for those who know the band, bear with me for a few words about their origins.Civil Was started by four original members of Sabaton, Daniel Mullback, Rikard Sundén, Daniel Myhr and Oskar Montelius, when they bailed from the band in 2012. They hooked up with Nils Patrik Johansson, of Astral Doors fame, for a lead vocalist. They returned to their melodic power metal roots for their chosen musical style. Next, lyrically, the tell tales of war and warriors. Did I say four guys were original members of Sabaton? Yup. It appears there's a recurring theme here, and it is possible to reinvent the wheel.As for the music, it's rather typical power metal and really requires no explanation. However, in combination with the lyrical themes, you may have difficulty shaking off the Sabaton vibe. Yet, if you like military history, Civil War becomes somewhat of a thinking man's heavy metal band. Though their name suggests the songs would be about that American war, Civil War speaks to a variety of persons and conflicts.Some of these are self-explanatory like Braveheart (William Wallace), Schindler's Ark, Back to Iwo Jima or the Bay Pigs, the failed invasion of Cuba by rebels financed by the American government. Some need a little explanation like Admiral Over The Ocean which concerns Nelson and the sea battle of Trafalgar or Tears of the North, about Vikings in Russia. Two songs speak specifically to the American civil war: USS Monitor, about the first ironclad steamship created by the Union Navy and Gods and Generals. The intent of the latter is more sketchy; it could have something to do with the Jeffery Shaara novel of the same name. My digital promo came with a lyric sheet which was helpful. I'm sure the lyrics will be in the CD booklet.Again, all these things are wrapped up in melodic heavy and power metal: good melody and harmony, quick pacing, flourishes of synths, and lots of guitar solos. The wild card here is probably Johansson's voice. He has the gruff sandpaper style which, for me, has always taken some to time to appreciate. Overall, Gods And Generals is solid, if not typical, European power metal, with the thoughtful militry history lyrics the strong feature, though this is not novel either. Recommended." - Dangerdog.com

Out of print for some time, Bruce Soord freshed up the band's second album.  Originally released back in 2001, this version of 137 features a new mix, new 2018 mastering, and even new artwork.

Xandria are back with a new singer and don't miss a beat. Replacing Lisa Middelhauve is Manuela Kraller, formerly with Haggard. The band doesn't deviate from their tried and true formula. This is epic symphonic gothic metal similar to Visions Of Atlantis, older Within Temptation, Edenbridge and countless others in the genre. Having said that they do this style of music about as well as it can be done. Napalm Records has pretty much cornered the market on this sound and I'm sure Xandria is sitting at the top of their roster.

"This fifth album for the underground Norwegian Prog / Power Metal kings starts with a short Flamenco guitar and compass handclap pattern intro named “Esperanto”, luckily DIVIDED MULTITUDE will quickly manage to change everything soon with a real Metal riff and a double kick onslaught, they set the power to maximum heaviness mixed with sheer elegance, indeed since then the remaining 10 tracks on the album are pretty sharp with furious drums and almost Thrashy rhythmic guitars but moderated with ultra-catchy vocals in the real Scandinavian method. I like to think of them about as an heaviest version of CIRCUS MAXIMUS (“What I See”), applicant of a few hyper challenging Melodic motifs with a stunning Schizophrenic vocal rendition, indeed Mr. Sindre Antonsen alternates brilliantly between "testo-tenroic" multi layered singing like Jekyll & Hyde, in the great PRETTY MAIDS & Ronnie Atkins tradition with a two-faced styled that switch from velvet to sandpaper in the same sentence.Of course all the players are ultra-competent, Christer Harøy (PS: his other band with his brother Rayner called TEODOR TUFF is also warmly recommended by yours truly) is a solid guitar player but stay quite discrete leaving much room to another essential strong element in their sound: the fantastic yet subtle Eskild Kløften, who provides some fine effective performance in multipl(a)ying synthetic ambient waves & Progressive Rock keyboards.In this genre the songwriting should be uselessly complicated, well it’s not exactly the case with “Feed On Your Misery”, but don’t get me wrong please, there is plenty of weird or cerebral moments as some strange structures mixed with passionate and luxurious arrangements quite rich in complexity with an average over six minutes in length without never sounding hermetic or rigid.The smartest cuts like the title track “Feed On Your Misery”, the delicious “Crimson Sunset” or the dark “Vicious By Heart” are also pretty much influenced by early QUEENSRYCHE or CRIMSON GLORY with some modernized vocals taken from the inherent omnipresent obvious reference while speaking about Prog Metal singer, the soulful, the one, the only: Sir Russell Allen (SYMPHONY X / ADRENALINE MOB) himself (“Scars”).Finally, the best comparison could have been PAGAN’S MIND meets ANUBIS GATE meets CONCEPTION. I already said it, I will say it again: “Feed On Your Misery” by DIVIDED MULTITUDE, that’s Scandinavian Melodic Prog at its Best." - Metal Temple

After a 10 year absence Enchant are back.  The band started in 1993 making them one of the earliest prog metal band.  Actually they are sort of an interesting band in that they seem to exist in both the prog rock and prog metal realms.  Some metal fans think of them as a bit lightweight and some prog rock fans think they are too heavy!  One thing is for sure they are wildly successful.  This is definitely prog but it never loses sight of the melody.  Fronted by the great Ted Leonard (who is now doing double duty with Spock's Beard) this one is a no-brainer - whether you are metal or prog head.  "irst impressions are the similarities to Spock’s Beard. Hardly surprising since Ted Leonard has been singing with them since 2011. He’s been with Enchant longer; their first CD came out in 1993. And familiarity doesn’t breed contempt here, fortunately.Bay area progressive rockers, they steer a straight course composing guitar-structured songs that they extemporise over. Guitarist Douglas A Ott is also the band’s main producer, with The Great Divide having been recorded at his own studio, but if in the past the band’s followed his direction they’re now more involved after a ten year gap working on other projects. Also, while integral, Ott doesn’t dominate Enchant’s sound but flows in and out adding a hard rock bias to their generic musical flavouring. Drummer/percussionist Sean Flanegan and bassist Ed Platt have the solidity of early Kansas and musically there are some pretty snazzy and often too brief keyboard solos from Bill Jenkins.A rolling cyclical bass line forms the basis of opening number ‘Circles’ with Leonard pondering life going round well, like a circle – while the lyrics aren’t profound they feel right and though this isn’t a concept album, despite the band stating otherwise, there are common themes concerning the human condition in a loosely existential manner. Mainly straight verse and choruses ‘Circles’ breaks out into more complicated time signatures before an acoustic comes to the fore, vocals return, an electric guitar take over and it concludes with a nicely warm keyboard solo. ‘Within An Inch’ follows with a steady rock backbeat over which Ott’s playing echoes Camel’s Andy Latimer interrupted briefly by some John Ellis punk-styled sirening. ‘The Great Divide’ follows suit in a more epic manner, the arrangement akin to Genesis in their golden period.Enchant don’t play with the fairies, despite what their name suggests. If anything they’re two steps removed from an AOR sound leaning in towards early Asia with some latter day Beatles thrown in, and a less grandiose take on Spock’s Beard. One might refer to them as technically proficient rather than emotionally overwrought, meaning there is a heartfelt flavour to their songs, and they tend to grow on you.The subdued opening to ‘Life In A Shadow’ throws a brief curveball echoing the Canterbury sound of Hatfield & The North before a heavy chorded chorus takes this into a rocking tune with soulful harmonies. ‘Deserve To Feel’ pours on the technical drumming and dribbling triplet bass figures with some flashy pyrotechnics predominantly on guitar but with keen keyboard flourishes, moving into a more intricate musical score as Jenkins and Ott trade inspired lines towards its conclusion. Likewise, ‘Here And Now’ builds reflectively moving towards emotional drama.Finely composed, played well, Enchant’s The Great Divide might not have you falling under its spell, but you may well be surprised how you find yourself being drawn to playing it." - The Midland Rocks