Space Police

"Tellus Requiem was formed back in 2007 by guitarist Stig Nergård. In 2010 Tellus Requiem released a self-titled debut album digitally. This album opened up some doors for the band, and resulted in some live concert supporting acts like Keep of Kalessin, Edenbridge, and Pagan's Mind. “Invictus” was mixed and mastered by Tommy Hansen (Jailhouse Studios, Jorn, TNT, Helloween) with the cover art done by Thomas Ewerhard (Symphony X, Theater).According to the band’s biography, the main theme of the band’s writing is about worlds shattering to pieces. This can either be global or personal experience, fictional or literary. Tellus Requiem means; the earths death mass. Tellus being Latin for The Earth, Requiem being the last composition a composer writes before they die. Listening to the ten tracks featured on “Invictus”, it’s obvious that the band is comprised of five very talented musicians with a love for melodic progressive metal in the style of Symphony X and Dream Theater with flourishes of Eastern Folk and the big sound of a motion picture film score (as is evident on the opening instrumental song “Ab Aeterno”). “Red Horizon” kicks in with a vengeance and is highlighted by very Symphony x-like keyboard work by Anders Sundbø (whose frenzied playing style steals the show on this song) and heavy guitar crunch by Nergård.  Vocalist Ben Rodgers has a unique and impressive style and range without resorting to sounding like peers such as James Labrie or Russell Allen.Drummer Vidar Lehmann shows off his considerable chops and fast feet on the middle-eastern tinged “Eden Burns”. A beautiful acoustic guitar passage introduces “Reflection Remains” which leads into a melodic and majestic vocal performance by Rodgers accented by soaring harmonies and a soulful yet blistering guitar solo by Nergård.  The heavy melodic prog metal of “Twilight Hour” has plenty of melody, groove, instrumental chops, and odd time signatures to satisfy the most jaded prog metal fan.  “Sands of Gold” is a complex and chaotic attack of progressive drum patterns, middle-eastern melodies, heavy guitar and keyboard wizardry with Rodgers voice providing the melodic anchor holding it all together. The appropriately titled “Tranquility” is a slower, peaceful and introspective song with Rodgers showing his emotional side as well as his considerable range to great effect. “Redemption” starts off with an impressive Spanish style guitar playing and kicks into a heavy guitar rhythm and aggressive lead vocals and beautiful harmony vocals courtesy of a vocal choir. The heavy prog of “Invictus” is a fast paced and the vocals and musicianship are razor sharp here.  The final song is “Dies Irae” which is the “day of wrath” and was an old Medieval poem sung during the Mass of the Dead ceremony, is a short and sweet outro track and a fine way to end this musical journey. For such a young band, Tellus Requiem has created a stunning and impressive progressive metal feast that fans of Symphony X and Dream Theater will find quite enjoyable. " - The Metal Pit

A Liquid Landscape from The Netherlands is a bit of a departure for The Laser's Edge. Their slice of post-progressive music has a contemporary edge that finds them sitting alongside bands like Dredg, Anathema, and Porcupine Tree. The band has been a live act for several years and shared the stage with bands like Karnivool (AUS), Anathema (UK),Thrice (US) and Riverside (Poland).During the past year the band also was a finalist at the prestigious annual Dutch Grand Prize contest and on top of that they had 3 sold out Noorderzon gigs, featuring a stunning visual show.With all the material they had written, the band reached out to Forrester Savell (Karnivool, Helmet). Forrester liked the material a lot and he agreed on mixing the album and doing some production work as well.‘Nightingale Express’ is a concept album. This inspired moviemaker Lex Vesseur to make a short movie with music from the album. He also made the artwork and the visuals for the live show. So both the music and the film return in an interactive rock show with a live VJ.Washed up, tired and staggering across a beach in the early hours of the morning. Somewhere in the twilight between desperation and surrender, there is still a glimmer of hope. That sense that everything will be alright, no matter what the odds are. This is what A Liquid Landscape sounds like. 

Another winner from this fine Savatage offshoot.  

Prog guitarist Lanvall goes metal! Austrian multi-instrumentalist Lanvall has come up with a mindblowing entrance into the world of progressive metal. Sunrise In Eden features all of Lanvall trademark sounds - epic symphonic keys and Hackettesque fluid guitar leads - but this time he adds a hard edge distortion laden sound to his arsenal. Combined with kick ass double bass drum and absolutely awesome vocals from the drop dead gorgeous Sabine Edelsbacher and you've got one of 2000's best efforts. There is plenty here for prog rock fans to like but this is squarely aimed towards the prog metal audience. Hey - even Galdalf kicks in some sitar bits on the 11 minute "My Last Beyond".We were the former licensee for North America.  Our version of Sunrise In Eden is now out of print.  Grab 'em while you can.

"Can it be possible that we've got to 2014 without me ever having heard a studio album by Lazuli? Yes, ladies and gents, that is possible, I can assure you. Whilst I vividly remember Lazuli live in Tilburg some years ago in 2007 at the Symforce Festival and actually finding them making a huge impression with their live performance, I simply never got around to either buying nor listening to their studio albums. Shame on me for not doing so. More so as I now fully realise what I have been missing in music for quite some years. What a joy it was to hear the Lazuli sound again and now on a new album as well.For days Tant Que L'Herbe Est Grasse has been spinning its rounds in many CD players, be it in the car, at work or on my home system. Opener Déraille with its environmentally engaged lyrics gets on its way with a fine rhythm and very varied sounds and immediately draws you deep, deep into the world that is Lazuli's. I must add that Dominique Leonetti's passionate singing and the way his vocal lines, to these ears, are almost an instrument in their own right set them apart from many other bands. It may just be that you get drawn to listening to the lyrics even more and try to understand them that much better.Une Pente Qu'On Devale has the slightest bit of a Marillion vibe that reminds me a wee bit of the feel of their semi-acoustic tracks like Man Of A Thousand Faces, yet this is more modern and Lazuli rock out towards the end. There's also some fine, fine soloing in there too.Homo Sapiens just grabs you. It's more ballsy and reminds a bit of Riverside whereas the second half of the song tips its hat to latter day Fish, that is before the band start again and we get a fine Léode solo. The Fish vibe also appears to shine through on Tristes Moitiés and L'Essence Des Odyssées, yet it is not that these songs make Lazuli sound a 100% like everyone's favourite Scotsman; not at all, yet there is a comparison in sound that, to me, flows back to the Raingods with Zippos days. Fish himself features on J'Ai Trouvé Ta Faille where he gets to sing in the second part of the song. Another fine song on this very fine album, but there is plenty more to hear before we actually get to that one, the eighth song on the album.What Lazuli have delivered here is an album rich in sound and where all band members get to shine, be it individually yet moreover in how much this album is a band effort. On first listen you might find that the songs are just songs, but their build has more to them than appears on first listen. This is an album that grows each and every time you hear it. There are parts that are prog, world music, folk rock, storming out and out rocking moments and they are all brought together in this album. As I once more listen to Tristes Moitiés Lazuli again fully draw me into their realm. What is it that makes albums present themselves as ever growing in beauty? The textures, the soloing, the intricate drum and percussion parts that get to you more and more with each and every listening session. I dare say that this album has all that and, as already mentioned, there is the great singing!Multicolèlere, a play on the words "multicoloured anger", speeds things up once more and shows a heavier Lazuli. This whole song very much gets to me and perhaps there's another bit of Riverside, but let's just cut to the chase; this band sounds every inch like Lazuli should. And there is only one way to find that out for the not yet initiated and that is to just go and listen to this fine gem of an album. Don't think you can do like me and miss out on one of the finest prog bands around - why should you? You'd be missing out on real beauty. And yes, listen to this album all the way through, you won’t find that hard at all as J'Ai Trouvé Ta Faille is another beauty as is the closing song, Les Courants Ascendants, the only song to reach beyond the 6 minute mark. But count that as an asset that Lazuli have to their songwriting; they succeed in writing compact songs that are all very varied throughout the album." - DPRP.net

"Mat Sinner has had a long and extensive career, whether with the long running band that bears his name or others like Primal Fear or Voodoo Circle. With Touch of Sin 2, Sinner retreats to the past to re-record some of his best material from early albums Danger Zone (1984), Touch of Sin (1985), Comin' Out Fighting (1986), and Dangerous Charm (1987). While they still play many of these songs in their live sets, thanks to obscure contracts, rights being bought and sold, these albums are hard to find. This is a collection of 14 songs, 11 newly re-recorded and three new ones. There's some real classics here, some really good Sinner songs. (Somehow that sounds funny.) Born to Rock, Comin' Out Fighting, Bad Girl, Concrete Jungle, and Germany Rocks are some of the best ones, getting new life from Matt and the current Sinner crew. And that crew includes a wall of guitars from three guitarists, Alex Beyrodt (also Voodoo Circle), Christof Leim, and Alex Scholpp (also Tarja Turunen) with Sinner's bass and Andre Hilgers' drums powering the rhythm section.Three new songs include two originals, Blood On The Sand and Heat Of The City and a cover of the mighty Thin Lizzy's Don’t Believe A Word. The first two sound more like modern Sinner touching the melodic metal side of things especially with the heavier Heat Of The City. The Thin Lizzy cover is simply phenomenal and fun, a tad faster, but still capturing the liveliness and groove of the original. It's the best song here. Touch of Sin 2 is a fine introduction to Sinner's early material, with the new songs a bonus. However, I'm sure those older rockers who have the older material will want to dust of their vinyl versions as well. Recommended." - Danger Dog