Thrash Metal

Latest Glass Hammer album is the second part of a projected trilogy.  The album finds the band with a new singer (quite excellent) and a subtle change in direction.  While its still very much a Glass Hammer album all the way through I noticed a slighter emphasis on guitar than in the past.  I asked Steve Babb about this and he tells me that Fred Schendel is playing guitar - and quite well.  I did notice that they brought in a couple of guitar ringers who I suspect are doing some of the heavy lifting.So perhaps a bit heavier than in the past but overall an album that any Glass Hammer fan (or fan of symphonic prog) will dive deep into.  Highly recommended."As a youngster, I quickly learned from movies such as The Empire Strikes Back and books like The Two Towers that the second instalment of a trilogy is always the deepest part of the story. With the latest musical offering from Glass Hammer, one of America’s most respected latter-day progressive rock bands, that appears to still be the case. Now twenty studio albums into their impressive career, they’ve followed up last year’s well-received trilogy opener Dreaming City with second volume Skallagrim – Into The Breach, and it’s a cracker of an album.Bassist and lyricist Steve Babb is clearly in his element authoring this multi-part fantasy tale (in fact, his first written volume of the book series is due for release next year, a 400-pager titled Skallagrim – In The Vales Of Pagarna). It’s clear that by putting pen to paper (or was it quill to scroll?) he believes strongly enough that his storytelling should also adorn bookshelves worldwide – and he’s probably right. His love for the genre is palpable, further evidenced by the effort he and founding bandmate Fred Schendel have put into crafting these lush albums. As with Dreaming City, snippets of the story are provided in the liner notes for each track along with the lyrics and accompanying sketches, adding another dimension to the full album experience. I won’t get into spoilers about the story itself, but suffice to say that it’s got enough substance to place it a cut above the more surface-level sword-and-sorcery tales out there, and the more fleshed-out book should prove to be a worthy companion. Fantasy for grown-ups? Perhaps, young warrior, perhaps.Following the album’s opening bookend, the first proper song Anthem To Andorath comes storming in with its grungy riff, deep groove, and infectious chorus, showcasing the broad vocal abilities of Hannah Pryor. A newfound gem in the band’s ever-evolving cast of players, Pryor croons sweetly and belts out passionately with the same apparent ease. Although longtime listeners may lament the absence of Glass Hammer veteran Susie Bogdanowicz, Pryor really delivers here. It’s always a gamble shuffling the deck – particularly in an age when some fans make up their minds before hearing a note – but Babb and Schendel are seasoned pros who know a thing or two about what works with their music. They’ve made a winning choice here, and any fans wary of this change should find their fears quickly eased.Glass Hammer in 2021 is an edgier affair than fans of their earlier catalogue may be used to. They’ve relished exploring darker and heavier roads on these first two volumes of the Skallagrim chronicles, without straying too far from their core. Enough of their past elements are retained that this music still sounds like them, it just isn’t filled with angelic choirs, pipe organs and celestial 20-minute symphonic epics. There are still gentler sections, spacy moments and ethereal prog rock, but there’s a dominant ballsy crunch too, a doomier tone that places these albums on a different shelf. But as we know, they will venture again into different territory eventually, never content to stay in one place too long… AC/DC, they are not.The heavy guitar and Hammond organ vibe of Sellsword will draw the usual comparisons to the classic… well, heavy guitar and Hammond organ bands. But it’s separate from that music in its complexity and modern feel, and again Pryor confidently glides over top of the fray with soaring and soulful vocals. Likewise with the track Steel, which finds the band exploring even more style shifts within the heavy rock-riff blueprint. Thus far, we’ve been given the best opening run of music on a Glass Hammer album since at least 2016’s Valkyrie. Young session player Reese Boyd has been fairly prominent on the last few albums in his role of guitar prodigy, and contributes some dazzling playing once again. While Schendel can bash out killer riffs with the best of ’em, Boyd is able to colour the tracks with terrific solos and deeper textures. Time to make this cat a fully-fledged member, methinks.The album drifts into electronic instrumental territory with a pair of what are essentially solo tracks. The moody A Spell Upon His Mind finds a lone Babb delivering a piece that is about as far removed from the preceding heaviness as you could imagine. Schendel, too, performs unaccompanied on the quirky Moon Pool, a more upbeat track complete with drum loops and percussion sounds. They’ve injected these kinds of interludes into albums before, but they are always welcome, and I suspect they’d excel at a full album crafting this kind of electronic noodling, as they seem to have a knack for it.The meat of the Skallagrim story is largely found in the album’s second half, beginning with Babb’s turn at the lead vocal mic on The Ogre Of Archon, a return to the appealing heavy riffage reminiscent of Sabbath and early Rush. If I’m mentioning ‘heavy riffs’ a lot, that’s because they are here in spades, but the album is far from one-dimensional, and its this variety that is perhaps the most impressive feature of Into The Breach.Babb hangs on to vocal duties (with some brief assistance from Schendel) on the expansive title track, the first of back-to-back eight minute pieces which features an instrumental breakdown allowing for some fine tradeoff solos. Sometimes with so much focus on how Glass Hammer produce their albums, we forget to acknowledge what great players these guys are. Babb’s striking bass tone bouncing around underneath Schendel’s keys and Boyd’s blistering guitar is one of the major album highlights. This song simply must be played live in the future… or I assure you I will be loudly asking to speak to the manager.The Forlorn Hope is likely to be mentioned by fans eager to rattle off favourites, with its powerful and thudding heavy rock verse structure and brighter choruses eventually dissolving into a dreamy acoustic second half. Pryor returns to deliver melodic and tuneful vocals in what is surely the album’s prettiest moment, and longtime session player Brian Brewer (scheduled to appear with the band on the next Cruise To The Edge) adds some subtle slide guitar to accent the piece. It’s an odd arrangement, but then nobody’s crossing their fingers for it to be on the radio anytime soon – even if it should be.In a return to the Rush-infused sound of Dreaming City, the shimmering Hyperborea serves as the album’s lengthy climax, and though it may be a groaner to choose the ‘proggy epic’ as my favourite track, I can’t help it – this is a joyous piece rich in Glass Hammer-isms and with Hemispheres/Permanent Waves-era nods that make me smile – but the song could stand on its own even without those. Drummer Aaron Raulston’s heavy groove has been a key component of Glass Hammer dating back to 2014’s Ode To Echo, and he peppers this new music with a hybrid of metallic energy and tasteful nuance. Any band benefits greatly from a drummer who knows when to leave space and when to let fly with everything he’s got. Raulston is one such drummer, and he lifts this material by at least one full notch.With any catalogue as broad and sweeping as Glass Hammer’s, it’s impossible to predict where the latest entry will eventually settle in the hearts and minds of listeners. And when they’ve set their own bar so high for so long, they will certainly be aware that there are going to be peaks and valleys, often not apparent until looking back in hindsight a few years on. Not every album can (or should) be lazily described as a ‘masterpiece’ simply because the listener really likes it, as it cheapens the term in the process (I still say theirs is The Inconsolable Secret, for what it’s worth). Although these stalwarts of the scene always maintain a consistent level of quality, for my tastes they seem to really smack one out of the park every four albums or so, and they’ve done it again here. While I wouldn’t necessarily elevate Skallagrim – Into The Breach to ‘masterpiece’ status, it’s certainly among their finest, with nary a duff track to be found, and coaxes broad smiles of genuine appreciation. Great work, guys and gal. I look forward to many more listens… and no pressure, but I’m already jazzed to hear part three!" - Velvet Thunder  

"2020 saw the English rock band Arena celebrate their 25th Anniversary of the band’s first critically acclaimed studio album. “The Theory of molecular inheritance” was due for release in 2020 but because of delays/ pandemic / and tour postponements the album is finally here with the now rearranged 27 date European tour being undertaken in September/October 2022. Renowned Artist David Wyatt has illustrated books by JRR Tolkien, Terry Pratchett along with other Arena albums in the past and now he’s has now rejoined Arena to design the Artwork for "The Theory Of Molecular Inheritance".The band also welcome a new vocalist; Damian Wilson is an English musician, songwriter and vocalist who has appeared on over 70 separate album releases. Damian is mostly known in the progressive metal genre, as the lead singer of Headspace and Threshold. He also sang and toured with bands and projects such as for Star One, Ayreon, Praying Mantis and with Rick Wakeman's English Rock Ensemble. As a solo artist he has released 5 solo albums."TRACKLIST1. Time Capsule2. The Equation (The Science of Magic)3. Twenty-One Grams4. Confession5. The Heiligenstadt Legacy6. Field of Sinners7. Pure of Heart8. Under the Microscope9. Integration10. Part of You11. Life Goes On

"The release of official live material is a project that is long overdue and we know our existing fans have been crying out for this for some time now. Whilst we have filmed and recorded many shows in the past we have always felt there were elements of our shows that could be improved 'visually' before we documented and immortalised this for the world to see and that the timing for a live release never felt right for us. This is just our nature as creative people to be so extremely self-critical and constantly strive for perfection. It is largely due to the will of the people that the idea of this project became a reality. Both the band and the label were inundated with emails requesting a live release in some shape or form, and it was actually rather flattering, so giving the people what they wanted just felt like the right thing to do" - Haken"Following the release of the bands much-acclaimed fourth studio album 'Affinity', they embarked upon their 10th anniversary tour across Europe & North America. Recorded and filmed on the 13th April 2017, at the legendary Melkweg venue on the Amsterdam stop of that tour, this represents the band's first ever live document with tracks from across the band's discography.'L-1VE' will be released as a 2CD/2DVD Digipak package & as digital download. The DVD will include 4 bonus tracks filmed at ProgPower USA 2016 that also includes Mike Portnoy's cameo appearance on gong, as well as all of the official videos from the 'Affinity' album."

Virtuoso keyboardist Vivien Lalu has created a new progressive metal epic featuring an all star cast:Band [A-Z]---Martin LeMar (Mekong Delta) - VocalsMike LePond (SymphonyX) - BassSimone Mularoni (DGM) - GuitarsVirgil Donati (PlanetX)- DrumsVivien Lalu (Shadrane) - KeyboardsGuests [A-Z]---Jens Johansson (Stratovarius)Joop Wolters (Shadrane)Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater)Marco Sfogli (James LaBrie)Mike Andersson (Cloudscape, Fullforce)Peter Wildoer (Darkane, James LaBrie)Born of Noelle and Michel Lalu, musicians from the ‘70s French progressive act Polene, Vivien Lalu has released a surplus of recordings through an array of different bands and projects since 1997, as the keyboard player for underground black/doom band Time For A Change. At the turn of the millennium Lalu played keys for two underground progressive metal bands from Paris, Sad Warden and then Mind’s Orchard, and in 2002 was hired by Hubi Meisel (ex-Dreamscape vocalist) to compose and record the keys for his solo album EmOcean, the following year doing the same for Meisel’s sophomore album Kailash, both of which were released by Lion Music.It was at this time Vivien Lalu begins recruiting his own associates from major prog and metal bands — some of which he shares time composing music alongside in progressive metal act Shadrane — and forms his own solo project, LALU. The first full-length Oniric Metal was released on Lion Music in 2005 and began an entirely new chapter for this composer and his insatiable need to create mind-expanding, cinematic music.These accomplishments helped Lalu to begin securing score and soundtrack work for film and television; over the last few years he’s written many cues for the orchestral soundtrack for the Warner Bros movie Seuls Two, for the show Science X made in association with Lucasfilm Ltd. Additionally he joined the production team behind Laszlo Jones in order to assist the recordings and production of Banana Nation (Universal Music Group). He’s composed many soundtracks for French television, music and sound effects for Neko Entertainment, worked as a sound designer for Ubisoft Entertainment and much more.After collaborating with Shadow Gallery for a song on their Digital Ghosts album, and working with Canadian drummer Chris Nalbandian for his Paralysis of Analysis solo album — recording all keys and sharing solos with Derek Sherinian and Alex Argento — Vivien finally settled in and began work on the second LALU opus. Handling all composition and songwriting duties, as well as all keyboards on the massive production, Vivien weaved the cloth of the new album with vocalist Martin LeMar (Mekong Delta), bassist Mike LePond (SymphonyX), guitarist Simone Mularoni (DGM), drummer Virgil Donati (PlanetX), the album’s parts recorded in several countries including the United States (Los Angeles and New York), Germany and Italy, produced by Lalu in his own studio, and mixed at Boumbox Studio in Paris by Yan Memmi (Dio’s Lock Up The Wolves, Marcus Miller’s The Sun Don’t Lie, etc.). Additional contributions from Jens Johansson (Stratovarius), Joop Wolters (Shadrane), Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater), Marco Sfogli (James LaBrie), Mike Andersson (Cloudscape) and Peter Wildoer (James LaBrie) were also carefully built into the album, the final product boasting over fifty minutes of exceptional, massive  cinematic, atmospheric metal Lalu has dubbed, Atomic Ark. 

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

DISCIPLINE has performed and recorded together since 1987, and remains one of the top bands in the American progressive rock scene. The band’s current lineup, including drummer Paul Dzendzel, bassist Mathew Kennedy, lead guitarist Chris Herin (Tiles), and vocalist/keyboardist Matthew Parmenter, worked with veteran music producer Terry Brown (Rush, Fate’s Warning) for the mixing of their newest opus, Captives Of The Wine Dark Sea, which Parmenter describes as, “an escape to ameliorate the workaday world.”“DISCIPLINE weaves a wicked web of lush, whimsical melodies, cynical stories and melancholy theatrics — so disturbing some fans have pegged lead-man Matthew Parmenter as ‘unstable,'” writes Heidi Olmac in Detroit’s Orbit newspaper. New Zealand rock critic Kev Rowland describes DISCIPLINE as “one of the most important bands to come out of America in the last twenty-five years.” The band’s earliest live shows were memorable for unusual theatrics. Parmenter (a.k.a. the Magic Acid Mime) would wear different costumes and act out the songs. Though the costumes have long since gone away, spontaneity remains a hallmark of DISCIPLINE‘s stage presence. “I think most of it comes from playing live,” says Parmenter in The Observer and Eccentric newspaper. “If something goes wrong, it’s kind of interesting how you will get out of it.”Jeff Milo of Ferndale Friends newspaper writes, “Go online and you’ll find various zines, blogs, and sites devoted to ‘prog’ music sending some substantial love toward Detroit’s DISCIPLINE.” The band’s previous album To Shatter All Accord (2011) includes the twenty-five-minute song suite “Rogue.” John Collinge, publisher of Progression Magazine, acknowledged To Shatter All Accord with the publication’s highest marks in his review (16 out of 16 stars). The band may be best known for its album Unfolded Like Staircase (1997). With four sprawling epics, including “Canto IV (Limbo)” and “Crutches,” Unfolded Like Staircase is considered by some to be one of the best progressive rock albums of the 1990s. In the Dutch Progressive Rock Pages, Brian Watson goes further: “Unfolded is my favourite progressive rock album of all time. In over thirty years of listening, and out of a collection touching fifteen hundred albums, Unfolded Like Staircase is ‘the one.’” The CD Push & Profit (1993) introduced Discipline to an international audience supported by a tour of Norway. The band also recorded a virtually unknown first album Chaos Out of Order (1988) that remained out of print for twenty-five years until the band’s indie label, Strung Out Records, reissued the recording in 2013. DISCIPLINE has also released three live albums; the This One’s for England (2014, 2xCD), Live Days (2010 2xCD on Cyclops/GFT), and Into The Dream (1999 on Syzygy/SOR).DISCIPLINE has appeared at numerous progressive rock festivals In 2012 the band appeared at RoSfest, the Rites Of Spring progressive rock festival in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. That performance can be viewed as an Amazon Instant video. The band has also performed at NEARfest (Northeast Art Rock Festival), Terra Incognita, ProgScape, Orion Studios, and six separate performances at ProgDay in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The band drew praise at UK’s Summers End festival in 2015 with reviews declaring Discipline “the band of the weekend.”.