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Raise The Curtain is the latest effort from the former Savatage mastermind.  Its quite different from the Jon Oliva's Pain project and in a surprising way.  The music has a strong 70s vibe blending elements of progressive rock, AOR, and metal.  Oliva plays all the instruments but he collaborated on the songwriting with Dan Fasciano.  From the opening roaring organ sounds you know you are in for something a bit different.  You can tell this is Jon Oliva - there are parts that will remind you a bit of Savatage but you will also think in terms of Kansas, ELP, Alice Cooper.  A mash up of styles for sure but quite well done.  A friend who heard an advance copy summed it up perfectly: "A fun album".  This is the first pressing that has one bonus track.  Grab it while we got 'em.

Deluxe digibook edition with one bonus track.  Please note - other versions will be available shortly."Previewing their tenth album "Beyond the Red Mirror" with the previously-released "Twilight of the Gods" EP, German power-symphonic metal maestros BLIND GUARDIAN capitalize on a long break with an encompassing and magical effort. For "Beyond the Red Mirror", the band worked with three different worldwide choirs from Budapest, Prague and Boston, along with two full-scale orchestras bearing 90 members apiece. The results are as larger-than-life as the band intended, fleshing out a sci-fi and fantasy piece bridged to their 1995 album, "Imaginations from the Other Side".As "Twilight of the Gods" (one of only two songs to clock in beneath five minutes) proved to ring like a broad-scoped, QUEEN-esque musical sonnet, the rest of "Beyond the Red Mirror" is simply massive. Beginning and ending with two epics that roll at 9:29 each, this album plays like BLIND GUARDIAN's reach for a masterpiece, and they practically hit it.You couldn't ask for a more breath-stealing intro with the gusting chorus opening the expansive "The Ninth Wave", a song stuffed as much with electronica buzzes and defined guitar lines as there are swarming voices. Hansi Kürsch, one of the best metal vocalists in the business, is nearly secondary to the enthralling choral tides that introduce and conclude the track. This could've been a near-ten-minute EP unto itself, that's how conclusive and meticulous the song is structured.The decorative harpsichord setting off "Prophecies" is a delicious intro for André Olbrich and Marcus Siepen to plow through successions of IRON MAIDEN-derived chords and marching progressions. Why BLIND GUARDIAN gets away with it is due to the incredible vocal outpourings around them. Again, the majestic theater aspect of QUEEN plays into this track as much as IRON MAIDEN and it's the proficiency behind the delivery that makes "Prophecies" sing instrumentally on top of the wondrous voices around it. Equally enchanting is "At the Edge of Time", which keeps a frolicking back beat and spritely orchestral accompaniment behind Frederik Ehmke's gradual stamp. The delicate measures BLIND GUARDIAN puts behind the thrusting march of "At the Edge of Time" are astonishing to behold, no matter how many symphonic metal albums you've been exposed to.The swift "Ashes of Eternity" gusts on the heels of Frederik Ehmke's fluid pounding, the breezing guitars and Hansi Kürsch's vocals, which toughen to full snarls at times, but never fail to exhale with full conviction. The gorgeous backing vocals add to "Ashes of Eternity"'s tireless drafts. Even more vigorous is "The Holy Grail" thereafter, which does HELLOWEEN and GAMMA RAY proud, much less HAMMERFALL and MANOWAR with its hurricane-speed tale of valor. Let the musical echoes of battle always sound this powerful.The 7:56 "The Throne" is a metal opera unto itself while serving the album's overall goal in sweeping the listener from one riveting plane to another, transitioning the twenty years between "Imaginations from the Other Side" and this album. "The Throne" works a little harder to find its spark as the band and orchestral pieces thicken up the longer the piece rolls, but Hansi Kürsch valorously leads the way and put to the stage, this piece should sound even bigger, so long as all of its recorded parts are presented live.What can be safely assumed is that the album's carnival-esque finale, "Grand Parade" will make it to their live forum. Cited by André Olbrich as the best song BLIND GUARDIAN has ever written, there's substance to this claim as it rolls, romps and cascades with all the gala these guys can load up. "Grand Parade" is a cheerful promenade for much of the ride with a thundering chorus ushering it along until a dramatic change in tone arrives with the first guitar solo, altering the course toward a valiant and clamorous bang. A return to the battle front with power metal thrusts and cinematic orchestration ram the song back to its original celebratory cavalcade for a triumphant finale. Indeed, this is the best song BLIND GUARDIAN has conceived. Phenomenal.With no disrespect intended to their contemporaries, BLIND GUARDIAN delivers symphonic metal of the highest art on "Beyond the Red Mirror". How far these guys have come since "Battalions of Fear" is not only remarkable, it's tremendous. As Hansi Kürsch has described the story behind this album, the red mirror is a representative, lone-standing portal to purported salvation and it must be found at all costs. What BLIND GUARDIAN has found with this album is inspirational and it's inexcusable the Grammy committee has long kept a sightless eye toward these virtuosi of metal music." - Blabbermouth

“There's limitless potential in a band this talented, if you ask me. They sound to my ears like a Jon Anderson-less Yes, covering Cynic's unreleased material (if any) while secretly worshipping the likes of Dream Theater.“ – musicemissions.comOne of the key members of the “djent metal” community are back!. “Irradiance” is the fifth release from this instrumental band. Djent metal is a relatively new sub-genre of progressive metal characterized by a certain type of palm muted guitar tone. Often attributed to Meshuggah, djent bands like Animals As Leaders, Scale The Summit, and Behold The Arctopus have a hardcore following of musicians and fans of progressive metal. Canvas Solaris is firmly ensconced in this field.The band has evolved dramatically from their beginnings as a death metal/mathcore band. Over time the band has assimilated progressive rock into their sound, balancing hyper-technical passages with dreamy, textured soundscapes.The band is always interested in presenting their work with interesting graphics. They are honored to have noted low brow artist Mars-1 provide the cover art. Once again the album was produced by Jamie King (Between The Buried and Me) and mastered by Alan Douches.

"London based Neonfly, are Willy Norton on vocals, Frederick Thunder on guitars, Patrick Harrington on guitars, Paul Miller on bass and Boris Le Gal on drums.They have managed to get onto some pretty cool and important supports slots lately, including Power Quest, Magnum, Sonata Arctica and Dragonforce. They lit up the Sophie Lancaster Stage at Bloodstock 2013 and their rapidly rising reputation as a force to be reckoned with live won them an invitation to open for Alice Cooper on the German leg of his Raise The Dead Tour 2013.Neonfly released their explosive debut album ‘Outshine The Sun’, in September 2011 on Rising Records, to critical acclaim. Now they are back with the ever difficult 2nd release ‘Strangers In Paradise’.What is clear about this new offering, is that they have used the three year gap in recording time wisely, so many bands get rushed into making their 2nd album that it is generally a poor effort, full of tracks that never made the final cut the first time around, however I am pleased to say that Neonfly have not done this. The new album is a step up both in songwriting, playing and overall production than the debut, so anything left over from the debut will still be on the cutting room floor.Opening song ‘Whispered Dreams’ is a massive opener, with a big chorus and the soaring melodic vocals of Willy Norton. Both “Better Angels” and “Heart Of The Sun” are catchy enough to win over casual fans and draw them in at festivals, before discovering the deeper delights this album has to offer.The use of keyboards and orchestrations on most, if not all of these songs help to lift them above the norm and add a touch of quality to an otherwise good track. ‘Sons Of Liberty’ has a String section at its heart and this works really really well.‘Aztec Gold’ is another track that benefits from the orchestration treatment yet remembers its power metal roots with a great guitar solo trade-off between guitarists Patrick Harrington and Frederick Thunder.‘Fierce Battalions’ is a fast-paced track allowing drummer Boris Le Gal to show us his skills, a basic yet effective trip down European power metal road.‘Chasing The Night’ and ‘Falling Star’ are two outstanding tracks, both for different reasons, the former is the longest track on the record and it has a more progressive rock feel to it. It’s also has a great lead guitar solo at the mid-point and plenty of explosive passages throughout. The surprise on the cd is the last track though, a ballad, the lyrics on “Falling Star” are just beautiful, this is a massive ballad and AOR rock band would be proud off.This is a very complex album that needs quite a few listens to fully experience it: is it Power Metal, is it AOR , is it Progressive?, the simple answer is Yes, it is all these and much more.

When seven Greek charlatans get together, the musical visions that springs from their minds, can only be described as a true freakshow.Back in late 2004 the idea of a band that could develop a theatrical attitude and combine different musical elements with the dynamics of metal and rock sound, brought DAKRYA to life ....Following the usual demos and local live shows, the band released its debut album "Monumento" in the spring of 2008. Receiving great reviews and good support from both the media and the fans in and around Greece, DAKRYA started touring on a broader scale, supporting such bands as MOONSPELL.In 2009 the band began to work on new material; the main goal was to put even more emphasis on the 'theatrical' style of DAKRYA, and in January 2010 the band entered the studio with engineer George Bokos (Rotting Christ) to record their sophomore album, "Crime Scene".Come March 2010 the band find themselves sitting in a studio in Sweden mixing the album together with Pelle Saether (Diablo Swing Orchestra, Draconian, Madder Morten), followed by a trip to other Swedish sound-guru Göran Finnberg (Opeth, Dark Tranquillity, In Flames, Arch Enemy) for the mastering of the disc.CRIME SCENE is actually a metaphor about the world we live in. So simple and so complicated at the same time. A person has to change so many faces in order to obtain a “socialized” and “normal” image, that if you think about it a little bit… we all look psychotic. In CRIME SCENE we improvise against reality! Snapshots taken from our everyday lives.From the opener "The Charlatans", over the obvious hit of "The Urban Tribe" to the final notes of the closing soundscape "A Dreadful Sidescene", the album is a one-of-a-kind musical experience. Ranging from the psychotic and cinematic melodrama heard in bands like Diablo Swing Orchestra and Unexpect to the orchestrated gothic metal comparable to Therion and Theatre Of Tragedy, DAKRYA paints their mark all over the canvas.

“Known/Learned’ is the third album from this thought provoking progressive band from Brisbane, Australia.  It’s a sprawling 2CD collection of themes and moments, captured between recurring characters. While never explicitly told in the traditional vein of the ‘concept album’, the imagery of Known/Learned depicts fragmented moments in the lives of a father and his daughter, their loss, their love, their journey. A bittersweet love song for life.Occupying a unique place in the Australian progressive music scene, Arcane’s transcendental live performances and 2009’s critically acclaimed, dark and enigmatic concept album 'Chronicles Of The Waking Dream' have earned them a inimitable reputation as one of Australia’s premier progressive rock bands.Sharing stages with artists as diverse as Anathema (UK), Soilwork (Swe), Queensryche (USA), Dead Letter Circus, Ne Obliviscaris and hundreds more, Arcane's live show, often accompanied by a backdrop of staggering visualizations, is a vast sensory experience.Arcane's immersive sound, and the vocals of Jim Grey quickly found favor throughout Australia, headlining the annual Progfest tour, providing touring support for Ne Obliviscaris, and performing to capacity crowds at Sonic Forge Festival in Melbourne. A crowd funding campaign in July, 2013 heralded the 2015 release of 'Known/Learned' a 16 track conceptual double album. Arcane blends the technicality of progressive metal with the atmospheric intensity of bands like Tool, Riverside and Anathema.  The world is about to discover what their Australian fan base already knows – that Arcane is a rising star in the world of progressive music.