Somewhere Else

Stunning Hendrix influenced progressive hardrock from guitarist Bambi Fossati. New edition reissued by Vinyl Magic in a digipak.  Sharp looking!

Latest from this Italian band create an intelligent mix of folk and power metal.  Love that violin!  Era is spiced up with some special guests: Jon Oliva, Teemu Matysaari (Wintersun), and Maurizio Cardullo (Folkstone).

"In the mighty and fertile cold lands of Sweden in the early 2000, Markus Sigfridsson, a skilled young guitar player, with his best friend, Tobias Enbert behind the drum kit, created HARMONY, a Christian Power Metal band influenced by the great Scandinavian Neo-Classic tradition updated with a strong Melodic Prog-Metal tendency…The perfectly named HARMONY, is an ambitious group that was immediately warmly acclaimed by our community, a general positive consensus that occured right after the succesful release of their debut album, “Dreaming Awake”, in 2003, an impression that was even reinforced by its solid sucessor, "Chapter II: Aftermath", published in 2008.In late November 2014, it was the next crucial step in their career, their third offering, "Theatre of Redemption", was available. The big announcement was that it featured in the Lead Vocal role, one of the most reputed Metal singer from Sweden, the one and only LOST HORIZON’s former Daniel Heiman, who provides, as expected, a superb performance; very impressive in every section, displaying an amazing range and an outstanding emotional imperssonated feeling, and I had the privilege to review it with a good rating of 9 in result…"Theatre of Redemption" finally ends up really high, in my famous top list for 2014…They also encountered some kind of achievement with DARKWATER as a side-project; the duet of musicians is still very active and full of ressources!On May 22nd in Europe, and on May 26th in North America, the Swedish melodic Power Metal band HARMONY, will release a new work in EP format, entitled “Remembrance”…Once again published through Ulterium Records will features the legendary vocalist Daniel Heiman (ex LOST HORIZON/ex HEED/ now frontman for LAVETT) on vocals. This six track EP includes four re-recorded songs from the HARMONY's debut album, “Dreaming Awake”, as well as two brand-new songs.Of course, “Eternity”, “Dreaming Awake”, “Without You” or “She” are the reworked tracks; the running order is still the same, keeping the original successivity, while at the final slots, the songs ”In His Heart” and ”Feed My Hunger” are the newest compositions; you can count on the ultra precise sonic rendition in the purest Swedish Tradition as, like “Theatre of Redemption, “Remembrance" was mixed by the same glorious team at Studio Fredman (DREAM EVIL/HAMMERFALL/IN FLAMES).Although a little short, "Remembrance" is fully packed with the best exemples of "how Modern Power Metal has evolved" with orchestrated arrangments, a few ballads, sporadic acoustic elements and more subtle, understated interludes (“Without You”) and something sounding quite parallel to Progressive Rock (“She”), the whole is clearly well played and superbly produced with with a huge dynamic range .The epic side and the Metal straightness is still present, strategically added, giving a more accessible feel to the listener with song like the opening cut, “Eternity”.If the style of the early album is respected, obviously the new found technically and proficient focus has given another color to this EP, a challenging method crafted under a even more epic flavor, the title track and “She” were two of my favorites in their “Dreaming Awake”. Now maybe in concurrence with the quality of the recently added tracks, like the infectious chorus within ”In His Heart” and its numerous layers of harmonized vocals, or ”Feed My Hunger”…The second being the most emblematic; it fit into the existing stylistic musical realms and show the more Melodic way forward for what could be the band's future, with a sophisticated Eastern/Oriental chord-structures mixed with the refreshing harmonic excellence!Another warning coming from the North…Will you remember?" - Metal Temple

12 years after their last release, Braindance are back.  One look at Sebastian Elliot and Vora Vor's photos you will think they were frozen in a time capsule.  Unless the Masters of Disguise are also the Masters of Photoshop they haven't aged at all.  Wow!What also hasn't changed is the sound.  Its classic Braindance and they are giving the fans exactly what they expect.  Sebastian's vocals have always drawn comparison to Peter Steele.  The music is a blend of prog metal - doom - electro-darkwave.  Typically the tunes are set against an epic scale symphonic landscape with an intense rhythmic pulse that allows room for Vora Vor and Crafty guitarist Tony Geballe to shred across.  Tracks are stitched together with samples lifted from film.  Masters Of Disguise is a conceptual work and the presentation is stellar.  The band has always had a relationship with the artists from the world of comic books/graphic novels.  One of the two booklets included is a 16 page comic drawn by Joe Simko.  The entire package is really over the top and quite gorgeous.  I'm emphasizing this because I know its an extremely expensive item and I'm sure cost the band a lot to manufacturer  Keep in mind - we didn't set the pricing on this.  Hopefully you are a fan of the band and can look beyond the price.

"New album  from Daniel Cavanagh of Anathema, introducing the brilliant Sean Jude.Leafblade was born out of a calling. A calling to bring the writing of Sean Jude towards a wider audience; or so thinks Mr. Cavanagh of Anathema, who originally formed Leafbladewith Jude several years ago.In May 2013 Leafblade release their new album, The Kiss of Spirit and Flesh, on the Kscope label.Daniel and Sean are joined on the new album by Anathema's portuguese multi instrumentalist Daniel Cardoso who plays drums, supported by Kevin Murphy and recorded by Mark Ellis who worked on anathema's 2010 masterpiece, We're Here Because We're Here.Produced by Cavanagh, The Kiss of Spirit and Flesh steps up the dynamics from debut albumBeyond, Beyond.Showcasing Cavanagh's unmistakable production work, his signature electric guitar playing and heartfelt 'musical weaving', all of which is built around Jude's unique and brilliant progressive songwriting, his lute-like nylon strings, his articulate lyrics and passionate vocal delivery.Cavanagh feels that the album has found a natural home at Kscope, the label that he has worked with extensively over the past few years, "the writing is absolutely top class and the progressive and organic nature of the music makes it very much part of Kscope's orbit."He continues; "we feel the album is a special one thanks to the beautiful lyrics, top class arrangements and excellent musicianship, and it should appeal to Anathema fans and progressive fans alike."""

Quatermass were a killer "one and done" prog trio from the UK.  Consisting of John Gustafson (bass, vocals), Peter Robinson (keys), Mick Underwood (drums), Quatermass' music had a heaviness about it that could almost (but not quite) classify it as hard rock.  In fact Gustafson and Underwood went on to play with Ian Gillan.  Of course the star of the show is Peter Robinson, who you are probably more familiar with his later work with Brand X.  Hammond organ is the focus here and Robinson rips the hell out of it.  If you are a fan of ELP you should probably be checking this one out.The previous CD incarnation was released on Repertoire and has been unavailable for years.  This is a new CD/DVD edition.  It features a new stereo mix by Peter Robinson and includes 2 singles tracks as well as 2 previously unreleased tunes.  The DVD features the album in a 5.1 mix.  Highly recommended.