Discography

La Mascera Di Cera (02) Il Grande Labirinto (03) In Concerto (04, Live) Luxade (06)

Reviews

Maschera Di Cera is an evolution from Finisterre, begun in 2001 by their bassist Fabio Zuffanti. He was soon joined by Agostino Macor (keyboards) and Marco Cavani (drums), both from Finisterre. Completing the original line-up was Alessandro Corvaglia (lead voice, acoustic guitar) and Andrea Monetti (flutes, saxes). In 2003, Maurizio di Tollo of Distillerie di Malto replaced Cavani on drums. The last two studio albums were produced by PFM drummer Franz Di Cioccio. -- Fred Trafton

Links

[See Distillerie di Malto | Finisterre] Click here for Maschera Di Cera's web site

Discography

Mese/Tale (93, Cassette) Kínai Nátha/Chinese flu (94) Viperagarzon/Viperflat (96) Villamos/Tram (97, Audio & Data CD) Katasztrófamámor/Flush of catastrophe (98, Audio & Data CD) Angyaltojás/Angel's egg (00, Audio & Data CD) Rádióbarátnõ/Radiogirlfriendly (00, Remix)

Reviews

Másfél - (In no particular order) Attila Bácsi (guitar), János Hegedüs (bass), Tamás Kalocsai (drums until 1998), Zoltán Ujj (drums from 1998), Levente Lukács (sax), Eszter Salamon (cello since 1996) Here we go again, trying to categorize the uncategorizable. Másfél uses a huge array of styles merged into something new that is all their own. Musically, there are bits of Punkish Metal (in the guitar playing), Techno (in the rhythms), Classical (in the violins and cellos), and Acid Jazz (in the sax playing), perhaps even some Arabic flavoring (or is that Hungarian folk music?). As I listen, I am sequentially reminded of Snakefinger, Bill Nelson's Red Noise, The Sex Pistols, Philip Glass, Fred Frith or This Heat, but they don't really sound like any of them. So is that a useless explanation or what? But it's the best I can do. Click below to surf over to their web site and try out some MP3's of their stuff. See if you can do any better than me. I can't describe it, but I do know that I like it! -- Fred Trafton

Heavy duty instrumental power band that released some very energetic "in your face" albums loaded with some of the most intense bass riffs ever to be pressed onto CD. If you liked the intensity of Osanna, Másfél may even be more intense but in a modern way. Features a guitarist (amazing), Saxophonist, bass guitarist, cellist and percussionist. I have Viperagarzon and Katasztrófamámor. Katasztrófamámor ("Rush of Catastrophe") is an all out attack on the senses with it's bombastic repeating riffs, pumping saxophones, crushing bass licks, heavy duty guitar solos and such. Katasztrófamámor leaves me out of breath much the same way that Osanna's Palepoli did. -- Betta

Links

Click here for Másfél's web site

Discography

Ingress One (86) Masque (89) Third Ear - Third Eye (97)

Reviews

Excellent Japanese instrumental band which operates in the jazz-rock mode, not far from bands like Kenso and Black Page, but a little more sustained and less elaborate. They are featured on some of the Japanese sampler CDs, such as Canterbury Edge and Jazz-Rock Collection, both on the Made in Japan label. The only releases are cassettes, except for Ingress One which is LP.

Third Ear - Third Eye is the band's first CD release. -- Fred Trafton

Flesh that Understands (92), Ten Ways (94)

Masque is a Swedish band, based in Gothenburg (second largest city in Sweden). They released their first CD this year on a French label. The music is quite similar to how Saga used to sound in the early days. Since the texts are written by a poet, they are quite advanced and this kept the reviewers grade down when they were judged in the papers. I think the record is available in Europe, while America is more uncertain but it is of course available by mail from the record company.

New band on Musea. Their only release to date is Flesh That Understands. Their sound is neo, but overall not derivative sounding, with the exception of a couple pop tracks that sound like Saga. The balance of the album is well thought-out and explores plenty of original ideas. The playing is tight and the vocals are excellent, plus good lyrics to boot.

Discography

Massacre (89)

Discography

Killing Time (81) Funny Valentine (98) Meltdown (01)

Reviews

Around 1980 Fred Frith was joined by Bill Lasswell and Fred Maher (both from Material) to form the short-lived band Massacre. The trio (guitar, bass, drums) recorded one LP that was published by Celluloid in 1981. This turned out to become a RIO classic that was re-issued on CD by RecRec with a couple of bonus tracks. In 1998 Lasswell, Frith and Charles Hayward (This Heat, Quiet Sun) joined for a recording session for a second Massacre album. Funny Valentine is improvisational rock at its best! -- Achim Breiling

Links

[See Frith, Fred | Material | Quiet Sun | This Heat]

Discography

It's a Jungle Out There (89) Lofcaudio (90)

Reviews

Elephante post-Kansas. A lot like his version of Kansas but with Christian-rock overtones. Recommended: Lofcaudio.

A christian metal band ... that's all I know.

Links

[See Kansas]

Discography

Mastermind Volume One (90) (Another review here) Volume Two: Brainstorm (92) III ~ Tragic Symphony (94) IV ~ Until Eternity (96) Excelsior! (99) Angels of the Apocalypse (00) (Another review here) Prog, Fusion, Metal, Leather & Sweat (00, Live)

Reviews

Mastermind started as just a duo, Bill and Rich Berends, brothers from New Jersey. Music, lyrics, guitar, bass and faux-keyboards (actually a guitar-controlled MIDI setup) were handled masterfully by brother Bill, while Rich pounded out complex drumming and sang. In the beginning, ELP was always mentioned in the same breath as Mastermind, because of the obvious influence they had on the music, despite the lack of "real" keyboards. As time went on, Mastermind began to sound less and less like ELP and began to have their own identity, though the music stayed true to their "old-fashioned progressive" beginnings. Rich's vocals were never the high point of Mastermind, but they were getting better with each album. By the time of Tragic Symphony they were actually not too bad, but with Excelsior! and the addition of keyboardist Jens Johansson, they abandoned Rich's vocals completely and did an all-instrumental album. At the same time, the music began to leave the 70's prog sound behind, and the move towards a more progressive metal sound began, though this album also has a lot of jazzy influences. With the release of Angels of the Apocalypse, Mastermind's first release on a major label (Inside Out), the move towards progressive metal was complete. The addition of powerful "mezzo soprano vocal" by Lisa Bouchelle also adds to the difference in the band's sound. In spite of the cover of ELP's "Endless Enigma" on this CD, the "power keyboard band without keyboards" was completely gone. Personally, though I also enjoy the new sound of Angels, I'm going to miss the old Mastermind. There's plenty of ProgMetal to go around these days, but there was only one Mastermind. In my opinion, the diversity in the progressive rock world is a little bit poorer for the change. -- Fred Trafton Addendum: Bill Berends wrote me a very nice note to let me know that he was "to blame" for the vocals on the early Mastermind albums, not Rich. How embarassing ... I must have misread this when I originally read the liner notes for the first Mastermind CD, and I've had this wrong all these years. Sorry about that, Bill. In addition, he wanted to make sure that everyone knew that Mastermind is from New Jersey, not "the Midwest" as mentioned in another review here.

Mastermind is a progressive band based in the Midwest, whose debut on CD is an excellent work, influenced to a large extent by ELP. One notable feature of this release is that no keyboards are used (!). The leader, Bill Berends, uses a MIDI-equipped guitar synthesizer to trigger keyboard sounds. From the sound, though, you would swear that he was playing all those fiery lead passages on those classic Moogs of yesteryear ! Of the nine tracks, three are instrumental. Highly recommended for all ELP-philes. Volume Two: Brainstorm is the second release from the ELP-influenced band that does not use any keyboards! All the Keith Emerson-style leads are still performed on a MIDI-fied guitar, articulated perfectly.

A new progressive trio from New Jersey. They manage to combine some excellent compositions with a distinctive '90s sound. The driving force behind the band is one Bill Berends and his guitar-synth, who writes all of the band's original material, along with his brother and Drummer Rich Berends. Bass is capably provided by Phil Antolino. There are no keyboards here, dont be fooled just because you hear something reminiscent of ELP...It's all guitar ! Comparisons might also be made with '70s Canadian trio FM, or the Japanese progressive outfit Social Tension, but they really have a unique cutting-edge sound with some energized hyper-drive guitar riffs and great vocals. They also have a knack (as ELP did) for butchering the classics - the versions of "Ride of the Valkyrie" and "William Tell Overture" on Brainstorm smoke from beginning to end. Both albums highly recommended.

Charging into the nineties is the US power duo Mastermind. They play a melodic ELP-styled energetic and bombastic progressive rock. There is a warlike theme to their debut album ("Tidings of Battle," "A Call to Arms," "Eye of the Storm," and "War Machine") but it is not as harsh as ELP's Tarkus. The music, a heavy metal, jazz fusion, and progressive hybrid, propels you at a breakneck speed from the opening notes to the final chord. Rich Berends is a consummate drummer of infinite energy and he contributes almost as much to the music as the rich arrangements and virtuoso musicianship of his brother Bill. At that there are only three instrumentals out of the nine songs on this CD. The one "quiet" moment on this album is Long Distance Love Affair, a love ballad sounding like Depeche Mode on acid. Volume One is an outstanding debut album that sets the stage for their next CD Brainstorm. Brainstorm contains more music than Volume One and again is the stage for the Berends to show off their multi-talents. There is so much energy in this music that the disc almost floats by itself! Having established themselves with Volume One, Mastermind flexes their muscles (figuratively and actually) and begins to explore classical themes like their mentors ELP. Bill Berends interpretation of "Wagner's Ride of the Valkyrie" is the most accurate, bombastic, and energetic rendition I've heard. This song in concert would whip the crowd into a screaming howling frenzy! In addition their "William Tell Overture" is sure to bring you to those thrilling days of yesteryear. The title track "Brainstorm" is full of King Crimson Red-era savage guitar and drums. As on their previous effort, the music abounds with heavy metal guitar licks and lightning fast runs. Mastermind is a band to watch. They aspire to the fame and glory of ELP and I think they deserve it.

Ah, harken back to the days of Prime Prog when albums had multiple side-long suites, bombastic synthesizer relentlessly assaulting your frontal lobe. Add to that some of the most pretentious liner notes I have ever seen and it's no wonder progressive rock fell out of favor. But here we have a band that that takes those characters and wraps them up into a package called Volume 2: Brainstorm. OK, so the liner notes are pretentious: what about the music? Mastermind are the brothers Berends, Bill and Rich. Rich is a drummer who subscribes to the Carl Palmer school of drumming. He likes them loud, fast and furious. Brother Bill is the mastermind behind Mastermind as he writes all the songs, sings and plays everything except percussion. Bill plays guitar which he uses to control a rack of synthesizers to create a dense and aggressive sound that will immediately bring ELP to your mind. However, Bill's guitar (as a guitar) is the dominant force and he assaults your brain with scorching guitar licks for the entire 70 minutes of the album. At the end, you won't be surprised to find you've become a little numb. To be sure, Bill has got chops and uses them well. Occasionally he falls back on cliche and some of his changes among sections in the multi-part suites could be better, but as a whole Berends is an excellent and aggressive guitarist. Seventy minutes of assault such as that unleashed by Mastermind can be a bit difficult to take in one setting--I almost always break up the album into two sections. There are two long suites, the 21 minute "Brainstorm" and the 18 minute "Triumph of the Will." There is also a cover of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyrie" and Rossini's "William Tell Overture." Generally a fine album when taken in smaller doses but there is nothing pastoral about this band--keep that in mind when deciding if you want to hear it. Their first, Volume 1 is similar though the synth textures are a little more prominent which gives a stronger ELP feel. The vocals are not as clear on their second album. They produced both so I assume experience played a roll there. Phil Antolino, their bassist for live gigs also plays bass on this album. Overall, Volume 1 is a less mature effort in the composition department. Start with their second. I bet this stuff is intense in a live setting!

Links

[See Johansson Brothers | Spastic Ink] Click here for the Mastermind web site

Discography

Matching Mole (72) Matching Mole's Little Red Record (73) Radio One Live In Concert (94, Recorded in 1972) Smoke Signals (01, Live, recorded in 1972) March (02, Live, recorded in March of 1972)

Reviews

Matching Mole - (not in photo order) Phil Miller (guitar), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals), Dave Sinclair (keyboards) and Bill McCormack (bass) This group was founded by Phil Miller, and featured some of the stalwarts of the Canterbury scene, including Robert Wyatt and Dave Sinclair. Of their two releases, their first was the more, er, pastoral sounding, with much of that deriving from the presence of Wyatt. His haunting vocals are present on a few tracks, with the instrumentation very reminiscent of the group Egg. Little Red Record is the 1972 release by the Robert Wyatt/Phil Miller/Bill McCormick/Dave McRae line-up and is undoubtedly the quirkier of the two eclectic works by this band. Robert Fripp was the producer, and Brian Eno guested on synth on one of the tracks. The music is probably best described as Hatfield and The North meets Soft Machine meets Gong, with much of the latter's influence presumably stemming from Robert Wyatt's association with Daevid Allen.

Cool Canterbury band, albeit a bit strange, led by drummer/vocalist Robert Wyatt (ex-Soft Machine) that featured Bill MacCormack on bass, Phil Miller on guitar and Dave Sinclair on keys. The sound is dominated by Wyatt's offbeat tunes and lyrical humor.

Matching Mole consisted of Canterbury luminaries Robert Wyatt (Soft Machine), Dave Sinclair (Caravan), Phil Miller (Hatfield and the North, National Health), and Bill McCormick. Their self-titled first is an excellent album featuring spacey improvisation and extended jamming, except for the first couple of tracks. These are dominated by Robert Wyatt's vocals and are somewhat melancholy and jazzy in nature. In a few places, some trademark Sinclair keyboards shine through, or a Phil Miller guitar lick will be evident, but overall this album represents a unique blend of ideas. Probably not the best place to start exploring the Canterbury scene, but their first album is a must-hear for the Canterbury fan. I haven't heard Little Red Record but I do know it features Dave McRae on keyboards instead of Dave Sinclair.

Imagine Hatfield and the North meets Robert Wyatt head on. Two great albums of Wyatt-driven Canterbury material ... very atmospheric and cool. Little Red Record is bizarre and has a strange version of "Oh Len's Nature" with lyrics which you'll find on the re-released CD of Hatfield's debut. In the liner notes, Robert Wyatt says that people thought they must have been mad or stoned when they did that but he recounts that the frightening thing was that they weren't :-)

Quite an impressive pedigree: Robert Wyatt from Soft Machine, Bill MacCormick from Quiet Sun and Dave Sinclair from Caravan, plus newcomer Phil Miller. The first album, however, is a pretty scattershot collection of songs and improvisations. The songs sound like leavings from a Wyatt solo album, not bad, but I thought this was supposed to be a GROUP. The improvisations are really far-out and may not exactly appeal to you in certain states of mind. Heavy use of Mellotron makes them resemble Tangerine Dream circa Alpha Centauri, honestly! Little Red Record is much more of a group effort. With ex-Nucleus keyboardist Dave Macrae replacing Sinclair (who had returned to Caravan), the band made a superb album of offbeat Canterbury fusion that provided the stamp for Hatfield and The North, National Health and others. Best tracks: "Marchides" which houses an incredible Miller guitar solo, along with some of some of Wyatt's best drumming, and "Gloria Gloom" which includes Brian Eno in a guest role, providing some ethereal synth textures. Can't be beat. -- Mike Ohman

March is Cuneiform records runner up to Smoke Signals, another disc of unreleased live material. While I found the sound quality and the quality of the music to be mostly very good I felt it was marred by Robert Wyatts terrible off key singing on a number of tracks, mainly "Instant Pussy" where he sounds like a choking crow. One other flaw in this record is the boring bass line which runs through both the 1st and 2nd track. The last four tracks are pretty much unmarred and are definitely worth hearing for any Canterbury fan. I would even go so far to say that the instrumental parts on this CD are better than their studio counterparts. -- Anton Winkelhan

Links

[See Caravan | Grimes, Carol and Delivery | National Health | Quiet Sun | Soft Machine | Wyatt, Robert] Click here to order Smoke Signals or March from Cuneiform Records

Discography

Oh Perra Vida de Betto (72)

Reviews

Mellow Prog.

Temporary Music (80), Memory Serves (82)

Featuring Bill Laswell on bass and Cliff Cultureri on guitar. Laswell is now a leader of the New York "downtown" music scene, working with Fred Frith, Ronald Shannon-Jackson, Ginger Baker(!), to name a few. Temporary Music is actually a compilation of 2 EPs that offer an interesting fusion of jazz/rock and kind of a Euro-disco or techno feel. These guys blew me away at the Gong Festival in Baltimore back in 79, in fact they blew everyone away, just doing the 4 songs from the first EP, plus a killer version of Eno's "Somber Reptiles." Really tight ensemble playing from a traditional rock 4-piece outfit, and very high energy. I was less impressed with the subsequent releases, however.

Discography

Tiempo (99)

Reviews

I have to admit it from the first line: I do like this band a lot. Period. They are definitely succesful in their symphonic approach. The only reference I can give is Yes, more than in the "sound and feel", in the way compositions are internally structured and arranged. As Jon Anderson pointed years ago: it's "orchestrated rock", donīt expect a backing orchestra, we're talking about the approach to composition. "Tiempo" is a concept album, based on a poem by Gabriela Mistral (with this, and with Los Jaivas having put out in 1981 Alturas de Macchu Picchu, music for a poem by Pablo Neruda, seems that both Chilean Nobel winners are well represented in prog music). Itīs basically about the hours in a day (four themes: "Amanecer" -dawn-, "Mañana" -morning-, "Atardecer" -evening-, and "Noche" -night-). The good thing is that the outcome is neither pretentious, nor self-indulgent. Itīs rather like a child staring at the vast ocean: amazed, and innocent. The piano plays an important role here, and though the emphasis is not in complexity, I guess this requires constant rehearsing, as the different instruments play different roles and the changes occur often. There is a wide variety in the sounds and moods covered. But, this is the kind of album that is not too self-conscious about its "cleverness" or "complexity". Complex and clever it is, indeed, but it's more about the beauty of music. Moreover: features the best singing Iīve heard in a Chilean prog band since Fulano (who can beat Arlette, anyway!). I just love this one ... -- Rodrigo Farías M.

Links

Click here for Matraz' very simple web site, but there are sound samples

Discography

Matrix (aka Matrix IX) (76) The Wizard (78) Tale Of The Whale (79) Harvest (80) Proud Flesh (01, Live)

Reviews

Fusion with heavy emphasis on synths, horns.

Links

Click here for the Matrix web site

Discography

Trends And Other Diseases (96) Radio Da Da (98) The Teenage Tapes (98) The Music Or The Money ... (97, 2CD) Live (01, Live) On Air With Guests (02, Live) Thanks For Flying With Us (05, as Mats/Morgan Band)

Reviews

Mats/Morgan Band The only thing I've heard from Mats and Morgan is the RealAudio sampler called "Big Mats/Morgan Sampler" on Morgan Ågren's web site and MP3's of "Sinus" and "Remain Seated" from their new album Thanks For Flying With Us, but these are all spectacular ("Sinus" excerpts figure strongly into the sampler too). Mats and Morgan were big Frank Zappa fans and had played in a Zappa cover band named Zappsteetoot before being "discovered" by Zappa himself. He invited them onstage to play with his band when he was in Sweden. They later toured with Zappa's Universe, a band sponsored by Zappa to play his music after he stopped touring before his death. The "Big Mats/Morgan Sampler" on the web site definitely shows the Zappa influence, but it's the early, chaotic Zappa. To be really "prog reviewer-ish" about it, one might say "Mats and Morgan sound like what Zappa would have sounded like if he recorded for Cuneiform Records". It's not that big of a stretch ... Mats and Morgan's latest album Thanks for Flying with Us is on Cuneiform Records. Definitely a band I'll need to check out in greater detail. The Mats/Morgan Band will be playing in the 2007 Rock In Opposition festival in France. Morgan Ågren has also played with Fredrik Thordendal of Meshuggah. -- Fred Trafton

Links

[See Meshuggah | Zappa, Frank | Click here for Morgan Ågren's web site Click here for Morgan Ågren's page on Drummerworld web site, where there are several MP3's to listen to Click here to order Thanks For Flying With Us from Cuneiform Records Click here for a 1999 interview with Mats and Morgan

Matter (93)

If you like quirky psychedelic guitar-rock drenched with Mellotron, read on... Matter is pretty much the two man project of Joe Albarran (chapman stick, bass, Mellotron and guitar) and Mike Madden (drums and percussion) - although Spyder Powers contributes lead guitar on a few of the tracks. For a sound comparison, some paralells to a Djam Karet or Steve Tibbetts might be in order, with some of that everpresent King Crimson style Mellotron thrown into the mix - yet one cannot say this sounds like any of the former other than as a quick reference - in fact the overall sound is far more jagged and psychedelic - for lack of a better word, bringing to mind some of the early german bands like Ashra Tempel or Guru Guru before they smoothed out their sound. Recording quality tends to be a little substandard for the nineties, which tends to further authenticate the seventies feel. No vocals here, to speak of other than some whispers and background screaming on one track. Some of the tracks, like the shimmering "Beyond The Fourth Dimension" or "Gravity Field" with its spastic guitar leads, tend to stand out among the others, yet even as such most of the album has kind of a sameness about it that maybe more variety of instrumentation could provide. "Bog" is a slower cut with fuzzy lead melodies walking over a bed of Mellotron and percussive bass. This is one of those albums that beckons you back for more listens as it slowly reveals itself and its subtleties, its strengths and weaknesses.

Discography

My Fruit Psychobells ... A Seed Combustible (99) Bath (01) Leaving Your Body Map (01)

Reviews

maudlin of the Well (2002) If the phrase "progressive metal" conjures likenesses to Dream Theater or Symphony X in your mind, then you're getting the wrong idea. If it makes you think of Queen or even Queensrÿche, then I'd really better steer clear of the term. maudlin of the Well, however, is certainly Prog and has many toes dipped into the well of Metal. But the metal parts are probably closer to Tool than any of the previously mentioned bands. Heavy thrash drumming, guitars and bass distorted beyond tonality, troll vox and SGM-type bellowing all place maudlin of the Well into the "progressive metal" category. But wait! They're much more than that. What about those pastoral guitar harmonic plucking parts? The clear, clean female (and male) vocals? There are parts on both Bath and Leaving Your Body Map that can only be described as sweet and melodious. It sounds more like King Crimson's "Moonchild" than anything a metal band would be interested in performing. They'll sometimes put troll vox on top of these "pretty" musical parts just for the contrast. Then there will be parts that can only be described as "sound sculpture" with no real melodic content, just a pleasant arrangement of sounds. maudlin of the Well manages to meld these styles and more and still have it feel cohesive, rather than several band members fighting for control. This takes incredible expertise, and maudlin of the Well has it in abundance (there are 8 musicians listed in this band as full-time members and several more guest musicians). Nope, not really "progressive metal" at all ... this band can be described only as avant metal, as useless as that umbrella is at describing their music. Really ground-breaking and wonderfully executed. For several years, Bath and Leaving Your Body Map have been out of print, but Dark Symphonies is re-issuing them in January 2006 in limited quantities, with bonus tracks. These two albums were originally released simultaneously in 2001. Though not a 2-CD set, they are considered to be "companion albums" which complement each other. This re-issue has been my first taste of maudlin of the Well (yes, they really do leave the "m" lowercase and the "W" capitalized), and I'm very impressed. To be honest, I'm not usually one who enjoys "prog-metal", but these albums are diverse, intricate, surprising and superbly executed and I find them to be thoroughly enjoyable in that "difficult" progressive way. Let's try this as a quotable quote: "If Henry Cow was a Metal band, they might sound something like maudlin of the Well". Anyone who knows how diverse Henry Cow is knows this is a worthless analogy, but it's about as good as I can do. Not merely recommended, these albums are a must for anyone who has a liking for the "avant" regions of music, even if you would usually steer clear of a "prog-metal" band. Though maudlin of the Well are no longer together in this form, several members have re-formed as Kayo Dot and continue to tour and perform a very similar musical style with a large performing group and to record with other semi-members who work with them in the studio. If they come to your area, check them out! And in the meantime, order Bath and Leaving Your Body Map from Dark Symphonies (see link below). -- Fred Trafton

Links

[See Kayo Dot] Click here to order maudlin of the Well releases from Dark Symphonies

Discography

Mawwal - Live at Artspace (02, Live, as Acoustic Paranoise) Black Flies (07)

Reviews

Mawwal - Joe O'Brien (bass), Mike Keyes (drums), Jim Matus (guitar, lute, vocals, composer), Jill O'Brien (vocals), and Rohan Gregory (violin). Mawwal is "augmented by" Harshal Tole (tabla), Percy Jones (bass), Ken Matarazzo (percussion) and Michel Moushabek (percussion) in recordings and some live dates. Black Flies is the first studio album from Mawwal, who have been around since 2002 in that form. But before that, band leader Jim Matus led another band called Paranoise, and there is a live album entitled Mawwal - Live at Artspace which was released for free download on the Paranoise web site under the name Acoustic Paranoise. This is clearly a transitional album, so I've placed it in both bands' discographies. It's a great album in its own right, and I've already talked about it a bit in the Paranoise entry, so go there for some info on it. Today, I'm really here to talk about Black Flies. For the first impression of Black Flies, it's hard to get beyond "wow!". For me, this is what "progressive" music is all about. Yet you'll keep hearing it compared to Peter Gabriel's music, and that's fair after a fashion. In fact, if you're familiar with Paranoise, you might say that this album sounds a lot like Gabriel, but is closer to the "difficulty" level of Paranoise as far as making it airplay-ready. If this is sounding negative to you, please don't take it that way ... I'm only predicting what others might say about the album. For my taste, this is album is just about perfect in every way. The recording quality is excellent, the compositions are intricate and enguaging and the musical performances are nothing short of spectacular. To call this "world music" is both accurate and an insult if the term calls to mind the crap they sell in the health food stores. This has elements of Arabic music (melodically and vocally) plus Indian music (due to the tablas and violin), Greek music (Matus' Laouto and again the violin), plus vocal harmonies that sound like Bulgarian Women's Choirs all mixed with western jazz-rock and progressive rock. It seems that Jim is trying to tell us that these elements can live in harmony with each other and create something new and beautiful, they don't have to fight and be in conflict with each other. And that's what Matus' politics are all about too, which are woven into the lyrics of the music and add yet another dimension to the already fascinating brew. But lest you think this is all about "World Music", there's some great fusion grooves being layed down underneath the ethnic music by none other than Percy Jones (Brand X, Tunnels, etc.) on many if not most of the tracks. Bumping this album off my "Best of 2007" list this year will be quite a feat, but we'll see if it can be done. I don't know whether to hope so or not. Either way, Black Flies is essential! -- Fred Trafton

Links

[See Percy Jones | Paranoise] Click here for Mawwal's web site Click here to order Black Flies from CD Baby Click here to download Mawwal - Live at Artspace

Babel (78)

Discography

Maxophone (75) From Cocoon to Butterfly (05, CD rec. 1973-75 plus DVD rec. 1976, NTSC & PAL versions)

Reviews

One of the best of the 70's italian progressive re-releases, a high-energy six-piece, cohesive and forceful music with strong melodies and tight changes. Their album was released in both Italian and English versions.

Splendid Italian ensemble strongly influenced by P.F.M. and King Crimson. Their one album combines jazz, rock and classical ideas in a dazzling stylistic whirlpool where you never know what's coming next. So at one moment they're playing a gentle, romantic melody, the next they move into Dixieland jazz, then suddenly furious rock guitar comes out of nowhere. And so on. They use jazz (clarinets, saxes, trumpets) and classical (horns, flutes, strings, harp) instruments to give them a textural depth most such bands could only hope to achieve. Perhaps the best sample of their arresting style is the instrumental "Fase", which grips you immediately with the punchy Frippian guitar, then goes into some lighter classical-like moments, and not the other way around as many of the other tracks do. Nonetheless, a beautiful and thoroughly enjoyable album. -- Mike Ohman

Maxophone are another of the crop of Italian progressive rock acts, who recorded one quality release (in early 1975), and then disappeared. Their music was very much in the pastoral PFM vein, with similarities to bands such as Locanda Delle Fate, and, perhaps, Le Orme. The vocals are in Italian, and, interestingly enough, a version with English vocals was released in the US! In addition to the keyboards/guitar/drums line-up, Maxophone featured two players on wind instruments, including clarinet, flute and horns. This added a more symphonic dimension to their music, which should surely appeal to those who enjoy the bands noted in the comparisons above.

Ah yes, yet another great Italian band. The closest comparison that I can make is with Locanda Delle Fate, but that doesn't quite describe Maxophone. While Locanda was a full, rich seven piece that composed some of the most beautiful multi-instrumental counterpoint I've ever heard, Maxophone uses a full, rich complex approach with a heavy guitar and some occasional harshness. Not only do they layer complex harmonies with ease, the point that pleased me the most when listening to this CD was the sudden, surprising changes of tempo and style. They switch from virtuouso classical piano melodies to mid twentieth century jazz between measures. Not only that, but with metalish guitar leads in some tracks, they move to gospel style vocal overdubs in others. This is a feast for those of you who like the 70's Italian bands or contradicting mood changes. Unfortunately, the CD was mastered off a record and loses its excellent sound quality occasionally on the high-end parts. But don't let that stop you from enjoying this masterpiece. Even at the import price, it is well worth the money. Highly recommended.

Maxophone were a top-notch Italian band playing a complex symphonic prog. The ample liner notes on the CD reissue I have are written in Korean so I can't garner much information about the band other than to guess that they were a six piece. Their style has references to PFM, Le Orme, Locanda Delle Fate and Il Balletto di Bronzo. Their playing ranges from pastoral softness to searing and heavy but always lyrical and never overbearing. There are nice multi-part vocals that are never harsh. In addition to keyboards and guitar (including classical guitar passages) the band uses sax, flute, vibes and a variety of other instruments to round out their sound. Quite good!

The classic Maxophone shows Italian symphonic rock at its best, full of nuances and subtleties. The band of six offers rich instrumentation: keyboards, guitars, vocals (in Italian) bass, drums, flutes, percussions, clarinet, saxophone, trombone and horn. Guests also add harp, violin, cello and bass. The compositions show a most complete sound and take advantage of the versatility of the musicians by finding inspiration certainly in rock, but also in jazz and classical music. This energetic music is full of emotions and switches easily from one style to another within the context of the same track. An unavoidable production for fans of the style and era. -- Paul Charbonneau

The first 90 seconds or so of the opening track on their eponymous 1975 recording (their first and last recording actually) ("C'e un paese al mondo") opens with (1) some very Henry Cow-ish, slightly atonal acoustic piano, which then swiftly segues into; (2) a 45 second heavy jazz-rock guitar/bass/drum/piano jam, which then gently fades into; (3) a quiet, almost pastoral French horn/organ/bass section. All of this might conjure up images of Gentle Giant, which is at least in part true. However, whereas the music of Gentle Giant borrows heavily from medieval styles, is "dense" and "complicated" in the most contrived way, and irritatingly atonal and jagged, the music of Maxophone seamlessly stitches together disparate styles into a soft, very pleasant sounding, and wonderfully arranged bit of symphonic progressive rock. The musicians are superb, actually having received formal training, and compose astoundingly complex pieces that are beautiful and challenging, yet never lapse into pure academics. The bonus track "Il Fischio del Vapore" is excellent while "Cono di gelato" is just mediocre. Highly recommended! -- Jeff Park

Although less popular than other mainstream italian prog rock groups, Maxophone recently achieved cult status among late prog rock fan because of their well crafted music, solid musical expertise, and precisely cut arrangements. Their only LP record, the omonimous Maxophone, aged pretty well sounding fresh today almost as it was in 1975. A well coordinated six piece ensemble, Maxophone sits covering the gap between the clattering edge of groups like King Crimson, the folky roots of Jethro Tull and the more elaborated Canterbury sound. Although they may sometime blink an eye to melodic rock, they never forget the mission to surprise the listener, nicely standing repeated listenings. Their music shows surfacing influences from Greg Lake, Robert Fripp, ELP, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, National Health, PFM, Banco and Yes among the others. Maxophone most reknowned capability is to change their music style from pastoral to rock to classical to jazz within the same song without losing listening momentum. Thanks to the use of wind instruments, chord instruments and keyboards, their music always sounds very rich, round and full of amazing nuances. After the publication of the omonimous LP, they recorded a poppier single, whose side A and B songs are both included as bonus tracks in the CD version of Maxophone. A must for all italian prog rock lovers which may also get it in a US version. -- Ludovico Vecchione

In 2005, BTF Music in Italy released a box set which includes a Maxophone CD with 10 vintage tracks recovered from outtakes and alternate demo material from 1973-1975 (4 tracks are unreleased), plus a DVD with Maxophone live footage from a 1976 concert at RAI Studios in Torino (RAI is the Italian national TV broadcasting company). All recordings have been remastered. The songs on the CD were recorded on 4-track recording equipment. The DVD footage was professionally filmed by Italian TV in 1976, and has a bonus video track of Maxophone re-formed in 2005, playing one live track at Radio Popolare Studios in Milano. -- Fred Trafton (paraphrasing a BTF Music press release)

Links

Click here to order either the original Italian or the English versions of Maxophone from Mellow Records Click here to order From Cocoon to Butterfly from BTF Music

May Blitz (70), The Second of May (71)

One of the earliest British progressive trios, similar to High Tide, but not as good on their first one. Second Of May is supposed to be great though.

Early UK rockers with progressive touches. Self-titled first opens with great guitar jamming song, including some hot acoustic guitar jams intertwined with electric guitar. Guitar-dominated work pervades the album but the music is rather uneven throughout. Some songs are pretty good, others go lacking a little. Vocals on most songs are somewhat reminescent of Jack Bruce. Overall, nothing really spectacular.

Lyle Mays (86)

Keyboardist with Pat Metheny group. His self-titled solo album is much like Metheny circa Off Ramp, but a little more low key, and of course all the music is piano-centered. Features Bill Frisell on guitar and Nana Vasconcelos on percussion.

[See Metheny, Pat]

Discography

Delusion (71) McChurch Soundroom (72)

Reviews

From the underground scene.

You mistakenly list McChurch Soundroom as a German band. Most prog sites etc. do, because their albums were released on Pilz/BASF (German label, of course). However, McChurch Soundroom were not a German band, but Swiss, from Basel. I know, because I am from Basel. Actually, McChurch were rather crap, but no matter - you're an encyclopedia, after all! -- Gabriel Stetter

Ages (75)

Rare South African prog album with psych-looking cover.

McDonald and Giles (71)

This titleless album by two under-appreciated contributors to the landmark In the Court of the Crimson King is in many ways the polar opposite of the Crimson King. Multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald (reeds, keyboards, guitar) and drummer Michael Giles left King Crimson in late-1969 because, according to an interview with McDonald, Crimson's music "is not happy music...And I want to make music that says good things instead of evil things". Crimson's venerable Robert Fripp, stunned by McDonald and Giles departure and offering to leave the band instead, attributed the band's break-up to McDonald and Giles "falling in love" during Crimson's Fall '69 US tour. Thus, this 1971 Atlantic record is an upbeat, happy, love-inspired counterpoint to the brilliant, yet haunting and moody, Court of the Crimson King. Ian McDonald's "Suite in C" (complete with pretentious Crimsonesque subtitles), with catchy jazz-like riffs, is part statement that McDonald can also handle a guitar (something he couldn't play while along side guitar virtuoso Fripp). "Is She Waiting" is an unabashedly sappy love song penned while McDonald toured with Crimson. "Flight of the Ibis" is the original version of Crimson's "Cadence and Cascade," with a more poppishly accessible melody, but dogged by weak lyrics. The album's highlights are Mike Gile's "Tomorrow's People," punctuated by snappy rim shots and nice orchestral interludes, and McDonald's "Birdman", a wonderfully crafted ode to man's eternal quest to fly. "Birdman" is the album's most Crimsoneque, prog-like piece, complete with music-laden imagery, crescendos, and tranquil interludes, and penned by Crimson's own Pete Sinfield. Crimson fans are likely to be perplexed yet intrigued by McDonald and Giles' sole joint-collaboration. Throughout the piece, McDonald even forsakes the Mellotron (something which he almost single handedly popularized with King Crimson) in favor of an acoustic piano. Because the album never met commercial success, McDonald and Giles went their separate ways, with McDonald joining the very commercially successful yet most un-prog band, Foreigner (just after he was suppose to rejoin the disbanded post-Red King Crimson) and Giles holding steady gigs as a session musician (Ant Phillips, musical scores). This highly listenable album deserves a place in the collection of any die-hard Crimson fan if for no other reason than to suggest the direction Crimson might have gone had McDonald and Giles stayed with the group. -- Robert Cervero

Two renegades from the original King Crimson. The music on this album is in a much lighter vein than KC, with major keys abounding, making them much closer to Caravan. What guitar there is is acoustic, the emphasis is more on McDonald's keyboards and reeds (sax/clarinet/flute), plus the odd sundry instrument, like the lovely use of zither on "Flight of the Ibis", which contains the original, superior melody to "Cadence And Cascade". "Birdman" is the labum's sidelong opus, and perhaps their most influential piece of music. With its ear-catching melodies and tasteful orchestrations, it influenced bands such as Grobschnitt. Very good. -- Mike Ohman

[See Giles, Giles and Fripp | King Crimson]

Discography

Es Reut Mich F ... (90) MCH Band 1982-1986 (92, 2CD) Gib Acht !!! (93) Pseudemokritos (96, as Mikolás Chadima) Transparent People (98, as Chadima & Fajt) Carnival (99)

Reviews

MCH Band in 1993 (Gib Acht! line-up) MCH stands for Miklas Chadima, guitar and sax player and founder of this band from Prague. Chadima was one of the most important figures of the Czechoslovakian rock scene. Since 1972 he played in several bands and as he signed the Charta 77 his activities resulted in continuous persecutions, interrogations and investigations by the Czechoslovakian secret police. On the rare occasions he was allowed to travel abroad he went to London, playing with Art Bears and This Heat. MCH Band was founded in 1982. They published several cassettes and few of their songs were published on compilations (e.g. on the RecRec Quarterly Vol.1 No.1 in 1985). After the fall of the iron curtain they recorded this double LP (one CD, distributed by Recommended No Man's Land) [Es Reut Mich F ...] in 1990. As the liner notes put it: "The Music of MCH Band can be called Prague music. We can find here the coolness of gothic cathedrals, richness of baroque palaces and the tragicomic atmosphere that is typical for Czech-German-Jewish inhabitants of Prague, stigmatised by nazi and communist terror." The band consists of four musicians (guitar/sax, keyboards, bass and drums) and they sing in Czech and German. The music is neo-classical prog., very dark and sinister, very quiet and very dramatic on the other hand. The relation to other Czech bands of the early 9ties is quite obvious (Domaci Kapela, Ser Un Pejalero). People who like Univers Zero (Heresie) should try to find this one! -- Achim Breiling

Links

[See Art Bears | This Heat] Click here for the MCH Band web site

McKendree Spring (69), Second Thoughts (70), 3 (72), Tracks (73), Spring Suite (74), Get Me To The Country (75), Too Young To Feel This Old (76)

A band to beware of. The way they give their electric violin/synth player (Michael Dreyfuss) top billing is very misleading. Usually he's relegated to playing countryish amplified fiddle behind the wimpy folk/country Grateful Dead-isms of singer/songwriter Fran McKendree. He gets about one song per album to stretch his legs, and it's often a letdown. On the one I have: it's "Light up The Skies", a noble but unsuccessful attempt to adapt themes from Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" into a five-minute song. Anyone who knows me knows that I'll recommend you get Canarios' Ciclos, and pass this one up. Double beware: Spring Suite has very cool Roger Dean cover art, but I heard it sucked just as bad as Tracks. -- Mike Ohman

Discography

Elemental (85) To Drive the Cold Winter Away (87) Parallel Dreams (89) The Visit (91) The Mask and Mirror (94) A Winter Garden: Five Songs For The Season (95, EP) Live In San Francisco (95, EP, Live) The Book Of Secrets (97) Live In Paris And Toronto (99, 2CD Live) An Ancient Muse (06) Nights from the Alhambra (07, 2CD+1DVD Live)

Reviews

Loreena McKennitt Loreena McKennitt is one of the most exciting musicians to come out of Canada in the past decade. Her music shows a heavy British Isles/Irish folk influence, often combined with a medieval sound and occasionally ventures into Spanish and Middle-eastern music. A lot of people compare her to Enya, but a much more apt comparison would be with Dead Can Dance -- or maybe with early Alan Stivell. Her music, though mellow, does not confine itself to the synth-ethereal sound that Enya's does, and incorporates a wider variety of rock and world instruments as well. Loreena's voice, furthermore, is much richer and more operatic than Enya's. Her arrangments are also more elaborate. Her first three albums, though quite good, might not be the best introduction to her music for a prog fan. They tend to be very relaxed, very melodic versions of traditional Irish, Scottish, and North American folk tunes, with lilting vocals, seasoned by very beautiful arrangements on harp, guitar, keyboards, bass, violin, and occasional pipes and percussion. There are a couple of compositions that feature spoken-word poetry over the music as well. Loreena really comes into full blossom on The Visit. It's a more eclectic album, containing tunes inspired by Persian and Argentinian musical traditions, and it's slightly more up-tempo and rockish as well. The centerpiece of this album is the 12-minute "The Lady of Shallott" which uses the words of Tennyson's poem for lyrics. (Loreena actually does this a lot -- she has set several Shakespearean speeches to music as well.) The Mask and Mirror continues these musical explorations even further with an attempt to capture the mood of medieval Spain and Morocco on several of the songs (like "The Mystic's Dream" and "Marrakesh Night Market"). With it's lush melodies, trance-like rhythms, rich vocal harmonies, and wonderful instrumental arrangements (featuring some great guitar playing by Brian Hughes), it's probably the best album of hers for a prog-fan to pick up. -- James Chokey

Added 4/23/01: When I first took over as editor of the GEPR, I was surprised to find Loreena McKennitt's name in the encyclopedia. I'm a big fan of Ms. McKennitt's music, but I never really considered it to be progressive. This is what I would call "world music", in a big way, since she uses rhythms and musical modalities from all over the world, usually with her ethereal vocals over the top. Seldom rock, frequently Celtic, and usually intriguing. Also great music for home birthing (trust me on this one). Her latest live album Live In Paris And Toronto is an excellently performed and recorded overview of all her music, I would recommend this as a good starting point to get to know her style. -- Fred Trafton Update 12/28/07: After nearly ten years, Loreena McKennitt has finally released a new studio album, An Ancient Muse in 2006. Several reviews I've read have said, "why bother? It sounds just like her previous albums." Well, there's a bit of truth in that, but heck, I like her previous albums, and you don't listen to a Loreena McKennitt album for the sake of bleeding-edge musical innovation. But even there, this isn't bad. Loreena has been around the world researching Celtic musical stylings and history, and has incorporated instrumentation and harmonic movement from ancient sources. That's why the album is named that, after all. Again, she uses literary sources for "The English Ladye and the Knight" with lyrics by Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), though she pens most of the lyrics herself. If you didn't like her previous albums, there's probably not much in An Ancient Muse that will change your mind. But if you did, An Ancient Muse will be a fine addition to your collection. Loreena followed the studio album up with a 2CD/1DVD live 3-disc digipak called Nights from the Alhambra in 2007. The two CD's contain the all music from the DVD, though of course without the video. I've only watched (and listened to) the DVD, which contains her most popular selections from earlier albums plus a couple from An Ancient Muse. Excellent videography, excellent musicians, interestingly strange instrumentation and Loreena's mysterious voice make this a most entertaining and repeat-worthy DVD. Imagine a combination of the best material from Enya and Riverdance (without the dancing) and you'll get some idea of what this album sounds like. Welcome back, Loreena. -- Fred Trafton

Links

Click here for Loreena McKennitt's web site

Discography

Paseando por la Mezquita (79) La Esquina del Viento (80)>BR> Andalucía (82) Caravano Española (86) En Al-Hakim (89) En Directo (90, Live) Sin Tiempo (92) Dónde está la Luz (93) Árabe (95) A Toda Esa Gente (96, Live) Tánger (98) Baladas (99) XX (00) Tierra de Sueños (02) Versión Original (03) Aixa (03)

Reviews

Medina Azahara are a Spanish prog band who reportedly released several albums, starting from around 1979 and as late as 1991. I've seen this band listed as an incredible example of Spanish prog but the three albums I have tend not to bear this out. La Esquina del Viento is mostly 3-4 minute songs (the longest is 5:18) that isn't too progressive but rock with a few symphonic progressive tendencies. There is a strong vocal (Spanish of course) presence, lots of heavy guitar and occasionally some nice keyboard work. The rhythm section of bass and drums generally play simple and straightforward. All the songs follow the same general verse/chorus format. Andalucia is similar in that it has several commercial songs and a one or two tunes with vauge progressive tendencies. Paseando por la Mezquita is a better album with several fluid guitar solos alternating with liquid synth passages. They still suffer from a basic rhythm section, though. If you find any of their LPs at a bargain (doubtful), it might be worth picking them up. If they want a fortune (that you're willing to spend as a collector) you may want to audition them before you lay out the cash.

I heard a couple of early tracks, enjoyable flamenco-prog with distorted guitar. Similar to Cai, but harder-rocking. -- Mike Ohman

Meisenfloo (72)

Prog.

Discography

Halogen (02)

Reviews

MegaXBrand's Lester James (or maybe this is James Parsons, or maybe they're one and the same. Who knows?) MegaXBrand's Halogen is an album of some of the most distorted, paranoid sounding work I've ever heard. Take equal parts The Residents, the earliest Devo, Pere Ubu, This Heat and ... uhm ... maybe the Dickies, pulverize in a blender with chipped, dull blades, pump the resulting goo through several distortion boxes, turn on the arcing/sparking machines and raise to the ceiling to be struck by lightning (laugh maniacally). The resulting smouldering mass of charred matter isn't anything like MegaXBrand, but it has a similar consistency. Know what I mean? No? Well *&%$# you then! Uhm ... sorry ... I think I've been listening to Halogen a bit too much ... MegaXBrand appears to consist of writer James Parsons and guitarist Lester James, though the album credits are anything but clear on this. Bass, organ, vocals and (possibly) synthesizers can also be heard on the album, but these are uncredited. Halogen's intrumentation sounds as if everything's been run through distortion boxes, including the guitar, the vocals, and the combo organ, and then recorded on an analog tape machine with the VU meters pegged. There's also lots of echo and reverb, to the point where the sarcastic, muttered and shouted vocals are barely understandable, though the broodiness and anger seem to come through even though you can't understand the lyrics. It sounds sort of punkish in that way. Their web site calls Halogen "underground hip punk surreal rock" ... I'll buy that, but add "indie" to the list of adjectives. Fans of the afore-mentioned bands (The Residents, Devo, Pere Ubu and This Heat) should find a lot to like about this album. Those Seattle guys who call themselves "grunge" ... they don't have a clue what "grunge" is. This is the real thing. Not what I would usually categorize as "Progressive", but unique and inventive nonetheless. -- Fred Trafton

Links

Click here for MegaXBrand's web site. This should give you a good idea of what to expect from Halogen.

Swaddling Songs (72)

Very nice female vocalist, she'll remind you of Annie Haslam of Renaissance or Sonja Kristina of Curved Air. The album falls squarely into a vague folk-prog category, with the vocals sounding very folksy, while the music varies over folk, psych, and progressive. Some nice piano is featured on many of the songs. Very nice if you like female vocals... lots of vocals. For me, sameness starts to creep in about half-way through.

I like folk-rock quite a bit but I've never heard any quite this busy! Something of a mix between Steeleye Span and Reniassance, this early 70's British band has really caught my attention. At first I didn't ever realize the traditional strains...I was so caught up in the keyboard/guitar work playing very *active* melodies across the vocals. And I must say that the vocalist (don't know her name) has one of the most lovely voices I've heard in quite some time. Her control is evident when she modulates pitch half an octave or more between words so smoothly. If there isn't a progressive-folk subdivision, maybe there should be. This is a truly virtuistic performance.

Et Apres (76), L'Ecume des Jours (79)

Obscure French band in the symphonic realms. Pretty good and pretty unique.

Discography

Men Of Lake (a.k.a. Riva) (91) Looking for the Sun (93) Out of the Water (94) Music from the Land of Mountains, Lake & Wine (98)

Reviews

Current italian band that plays more in the spirit of the 70's than most of their contemporaries. Good vocals (in english), strong melodies, dramatic themes, and lots of Hammond organ everywhere. Very good overall.

After Alan Freeman's rave review in Audion, I was very enthusiastic about hearing this band. Their use of Hammond organs was catching the nostalgic ears of long time progressive fans. The album certainly is listenable and appealing, but destined to be a classic? I don't agree. The keyboardist is no Keith Emerson, in fact he reminds me more of Marillion's Mark Kelly. While the band isn't untalented they spend too much time hitting chords in the background instead of playing together. There are some very nice moments on this album but too many average moments to make a difference. I will give this more listens since people I respect think its quite good but I can't conscienciously give it a thumbs up.

Discography

Menagerie (97, Cassette) Tiempo Fugitivo (00, CDR)

Reviews

Menayeri is a Puerto Rican band whose CDR release Tiempo Fugitivo may not be the most highly polished thing you've ever seen, with its "girl who sat beside me in English class sketching on notebook paper" quality pencil-drawn cover art and "two mics in the practice room" quality recording. But if it's the music you care about, then you should give these guys a listen. Nice arrangements of great compositions and performances ranging from good to excellent. The guitarist, Edgardo Alvarez, is in the forefront with a style that seems to mix Steve Howe, Alex Lifeson and Allan Holdsworth together at various points. There are some keyboards on the album, but as there is no full-time keyboardist credited, this probably explains why they are merely adequate ... I assume they are handled part-time by other band members. Edwin Torres handles the vocals well, with lyrics in Spanish (they experimented with English vocals for awhile, but decided against it). If you can get over the "garage band" sound quality, this album is easily recommendable to fans of Yes or the early Beatles; even though it doesn't sound that much like either of them, it does have that upbeat quality. These guys would be incredible if they could find a good producer to capture their sound onto a better recording. Still, even as it is, it's well worth a listen. -- Fred Trafton

Links

Click here for Menayeri's web site

Discography

Try Your Brakes (90) No Mortal Man (90) Verdict (91) Time Being (92) Silencing the Alarm Bells ... Live (93, Live) Darkness Before the Dawn (96, Compilation)

Reviews

Very good hard rock/metal progressive band, more dark sounding than Dream Theater, they use more bizarre chord progressions. Great keyboard player.

Mephistopheles (74)

Orchestrated prog with opera overtones.

Discography

Musik Fuer Einen Engel (93)

Reviews

Mergenthaler played sax and cello on Univers Zero's Uzed. Then he joined Art Zoyd for Berlin and Nospheratu. From 86 to 93 he worked on solo tracks in the studio, which were published in 93 on the above CD. Mergenthaler plays all the instruments himself, so you here on this disc mostly his nice cello and sax backed by a huge wall of synths and keyboards, and some computer drumming. In addition there is a very strange singing - Mergenthaler electronically modifying his voice to a very deep timbre, reminding a bit of Gregorian chants. This is a very dark and sinister recording, reminding clearly of Art Zoyd (I had to think of Thierry Zaboitzeff's solo recording Dr. Zab, on which Mergenthaler is also playing), but it's a bit simpler and as you may expect, after reading the track names ("Choral", "Ave-Maria", "Gloria" or "Domine") somehow sacred. This is certainly nice, but maybe a bit too melancholic. -- Achim Breiling

Links

[See Art Zoyd | Univers Zero | Zaboitzeff, Thierry]

Vanish to the Moon (89)

Pretty bad neo-prog with male and female vocals. The flute parts are really amateurish. Possibly OK if you like very light neo-prog but avoid otherwise.

Liten Groda I Stor Damm (78)

Folky Prog.

Discography

Batztoutai with Memorial Gadgets (86) Rainbow Electronics (90) Great American Nude / Crash for Hi-Fi (91) Music for Bondage Performance (91) Bastard Noise (94) Venerology (94) Mort aux Vaches - Locomotive Breath (95) Pulse Demon (95) Green Wheels (95) Music for Bondage Performance 2 (96) Oersted (96) Hybrid Noisebloom (97) Space Metalizer (97) Dharma (01) ... other collaborative releases

Reviews

Japanese industrial noise band.

This is in the prog survey? I would hardly consider this akin to any prog! Basically harsh Japanese free-form noise, from white electronic noise to instrument torture, but in short, NOISE. Merzbow's sound is based on doing things to metal (scraping, banging, etc) then processing the sound using a myriad of electronic effects to create very noisy ambience. Be warned, there are basically no musical structures except for some early stuff that is rhythmic in nature. Merzbow makes stuff like John Zorn and Doctor Nerve sound symphonic and pretty in comparison! Merzbow will probably make your ears bleed. Way more harsh than other noise stuff like Lustmord, early Current 93, Nurse With Wound, Hafler Trio or even NON. Merzbow is usually one guy, Masami Akita, and not even Masami would be able to compile his own discography. He has a slew of recordings both authorized and un-, compilations, collaborations, tape releases, strange vinyl artifacts, etc. on many labels from many countries.

Discography

Psykisk Testbild (89, EP) Contradictions Collapse (91, Original release) None (94, EP) Selfcaged (95, European and US versions, US version has 1 extra song) Destroy Erase Improve (95) True Human Design (97) Chaosphere (98) Contradictions Collapse (99, U.S. release, different cover art, includes None EP) Rare Trax (01, Demos & previously unreleased material, including 3 MPEG videos. Early pressings had printing errors and missing MPEG files) Nothing (02) I (04, EP) Catch Thirty-Three (05)

Reviews

Meshuggah Meshuggah ... whose name is taken from the Hebrew and Yiddish word for "crazy," is a five-piece "prog-metal" group from Umeå, Sweden who use extended polymetric passages, complex drum patterns, jazz chromatics, odd time signatures, angular/dissonant guitar riffs, and harsh, non-pitched vocals. Meshuggah was formed in Umeå in 1987; two years later, the band released their first record, an EP entitled Psykisk Testbild (which can be roughly translated as "psychological test picture", perhaps in reference to a Rorschach Test image). These recordings displayed straightforward thrash metal-influenced sound along the lines of Metallica's concurrent releases. What made the band unique, however, were hints at the more complex music that the band would later develop into their signature sound. As the group grew older, they further refined the technicality of their musicianship and songwriting. Their music began to take a noticeable influence from not only progressive elements, but by both death metal and thrash metal as well, although not completely similar to nor able to be categorized as either. Among the band's most recognizable qualities are lead guitar player Fredrik Thordendal's smooth, legato-fusion, Allan Holdsworth-esque solos, singer Jens Kidman's brutal vocals, the churning & dissonant rhythm guitar patterns of both Thordendal and Marten Hagstrom, and the polymetric drum beats of Tomas Haake. In a typical Meshuggah song, Haake plays two separate rhythms: a standard 4/4 beat with his hands, and a completely different metrical subdivision with his feet. The guitars mostly follow the bass drum work, creating an awkwardly pulsating rhythmic pattern to work as the basis of the song. Meshuggah's debut album, Contradictions Collapse, was originally released in 1991, albeit not in the U.S.; Nuclear Blast's 1999 stateside reissue appends the None EP. While the debut LP represents a strong influence in style from California Bay Area thrash metal, it contained scattered elements of fusion throughout the music, mostly found in Thordendal's solos. It's the EP None that truly shows Meshuggah developing what would ultimately become their unmistakable sonic imprint. The riffs are tighter, solos cleaner, the drumming more technical, and the song structures more complex and less predictable. The polyrhythms, which serve as a defining aspect in their music, become present here. Songs most notably displaying this style are "Ritual" and "Gods of Rapture". Still, my guess is prog-purists would shy away from this LP/EP for the aforementioned dominance of straightforward thrash influence. With 1995's Destroy Erase Improve, Meshuggah broke any preconceived ideas about what metal could be. The Swedish outfit surpassed their original, yet relatively under developed, debut with a record pure in concept and execution. Both lyrically and musically, the themes visualize the amalgamation of machines with organisms as humanity's next evolutionary step, the cold technology represented by the pulsating rhythms and abrasive sound. While the music is powerful, technical, polyrhythmic metal, Meshuggah handles this with a balance, entwining harsh vocals amongst deceptively simple staccato guitar riffs and precise drumming, often with all three components acting in different time signatures. Meanwhile, the neo-jazz fusion leads serve as melodic breaks amidst the grinding rhythms. As a result, songs like "Future Breed Machine," and "Soul Burn" integrate different elements into a precise attack, the point being that change can be extraordinarily difficult, if not maddening, but the results are transcendent. 1998's Chaosphere saw the band move into heavier territory. To quote one fan, "Meshuggah is an inhuman assault, opaque and austere without remorse. They evoke a band of Terminators -- music so harsh, mechanical and precise it could only be executed by cyborgs. Unusual articulations, strange numbered repetitions, labyrinthine polymeters and polyrhythms ... but this is more than just left-brained number crunching. Meshuggah's ability to fuse their tempestuous concepts into intelligent songs is remarkable". "New Millennium Cyanide Christ" epitomizes this. Haake beats a rather slow 4/4 rhythm with his hands, while the bass drums and guitars play a repetitive 23/16-rhythm pattern on top of it. As the subdivided pattern is repeated, the pattern's accents shift to different beats on each repetition. After repeating the 23/16 pattern five times, a shorter 13/16 pattern is played once. These patterns sum up to 128 16th notes, which equal exactly 8 measures in 4/4 meter. The timbre is mechanical, technical, and chaotic. A lyrical interpretation sees a futuristic setting where the spoken lyrics are a speech, given to the human masses by an altered, post-human cyborg. The speaker discusses all of the technological "improvements" made on his body and indirectly alludes to existence of control over humans - an oppressor (most likely machines ... similar theme to "Future Breed Machine"). He's been built with the intention of censoring and ceasing humans from defying against one another and/or their oppressor. The music is a very "big" mechanical feeling; a very large machine: This relates to both the speaker and the oppressor. Thordendal's lead sounds something like what you'd expect to hear from the internal workings of this machine: sharp notes & quick blurs of electricity while the rhythm guitar, bass, and drums pound out the sound of mechanical movement (bringing to mind elements of King Crimson's "Larks Tongue In Aspic Pt 2" where violin sifts violently over Fripp's cyclic-churn of guitar). The ending, which begins with a snap of Haake's drums, is the most powerful part of the song. It's like the speaker is on a podium with his fist in the air as he preaches. His last words are followed by something I can't describe other than it makes the hair on my neck stand up. Although 2002's Nothing splayed fans between awed and slightly disappointed, it is certainly progressive in its approach. Where past albums have seen the group driving through the good-natured wittiness of their baffling instrumental changeups, Nothing is a grueling agitation of sound; an ever-changing landscape of riffs loaded with the low-register of custom-made Nevborn eight-string prototype guitars and plenty of surprises. While the music is apparently slower, the rhythms have no fewer complexities than previous efforts, but seemingly more. In many cases, Meshuggah makes groups of sixteenth notes sound like quarter-note triplets, while "apparent" changes in meter are actually the same time signature. Sometimes a "new" riff appears when actually it is the same group of sixteenth notes. "Strengah" is an addictive number with those one or two atonal notes blasting out a super-addictive monster crunch while Haake is using a 32-eighth beat pattern on the hi-hat. Other marvelous sensations exist throughout the album, including "Closed Eye Visual" display of riff permutations of the phrase in relation to the 16-beat cycle, "Straws Pulled at Random" ending in melancholic and utterly poignant jazz-like guitar melody, and the sluggish twist of "Nebulous" that makes the track it all the more gargantuan. 2004's I EP and 2005's Catch Thirty-Three are somewhat of different animals in terms of structure. I is in fact a single 21-minute assault made up of no fewer than 15 separate passages. Opening with a highly intricate pattern of a single chord, staccato riff and a thunderous tom-tom performance by Haake, the bottom suddenly falls out, the band pausing for a split second, afterwards unleashing 22 seconds of pure, unadulterated chaos. From there, the band moves into their "normal" territory, expanding upon elements explored on each of their previous albums while diving into the more extreme. Prog purists would probably not take an interest in this; that's not to say this isn't progressive, in fact the originality and "progressiveness" on display is something to learn from. The reason why a large portion of prog fans probably won't be able to value this is that it bears no immediate resemblances to anything else in prog. While obviously not abandoning live drums, a unique decision was made to use programmed drum patterns using Tomas Haake's "Drumkit From Hell" sample library on Catch Thirty-Three to provide not just a more precise and mechanized drumscape, but also made drum beat creativity a more collaborative effort amongst all of the band members. The album is conceptual, but in a very different way than the usual narrative or thematic focus of most concept albums. This is not as much a story as it is a refined expression of a complex and primal states of being, though the specific definition of the details of this state are best left to the individual listener. Its structure is that of yet another single opus, this time split apart by track and passages. Everything up to and after the catching of the breath that is "In Death - Is Death" is hardcore pulverization of the highest caliber, toying deliberately with rhythmic and tonal variations that have nothing in common with the Dream Theater school of self-conscious musicianship. -- Robert Brown

Links

[See Mats and Morgan] Click here for Meshuggah's web site

The Dawn Anew Is Comin' (71), From Books and Dreams (73), Message (75), Synapse (76), Astral Journey (78), Miles Of Smiles (80)

German euro-rock band in the vein of Nektar.

Discography

Phonogenix (05)

Reviews

Very nice if somewhat tedious blend of tech-jazz ambience with World beat overtones. The result is a little like Tangerine Dream meets Peter Gabriel without the singing but not nearly as compelling as either. -- David Marshall

Links

Click here to order Metagaia from Musea Records

Discography

E Fu Il Sesto Giorno (72) Inferno (72) Paradiso (04)

Reviews

A short lived Italian band only releasing two albums, the average ...E Fu Il Sesto Giorno and the classic Inferno. The latter featuring great use of the Moog as well as other amazing keyboard work, the band puts together an album length suite that is one of the classics in the history of symphonic progressive music. A must.

This heavy progressive album is a dark and intense moog workout. The keyboardist has his Emerson chops down, from the Hammond stylings to the barrelhouse/classical piano style. The Emersonian touches appear here and there throughout but this is not an ELP keyboard trio or anything near it. They explore dark corridors filled with cobwebs of intensity that ELP were too wimpy to explore. There is some wonderfully penetrating moog work on this (political?) concept album. Except for a couple of breaks, the many tracks flow together into a continuous piece. The vocalist strongly reminds me of Doug Ingle from Iron Butterly. The vocals are in Italian, but don't let that stop you. The lyrics are provided so you can sing along! Strongly recommended to fans of ELP and the moog synth.

The second album is the best with great keyboards and vocals (like ELP). It includes rock versions of the American and Soviet national anthems.

The above statements about Metamorfosi's two albums was correct in the early '90's when they were written. However, in the mid '90's, original keyboardist Enrico Oliveri and vocalist Domenico "Jimmy" Spitaleri together with new drummer Fabio Moresco and bassist Leonardo Gallucci reformed Metamorfosi and began playing "Inferno" in its entirety to appreciative Italian audiences. During this time, they composed and began playing Part II of an envisioned trilogy, titled "Paradiso". They recorded and released Paradiso in 2004. Yes, for those of you who have noticed the Dante "Divina Commedia" reference, they are currently working on Part III - Purgatorio to complete the trilogy. Though I haven't heard any of these albums, I was privileged to see Metamorfosi perform all of Inferno and Paradiso together at NEARfest 2004. It was an excellent performance, reminiscent of ELP due to the "power keyboard trio" format (guitarless, though the bass and vocals are split between two people, so they're not a trio), and also reminiscent of other Italian prog bands such as Le Orme. The vocals were excellent and powerful (and, of course, Italian), though Spitaleri spent a lot of time wandering around on the stage and "conducting" the other band members due to lengthy instrumental passages. Very good stuff! And as far as the quality of the new material compared to the old? I couldn't tell where one left off and the other began. They seem to have fully captured the '70's Italian Prog feel in their new material. Great stuff, and I intend to order both Inferno and Paradiso as soon as my CD budget allows ... One more thing ... I'm keeping the link here to Spitaleri, Davide until someone can confirm this, just because it was in the original GEPR. However, I don't believe this is actually the same person as Domenico "Jimmy" Spitaleri. This may also negate the link to Thor, about whom I have even less knowledge. -- Fred Trafton

Links

[See Spitaleri, Davide | Thor] Click here for Metamorfosi's web site (in Italian or English)

Discography

Starfooted (00) Entertaining Thanatos - Seven Cheery Songs About Death (04) The Sparrow (07)

Reviews

Metaphor 2007 (at Aricebo) - (not necessarily in photo order) Jim Anderson (bass), John Mabry (vocals), Marc Spooner (keyboards), Malcolm Smith (guitars) and Greg Miller (percussion) Original entry, 12/4/00: I get a lot of CD's for review in the GEPR. Most of them will go on the shelf after I'm done reviewing them and won't be dusted off for playing for my own enjoyment once I'm done with the review. Nothing against them ... I've just got too many new and old favorites to choose from. Starfooted will be an exception ... it's going to be on my personal playlist for some time to come. Starfooted is an old-fashioned concept album. Lots of linked songs, recurring themes and a philosophy, in this case a great story based on Gnostic scriptures, though the band members are quick to say they are not Gnostics themselves. To quote from their web page: "... a lot of what gnosticism teaches is really, really icky. Like the body being evil, women being evil, and stuff like that." However, they do a great job of exploring some of the interesting aspects of Gnosticism. They paraphrase Gnostic scriptures like The Thunder, Perfect Mind, The Gospel of Thomas, and The Reality of the Rulers (also known as The Hypostasis of the Archons). Metaphor started life as a Genesis tribute band, and this is still evident listening to Malcolm Smith's Steve Hackett-like attack-suppressed and long-sustained guitar parts, and Mark Spooner's Banksian keyboard work. There's a bass part in "Ladder from the Sky" that's (practically) one of the motifs used in The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. In fact, much of this album is extremely reminiscent of Selling England By The Pound-era Genesis. OK, so what? That's a great sound! Besides, there's also parts that sound more like Yes, particularly Steve Howe-ish guitar work, and other more neo bands, especially early Spock's Beard (The Light) and Clutching at Straws-era Marillion. Plus a lot of stuff that sounds very progressive, but not that much like anyone else. Unlike many Prog bands, these guys are also good at producing catchy, singable (hummable) melodies. And the fast (sequenced?) synth intro to "Starfooted in a Garden of Cans" is just too cool (actually, it's sort of a 2nd intro after an opening medieval/fugue section). Just don't ask me what "starfooted" is supposed to mean. Metaphor has changed bass players since the release of this CD (Jim Anderson replaces Jim Post), and are currently working (slowly) on another CD. Don't hold your breath ... they are thinking maybe they'll start recording sometime late in 2001. By then, I will definitely be ready for some new tunes, and to see what direction they take from here! -- Fred Trafton

This [Starfooted -Ed.] is a good first album for this new progressive band. The voice, musicians and melodies are good. You can ear an old Genesis influence, and also, from old memories (don't hold this against me), The Strawbs from the voice and orchestra like arrangements. They will need to find their "own" sound in the next album, and I'm sure it will be one to look for. -- Sylvain Shea

I waited with bated breath for the release of Entertaining Thanatos. I had even heard one cut I sorta liked on the BayProg sampler CD that came with the Spring, 2002 issue of Exposé magazine ("When it All Comes Together"). However, I just never took much of a shine to this album. I guess I really liked the concept of Starfooted and was hoping for a bit more of a concept than "Seven Cheery Songs About Death" (the subtitle of Entertaining Thanatos). The songs aren't bad, you understand, they just didn't do that much for me. When a band puts all their heart and soul into an album, I just hate writing a bad review of it, especially when it's not terrible. It just didn't really speak to me in the way that Starfooted did. So, I kept putting off updating the Metaphor entry. Until, I now realize, I had something good to say. OK, with the release of The Sparrow, I do have something good to say. Wow! This album is everything anyone could want out of a prog album. In fact, it's so "formula" that I suspect some people will give them a bad review because of it. Another concept album, a rock opera (of a sort ...), a science-fiction theme, and plenty of predictable prog orchestration (Hackettish guitars, Mellotrons, etc.) might almost make this album a parody of what prog's all about. Except that it's real good. I for one don't have enough good things to say about it. First of all, the concept album ... I love a concept album if it's about a concept that I can care about (sorry ... "death" isn't really on my list). Rock operas are great too, though this one would fall a bit flat if it was to be rated as purely a rock opera ... too much of the story is told by text in the CD liner notes during instrumental cuts. But, as a prog album, this works just fine. And the much-maligned "science fiction story" is another thing that people take pot-shots at. With lots of boring "Bug-Eyed monsters ate my Buick" Sci-Fi as examples, I can't say I blame them. But real science fiction tells amazing stories about who we are as humans, simply using the sci-fi aspects as a way to put things into a perspective that can't be accomplished by more mainstream methods. The Sparrow is such a story, and the band has chosen a great one here, and has almost done it justice ... I say "almost" because I'm sure the book is even deeper. They have convinced me I need to obtain a copy and read it, though. Still, within the limits of a CD's worth of music, Metaphor has done about as well as it's possible to do. Musically, there are still echoes of Genesis circa The Lamb and maybe even some Gentle Giant here and there. But mostly, they've created their own signature sound, and have used it to great advantage for The Sparrow. Beautiful, alien chords and harmonies vie for time with raspy dissonances that then resolve into more pleasant musicality. They even resisted the temptation to overdo the Mellotron for the alien singers ... the first vocal Mellotron doesn't show up until 3/4 the way through the album. Very tasteful. And John Mabry's vocals cut through it all with his own distinctive style that really doesn't sound like anyone else. The orchestration and interplay of instruments is phenomenal, and never gets boring. The only thing that grates a bit is the vocal harmony when they sing "Another Ball in Free Fall" ... it's just a bit too country-sounding for me. But that's about the worst thing I can say about the album, and that's over with in a few stanzas. In summary, Metaphor's Grades are: Starfooted: A+, Entertaining Thanatos: B-, The Sparrow: A+. Not a bad report card. Go to their web site and order your copy of The Sparrow now! One of the best things I've heard this year. Essential. -- Fred Trafton

Links

Click here for Metaphor's web site Click here to find out more about Gnosticism from The Gnosis Archive web site Click here for Mary Doria Russell's web site (author of The Sparrow) Click here for Patricia van Lubeck's web site (cover artist for The Sparrow)

Discography

One (89)

Reviews

Electronic progressive music artist who used to be a designer for Ensoniq (maker of digital sampling keyboards and music workstations, recently merged with EMU) when he recorded this. But it's clear from his music that he knows as much about music as he knows about circuit design, and the two talents have obviously merged well in creating th