Imperial Triumphant - Saor - Tiktaalika - Steven Wilson

 

Some more varied CD tips for this spring.

Imperial Triumphant - Goldstar

Imperial Triumphant are playing this year's Complexuty Festival and I hope to be there. When I saw a clip of hotel Sphinx passing by and understood a new album was on the way I ordered same without much diving into the band. Now Imperial Triumphant play avantgarde metal of the black kind. To say listening to this album the first time was not an easy ride is a tremendous understatement. Now I am some 5 playings further down the line and I start getting half of the album. Nine songs of which Newyorkcity is just a short noise and Goldstar a cigarette commercial going back to the cover of the album, including warning sticker. I am not sure still what to think of this album as a total and you can't play it at teh background really. The live show shall tell me more I guess.

Saor - Amidst the Ruins

Picking up an album after a live show always holds that risk of shall it be as good when playing on much lower volumes at home? Well in the case of Saor's Amidst the Ruins I did not need to worry. While at the show the flute and bagpipes looked very present on album they are blended in so naturally that you won't hear them dominating at all. As than also the music tells us long stories with moody music as basis it all gets rather interesting. Maybe not as good as last year's Sgaile album, but definitely one I shall return to often. Maybe also not on sunny springdays like today, but when autumn comes we have a soundtrack. Great band I shall follow from now on.

Tiktaalika - Gods of Pangea

I follow Charlie Griffith since in 2004 Linear Sphere released Reality Dysfunction. Than of course he became one of the two guitars in Haken and their albums always are daring to go different ways. I don't know why I did not pick up his solo album Tiktaalika in 2022. Now he called the band Tiktaalika and released an album that surely shall end very high on my end of year list. If you know Haken and their quirkiness scares you, don't worry. Just look at the cover, which makes you expecting a thrash metal album. And that is what we mostly get, while guitar lovers also are in for a treat. This album holds eihgt songs of which one is instrumental. The vocalists are all doing a great job and I know them from their dayjobs at Textures/Crown Compass, Organized Chaos, Protest the Hero and BTBAM. I do not have a specific favourite track, but for thrash I guess the title track is a gem. For trhashy progmetal lovers Mesozoic Mantras is a must hear. This album is so good from start to finish, that we can only hope for a tour one day.

Steven Wilson - The Overview

Steven Wilson is back and the whole nerdy prog side of the internet already gave an opinion on that. So I can add very little new. Starting with the positive I do like this album. Actually I did not buy his previous two solo albums, but after listening to Objects Outlive Us online I immediately bought the Overview. Two songs make this album, even if both being split up in parts. I prefer the first song slightly as it reminds me of old Porcupine Tree. The spoken word by his wife present in second epic The Overview does not disturb me that much. Actually I should have Tiago read the lyrics and see what he makes of it as a mathematician/physicist. I am more drawn to the mondane of Objects Meanwhile. I shall not be around when Steven Wilson plays The Netherlands, but I understood he shall play this album in full, next to old Porcupine Tree songs and more recent solo work. That can become interesting I guess. This is probably his best album since Hand.Cannot.Erase, so if scared away over the past years, check this one out.

Saor, Can Barrd & Morgarten - Paard The Hague, 29 March 2025

It seems that slowly the metal is returning to het Paard. Our local venue which before the rebuilding often brought us metal but teh last few decades it's been poor on teh metal front. So in order to show my appreciation of this change I coud not let this evening of black and folk metal pass by. Now these two are not typically my favourite styles of metal, but last year I was blown away by teh Sgaile album and Saor sounded different, but not miles away either. The first two bands are Swiss and unknown to me until yesterday. Staying in The Hague, meant enough familiar faces around and the small hall filled up with closed balcony.

Morgarten opened the evening with some male choir singing. The band was dressed medieval and they called us warriors. Folky battle metal where Manowar is honoured at times too. I can have this kind of music in a live setting, but the humpah factor made stay away from their albums as at home it is not for me really. Towards the end a wall of death was expected, but the open space was filled with dancing people, not fighting warriors. They went down pretty well with those more in the know in this scene.

Next band Can Barrd are also Swiss, but they upped the metal factor. The heaviest band of the night and thus the favourite to some. I also liked them more as you could bang along at parts. When they went for three singing voices it sounded a bit too masssive compared with the lead vocalist solo, but overall this set went down ok. Maybe a bit more variation would work better for me, but when  a female with flute appeared I thought not that much variation please. A good band and this folky black does create a party easily.

Headlineres were Saor and they could proof if that was deserved. Well that soon became clear to me. Their playing did raise the bar. From a heavy opener to many folky interludes this sounded different, fresh and good to me. It turned out they played their new album Amidst the Ruins in full. Glad I picked it up after their show as it sounds nice at home too I now hear. The set had a permanent participation of the lady with flutes, electric bagpipes and backing or lead vocals. This mix worked very well for me and Saor did what I hoped for, give me something new and refreshing while staying metal enough throughout. Amidts the Ruins is their sixth album in twelve years. So I am late at the Scottish party, but I will keep an eye on Saor returns to the low lands. Always great to see leaving your comfort zone paying off with a very nice show.

Temic & Rendezvous Point - de Boerderij Zoetermeer, 28 March 2025

An evening of Progpower Europe in de Boerderij. That sounds simple, but I almost did not make it, First I was invited to attend Pentesilea Road's new videoclip premiere in het ZeeheldenTheater in The Hague. When I found this week, that I had to reserve a seat and it was booked, plus Vito telling me than that it was more a movie evening than a music evening I checked upon my other options. Musicon had Infinty whom I saw a few times before plus a German Black Metal band I did not know. Than this package hit de Boerderij on their European tour. With five of our regular PPE group already going and Hans and Mary telling enthusiastic stories about the show last week in Barcelona, my choice was made. One evening of progmetal in good company and still not far away from home.

Temic opened this evening of two headliners. I know of Temic, they played already a few festivals in Holland, but I never saw them. Nor did I buy their CD in 2023. Still I saw almost all of the band members before. Diego on Keys many times with Haken, Fredrik singing with Maraton and Simen on drums with Evergrey and Arkentype. Finally how nice was it to see Eric Gilette in a proper progmetal band, without someone praising his imaginary friend next to him. Only Miguel on bass was new to me as I never saw Withem live. But how about the sum of all these strong parts? Well pretty damn impressive. Temic surpassed my hopes for the evening as their show was massive, great epic songs and enough space for all to shine. Fredrik jumped into the audience twice, but not in a Damien-Wilson-look-at-me-I-am-great way. The band seemed to be enjoying themselves and even with the balcony closed it was good to see that many people found their way to Zeotermeer to appreciate this. As I did not know the songs I can't comment much on the setlist. What I can tell is that Temic has everything to become one of the leading forces in progmetal. This show engaged all present tonight from start to finish. Now it is only time for new music as I understood from Menno who saw them a few times before still touring that same one album. A perfect opener they were, but a busy merch area never made me bother to check that this evening.

I was worried for Rendezvous Point, how to follow up on this? Than Hans and Mary told me that in Barcelona the hall emptied a bit during their show. Well none of that tonight as everyone in stayed the whole night. The audience reactions even increased and I loved to see the young couple in front of me singing along with every song and being recognized by the band as true fans. I did remember in advance that when Rendezvous Point played Progpower 2019 I stayed the full hour. That is always a good sign as when not my band I leave after 15 minutes (or 3 minutes when it's Meer), when just ok after some 30-40 and only if to my liking the full hour. I saw them another time, but can't remember where. At the start I thought will they always remian this band known from the girl in the hotpants on bass? Turned out not to be the case and again all five played their parts impressive. Baard is a beast on drums, but the symphonic keyboard driven song was nice too and the presentation of the vocalist was very lively and it worked, When during the encore we saw a Boerderij jumping up and down, we got a rare sight in this venue during a prog event. 

So that made it two great bands on this very fine evening in Zoetermeer. That on the day that Progpower confirmed their final band for October, already looking forward. For those willing to stay in progpower moods, today Tapfest hits Scum with several Dutch bands who played the festival before. I stay in my hometown and go see some Scottish atmospheric Black Metal. Let's see if it gets as good as last night.

Rivers of Nihil, Cynic, Beyond Creation & Daath - Patronaat Haarlem, 12 March 2025

When the Aggressive Progressive tour was announced I was a happy man. Several of my favourite tech-death bands joining forces to destroy stages all over Europe. This must be the best tech-death package of the year (unless later this year Atheist brings Revocation and Obsidious along for a tour). Rarely did I buy a ticket that fast as nowadays audiences are unpredictable and sold out before me was a fear I did want to eliminate. Turned out that I was wrong as when entering the large hall of Patronaat it was pretty empty at 18:45. Probably the early start was not helping here as later on it seemed pretty well filled up. This early start meant that I preferred a train as  rush hour makesdriving times hard to predict. Well that was a shot in own foot. but more on that at the end. Traveling alone I did combine with Ton in the entrance bar and we arrived almost at the same time. Inside we further met with Alex, Jonathan and Marcel a.k.a. the Huarggh squad. When later on Remco appeared a fair Progpower delegation was present and we made an important decision this evening. Also more on that later.

I don't know who was in control of the background music tonight, but it was a weird mix. I mean who gets excited by Edith Paff's Non je ne regrette rien, when Daath are about to come on. Anyway Daath did come on and I can be short, they ruled. I do not know their older music, but last year I picked up The Deceivers and that was a blast. This also helped as guitarist extraordinair Rafael Trujillo joined the band and he brings that extra touch of class. Not saying the rest of the band were anonymous, least alone Sean Z a great frontman. Daath would be the only band tonight I never saw before and what a nice impression they left.  With death metal or tech-death I usually do not get the songtitles and lyrics, but recognise bits and pieces. Daath just took me into their set and watching this band on stage was a daathfest. A great start, pity that many seemed to have missed it by arriving late.

Next on were Beyond Creation. Possibly my favourite band in this style of music. The first time I saw them was also in Patronaat. They then also were second band on the bill with interesting enough Rivers of Nihil opening that day (which had Revocation and Obscura playing too) I don't know how popularity compares between these bands, but maybe Beyond Creation have been too silent lately with their last album being seven years old already. Last two times I saw them they played a headline set in DB's and de Groene Engel. Tonight they only had 30 minutes or so and just gave us four songs. This because they extend their songs when playing live. These masters of fingerpicking are always a joy to watch and they went down very well with the audience. When they finished the progpower delegation unanimously decided that Beyond Creation belong at Progpower. Enough to love for those afraid of grunts too. My sympathy support the band money after the show went to Beyond Creation again ass I could use another white/grey T-shirt for Brazilian beaches. Should combine nicely with my Algorythm shorts.

Cynic are among the founding fathers of technical death metal, but tonight were the outliers in the package. Thsi because their sound long moved away from the extreme to the more ethereal prog rock. Last year I saw them at Prognosis and that was a bit messy in presentation and much shorter than allowed too. Earlier this tour they had played instrumental sets and after the first song it became clear why as Paul Masdival stated he started the tour sick as a dog. Now here's a small sidestep on closing circles. Sick as a dog is the best song by Skintrade a band who played Dynamo Open Air 1994. Now while I was watching that I did not even know Cynic in 1994 yet. So I missed out on the original show, according to Alex their best show ever in Holland. Well I saw a pretty impressive gig in P60 too in 2009.That was supposed to be my faerwell to metal show, before operating, but doctors were wrong and I'm still here 16 years later. Drifting off again what I wanted to say that in spite of Paul only singing a few songs, this set was a good revenge for last year.  A bit of a career overview build around Traced in Air, with only Textures coming of Focus. Cynic were never a band of much interaction with the audience, but when Paul spoke he said we won't be seeing them again for a while. If this was my last Cynic gig ever I am glad that we ended this well. Different on the night, but very good they were.

Rivers of Nihil had to justify their headline status tonight. According to Jonathan they were bad with lots of background tapes the last four times he saw them. Well I'm a man who likes to decide for himself and the first positive was that the saxophone was played live tonight. Half of the songs had the metalhead with sax appearing on the stage. Talking about the stage, theirs was bigger and the lightshow more impressive too. The band seemed comfortabe at the stage and I could see that tonight we got four very good bands playing Patronaat. I will get their new self titled album, which shall be released 30 May only two months after their tour ends. If they deserved to be headliner is anyone's preference. I saw a very good set with at times calm and moody breaks to give us some air. The audience reaction was biggest here, as they even got a wall of death going. No encores they said, so after roughly an hour it was over and done.

So I left for home satisfied after seeing four great bands. I do not play Tech-death at home every day, but live it always works for me. At the station I met with Pier and Remco so on the train we spoke the show and latest updates on Melting Eyes.This until they got off in Leiden and the machinist did too. Slowly we were informed there was no machinist found and the train was cancelled. If informing faster I could have take a detour via Centraal, but now I had to wait for a next train which arrived with a 25 minute delay. So 55 minutes in Leiden I could have better spent in a bar with Tiago. National Rail trying to kill my mood they did not succeed as Josie still saw a grin on my face when finally reaching home at 01:30. Great tour, go see them if they are around. 

The Aurora Project - Everon - Lunar - Pattern Seeking Animals - Jacob Roberge - Selvans

March already, so herewith some CD tips of the past weeks.

The Aurora Project - EVOS12

The Aurora project are bordering between heavy progressive rock and progmetal light. They are possibly the best band in the genre in The Netherlands. I saw them perform at ProgPower in 2005 and 2008, both times good enough to watch their full set.Later on I did see them once or twice in de Boerderij, but I only had one of their albums (Selling the Aggression). This album was presented live in Watering at WPC 21 February. That was for me the first time I heard the new album and first impressions were it is mainly a calm affair, but very well executed. Playing it a few times not much changed. This is a nice and calm album where mainly the good vocals and guitars stand out. Talking about guitars Remco is one of the two guitarists. Interesting that while the band played PPE twice, he is the only one attending every year in Baarlo. So my guess is that he is also responsibe for the more progmetal outbursts. After a nine year break, this is a welcome comeback, for those appreciating the calm and moody.

Everon - Shells

In the category surprising comebacks, this one was even bigger to me. 17 years after North these Germans return. For me even longer ago as my last Everon album was Flesh from 2002. Everon play in the same genre as TAP above and are Germany's best doing so. In the past I saw them at Progfarm 2000 and missed them at Progpower as they had to cancel due to illness. I also saw them later on in de Boerderij and they are one fine band. I bought this album out of curiosity and nostalgia in equal portions. Their sound did not change one notch. Maybe this is one of their calmer albums. Still it is filled with good songs. My only issue is that 70 minutes is a bit much. They could have skipped a new recording of the song Flesh for me. First as I already own it on the album Flesh and second these twelve minutes less would make this album more compact. Still a good comeback with even some growls light on the title track. Welcome back, now bring on that tour.

Lunar - Tempora Mutantur

Lunar's Illusionist was my favourite album of 2023. So when this new album was announced I knew I needed a hardcopy breaking all my rules of spending on postage, taxes and customs clearing. Well I can say this was worth every cent as again they released what shall turn out to be one of the best progmetal albums of the year. This one is going all over the place and I love their mix of many heavy bits with the progmetal. Opener A Summer To Forget starts quirky Haken alike until it becomes heavier and goes in more death metal directions. Hereafter we get the longest track Fall Back Into Old Habits, which starts off as tech death, Than halfway after an Opeth alike break it turns into heavy progmetal and ends with a few minutes instrumental. Classic written all over for me. Seasonal Interlude starts ballad alike but goes heavy and grunting within the five minutes too. The middle two songs might be most representative for the band with Weakening Winter Touch and Spring in My Step being both heavy progmetal songs. The last three songs form the title suite Tempora Mutantor. The three shortest songs on the album are a ballad, a return to progressive death metal and a closing progmetal epic even if under five minutes. Lunar confirm their status with me as one of the greatest new bands of the last years (this century). Mixing the heavy and beautiful resulting in yet another classic album I shall go back to often. With some guest roles by members of Wilderun and Calgula's Horse this band has ProgPower Europe written all over for me. Let's sse if that can become reality in 2026.

Pattern Seeking Animals - Friend of All Creatures

Back again to progressive rock with Pattern Seeking Animals.This offspin of Spock's Beard has been very productive over the past years. Debuting in 2019, this is already album number five. Main writer is John Boegehold who is the only one not been or currently still in Spock's Beard, even if he is involved with that band too. Patter Seeking Animals are more accessible and less freaky. Luckily they also have the mighty voice of Ted Leonard one of the more pleasant sounding vocalists in progrock. This album of 52 minutes holds four long tarcks (8:11-12:20) and three shorter ones around four minutes. I feel that the short songs make this album even stronger. Nothing overly complicated or pretentious, but all sounding very fine. This is music that offends noone, but still has enough to explore for those loving their progrock. Nice cover artwork too.

Jacob Roberge - The Passing

There is a buzz going round on the internet. Well on pages linked to progressive rock that is. A new hope for the future has been found and his praise is sung by many. So after seeing a review on Rhyme Signatures I listened to the closing epic and ordered the album immediately too. The man in person is 27 year old Jacob Roberge. Check out his interview on the Prog Corner together with amazing guitarist William. What these two put together is worth all the praise they are receiving and the epic is epic indeed. Lasting 32 minutes it opens with an overture in the vein of Dream Theater and Spocks Beard long songs, with thereafter a ride through progressive rock and progmetal bits and pieces all flowing fluently. That song alone is reason enough to buy this album. It is self released for now, but I guess very soon a label will pick him up. It is not every day that a young Canadian surprises the world of progressive rock. Well a Canadian is the least surprising bit as Canada does it once again. The first five songs are also very welcome with my favourite being Petrichor another song over ten minutes. This guy will become big in progland, so check him out now. My only comment could be on his name. Being  pronounced differently  in many countries maybe a bandname would have been smarter.

Selvans - Saturnalia

Closing today off with a dark piece of art from Italy. Selvans is nowadays a one man affair. This album is the last of a trilogy, but my first time encountering the band. Selvans is again for the open minded ones. His blackened Heavy Metal at times reminds me of Hellripper. But on the third song he is Italy's answer to Lacrimosa with his bombastic gothic rocksong. Bombastic might be coming from the 60 men orchestra joining on this album. Metal Archives describes this style as progressive black/heavy metal and if that opens your appetite you must definitely check out this album. All songs are sung in Italian and the truly wonderfull booklet holds the lyrics, so a free refreshening course of my never existing rusty Italian is included. The lyrics are about Italian folklore stories, but as I said rusty, so cannot confirm. Selvans released an EP in 2021 called Dark Italian Art. That is what they play too, so enjoy if you want to get in a holiday mood of the darker kind. Note to the Progspace: the winner of the 20025 poll for best artwork is herewith declared.

Saxon, Girlschool & Grand Slam - 013 Tilburg, 2 March 2025

Saxon touring 45 years Wheels of Steel was reason enough to attend. I missed the previous Saxon shows in Holland with Brian Tatler and wanted to see that too. After all Hell, Fire and Damnation is a very strong album. If you than add the fact that Grand Slam would open, a band I also always missed when in Holland and joining Ton to Tilburg was decided. If doubting it must have been by the tour of Unleash the Archers, Striker and Seven Kingdoms in closer to home Haarlem. Still Grand Slam and  Brian Tatler tipped the balance to Tilburg so 013 it was. What we as proper westerners did not realize when getting a ticket was that it is carnaval this weekend. So Tilburg is called Kruikenstad and orange/green is all around. For us it meant that we needed to park further away, but still not all that far from the venue.Walking around in Kruikenstad it was clear that you must have been born and raised in the south to appreciate the joy of carnaval. Well carnaval or not 013 was packed this Sunday evening and we were ready to rock

Opener of the evening were Grand Slam. The band formed by Phil .Lynott and Laurence Archer in the eighties. Now I am Holland's biggest Stampede fan, so I always followed Laurence Archer's ways as well. I only saw him live in Bristol with Lautrec and a guest appearance at Stampede. He is on the long list of overlooked guitar heroes with a style where melody beats shredding for shreddings sake.  If you than add the good voice of Mike Dyer plus a solid rhythm section with Benjy Reid on drums and Rocky Newton (remember him?) on bass and expectations were high. I had their debut album Hit The Ground, but not yet got their last year's album Wheel of Fortune. Well that got corrected fast after their set. Why? because Grand Slam surpassed my high expectations by a mile. What a fantastic show they gave us, even if they only got 30 minutes.Six songs of which half were covers everyone knows. Well covers, Laurence actually wrote Nineteen and Military Man. Closing with Whiskey in the Jar took me back a month when Renegade did the same. The good thing was that their own songs inbetween were just as good and Grand Slam catapulted straight to one of my favorite hardrock bands playing in good old fashioned style. If Ton and I regretted anything it must have been we only learned about their headline shows in The Netherlands 7 and 8 February after they took place already. Next time I won't miss that as I would love me some 90 minutes of Grand Slam live. I aslo shall pick up their T-shirt when they headline, as I doubt they shall charge 40 euros like tonight. Finally Laurence Archer proved once again he is topclass also when his flying V is white and not yellow.

So starting with a high, means extra pressure on second opener Girlschool. Now I saw Girlschool in Musicon with Alcatrazz not all that long ago and I never have been their biggest fan. So an uphill battle they could not win it was. It's Ok to hear songs like Demolition Boys or Emergency, but it was not sensational. I felt their music did not age that well. A result of touring with Alcatrazz was that Joe Stump played on a song and he appeared live for this song too Now where I said that Laurence Archer puts melody first, Mr Stump just went for fast shredding not hindered by the rest of the song it seemed.  Best song of the set was Bombers reminding us how Motorhead helped them in their early years.

And than it was Saxon time. The banner was a huge Hell, Fire and Damnation cover and that is how they opened. Hereafter we got possily the best Saxon setlist I ever witnessed. Also the band was in topform and Biff's vocals were amazing. Does this mean we got a winner? you bet we did. The new songs blended fine with classics all over. When after some 20 minutes we get And The Bands Played On followed by Dallas 1 P, it can't get much better really. Well we also did get the whole Wheels of Steel album. I did not play it on purpose, to have some deep cuts surprise me. And side B with See the Light Shining and Suzie Hold On  was very nice indeed. By the end of the album I guess everyone was overwhelmed by Saxon in peak form. The guitar duo Brian Tatler / Doug Scarratt divided the solos fairly and Nigel Glockner and Nibbs Carter built l the foundations for Saxon to metal out. Both Ton and I did not remember if we ever saw Saxon before in better shape, which is amazing giving their 47 years running this year. After a short getting their air ack break we got an encore. Also here it could not get any better really with: Crusader / Heavy Metal Thunder / Denim and Leather / Princess of the Night. This was sheer joy from start to finish. If this would have been in a smaller venue it would have been a strong candidate for gig of the year. Biff now stated it was in a sold out 013, which is great for the band, but I prefer smaller venues really. Thanks to the mighty Saxon (and Grand Slam really) for giving us such a great evening. Next year a new album and a new tour. I shall be there and up to a magnificent 50 years of Saxon party in 2028. 

Popradar Winterfest - Popradar The Hague, 22 February 2025

Popradar the location where many bands practice and where in winter a Winterfest is held. In the past I remember a busy evening with the big hall hosting a few hundred people watching Rosie. After corona it scaled down, but still some 35 bands performing all over the place. The place was next to the cafe also many practice rooms. So no stage and limited space. If you than add the many young people walking around, the smell of sweat was omnipresent in most rooms. Temperatures at times would be increasing as well. Adding the limited beer selling points and I did not make it to the end.

I came in early as I was interetsed in starting with an old-skool metal set by Edsattic. Turned out they pulled out at the last moment. Now first band became Riders of the Cameltoe a young band playing metal with a vocalist still stuck on the train. Thereafter the only band I really wanted to see was Scream Bloody Death. Their second show after playing Musicon last year at one of Ralf's parties. Now I don't own the first Death albums, so I just hear good songs performed by a good band.  I did not have those feelings that audience member (Koen) and bandmember (Rob) shared afterwards on details going wrong from the original albums. Since the program meant a two hour stop in this room they extended their 40 minute set to an hour. Next time they play it is Musicon again and I might well be around (depending on Zeehelden line-up the same evening). Hereafter I wandered around a bit seeing bits and pieces of a punkrock band and a vocalist in the Allanis Morriset vein. I was actually waiting for doom metal of Solace. However when the band Obscure Reality did not do much to me with their Faith No More inspired set I decided to go home. So a different evening in busy Popradar, which I quit halfway.