Compass - Figure of Speechless - Karcius - Kings of Mercia - Soilwork - Speaking to Stones - Trial

Progpower Weekend. Some already arrived in Baarlo, I will only tomorrow. That does not stop me to suggest herewith seven bands that all would make Progpower an even better place.

Compass - Theory of Tides

Two years ago Compass made a positive arrival with their album Our Time on Earth. Now they are back with a concept album around the life of Galileo. Compass is the band where Steve Newmann steps away from his melodic rock band and goes more proggy. Still very accessible and melodic, this is just what you expect by now. Mix some good melodic hardrock and make it longer and more progressive in the songs. If you like both styles (like me) you love this mix.

Figure of Speechless - Tunnel at the End of the Light

Glen McMaster, I also did not hear of him before. An Australian songwriter guitarist who invited the following names for his album. Ray Alder, Ron Bumblefoot Thal, Derek Sherinian, Tony Franklin and Brian Tichy. All don't need any further introduction. The best news is that this album is as good as the names make you hope for. For me Ray Alder can do no wrong, but here the songs definitely help him shine. The surprise in progmetal this year? possibly so, must hear album.

Karcius - Grey, White, Silver, Yellow & Gold

This is the sixth Karcius album since 2004 and I had never heard of them. A tip from Andy on SFTW made me check them out. At Prog Archives they are filed under jazz rock/fusion, well I don't hear much of that. This album is either progmetal light or heavy progrock. Great songs, and excellent playing make it a joy of a ride through all those colours. Especially those who like bands like Kingcrow or Arena should hear this album. 

Kings of Mercia - Kings of Mercia

Jim Matheos and Steve Overland working together resulting in this self ttled debut album. Melodic hard rock to Jim Matheos probably, prog metalish for Steve Overland (FM) I guess. Completed by Joey Vera and Simon Phillips this band gives us one of the better melodic hardrock albums of recent times. Might need to hear through headphones to discover even more. Very pleasant and returning often in my CD player I guess. One tip: don't read the Angry Metal Guy review as you will hear something you can't unhear. Second tip: Next time don't print orange lyrics on blue pages as my reading glasses need a sudden upgrade.What a year for thsoe who feared a total Fates Warning absence.

Soilwork - Overgivenheten

I bought this album some weeks after the release due to being abroad. After it's release we lost David Anderson the main songwriter on this album, before I heard it. So it is impossoble to go through the booklet and not get emotional when his picture appears next to the lyrics Death, I Hear You Calling. Such a loss as Soilwork keep on getting better to me. For the melodic death metal purists they drifted too far away probably, for me the clean vocals, Night Flight Orchestra melodies next to the heavy Soilwork side work perfectly. This album should be appreciated by many who like any form of metal.

Speaking to Stones - (In)human Error

Speaking to Stones is a band of surprises, or a project by Tony M. Vinci. Their self titled debut album in 2006 was a hit for me and then they disappeared. Six years later Elements gave us five (very) long songs and off they went. Now ten years later we get treated on (in)human error. Again a fine progmetal album with a good mix of heavyness and melody. In the Netherlands released on No Dust, so let them give us more top level prog. Only the vocals sound to me a bit low or hidden in the mix. Now already curious what 2035 will bring us by this band.

Trial - Feed the Fire

The album I was looking out for most is the new Trial one. Vessel made it to my album of the year 2015. Motherless in 2017 was as good and when I saw them live they were wonderful. And then they lost vocalist Linus Johansson an important factor in my love for this band. New vocalist Arthur Andersson was introduced on covers single Sisters of the Moon / Die Young (bonus added here) . That was a relief as all sounded fine. Now we have a full album of new songs and Trial do it again. Their mix of heavy metal with prog and doom influences, make them one of my favorites.. Unfortunately far too few people have discovered the beauty of Trial, so maybe I should invite them over one day. Definitely check them out as their heavy metal offers just a bit more. Pleased to have them back.

Evergrey, Fractal Universe & Virtual Symmetry - Gebr. de Nobel Leiden, 25 September 2022

Evergrey finally making it to de Nobel again, this after several postponed tours. Within this delay they released two new albums, so suddenly they had lots of new music to present. Originally Witherfall would be supporting them on this tour and them being out of the package was a big loss for me. Luckily the two new supports both turned out to be good bands as well. Looking at this bill one week before Progpower did make you realize that this evening's package was more Progpower than Progpower itself this year. So a sort of warm-up show it became, with for me meeting up with people from various different spectra of my metal universe.

Virtual Symmetry opened tonight at what initially looked a very empty Nobel. Luckily that improved with time. This band is from Lugano, the Italian speaking part of Switzerland. I don't know who were Swiss or Italian, but overall the band did remind of several other Italian bands who play accessible prog and power metal (think DGM, Pathosray and Zen). Their playing was good, as was the music. Not shockingly renewing the world of progmetal, but definitely quality. This all topped with an enthusiastic presentation and we can speak of a very nice opener of the evening. 

Next band were Fractal Universe from France. They play the more progressive and technical side of death metal. Last year they released The Impassable Horizon and I checked it out. With my life between two countries I did not order it at the time, since when back home the list of must get albums grew bigger already.Yesterday I made up for that at te end of the evening as Fractal Universe turned out to be great on stage. Next to grunts a fair share of clean vocals and at times I thought of a heavier version of Pain of Salvation. The band were running all over the stage and at the end the vocalist even appeared a few times with saxophone to spice matters up. Well I saw Wound Collector in Musicon this Friday and that band sets the standard for all saxophones in metal, still here it added something as well. I can not call them a surprise of the evening, when expectations were high already, but as good as hoped for and defiitely one to see in Baarlo one day.

And then it was up to Evergrey to conquer de Nobel. Well they have been here before, so that turned out easy. Evergrey to me falls in the category  bands I do go see live, but stop following on CD. So when they toured three new albums I don't know the result was that I did not recognize one song until Touch of Blessing closed the regular set. As such not much of a problem, since their music is accessible at first hearing as well. Tom Englund was good by voice this evening and his understated announcements in Swedish dry style work. The music was very Evergrey which means heavy. They are falling under the progmetal flag, but actually we get a heavy metal show, with power and prog bits blended in at times. The band are around for thirty years Tom said and I saw them first at Progpower again. I remember that I wondered why their bassist wore a leather skirt at that show in 2000. Nowadays they still sound pretty similar and their bassists still looks different. A great show, this time even not at the extreme loud levels I saw them last times, so more enjoyable. Still was it me or was Recreation Day a notch better than the other songs and were Fractal Universe the silent winners of the evening gaining many new fans?

Wound Collector, Celesterre & Façade - Musicon The Hague, 23 September 2022

It was the year 2020 and Corona forced Musicon to make their shows small all seated affairs. Due to my Portugal time I managed to attend only one, but heard from friends feedback on the shows. One band that apparently overwhelmed everyone in were Wound Collector from Belgium. They play death metal of the slightly technical kind, with as one of the main solo instruments a saxophone. Now I often read reviews by people stating how they hate all wind instruments blended in metal. Well to those people I can now say, why don't you go and see Wound Collector play live and I wonder if you won't be cured from that limitation. But before the Wound Collector party started we were treated on two supports.

Façade were the first band on stage and they started at 20:00. I was still in pre-corona modus when starting at 20:00 meant doors and bands would play between 21:00-24:00. So offering Marko a coffee when he passed home made us miss the first ten minutes. I think I only saw two songs now as Façade play long doom/death tracks. During the final song I was initially wondering why they brought three guitarists. This was until towards the end the long building song did burst into an explosion of heavyness which meant the first highlight of the evening. I want to see them again for a full set and have more time in the foreseeable future to play new music. Good band they seemed to be.

Celesterre are from The Hague and I did see them a few times live some years ago. I thought they split up by now as I didn't see their name passing by in recent years. Probably a mix of covid and me spending too much time in Portugal. Anyway when they started they sounded different to me, than what I recalled. I thought of them in the black folk corner with their nature worried lyrics. This evening I heard a fair share of heavy and power metal blended in as well. Turns out they released a new album named Earth in June this year. I thought their music hard to pinpoint, but it had some work to please the prog man in me as well. Introducing songs in an original way by declaring poems it was a different show, not that easy to grasp when first hearing all. As their album is just released I expect to see them more often in the near future.

After rebuilding the full stage Wound Collector came on. The funny shaped guitars made me hope that their death metal was more towards the tech side and it was indeed, with of course a main role for the saxophone. When playing saxophone possible needed grunts were swapped to the guitarist. Marko asked afterwards if he had said too much and he did not. A very entertaining set they played where the mix worked out fine and new and second guitarist Alfonso seemed at ease during his first show in The Netherlands as well. With songtitles like War and Slaughter in Your Holy Name, Crucifixtion to the Inverted Cross and No God Without Terror they showed their hearts are at the right place too. I highly enjoyed their set from start to finish and by the looks of it I was not the only one. The queue at the merch table afterwards said enough in that respect. I also got the package of Depravity CD and Tee and hope for a return after their new album has been released. Maybe next time this band deserves a spot at Kaderock giving them a chance to get a few hundred people turned into fan. Next week it is Progpower weekend for me and even there they would not be fully out of place I guess. Great band go and see them if you are around and Loud & Heavy thank you for presenting Wound Collector to me this evening.

Bridear - Musicon The Hague, 19 September 2022

A Monday night in autumn and Musicon did fill reasonably well for a band I never heard of before. Marko going and Jean Paul recommending made me decide to opt for live music above home sitting this evening. And starting with the end, a night well spent as Bridear turned out to be very entertaining on stage. For those (and I assume many) who also never heard of them before either, Bridear are a Japanese all female metal outfit. Metal Archives tells us they are playing Power Metal, Metalcore. I did hear bits of Helloween passing by at times indeed. Metalcore I don't know any references, but they had the occassional break. Some poprock got in the mix as well, as all songs were very asy on the ears at first hearing.  When checking the band out on Youtube I was worried about the vocals, as they did sound very light to me. Live this turned out to be less of a problem, also as you simply had to love Kimi with her smiles and asking us to get some merch through google translate on her phone. The fact that you can't understand their English is no problem, as that was no issue with Loudness either some 38 years ago.

Now I don't know any of their music, so basically my review stops here. Entertaining live, mostly due to their entusiasm and laughing on stage. Can I add some critical notes as well? Of courseI can like the grunts coming from a a tape added very little to me with this music. The cliches were all over their show and playbacking the background choirs should be trained a bit better. But what counted was the overall atmosphere and I guess everyone in enjoyed watching this set. No I did not go to the merch stand afterwards to buy myself some Bridear action figures. Those were available next to pictures and T-shirts, but strangely enough no CD's. Maybe their fanbase is so young that noone buys CD's anymore. Talking about the fanbase, as a regular in Musicon when heavy music is on I did recognize very few faces from the around 90 people present tonight. Let's hope these new visitors find their way back to Musicon more often and shall visit Wound Collector on Friday as well. This was a Monday night well spent, which most called funny afterwards. If that is a good sign depends on your level of cynism.  

Lillian Axe - Ironflame - Riot Act - UFO

Hard Rock from the summer of 2022

Lillian Axe - From Womb to Tomb

Ten years after XI The Days Before Tomorrow Lillian Axe are back on CD with From Womb to Tomb. Ten years is too long for Lillian Axe to keep their vocalist, so Brent Graham is taking care of duties now. Wayne Stokely is behind the drums and bassist is Michael Maxx Darby is back. Guitars are still in the safe hands of Sam Poitevent and band leader Steve Blaze. I picked this CD up during their show last week in Bradford and did not have enough spins yet to give a final ordeal. So far it seems to be another winner (said the fanboy). A long album it is with 16 songs spanning well over an hour. Well some are just soundbits or spoken word over piano. The overall sound is still very much Lillian Axe and their hard rock always was melodic and intelligent in a near prog style. At ProgPower I discuss every year with a fellow Lillian Axe fan if they would not fit the festival. I would say yes, but some might disagree as too much heavy metal in the blend. This album holds some heavy highlights again (The Golden Dragon), Dance of the Maggots is another high, where their religious foundations are not hidden. The album is best played from womb to tomb as there is a general line somewhere and you just will be pleased througout. At times calmer for a while, this is another winner indeed. I will need to have many more spins, before deciding how good it really is. I saw them live last week, and they are at their peak again, so please come back with a proper album promoting tour next year. A white T-shirt with the cool artwork shall be welcome.  

Ironflame - Where Madness Dwells

This band plays heavy metal as you expect with this bandname. I missed their previous three (!) releases of the past five years, so a productive lot they are. Ironflame plays heavy metal in the compact Maiden style. So there songs are around five minutes each and gives us all the metal we need. There are many younger bands nowadays, that play the traditional metal that the older ones can't give any longer. I would love to see this band live as I am sure it will be a party for every banger. Biggest chance to see them probably at a HOA, UTH or KIT festival.

Riot Act - Closer to the Flame

Riot Act is this other band touring the legacy of Riot. And doing so very well as I could witness myself last week in Bradford. Rick Ventura guitarist of Riot during their peak years. Another founding member of Riot Act was original Riot guitarist Lou Kouvaris, who sadly passed away in 2020. Musically Riot Act stay fairly close to old Riot on their more melodic albums. What helps is that with Don Chaffin the band holds a vocalist of the best sort. Ten songs and all compact make this not a long album, but one that is played very pleasantly. What is even better on CD, you get a bonus disc. That holds an overview of Riot's first albums in twelve songs. I did not read much about this band in magazines or online. From what I saw live, they should become big in the underground scene celebrating the best era in music.

UFO - High Stakes & Dangerous Men

No indeed, this is not a new album. The original album was released 30 years ago and meant the comeback of Pete Way to the band. Also it had Laurence Archer (Stampede, Grand Slam) on guitars plus Clive Edwards on drums. UFO went a bit under most radars those years before, so I missed this one at the time and started looking for it some years ago. Only available against crazy prices, I was more than pleased with the announcement of this re-release. This one comes with the addition of live album Lights Out in Tokyo recorded June 1992. If anything becomes clear on album and live bonus it is that with Pete Way back and Laurence Archer on guitars this band was in top shape. Listen to the classics and love the guitars. The High Stakes album holds also many good songs and Phil Mogg never disappointed on album or live. I am slightly gutted that I will miss the UFO farewell show in October, but this album is a decent substitute. Any fan of UFO should get this CD. Soon hereafter Schenker would be back and Laurence Archer and drummer Clive Edwards were asked to move further. Somehow I think thisi line-up could have brought us many great albums as well.