*. Taproban .*

Album: Strigma (2013)
Genre: Prog Rock (Symphonic Prog)  /  Italy

Songs / Tracks Listing
01. La Porta Nel Buio (15:39)
02. Lo Sguardo Di Emily (8:28)
03. Nesia Al Notturno Congresso Delle Streghe (18:41)

Line-up / Musicians
Gianluca De Rossi / Keyboards, Vocals
Roberto Vitelli / Bass, Guitar, Bass Pedals Synthesizer
Fabio Agresta / Drums & Percussions

RATING:  ??????????????????

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*. Ache .* (Remaster)

Album: De Homine Urbano (1970)(Remaster 2012)
Genre: Prog Rock (Psych/Symphonic Prog)  /  Denmark

Ache's debut is amongst the earliest of full bore complex progressive rock, predating similar efforts by one to two years. Coming from the fertile late 60s Danish scene, perhaps only Alrune Rod share a similar sound, though said band was certainly more geared towards the psychedelic. Featuring Hammond organ and guitar as the lead instruments, "De Homine Urbano" goes through a myriad of progressions for both of the side long excursions presented here. The instrumental second side works a bit better, as it incorporates more of the band's psychedelic past. One of the few albums from 1970 that hold up well, compositionally speaking, against the more sophisticated works that were to come around by 1973 or so. Another way of saying that Ache is far beyond the usual "proto-prog" group. And while it's been said that the opener was composed with a ballet in mind, it's very difficult for the listener to conjure up images of frail girls in tutu's prancing about. Which draws the conclusion, for me anyway, that it's a terrible piece of work for ballet, but excellent progressive rock listening music. Review by "ashratom" (Rate Your Music)

RATING:  8.25 / 10

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*. Echoes Of Eon .*

Album: Immensity (2013)
Genre: Prog Rock (Post Rock/Exp./Post Metal)  /  Poland

Well, I can appreciate a good guitar sound in whatever style: from African blues to djent and from fifties jazz to power fusion. As long as it is played well and it sounds good I'll eat them all. When it comes to post rock, I always get impressed by the repeating, seemingly easy melodies and riffs and how they keep the listener's attention. Like any other genre the post rock scene holds a lot of bands with many differences in quality. The repeating melodies are the pleasant parts, but sometimes it all sounds too much alike and then it's hard to focus on the music and I notice that my thoughts slowly wander off in other directions. Well, this didn't happen with the songs on Immensity. These songs contain a certain groove that kept me focussed and the riffs and melodies emerge, or better evolve, during the songs thus creating a special atmosphere. The opener Delusion I and the related piece Delusion II are some soundscapes that don't really represent the music these Polish musicians produce on Immensity. But there are still seven full compositions left. On Ganimedes I heard low sounds at the beginning, so it seemed the sound system on my PC could barely handle it, but luckily the CD player reproduced the sound perfectly. The overall sound is just sublime and a strong element in the music of Echoes Of Eon is the combination of the magnificent bass parts with the lighter guitar sound. During the up-tempo piece Kallisto, the staccato guitars provide a nice background for the other musical adventures, and sometimes even a single note will do. While listening to the songs I discovered on the cover that all the song titles have been taken from the moons of the planets Jupiter and Saturn in our solar system. Io is a more melodic piece of music growing towards an apocalyptic end. The metal riff on Rea has a tremendous sound, but that also applies to the combination of bass and guitar on Ganimedes. Actually you can randomly wander through the album without getting bored and with every new listen I found certain elements that I failed to notice before. When I came to the final composition Japet vocals appeared for the first time and I wondered why the band didn't use them more often, since this singing isn't bad at all and it gives this piece an additional value. It combines the softer part of Tool and Maynard James Keenan (A Perfect Circle), and in the heavier parts Spencer Sotelo (Periphery). After all Japet turned out to be my highlight of the album. Lately I've been listening a lot to post rock albums that I unfortunately had to qualify as mediocre due to bad vocalists, but Immensity stands out again other albums in the genre. The vocals could have been used a bit more, but I won't complain about that. People who appreciate bands like Karma To Burn and the lighter parts of Long Distance Calling may easily add Echoes Of Eon to their favourites. Review by "Pedro Bekkers" (www.backgroundmagazine.nl).

RATING:  ??????????????????

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*. Nektar .* (SHM-CD Japan Remaster 2013 + Bonus CD)

Album: Journey To The Centre Of The Eye (1971)(SHM-CD Remaster 2013 + Bonus CD)
Genre: Prog Rock (Psych/Space Rock/Hard Rock/Symphonic)  /  Germany

I think NEKTAR's first two albums are brilliant works of Psychedelic / Krautrock, but to be honest everything that they put out after those two recording does absolutely nothing for me. Like "A Tab In The Ocean" we have a concept album with drugs playing a major role in the lyrics. If you like mellotron this is their most 'tron filled album, in fact Andy from Planet Mellotron describes this record as "...proto-spacerock, with layers of delay effects and tripped out lyrics that the emerging genre demanded". All I know is that I had to have this after Tom Ozric and loserboy (both who have similar Krautrock / Psychedelic tastes) said it was a masterpiece. A lot of these tracks blend into one another allowing for a fairly seemless flow throughout. "Prelude" opens with experimental sounds that build before it settles into a spacey soundscape. "Astronauts Nightmare" opens with drums and guitar. Processed vocals after a minute as it settles. It kicks back in with organ then passionate vocals arrive after 2 1/2 minutes followed by some ripping guitar.Themes are repeated. Just jamming 5 1/2 minutes in. "Countenance" opens with floating organ and mellotron as drums and guitar join in. The tempo picks up 2 minutes in with guitar leading the way. Nice. "The Nine Lifeless Daughters Of The Sun" is led by guitar and organ, it gets pretty intense before 2 1/2 minutes. "Warp Oversight" is experimental and psychedelic as strange sounds come and go. "The Dream Nebula (Part 1)" is heavy to start with guitar and drums, vocals after a minute. I like this. "The Dream Nebula (Part 2)" is like "Part 1" but I like the way the guitar echoes here. "It's All In My Mind" sounds like the previous two tracks but check out the scorching guitar after 2 minutes. Amazing ! "Burn Out My Eyes" opens with synths as fragile vocals come in. They don't stay that way for long though.The music kicks in and out. I like the guitar/organ section around 4 minutes then they're on fire. "Void Of Vision" is uptempo with vocals. I love the vocals on "Pupil Of The Eye" and we get some smoking guitar after 1 1/2 minutes. The tempo and mood continues to shift. "Look Inside Yourself" is mellow with vocals and mellotron. "Death Of The Mind" continues with the vocals and mellotron but both get intense rather quickly. Drums pound away as they "rock out". Review by "Mellotron Storm" (Prog Archives).

RATING:  9 / 10

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*. Hans Platz .*

Album: Timestamps (2013)
Genre: Hard Rock (Prog Rock/Instrumental)  /  Germany

German guitarist Hans Platz assembled world-class musicians like Marco Minnemann (Steven Wilson, Joe Satriani, Aristocrats), Wolfgang Haffner (Passport, Metro, Till Bronner), TM Stevens (James Brown, Joe Cocker, Steve Vai, Billy Joel, John McLaughlin) or Pete Griffin (Zappa plays Zappa) for his album 'Timestamps' and conjures from close to scratch a virtuoso instrumental album, that does not need to fear international comparison. (www.hansplatz.de)

Songs / Tracks Listing
01. Birdrange
02. Spanish Race On A Devil’s Highway
03. Pull It Out
04. Father
05. Red Room Nine
06. Axetasy
07. Freak Sauna
08. Deadman
09. Timestamps
10. This Is War
11. Alive

RATING:  ??????????????????

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*. Castaway .*

Album: Over the Drowning Water (2006)
Genre: Prog Metal (Melodic/Power Metal)  /  Slovakia

Ah, a seventh band from Slovakia reaching my ears. So far the stylistic spectrum coming my way was pretty diverse actually, one each from Gothic Metal, Heavy Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Gothic Black Metal and Gothic Death Metal. Now I never had either Progressive or Power Metal come out of this country and Bratislava's CASTAWAY take care of this and so far GALADRIEL have been my favourite Slovakian band, how do they fare against the latest insurgent? Well, I did not have the highest hopes for "Over The Drowning Water", as it is the full length debut of the band, I admit it. Apparently formed by a merger of the two bands AMALTHEA and DEAD POETS SOCIETY in 2004, the sextet's sound can be best described as a bit more complex Power Metal of the non-generic kind with a healthy influence from ANGEL DUST. Now before you think I have gone nuts, there are a few factors in CASTAWAY's sound that remind me of the Germans, Mayo Petranin's voice is not a dead-ringer for Dirk Thurisch, but has this kind of unique touch, same goes for the use of the keyboards and the overall atmosphere that the compositions build up, if the quality is right, that is a potential winner for me! And dammit, is the quality ever right! Listen to the atmospheric Power Metal of "Wanting Seed" and its subtle complexity paired with the intense vocal performance and tell me it isn't so! And as the album progresses, they continue to explore other avenues branching off, "Sanity Embraces" has this incredible atmosphere, cool dynamics and an unusual vocal line that gives it character, "Wish You Could Save Me (Unfinished Dreams Part I.)" is faster, yet still expressive, "Castaway" starts out acoustically, culminates in an epic chorus and overall offers a lot of variety and dynamics, while "Goodbye To All That" is kind of a semi-ballad, but at the same time isn't... Not all that glitters is gold yet in the sound of CASTAWAY, but for a band that is just delivering its first complete album, "Over The Drowning Water" has turned out to be a more than remarkable, in some places even impressive offering that gives me very high hopes for the future of these guys, if you like ANGEL DUST and bordering bands, you should definitely check out this Slovaks! Oh, and I am very sorry to say that GALADRIEL have been dethroned, for now CASTAWAY are my favourite Slovakian band! 
Review by "Alex" (www.metal-observer.com).

RATING:  8.25 / 10   **GREAT**

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*. Nektar .* (SHM-CD Japan Remaster 2013 + Bonus CD)

Album: Remember The Future (1974)(SHM-CD Remaster 2013 + Bonus CD)
Genre: Prog Rock (Psych/Space Rock/Hard Rock/Jazz)  /  Germany

The best Nektar ever done. While their previous work has been in a little psychodelic/hard rock vein, Remember The Future is their truly progressive opus: a concept album with one long song divided in 2 parts (actually the two sides of the old vynil LPs). I was 15 at the time of its release and I was completely hooked since the first listening. Unfortunatly I never bought the record, only listen to it at a friends house. And now, after 25 years without hearing a single note of it, I bought the remaster CD version and I find mysolf enjoying it now as much as I did in the past. The band was in full swing at the time, being considered one of the most promising rising brithsh prog group in the early 70´s. And Remeber The Future live up to that expectation. Great melodies, a tight sound, wonderful harmonies, a concept and storyline that really work. The band was quite bold, adding some beautiful harmony vocals not very common for an european prog band and great funky guitar licks. Somehow it worked better than anyone could expect. Even Roye Albringhton´s singing changed. While in the past his voice was ok, but not outstanding, on this record it reaches new heights. The guy really sings his ass off doing a magnificent interpretation of the characters. And the rest of the band is not far behind puting a great vocal suport every time the music calls for it. Amazing! Remember The Future is a 70´s prog classic and my favorite Nektar album ever. It´s only fault is maybe the fact that it´s such a short record (only 35 minutes). But you´ll enjoy every second of it. After more than 30 years it is still relevant and beautiful. Not many concept albums can claim such a feat. Review by "Tarcisio Moura" (Prog Archives).

RATING:  9.25 / 10

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