So I heard of Relocator on the Dividing Line Broadcasting Network, cannot really remember who played it, but it does not really matter. While playing this album Michael, the bassist, was in the IRC channel chatting with the listeners, which included me. We were discussing the music and how cool it was. Talking a bit with him and listening to the music I decided to buy the CD, which I do not regret! I talked Michael into getting me a signed CD, and he held his promise, what a great guy!
So what can I say about this CD? First of all the artwork is pretty cool, you are greeted with a blue front cover which looks a bit worn and torn, just a bit like stonewashed jeans, there are also some nice big letters telling you this is RELOCATOR! Flipping it on the other side you see a dessert with a deep blue sky, with the same effect as on the front of the CD cover, looks pretty cool. Inside the booklet you find a page for each song on the album, each page contains a picture frame with art from different artists inside suiting the mood of each song. On the last two pages you find credits, and in my case signatures as well on all the artists except Derek Sherinian, I guess I have got to get that one some other day. What can I say, all in all pretty nice artwork, simple yet very nice.
So what about the music? I guess you want to know about that as well. First of all it is hard to classify this album, but it is mainly progressive metal with a lot of melodic, jazzy and fusion passages. The music reminds a bit about Planet X, which Derek Sherinian founded, though still even though they have their similarities, there are a lot of difference between the two bands.
On the album you find 8 very good songs. The titles are as follows.
Red Vibes
Biosphere
Relocator
Proxima
Aavishkar
13 Reasons
Urban Blue
The Alchemist
The songs vary in duration and are between 5 and 12 minutes long, just as you would find on many other albums in this genre.
I have listened to the songs about 6 to 7 times now, and I do not get tired of listening to them. New passages and unheard stuff pops into my ears all the time, stuff that I did not hear the first time. The songs consist of very distinctive melodic and very interesting keyboards by Derek Sherinian, as well as awesome hard riffs and metal solos by Stefan Artwin. Great deep and melodic bass passages by Michael Pruchnicki. Technically great drumming, very precise and good groove by Frank Tinge. Unfortunately we only hear Bartek Strycharski on 3 tracks on his violin, but what we hear is very good, it adds a lot to the music.
It is really hard for me to describe the songs, but I find them great, a lot of different sounds you never get tired of, also an album you can yeah from both ends without getting confused, a lot of great instrumental passages, what else can you expect?
If you like progressive metal very similar to Planet X you should definitely get this album, it is worth all the money. This band consists of a bunch of great guys and I approve of the music! Go get it!
If you haven’t heard Katatonia released a new album, this time called Night Is The New Day. I’ve only heard one song so far and I am impressed. Katatonia is improving with every album they are making and this one I think will be a great contender on best album of the year! I ordered the album and I am waiting eagerly to get it now. In the mean time I can watch the music video for the single Day & Then The Shade.
The band has a sound very similar to Porcupine Tree, Audioslave and Stiltskin, though they have their own touch to it. I really like it. They have so far released a studio album Million Dollar Wound and just released an EP on bandcamp, which you can choose to buy or just download. Listen to it, and you’ll see the greatness behind the band!
I sure can recommend this band to anyone who likes progressive rock, because this band just kicks ass!
You might now Riverside, you might not. The band has existed since 2001, where Mariusz Duda and his friends Piotr Grudzi?ski, Piotr Kozieradzki and Jacek Melnicki started this it. They have released 4 studio albums and a live album. The genre can be described as rock with loads of atmosphere with some metal elements or maybe as symphonic and psychedelic prog. They have a similar sound to Tool, Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree and some other bands you might know. I really like the “Out of Myself” album and it is probably the best progressive music that has come out of Poland ever.
Have a listen to their music and judge it yourself!
I’ve been browsing around YouTube and have been listening to a load of bands that are new to me, among these I found Focus – A symphonic progressive rock band from the Netherlands. This band seems to be quite known around the world, even though I’ve never heard of them before. But to you who might think: “OK, get to the point, how do they sound like?” Here is a taste of the greatness of Focus! The first song is Hocus Pocus and is quite funny because of the Yodeling and the second song is quite different and called Eruption. Enjoy!
And to those who want to know more here are some links for you:
As the title says I recieved my signed Portal – Blood Red Tape CD, because I preordered it a long time ago. It is really an awesome album! I can recommend it to everyone that likes Progressive Metal, some tracks reminds me a little bit about tool. I won’t be reviewing the CD here, though you can find some samples on Portal’s homepage or on the Blood Red Tape homepage.
I also just recieved my Marillion – Happines Is The Road album, which I have waited a long long time to get. So far I have listened to two tracks while writing this, and so far it is likeable.
But what struck me when I opened the package was the cover of the album, it is really well made, it looks very very great, though mine got the corners banged up a bit in the shipping, but It is not that bad. Inside there are two books with loads of images, lyrics and names of everyone that pre-ordered the album. I really look forward to get home from class later today and listen to the music, cause the first couple of tracks on the first CD are quite good.
Also I recieved my Tinyfish CD today, which were also in the chat on Soundscape last week. These guys really know how to make music. Really great tunes, you should check them out.
I ordered some CD’s a week ago or something like that and they came yesterday! I ordered them from CD baby, which gave me great service and answered all my questions I asked. So here’s what I got:
Birds and Buildings – Bantam to Behemoth
Bushwhack
Thieves Kitchen – Shibboleth
Phideaux – Fiendish
Phideaux – Chupacabras
I’ve already listened to Birds and Buildings and the Bushwhack CD’s, and I must say they are pretty awesome. Recommendable.
Yeah, so yesterday some friends and I decided to go visit Faraos Cigarer, yet again. It’s not been very long time since we visited the stores, but well when you run out of manga to read, you better get your arse out and do some shopping. Anyways, the trip went great. I met this dude the others knew from LARP, he was pretty cool. He showed me some extra ways to annoy our beloved Glem (yeah if you are reading this, we actually like you and don’t hate you, like a certain person does). Anyways, I got my hands on a Rahxephon box and sum’ o’ dat Ghost in The Shell manga, both Ghost in The Shell an Ghost in The Shell 2: Innocence. I liked the anime a lot, so now I have to have the manga.
Oh well during our little trip we made some room for a little bit of magic. Though I didn’t bring my deck this cool dude Holm, did bring a couple of decks, so I was able to participate. But yeah, the deck was a bit slow and had crits that required a lot of mana, so I got my ass whooped.
After the little shopping spree we went into this fast food restaurant called KFC, yeah that stands for Kentucky Fried Chicken, and it was invented in Kentucky if you didn’t figure that out yourself. Anyways, I ordered this crispy strips chicken menu, which was pretty good, apart from the french fries that came with it. They were worse than in Sunset Boulevard that we visited last time. They tasted of nothing, and they weren’t salted, like why do everyone stop salting their french fries now? Is it a new trend that just popped up suddenly? Well screw it! I’m not going to buy ‘ne more french fries anywhere, unless I get to make them myself!
Oh yeah I forgot, before we went to Faraos Cigarer, some of the group wanted to go into this goth clothing store, so we went there first, and to my luck I found this pretty cool record store just right above it that was called Sex Beat Records. There was this dude behind this register, he was pretty stoned, had long hair and was wearing a t-shirt saying “if there was any color darker than black, I would wear it”. But yeah i got myself some Opeth and Beyond Twilight.
Well the trip imo was pretty good, couldn’t wish for more. Probably going next month or something to get some more supplies.
I recently discovered Rouges’ Gallery, which is a Progressive Rock Podcast. It is really awesome because it plays music from artists that I’ve never heard of before, it helps me discover new artists that I want to listen to and it’s all prog! The cool thing about this is that I can download the shows and throw them on my iPod, and listen to them every time I feel like listening to it. Though it’s not only the music that is cool, but the interviews and the discussion that Frans Keylard brings up. I reccomend you all to listen to Rouges’ Gallery if you like prog!