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Seventh Arrow posted:So I've been going through the recommendations given me in this thread and I've picked up "Stained Glass Stories" by Cathedral - what a great album! I'm really digging it so far, I like the aggressiveness of the rhythm section. Being a bass player myself, I always like hearing cool bass guitar sounds and this guy has a nice just-overdriven-enough tone, sounds like it could be a Rickenbacker. I did a bit of digging and apparently they only recorded that one album. Well, until recently that is - seems like they eventually got back together and did at least one more album and have a Myspace page going. It's difficult to look for stuff on them though, because there's apparently a metal band named "Cathedral" as well. Yeah, I think I mentioned earlier in the thread that the Cathedral I'd only ever heard of until this thread were the doom metal band. I don't dislike Cathedral (prog), but I'll basically only ever have the association "guys who did Forest of Equilibrium." (Linking because it's always cool to expand one's horizons, and Forest was a landmark doom record. I totally need that one Cathedral (prog) album, though. They do have a pretty cool sound.)
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Jan 11, 2013 03:26
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RDreamer posted:Yeah, I'm happy about the YHD reissue, too. I really liked the stuff on there. I've got it on vinyl, but never managed to get it on CD. As you said, the bootlegs make it even tougher to buy. Also curious to see which track they play live. Even though I won't be going to any of his shows (  ) I am hoping it will be No Reason To Live, No Reason To Die. That is a killer track.edit: oh my god Steven Wilson's new album has leaked  edit 2: oh my GOD it is like a hundred times better than Grace For Drowning, possibly AS good as Insurgentes, The Holy Drinker is loving incredible strap on revenge fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Jan 12, 2013 |
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Jan 11, 2013 03:46
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I'm glad this thread has given Beardfish a few nods, I've been completely devouring them since I got Mammoth and The Void for Christmas. Their sound is moving away from a sort of eclectic prog sound to more of a prog metal thing, but I think they pull it off really well. The Void is one of the best albums I've heard in a LONG time. Speaking of eclectic prog, can anyone recommend some bands along the lines of Gentle Giant and Yezda Urfa? I really like their sound, but pretty much none of my friends are into prog so I'm having some trouble finding similar bands.
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Jan 12, 2013 19:14
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best friend massage posted:Speaking of eclectic prog, can anyone recommend some bands along the lines of Gentle Giant and Yezda Urfa? I really like their sound, but pretty much none of my friends are into prog so I'm having some trouble finding similar bands. Yezda Urfa remind me of Roxy & Elsewhere/One Size Fits All-era Zappa almost as much as they do Gentle Giant, though you've probably already heard that. Stormy Six are also kind of Gentle Giant-like as a whole, though their vocals aren't at all similar.
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Jan 12, 2013 19:46
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Rollersnake posted:Yezda Urfa remind me of Roxy & Elsewhere/One Size Fits All-era Zappa almost as much as they do Gentle Giant, though you've probably already heard that. Oh, I'm quite familiar with the Roxy & Elsewhere lineup, it's probably my favorite Zappa lineup. I'll give Stormy Six a shot, though.
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Jan 12, 2013 19:49
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Echolyn's a more modern prog act that takes after Gentle Giant a lot, you may want to give them a whirl.
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Jan 13, 2013 18:21
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That reminds me—all I've heard by Echolyn is Mei, which I thought was pretty good. It is also the only Echolyn album I have ever heard anyone talk about. Is there anything else by them I really should listen to?
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Jan 13, 2013 18:40
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Rollersnake posted:That reminds me—all I've heard by Echolyn is Mei, which I thought was pretty good. It is also the only Echolyn album I have ever heard anyone talk about. Is there anything else by them I really should listen to? Pretty much everything they've released is great (though "As the World" suffers from poor production thanks to its major label engineering), but I recommend their newest self-titled album. Here's the opening track https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoyegXZm9g8 Also, on an unrelated note, someone posted this in the Math Rock thread and I think you would all enjoy it. Japanese jazz fusion with a Zeuhl/space rock feel to it, fantastic stuff. I'd never heard of 'em. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuhqkLdfGW4 Optimum Gulps fucked around with this message at 18:49 on Jan 13, 2013 |
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Jan 13, 2013 18:45
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david puddy posted:edit: oh my god Steven Wilson's new album has leaked I'm on my second listen now, and it's definitely really good. Marco and Guthrie really shine - there are some parts that were really obviously written for (by?) them. I miss the 'reverse guitar' solo at the end of Luminol (from the DVD), though. Seeing them on the Grace for Drowning tour was one of my favourite concert experiences...I think it's a safe bet that this one will be somewhere up there too. Oh, and here's the beginning of my conspiracy theory: at about 8:50 in "The Watchmaker", there's a bass part that sounds a lot like the keyboard part from 'Tom Sawyer', followed by a short 2-note stacatto part that's reminiscent of 'YYZ'...and The Watchmaker is of course a character in Clockwork Angels. I think this is the part of my brain that wants a Rush-Steven Wilson collaboration getting too much oxygen. yeastiality fucked around with this message at 19:39 on Jan 13, 2013 |
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Jan 13, 2013 19:06
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david puddy posted:edit: oh my god Steven Wilson's new album has leaked Holy poo poo this album is amazing. The title track is staggeringly, crushingly beautiful.
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Jan 14, 2013 01:29
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Iucounu posted:Holy poo poo this album is amazing. The title track is staggeringly, crushingly beautiful. Yeah, the title track, The Holy Drinker and Luminol are highlights for me. They're all excellent tracks but those ones in particular. The end of The Holy Drinker where that heavy as hell synth noise comes in, then the little drum fill and the riffing after that is so good I can't  (edit: I think it's the best heavy thing he's done since Strip The Soul's ending. Insurgentes is heavy as hell but it's not really the same kind of heaviness)I am keen to hear it in 5.1, but it kills me that he won't tour Australia. Hopefully he schedules a second tour of the US when I'm over there in September, I think that's about the most likely time I'd see him 
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Jan 14, 2013 03:04
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Optimum Gulps posted:Pretty much everything they've released is great (though "As the World" suffers from poor production thanks to its major label engineering), but I recommend their newest self-titled album. Here's the opening track I've never heard anyone complain about the production on "As the World" but I totally agree; their music can be incredibly thick but the loud engineering really makes it a bit of a headache. But the material is great (as it is on every other album of theirs I've heard)
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Jan 14, 2013 06:53
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The new Steven Wilson is pretty amazing. Pretty much every track is solid. Luminol is catchy as hell, and has some great instrumentation and flow. It's definitely inspired by Yes. Drive Home is like a combination of Blackfield's style with PT's Black Dahlia track and then mashed together with one of the best solos since Gilmour played with Pink Floyd. Seriously, it's amazing. The Holy Drinker seems pretty Deep Purple-ish, but heavier at times. The heavy riff, especially near the end, is completely awesome. He could have made a really badass metal song out of that. It's kind of amazing how well it works within the confines of truly retro prog, too. The Pin Drop is probably the worst song on the disc, but that only means it's not quite as much of a masterpiece as each of the others. Still a great track with some unique vocals from SW. I'm not entirely sure how to describe it. The Watchmaker was an early favorite for me. Overall it kind of sounds Opeth inspired. Opeth mixed with a tinge of Jethro Tull I suppose. My favorite part is when it quiets up and the piano comes out slowly. That's such a great piano line. The title track is simply an amazingly beautiful closer. I'm not sure how he keeps doing this, but his closers always manage to blow me away. My only disappointment with this record, I guess, is the fact that there isn't a lot there. I already heard Luminol a ton, so it was only 5 new tracks. The deluxe doesn't add much of anything either. Compared with Grace for Drowning's 2 discs plus extras and Insurgentes' extras, it's just a bit disappointing in a way. I suppose it does make up for it by being a much tighter album.
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Jan 14, 2013 18:51
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God I fucking love Diablo 3 gold, it even paid for this shitty title
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I agree that the album feels short, but it's probably just the fact that we're all familiar with Luminol already. It's a 55 minute album, but it feels much shorter than that. There is not an ounce of filler on it, and I feel like some tracks (particularly The Pin Drop) could have gone on for a bit longer.
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Jan 14, 2013 20:00
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This might be the creepiest unboxing video I've ever seen. It's from some weird looking dude that does prog reviews, this time it's an unboxing of Pink Floyd's The Wall Immersion Box set. Honestly he actually seems like a pretty cool guy, and his videos are entertaining, for the most part. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOtZsYdhPKw
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Jan 17, 2013 05:06
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Gianthogweed posted:This might be the creepiest unboxing video I've ever seen. It's from some weird looking dude that does prog reviews, this time it's an unboxing of Pink Floyd's The Wall Immersion Box set. Honestly he actually seems like a pretty cool guy, and his videos are entertaining, for the most part. Heh, I've actually been in touch with that dude before. When my prog project got onto the unsigned artist's cd at last year's Prog Awards show, this guy had one of his solo tracks on there as well.
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Jan 17, 2013 05:20
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Iucounu posted:Holy poo poo this album is amazing. The title track is staggeringly, crushingly beautiful. Super excited about Wilson doing something where the guitar work is better than average. That's the only thing about PT's stuff that has always turned me off....boring as hell guitar solo's.
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Jan 17, 2013 17:02
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Hey folks, some of you might remember the prog-rock radio show I ran a couple of years back called The Eleventh Hour. I was off the air for a while and now I'm bringing the show back as a podcast. The first edition of the show is now online here if you want to listen in or at least check out the playlist.
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Jan 17, 2013 20:44
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This Steven Wilson album is amazing. I didn't think anything would top Beardfish's album for recent work, but Drive Home is easily one of the best songs I've heard in a long time.
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Jan 18, 2013 14:40
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Helicity posted:This Steven Wilson album is amazing. I didn't think anything would top Beardfish's album for recent work, but Drive Home is easily one of the best songs I've heard in a long time. You know it's a great album when everyone has a different favorite track!
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Jan 18, 2013 19:27
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New Riverside is excellent.Iucounu posted:You know it's a great album when everyone has a different favorite track! My favorite track has floated around. I think at one point since release every track except The Pin Drop has been my favorite. Even that one got close for a little bit.
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Jan 18, 2013 23:51
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Listened to Steve Hackett's Genesis Revisited II for the first time today. It's very good. Much better than the first one, in fact I might like these versions of some of these songs better than the originals (heresy, I know). It's cool to hear Mikael Akerfeldt, the guy from Opeth singing Supper's Ready. Steve Wilson is also on the album. That guy is all over the place these days.
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Jan 23, 2013 11:45
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I was quite interested to find out that Christian prog rock is actually A Thing. Being a Christian myself I like to have at least some kind of sanctified music in my library but although my wife loves Hillsong, Casting Crowns, etc., I just find the stuff so boring. I picked up Neal Morse's "Sola Scriptura" album and it was a really great listen, lots of interesting ideas pop up throughout, it never gets boring. Also, as it turns out, no he's not related to guitarist Steve Morse (Dixie Dregs, Deep Purple), although they did play on an album together. On an unrelated note, I picked up Rush's "Snakes and Arrows" recently and really liked it. What's the general consensus on "Clockwork Angels"? Better or worse?
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Jan 23, 2013 13:34
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Seventh Arrow posted:On an unrelated note, I picked up Rush's "Snakes and Arrows" recently and really liked it. What's the general consensus on "Clockwork Angels"? Better or worse? Overall, I'd say it's much better. The concept is stupid and there are a couple of stinkers, but a couple of outstanding tracks, too. I find S&A to be incredibly boring, though. I'm sorta in the minority there.
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Jan 23, 2013 17:41
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BigFactory posted:Overall, I'd say it's much better. The concept is stupid and there are a couple of stinkers, but a couple of outstanding tracks, too. I find S&A to be incredibly boring, though. I'm sorta in the minority there. I have the reverse opinion. I will agree that there are a couple outstanding tracks on Clockwork Angels, but the songs on Snakes & Arrows are consistently great, and the lyrics are much better - especially if they're in the context of stand-alone tracks. The chorus of "Clockwork Angels" is snigger-worthy, at the least.
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Jan 23, 2013 19:44
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Seventh Arrow posted:On an unrelated note, I picked up Rush's "Snakes and Arrows" recently and really liked it. What's the general consensus on "Clockwork Angels"? Better or worse? It's sorta following in the same vein as Snakes and Arrows (the way Signals/Grace Under Pressure/Power Windows did). It has a couple songs that could easily be 'standards' like Limelight/Tom Sawyer/Far Cry. For me, the interesting thing is the (extremely obvious) parallels with Candide, and the way that concept is woven tightly into the songs. Even though "steampunk reimagining of a classic story" isn't a formula for something really authentically interesting, I think they pulled it off. I'm not totally ashamed to say I read Candide because of that album.. It has lots of moments that are reminiscent of the first seven Rush albums. I'm too much of a Rush fan to say if it's better or worse - it's just different.
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Jan 24, 2013 02:46
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Seventh Arrow posted:I was quite interested to find out that Christian prog rock is actually A Thing. Being a Christian myself I like to have at least some kind of sanctified music in my library but although my wife loves Hillsong, Casting Crowns, etc., I just find the stuff so boring. I picked up Neal Morse's "Sola Scriptura" album and it was a really great listen, lots of interesting ideas pop up throughout, it never gets boring. Also, as it turns out, no he's not related to guitarist Steve Morse (Dixie Dregs, Deep Purple), although they did play on an album together. Clockwork Angels is better. In fact, I would go as far to say it's their best album since Grace Under Pressure, maybe even better. As for Christian Prog bands, Genesis was arguably the first. Their early stuff has a lot of religious subtext (their first album often being categorized under religious music), although they danced a little too much with the devil to be accepted by the more conservative Christian rock community.
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Jan 24, 2013 07:38
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Early Genesis I would consider prog rock with Christian themes rather than "Christian prog rock" as they weren't proselytizing.
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Jan 24, 2013 11:00
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My understanding is that the first few Genesis albums are not so great, however - confirm/deny
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Jan 24, 2013 13:45
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First two Genesis albums are like the first two Yes albums - the first one is interesting and kind of fun, but not really progressive (okay, it's actually quite embarrassing in Genesis's case, but I really love "Window"), the second is where the prog starts, but it's clumsy. Seek "The Knife" (easily one of their best) but otherwise just start with Nursery Cryme.
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Jan 24, 2013 16:35
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Genesis's first album is a decent but completely unremarkable progressive-tinged pop album more along the lines of Family or The Moody Blues. Trespass, though, is full-blown progressive rock and while it has a couple of weaker tracks (White Mountain, Visions of Angels), I feel that it's much closer in quality to their later works than Time and a Word is to Yes's. Trespass is not an album that should be ignored. Edit: And speaking of Yes, Squire says they're working on a new album. Not sure how I feel about that, as while I did enjoy Fly from Here, most of its best material was courtesy of Trevor Horn, and stuff they were working on 30 years prior. Rollersnake fucked around with this message at 20:43 on Jan 24, 2013 |
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Jan 24, 2013 18:31
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Seventh Arrow posted:I was quite interested to find out that Christian prog rock is actually A Thing. Being a Christian myself I like to have at least some kind of sanctified music in my library but although my wife loves Hillsong, Casting Crowns, etc., I just find the stuff so boring. I picked up Neal Morse's "Sola Scriptura" album and it was a really great listen, lots of interesting ideas pop up throughout, it never gets boring. Also, as it turns out, no he's not related to guitarist Steve Morse (Dixie Dregs, Deep Purple), although they did play on an album together. Morse can get a little bit too irksome for my taste at times, but Sola Scriptura is pretty good. I think I like "?" better, though.
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Jan 25, 2013 01:01
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If you're looking for classic Yes/ELP-sounding Christian themed prog you might enjoy Glass Hammer?
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Jan 25, 2013 01:27
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Cedric Bixler-Zavala announced today that he is no longer a part of The Mars Volta so they are not a thing anymore. I am not their hugest fan but it is always sad to see a band go, especially such a unique one.
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Jan 25, 2013 01:35
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RDreamer posted:Morse can get a little bit too irksome for my taste at times, but Sola Scriptura is pretty good. I think I like "?" better, though. I actually picked up the Flying Colors album today and it's really good. Lots of strong tunes on that one. I tend to like anything with the other Morse (Steve) on it, though. Hawklad posted:If you're looking for classic Yes/ELP-sounding Christian themed prog you might enjoy Glass Hammer? Yeah I added some of their albums to my itunes wishlist so hopefully I'll get around to it soon. Then again, my itunes wishlist has 312 albums on it, so I really have to prioritize  Since I write songs myself, I'm kind of interested in the early Genesis stuff - since Peter Gabriel is an interesting lyricist and seeing his take on Christian themes might be cool. However, nothing I've heard about "From Genesis To Revelation" encourages me to go near it. Actually thanks to this thread, I have lots more good Genesis stuff - A Trick of the Tail, Selling England by the Pound, and soon Nursery Cryme. This is in addtion to already having had Foxtrot and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, which I've been listening to a lot lately. TLLDoB is such a great album, I think it's in my top 10, not just for prog, but for all-time favorites.
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Jan 25, 2013 01:43
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re: Christian prog - the only thing I was ever aware of was 2nd Chapter of Acts' concept album/rock opera based on The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, "The Roar of Love." I wouldn't suggest it musically, though it's not actively offensive, just kinda boring---sonically it's somewhere between Alan Parsons and 10cc with choral, female-led vocals. I'm seconding the sadness over the demise of The Mars Volta - their albums were uneven, but when they found a sound that killed, it was massive. Wax Simulacra, Teflon, L'Via L'Viaquez, Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus, most of their first record...I liked them better in the short form over the long-form jams, but good times were had. Just not seeing them live. The pit wasn't even really a pit, it was just people packed too closely together and thus all swaying like grass in the breeze as people fought to keep standing. And then Cedric started tossing cymbal stands into the crowd. Bad vibes.
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Jan 25, 2013 04:06
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My second prog-rock radio podcast is available for your listening pleasure. On this week's program: Marillion, Tiles, Voivod, Frank Zappa, OSI, Spock's Beard, and The Flower Kings. I didn't see any mention of it on here, but Nic Potter passed away last week. He was the bassist of Van Der Graaf Generator on The Least We Can Do and half of H to He, and when I looked up his obit, it turns out that he played on a bunch of Peter Hammill solo albums as well as two from Rare Bird. He was 61.
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Jan 25, 2013 18:52
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Allen Wren posted:Just not seeing them live. The pit wasn't even really a pit, it was just people packed too closely together and thus all swaying like grass in the breeze as people fought to keep standing. And then Cedric started tossing cymbal stands into the crowd. Bad vibes. I saw them live once and it was an incredible show. But I've seen videos of other shows and they sound terrible, Cedric way off key, Omar just loving around etc. They were very hit and miss in general, especially live.
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Jan 25, 2013 19:45
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Seventh Arrow posted:I actually picked up the Flying Colors album today and it's really good. Lots of strong tunes on that one. I tend to like anything with the other Morse (Steve) on it, though. As you can probably tell by my username, I'm a huge Genesis fan, so it's probably no surprise that I'd recommend you check them all out (except for Calling All Stations, you can safely skip that boring dreck). Having said that, I'm going to have to come to the defense of Genesis's debut album "From Genesis to Revelation", because it undeservedly gets a bad rap among prog fans. "From Genesis to Revelation" has a charm to it that few other albums have. It's a concept album, believe it or not, one of the first that attempts to tell a narrative story of sorts (basically they attempt to sum up the bible in one LP). They were probably heavily influenced by Moody Blues "Days of Future Past" (1967), which is an excellent album, and probably the first "true" prog rock concept album. But I would say they sounded more like early Beegees than the Moody Blues. Banks hadn't bought his mellotron from Robert Fripp yet, and the mellotron was such a big part of The Moody Blues' sound. It was recorded in late 1967 and early 1968, and it definitely has that distinctive 60s baroque britpop sound. If you don't like that sound, you'll probably not like this album. It definitely makes it sound dated, and probably sounded dated even when it was released in 1969. Jonathan King was likely responsible for that, as he wanted to to turn them into boy band (they were still in high school after all). You'll hear lots of added strings, which sound pleasant, but definitely takes away any edginess the band may have wanted the record to have. There's a sweet innocence to the album, and it's obvious from hearing it that the musicians are young and inexperienced. But they are talented nonetheless, and even from this early period you can tell that they were gifted songwriters. All of the songs are catchy, I find myself humming them long after listening them. "One Day" in particular is a guilty pleasure of mine. But it's not all happy and innocent, there is a hint of something darker to their music, similar to King Crimson on their softer tracks, there's still always something unsettling. Songs like "The Conqueror" illustrate that, Gabriel at least, had a dark side, one that he wouldn't fully reveal until The Musical Box. It's a good album. I wouldn't call it great, but it's not bad at all. quote:
I agree that Visions of Angels, though a good song, is probably the weakest on the album, but White Mountain is my favorite song on that album. How many songs are written about a wolf fighting his way to the top of the pack? It's one of the only tracks from this album that they played live after Gabriel left. Stagnation is another awesome song from the album. I like to think of Trespass as a reverse "In the Court of the Crimson King". It's mostly a quiet and pleasant album, with one track that rocks harder than anything else heard at the time. Only, King Crimson put Schizoid Man up front, while Genesis put The Knife at the end. You can tell how influenced they were by King Crimson. Genesis was probably a good indication of KC might have sounded like if that first lineup stayed together. When Tony Banks bought KC's mellotron, Genesis inherited more than KC's keyboard. Gianthogweed fucked around with this message at 21:27 on Feb 27, 2013 |
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Jan 26, 2013 12:35
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RDreamer posted:New Riverside is excellent. I dug this thread up specifically to ask about the new album since I saw it was getting rave reviews on ProgArchives. Can anyone else say a bit about it? e: Oh God, new Steven Wilson too? 
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