From the Archive

Label: Giant Electric PeaRelease date: May 19, 1998Production: Spock's BeardAlbum length: 56.22 minGenre: Progressive RockRating: 9.0/10 "The Kindness of Strangers" was the third studio outing from the American prog revivalists…

Label: Insideout MusicRelease date: 16. 11. 1999Production: The Flower KingsAlbum length: 141.07 min (2CD)Genre: Progressive RockRating: 7.5/10 "Flower Power" was the fourth studio outing from Swedish prog revivalists The Flower…

Label: Giant Electric PeaRelease date: November 2000Production: Michael HolmesAlbum length: 56.49 minGenre: Neo-Progressive RockRating: 10/10 With "The Seventh House", the cult English neo-prog legends IQ cemented their reputation as…

Label: Chocolate Frog RecordsRelease date: 8/13/2001Production: Elliot NessAlbum length: 51.42 minGenre: Progressive Rock / Neo-ProgRating: 8.5/10 In 2001, Scottish frontman Fish put out his seventh studio album, »Fellini Days«,…

Label: Insideout MusicRelease date: July 23, 2002Production: Douglas A. OttAlbum length: 61.44 minGenre: Progressive MetalRating: 9.5/10 American prog-rock revivalists Enchant, who often walk the thin line between neo-prog and prog…

Label: VirtaRelease date: June 2003Production: AnekdotenAlbum length: 46.19 minGenre: Progressive RockRating: 9.0/10 »Gravity« was the fourth studio album from Anekdoten, the Swedish prog-rock purveyors of gloom. Led by the gifted…

Label: Insideout MusicRelease date: 2004Production: Happy The ManAlbum length: 55.18 minGenre: Progressive RockRating: 9.0/10 American prog outfit Happy The Man cut three more or less very interesting albums in the late seventies,…

Label: Self-releasedRelease date: 2005Production: BeardfishAlbum length: 112.06 min (2CD)Genre: Progressive RockRating: 9.0/10 Swedish prog-rock revivalists Beardfish, who only came together not so long ago, in 2021, first got…

Label: Triple Crown RecordsRelease date: 9/26/2006Production: Casey CrescenzoAlbum length: 38.26 minGenre: Progressive Rock / Experimental Rock / Indie RockRating: 9.5/10 "Act I: The Lake South, The River North" was the debut from…

Label: Insideout MusicRelease date: 5/18/2007Production: Planet XAlbum length: 50.47 minGenre: Jazz Rock Fusion / Progressive RockRating: 9.0/10 »Quantum« was the third and, at the time of writing this review, the latest album from…

Label: Blomljud RecordsRelease date: July 1, 2008Production: Moon SafariAlbum length: 103:52 minGenre: Progressive RockRating: 9.0/10 Swedish symphonic prog rock revivalists Moon Safari came together in 2003. Not long after forming,…

Label: Mercury RecordsRelease date: June 23, 2009Production: Omar Rodríguez-LópezAlbum length: 50.03 minGenre: Progressive Rock/Experimental RockRating: 8.5/10 Before “Octahedron” came out, guitarist Omar Gabriel Lopez and singer…

Label: Columbia RecordsRelease date: 4/13/2010Production: Atticus Ross & Joe BarresiAlbum length: 53.56 minGenre: Progressive Rock / Progressive MetalRating: 7.0/10 "Year of the Black Rainbow" was the fifth studio album from…

Label: Insideout MusicRelease date: June 20, 2011Production: Devin TownsendAlbum length: 72.45 minGenre: Ambient Music/Progressive MetalRating: 9.5/10 "Ghost" was the second of two studio albums that Devin Townsend released on the…

Label: Insideout MusicRelease date: 20. 6. 2011Production: Devin TownsendAlbum length: 70.49 minGenre: Progressive MetalRating: 9.5/10 Canadian multi-talented musician and producer Devin Townsend, who walks the thin line between…

Label: Insideout MusicRelease date: May 22, 2012Production: Headspace & Jens BogrenAlbum length: 73.37 minGenre: Progressive Metal / Progressive RockRating: 9.0/10 The prog metal/prog rock outfit Headspace started out in 2006 as…

Self-releasedRelease date: September 18, 2013Produced by: Dean MarshAlbum length: 55.46 minGenre: Progressive RockRating: 9.5/10 English prog band Gandalf's Fist, which started out in 2005 as a joint project between…

Label: Insideout MusicRelease date: 7. 11. 2014Production: Hans LundinAlbum length: 68.58 minGenre: Progressive RockRating: 8.5/10 Even though Kaipa are among the pioneers of Swedish progressive rock, having put out their debut way…

Label: Insideout MusicRelease date: February 23, 2015Production: John MitchellAlbum length: 58.06 minGenre: Progressive RockRating: 7.5/10 Lonely Robot is the solo project of guitar wizard John Mitchell, best known as the guitarist…

Label: Evil Ink RecordsRelease date: July 29, 2016Production: Tom MondaAlbum length: 67.53 minGenre: Progressive Rock/Progressive Metal/Jazz FusionRating: 9.5/10 American eclectic proggers Thank You Scientist wowed everyone with…

“Liege & Lief” is the cornerstone of the British folk rock scene and an album that every lover of good music should own, even if folk rock isn't one of their favorite genres. With it, Fairport Convention made their most important and…

Pattern-Seeking Animals are a band you'll definitely be hearing a lot more about among prog rock fans in the coming years. Their debut will naturally delight all the Spock's Beard fans out there, who, while waiting for the new album from…

"Colosseum Live" is the essential live document of the cult prog rock pioneers and still one of the best windows into their sound and work, even though it left out "Valentyne Suite" and a few other fan favorites.

With “Please to See the King”, Steeleye Span made their first folk-rock classic and one of the most eventful albums of their long career, proving they didn't need a drummer to do it.

Even though it was made while the cult band was already falling apart at speed, "Daughter of Time" was a thoroughly solid effort, serving up plenty of interesting and fun moments and pulling Colosseum further away from their blues roots.

The North America-only release “The Grass Is Greener” can hardly be counted as a proper Colosseum studio album. With its calculated moves and recycled earlier material, it comes off as anything but innovative.

“Manifesto of an Alchemist” is in many ways a Stolt solo outing on steroids, one that at times leans hard into his The Flower Kings material.

"Wembley Or Bust" sounds like it was recorded in 1977, right at the peak of ELO mania, not forty years later. That's probably the best way to sum up how good this live document is, because at times it sounds like a musical time machine.

With T. Rex's thoroughly excellent final effort “Dandy in the Underworld,” the life of one of the biggest rock icons of the seventies was cut far too short.

"Futuristic Dragon" was a welcome sign that Bolan's T. Rex had managed to pull themselves out of a slump and storm back onto the glam rock scene with one of their best and most eclectic efforts.

With the 'American'-sounding (by T. Rex standards) and below-par "Bolan's Zip Gun", it became clear that Bolan's crew had slid into an all-too-obvious creative crisis.

"Tanx" was the last classic T. Rex album, the one where Bolan hit his artistic and commercial peak. The influence of soul and funk gave their traditional glam rock sound a fresh coat of paint.

»The Slider« cemented the status of Marc Bolan and T. Rex as the leading glam rock heroes and pioneers, driving the youth of the day wild with their glamorous glaze over rock 'n' roll, pop rock and boogie.

With the masterpiece "Electric Warrior," the first glam rock album in music history and one that sparked a genuine revolution, Marc Bolan and his T. Rex finally struck gold.

With »T. Rex«, one of the more important achievements of his prematurely ended musical career, Bolan was reborn, going from a reclusive psychedelic dreamer to a showman of a glam rock guru. As he gradually molted into an electric guitarist,…

"A Beard of Stars," the most interesting record of Bolan's psychedelic folk era, was already starting to show signs, through its gradual 'electrification,' that a big stylistic shift was on the way.

On »Unicorn«, amid the psychedelic daydreaming, Bolan and Took still kept to acoustic-leaning waters and clung to the mystique of obscure psychedelic folk, even though a handful of tracks already hinted that this wouldn't last forever.

With their insistence on strange, often abstract and metaphysical lyrics, fully acoustic and obscure song structures, exotic percussion and Bolan's idiosyncratic vocal approach, Tyrannosaurus Rex were an odd sight even in the experimentally…

The (almost) classic Gong lineup returning on the super-eclectic "2032", which proved to be one of their finest achievements and a worthy successor to the 'Radio Gnome Invisible' trilogy, must have been a pleasant surprise for many a…

Moerlen's farewell, “Pentanine”, was recorded with three Russian musicians who were a complete enigma to most people before this album. Even so, it ranks among the best moments of his colorful, fascinating career. It was also a dignified…

"Acid Motherhood," born from the fusion of three different but kindred bands under Allen's genius-slash-eccentric leadership, was a one-of-a-kind experiment in Gong's long and thrilling history.

With »Zero to Infinity«, Gong, under Allen's brilliant leadership, pulled off one of the most interesting achievements of their rich and varied career.

»Shapeshiter« was a surprisingly strong return of the 'real' Gong under Allen, who successfully blended their classic space rock approach with some more modern sonic touches and slick modern production.

With its occasional dance and house touches, "Gongmaison" was an unusual experiment in Allen's already wildly varied musical career, but the album is still stylistically diverse enough to deserve a more respected spot in the Gong…

Compared with its more synthetic predecessor "Breakthrough," »Second Wind« was a noticeable step up, but it still ranked among the less exciting efforts from Moerlen's Gong, especially when set next to Pierre's albums from the seventies.

Even though "Unhalfbricking" was born in a grueling, traumatic stretch for the English folk rock titans, it turned out to be one of their finest achievements and gave them fresh energy to carry on with their career.

“The Seeds of Love” was one of the artistic peaks and the next sonic evolution in the career of the unforgettable masters of new wave romanticism and art pop rock perfectionism.

On their solid debut, Steeleye Span were still learning the ropes of British folk rock and slowly shaping their own recognizable sound.

“Breakthrough” had a few interesting ideas, but it was light-years away from Moerlen's Gong at their best.

On "Strange Times," The Moody Blues finally showed their age as songwriters and arrangers.

Phideaux Xavier and his crew of seasoned musical aces, who are also people he grew up with and has known almost his whole life, remain masters of modern progressive rock on "Snowtorch" too, and on every new album, his take on the genre…

"Keys of the Kingdom" is one of those 'late-period' The Moody Blues albums that prog rock fans can pretty much write off, with only rare flashes of the old atmospheric magic that once made them one of rock's most innovative bands.

"Leave It Open" wasn't the most groundbreaking chapter in the Moerlen's Gong story, but thanks mainly to its title-track masterpiece, it's remembered fondly by fans of Pierre's musical legacy.

"Musicmagic," the final studio outing from the cult jazz fusionists, faded into obscurity fast, thanks to its thoroughly commercial feel and a complete lack of experimental playfulness, even though all six tracks on the album were once…

The Roxy Music debut built a strange and wildly innovative bridge between progressive rock and glam rock, and along with Sinfield's superb production and Ferry's half-metaphysical, half-lovesick lyrics, that was one of the key ingredients…

“Land of Cockayne” was in many ways a product of its time and a reflection of where the eighties jazz fusion scene was at. Even though it's not without its charms, it's light-years away from the classic Soft Machine approach to jazz fusion…

Listening to "Alive & Well," you'd never guess Soft Machine were on the verge of (a temporary) split, because even while playing brand-new material, the band still sounds like a well-oiled machine.

"Softs" was a thoroughly solid effort from the Jenkins-era Soft Machine, but a few less inspired ideas kept it from making the leap into their canon of classics. Still, they weathered Ratledge's departure pretty well.

In the early nineties, Jade Warrior enjoyed a minor sonic renaissance with the thoroughly solid "Breathing the Storm".

“Time Is The Key” was a thoroughly decent album that cemented Moerlen's approach to melodic, ambient-rich jazz fusion with the odd prog rock element, but there was (no longer) much to say about any great innovation, since the basic recipe,…

»Another Fine Tune You've Got Me Into« was a slightly less exciting but solid follow-up to the Gilgamesh debut, and it closed the book on a short but fun Canterbury story. The album came out in 1978, when Gilgamesh were already history.

With "Raingods With Zippos," the Scottish prog rock veteran created one of the shiniest gems of a solo career, and it's still something to be immensely proud of today.

With "What We Did On Our Holidays," Fairport Convention, thanks above all to Sandy Denny, slowly stepped into their classic and still most beloved creative era, right in the middle of a gradual sonic transition.

With the crushingly dull "In the Hot Seat", their last and probably worst studio effort, ELP hit their creative rock bottom, and even though they kept going as a live outfit for another four years, it was clear that this was now really the…

"Pin Ups" is one of the few Bowie albums you can't call a rock classic. It's nothing but covers of his favorite artists from his teenage years, and it's mostly interesting for anyone who wants to know who shaped his musical development.

With »Valentyne Suite«, thanks to its title-track masterpiece, Colosseum hit their artistic peak and delivered the defining album of their career. For a short while they found themselves among the elite of the best and most important…

»Club Ninja«, packed with plenty of seriously interesting metal/hard rock gems, ranks among the most overlooked Blue Oyster Cult albums.

With "Waters of Change", where every track was crafted with exceptional fire, Beggars Opera created the crown jewel of their discography, an album that can stand up even to the best work of their better-known symphonic prog rock peers.

“Turn of the Tide” confirmed that BJH had pulled off a fairly successful transition into the eighties as a slimmed-down lineup. Despite a few ugly misfires and some shortcomings, especially on the keyboard front, it was still a solid and…

"Amar Caballero" couldn't live up to the standards Babe Ruth set with "First Base," but it's still a solid effort, and these days it'll appeal mostly to prog rock fans who like a quality female lead vocalist.

The often-overlooked "Silent Nation", which boasted excellent production from Payne, was in many ways not your typical Asia album, and that's exactly what remains one of its biggest draws today.

Brimming with untamed energy, Colosseum's debut »Those Who Are About to Die Salute You« was a hugely important album in the story of early progressive rock and jazz fusion, and it's still of interest to most blues rock fans today.

Allan Holdsworth is the main reason "Bundles" is now counted among the classics of English jazz rock fusion.

»The Time Machine« was one of the better moments of Alan's solo career and a worthy part of the legendary The Alan Parsons Project legacy, even if it had a few less dazzling moments too.

It's hard to believe that "Broadway the Hard Way" came out of a grueling, cut-short tour after which Zappa wrote off the whole rock-band concept for good, because listening to it, Frank's crew sounds like a well-oiled machine having the…

"Sur la Mer," which had nothing to do with the classic The Moody Blues sound, landed squarely in the 'quickly forgotten' category, thanks to the label's burning desire to cater as much as possible to the trends of the MTV generation.

"Headless Cross," one of the most overlooked achievements in the saga of the masters of metal darkness, ranks among the very best Black Sabbath records without Ozzy or Dio on vocals.

»The Chemical Wedding«, which Dickinson's devotees jokingly nicknamed 'the best Iron Maiden album since »Seventh Son of a Seventh Son« (1988)', was a true metal masterpiece the moment it dropped, and its cult status has only grown over the…

With "Chicago V" in 1972, Chicago sat on top of the American jazz rock scene. It was, without a doubt, one of their finest moments.

Album length: 57:56 Production: V. Santura and Obscura Release date: February, 2016 Label: Relapse Records Rating: 10/10 German progressive death metallers Obscura have been through a lot of changes in the past four years.…

With their self-titled debut, Black Sabbath pulled off a genuine revolution: while tinkering with the blues, they unexpectedly stumbled onto a whole new form of rock music, which the critics of the day dubbed heavy metal, making this one of…

Label: Parlophone RecordsRelease date: November 18, 1985Production: Alex Sadkin & ArcadiaAlbum length: 43.36 minGenre: New Wave / Art RockRating: 10/10 Arcadia was a side project formed in 1985 by three members of the New…

Album length: 1:55:14Production: Frank ZappaRelease date: 1979Label: Rykodisc RecordsRating: 5/5 "Joe's Garage", a progressive rock opera in three acts built around the concept of what could happen if music became illegal, ranks among…

"My People Were Fair…" absolutely did not survive the test of time. It sounded backward-looking just a few years after its release, the moment Bolan switched to electric guitar and discovered glam rock, which happened to coincide with the…

"The Aerosol Grey Machine" is by no means a revolutionary debut, and it's even the least conspicuous record in their history, but it's more mature than many a first album from their peers, which says a lot about the remarkable consistency…

"With "Duke", a huge hit worldwide and their first "gold" album on the UK charts, Genesis made a very good record. It sails successfully between prog and pop, and it still has enough progressive elements that it doesn't water down into a…