A View From the Top of the World, Dream Theater’s fifteenth full‑length album, arrives with a striking cover that nods subtly to Norwegian landscapes. As is often the case with these prog‑metal veterans, the record demands several listens before its layers fully reveal themselves, and this time was no exception. One of the first things that stands out is the production. To my ears, this may...

Following up their last epic opus 'The Astonishing' Dream Theater seems to be moving in the opposite direction for this new one with a heavier and more back to the roots approach. My first impression of 'Distance Over Time' wasn't too overwhelming, and it actually took me quite a few spinnings to really get into the material, but eventually my patience paid off and by now I would probably...

'Malina' is the fifth studio album from Norwegian prog rockers Leprous and it represents a slight change in direction musically comparred to their previous releases. The change is not too dramatic but I guss you can say the the song structures somehow appears to be simpler even though the music is still relatively complex if you see what I mean. 'Malina' is poppier than it's predecessors, more radio friendly...

Fates Warning has always sorted among my absolute favorite bands when it comes to progressive metal, mostly due to the monumental albums released in the early stages carreer such as 'Awaken The Guardian', 'Parallels' and basically all their other albums from the eighties. The albums released after 'Parallels' though haven't appealed to me in the same way, but with 'Darkness In A Different Light' from 2013 the band was...

Nightingale is the brainchild of Swedish producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Dan Swanö also known from among others Edge Of Sanity, Bloodbath and Witherscape. While most of his other projects points in the direction of death- and extreme metal Nightingale is something quite different. This is the project that allows Dan to realize all his ideas that don’t fit directly into his heavier projects. The material on ‘Retribution’ is simpler...

After nine years of absence from the limelight Fates Warning are finally back with a brand new studio album. I first discovered Fates Warning when they released ´Awaken the guardian´ back in 1986 and I still enjoy their first seven albums, but haven´t been too convinced by what they have delivered after ´Inside Out´. ´Darkness In A Different Light´ on the other hand sees the band back on track...

Etter ti års eksistens i 2003 bestemte de svenske progrockerne i Ritual seg for å markere jubileet med et livealbum. Dette på tross av at man i løpet av disse årene ikke har gitt ut mer enn tre studioalbum. Livealbumet vi servers ble innspilt under europaturneen bandet gjorde i 2004 sammen med landsmennene i Anekdoten. Albumet består av to CD’er, som hver inneholder svært mange minutter med musikk. Ritual...

Kanadas store sønn Devin Townsend er klar med et nytt album under navnet Devin Townsend Band, som etterfølger ”Accelerated Evolution” fra 2003. Mannen selv hevder bandet hører hjemme i sjangeren pop-prog-metal, noe som kan være en gyldig betegnelse. Enkelt å kategorisere er det i hvert fall ikke. Jeg må ærlig innrømme at dette er mitt første møte med Devin, men garantert ikke mitt siste. Til tross for min beskjedne...

Det svensk/britiske superprosjektet The Tangent er aktuelle med sitt tredje studioalbum. Skjønt, mange vil nok hevde at prosjektet har blitt atskillig mindre supert etter at Roine Stolt og Zoltan Csorz forsvant. Disse har blitt erstattet av Krister Jonsson (Karmakanic) og Jamie Salazar (ex Flower Kings) på denne utgivelsen. Ryggraden i bandet utgjøres fortsatt av Andy Tillison og Sam Baine fra Parallel or 90 Degrees. Musikalsk snakker vi om progressiv...

The Flower Kings bassisten Jonas Reingold er etter hvert nesten like kjent som hjernen bak Karmakanic, som nå er ute med album nummer 4. Selv sier Reingold at bandet er et resultat av alt han liker ved musikk, fra pop og fusion til klassisk progressiv rock type Genesis og lignende. Noe han også viser tydelig på 'In A Perfect World', her serveres nemlig en salig blanding av snill prog,...