COMEDY OF ERRORS- Disobey (2011)

Comedy of Errors is a prog rock band from Glascow, Scotland. I knew nothing of this band and it seems they have been around from the first era of neo-prog, back in the 80’s, though they failed making a name like IQ or Pendragon, leaving behind just some demo tapes and a probably self financed if not totally unofficial self titled lp. Somehow they got back together after a lifetime and a little bit more and finally released their official full length debut in 2011 and surprisingly it’s simply amazing! Neo-prog is not my thing and bands like IQ or Pendragon usually bore me to death. I do have sympathy for Pallas though. And that’s a good reference for Comedy of Errors. Their sound isn’t overcomplicated; they know their way around their instruments and put this down to serving the songs, which have a good share of memorable and often pompous melodies. What makes them stand out though is the dramatic approach to most of their songs, especially the four piece suite ‘’The student prince’’; when they release the full power of emotions it becomes a whirlwind of passion that can leave no honest listener untouched. I like the way the guitar underlines the melodies in those parts and I have to say the overall guitar sound came as a surprise; the solos work like songs within songs, meaning you can hum along them rather than just wait for some showoff to end; and the beautiful melodic guitar tone relates more to classic rock than prog. What’s definitely defining prog on this album is the keyboards, which take over effectively when the band gets into more complicated stuff. A crystal clear production gives the listener the opportunity to appreciate every instrument for its contribution; even ten minute long Carousel passed in the blink of an eye while I was following the beautiful bass lines. Among other virtues ‘’Disobey’’ has also a lot of variety -a goal prog bands don’t achieve as often as the genre would imply. There’s some prog wizardry, a good deal of epic anthems, a couple of laid back ballads, even a straight rocker, all delivered with style and comfort. Prog album of the year? I haven’t seen much competition on this level…

Gentleman's Pistols- At her majesty's pleasure

I was a little disappointed about the retro hard rock production of 2011, but I was wrong and I only knew once I got to check out bands like Gentleman's Pistols and Gingerpig. Add Graveyard and then you'll start thinking there something going on with ''G'' this year. Well, lame remarks aside, Gentleman's pistols have one thing for sure: they get to the very G-spot for friends of retro hard rock, who want their music up tempo, with catchy hooks, great vocals, melodic leads that stick to your head, tight drums and powerful yet also colorful riffing. Man, that's music I want to party with! Not just a great retro sound, here's the real deal, fucking amazing songs!

Don Airey- All out (2011)

Don Airey has a bio longer than a train and he has played with half of the people whose name means something in rock music. For almost ten years he has been playing with Deep Purple succeeding the legendary Jon Lord. In between Purple's commitments and various sessions and guest apperances he managed to come up with a smoking solo album that's hands down way better than anything Purple have done for about 20 years. Carl Sentance of Persian Risk and Krokus fame helps out with the vocals and what a great rock singer he still is! ''All out'' is a feast of hammond-driven hard rock. If you like loud 70's hard rock with progressive attitude and keyboard extravaganzas, then look no further. This is a feast of notes! Joe Bonamassa lends a helping hand on People in your head, one of the best hard rock songs you'll get to hear this year. Other highlights include Running from the shadows (70's melodic rock ala Boston), Right arm overture (7 minutes instrumental madness) and Long Road (a beautiful guitar based instrumental full of passionate playing). You rarely get such joyful albums by veterans long over their 60's. Despite age Don managed to set things right in the retro rock scene, setting the bar high for all those newcomers trying to follow the steps of 60's-70's rock giants.

ABARAX- Blue room (2010)

ABARAX is a German band playing some sort of Pink Floyd inspired prog rock. Till now they have released two albums of which the second one presented here is the best. What we get here is a beautiful album of melodic, atmospheric and stretched out songs that set a nice mood. There's some early Scorpions influence in there too, especially in the vein of songs like Fly to the rainbow, epic ballads with a symphonic/pompous tone. The guitar adds some moments of magic, there are some really inspired solos going on in songs like Life, which you can check out below. Don't expect any jazzy wankery, the stuff is extremely melodic, harmonic and tranquil. It's just on the brink of being psychedelic, but I'm very cautious about using this term, it got a little bit misleading with all sorts of post rock/experimental/drone/shoegaze bands claiming to be psychedelic. Nostalgic and moody may describe it better, but is has the ''close your eyes and drift away'' effect for sure. You can check their interview on the 2nd issue of Lonely Road by downloading the pdf file on the right column of the blog.

ATTICK DEMONS

In case you feel bored by the last efforts of Iron Maiden, if you can trace no spark in their songs and get lost in their attempt to get progier, more epic or whatever they are trying to do (and failing bigtime I might add), then Attick Demons from Portugal is your solution. Very much like the first couple of albums by Machine Men, Attick Demons are HEAVILY influenced by Iron Maiden and Bruce Dickinson. In fact, if Iron Maiden loosened up a little and went for the kind of catchy songs they did in the 80's, this is what we would get: a bunch of great sing along songs in the tradition of classic 80's heavy metal with the sound of today. One might say Attick Demons are just copycats, but to me approaching a great band with love and conviction is always respectful. If only we had such ''copycats'' for every great 80's metal band...

Before you bash the band for being too retro I have to make something clear: This band obviously loves Iron Maiden and 80's metal, but they don't go for a 100% retro 80's metal sound in the vein of Enforcer, White Wizzard etc.. That's were bands like Edguy come in, more in terms of sound and approach towards the past. Singer Artur Almeida on the other hand is obsessed with Bruce Dickinson, you could swear this is a side project of Maiden's frontman. He sounds exactly like Bruce does since his triumphant return to heavy metal. I've mentioned earlier that Attick Demons have catchy songs. Well, they don't just write catchy stuff, it's also very strong too. Picking highlights from the album can get very tricky, because the band wisely put only 9 songs on their album and they are all awesome! There's lots of enjoyable guitarwork going on and more than memorable melodies.

In conclusion, the guys got themselves a new fan. This is a cd I will go out and buy and in case they show up near distance I will be in the front row. Up the Irons! Up the Attick Demons!





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLEgrJhg3GM&feature=related