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…

FERGIE FREDERIKSEN- Hapiness is the road

I’m going through a really dark phase right now. Life’s serving me the worst stuff and things won’t be getting any better soon. That’s when albums like ‘’Happiness is the road’’ come in handy. An AOR album to get you through the dark days; yes, dear, an AOR album. I don’t need any doom metal guy telling me life is shit. I know that already. I need someone who’s been on the dark side telling me I can find strength from within, stand up straight and walk on. Try walking in Fergie’s shoes and you’ll see where my point is. He was diagnosed with cancer in the middle of the album’s making and recorded his vocals while still on treatment, making it a very painful and exhausting experience. Yet he found the strength to not give up and today he can be really proud of a beauty of an album, a perfect follow up to 2002’s Mecca album and 2007’s Frederiksen-Denander collaboration. The album is drenched in heartfelt melodies, thoughtful but uplifting lyrics and passionate vocals. There’s a really strong songwriting team behind Fergie’s powerful voice, count Jim Peterik, Dennis Ward, Robert Sall, Mark Baker and others. And Fergie, if you haven’t noticed till now, is one of the finest singers in rock, not as famous as others, but still he belongs to the elite.

I’ll upload some more samples as soon as they are available.

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.

CAROL OF HARVEST

You may have stumbled upon this album if you search prog or 70's rock oriented blogs. Carol of Harvest were a german band with a female singer, often categorized as krautrock (another missleading misconception that probabbly kept people off this gem). The truth is they played progressive folk rock, and they created magic with their music. As a band they only released a same titled album in 1978, in 2003 there was another release under this name, but there was only one original member involved and stylistically it had nothing to do with the original form of the band. The lp goes for crazy amounts of money (even 1.000$) but there's also a cd reissue you could somehow grab at a reasonable price. Honestly, I avoid listening to this album too many times, so that I preserve the magic for very special moments.

PALLAS

Pallas stand out as one of the most honest bands in the field of neo-prog. They never enjoyed any significant success but they kept on for ages just to keep putting out their music. This year they released ''XXV'' a thematical successor to their probably best known album ''The sentinel'' (1984), from which you can check out the song Eastwest above. Give them a shot and you won't regret it.

http://www.pallasxxv.com/

PAIN OF SALVATION- Road salt II (2011)

Seriously I'm no fan of POS's discography. Some tracks showed great potential, but all in all I was tired of their chaotic approach to songwriting. In 2010 there was great buzz around the band's new direction towards the fields of prog/retro rock. I was hesitant to pay any serious attention but finally I did check the album and fell in love with it since. Seriously, it's like Gildenlow and his partners were destined to play this kind of music, full of soul/psych/prog rock influences and heavily based on a genuine late 60's sound that I can imagine would be a painful shock for the prog metal fans that make up the core of POS's fanbase. ''Road salt I'' was one of the best albums of 2010 and also one of the best in the whole 60's-70's revival thing that's groing stronger day by day. Part II doesn't stray much from this sound. It's without doubt a very interesting album, with some very strong moments and great sound. Not as good as part I but still you need to give it a chance. Below is the best in my oppinion song from part II and another one from part I.

INNOSENSE- Outcast (2011)

Some sort of actual review will be up later, for now I'll let you check out this greek prog metal band and judge for yourself. My oppinion? Best 2011 prog metal album I've heard till now.

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