Lesoir - Push Back the Horizon Year: 2024
Score: 85
Style or Subgenre: Crossover Prog
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 20th
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Lesoir - Babel Year: 2025
Score: 80
Style or Subgenre: Crossover Prog
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 55th
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I can comfortably add Lesoir to the Dutch bands I dig. These albums provide a healthy dose ambitious, anthemic arena oriented crossover prog ranging from reflective introspection to grand epic sweep. Female vocals are reminiscent of Candice Night (Mrs. Richie Blackmore, vocalist for Blackmore's Night) and placed in this modern, sometimes heavy neocrossover prog environment work like a charm. Compositions are generally strong and engineering is spot on. Some excellent listening here.
Last edited by Fischman on 32 hours ago; edited 1 time in total
Subsounds - Atomic Time Year: 2025
Score: 80
Style or Subgenre: Neo Prog
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 85th
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This is one ambitious new album. The shortest of the 5 cuts that comprise this album is 12 1/2 minutes, with the longest exceeding 23 minutes. Probably the greatest achievement of this album is that none of the songs really seem that long, nor does the album as a whole. This Brazilian neo prog group achieves that feat with engaging compositions that lead you along, always comfortable with where you are, yet ready to hear what's around the next musical corner. These compositions go somewhere, and as such, effectively bring the listener along for the ride. Were I to take to the vocals more, this would be a top shelf release.
Happenings Four - HIkishio Michishio Year: 1971
Score: 75
Style or Subgenre: Proto Prog, Prog Relates
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 67th
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This was a fascinating find. Here we have a Japanese band, generally considered to be merely prog related, but I would also call them proto prog as they exhibit many of the developmental elements that came to shape prog. This obscure album was released in 1971, a little late to be doing proto prog, so that's probably while they get the prog related label. There is plenty of Beatle and Moody Blues influence, albeit with an often more blues oriented psychedelic feel, all delivered in an organ heavy package. I dig. Again, a great little find for me.
Numen- The Outsider Year: 2025
Score: 85
Style or Subgenre: Neo Prog
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 34th
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Got time?
Spain's Numen get thoroughly ambitious with this year's release, dropping a full 2 hr concept album based on a graphic novel. With 16 cuts spanning two CDs, this neo prog outing is ripe for standard prog criticisms of overblown indulgence. But unlike, say, Dream Theater's The Astonishing, The Outsider has a better, more coherent story, a wonderful range of instrumentation, plenty more variety, and most of all, this album has some real heart. This is the groups fourth album, but it's first with female vocalist Alba Hernández, which seems to be a welcome upgrade as, in addition to having a lovely voice, she is much more the kind of storyteller this challenging project required. There's some clever time signature/tempo work on this album and of particular fun to my ear, some really nice drumming.
If you like concept albums or rock operas, modern neo prog, or female fronted rock, give this a spin. Even if you're not into any of those things, I'd still say give it a chance. Find a couple hours and catch this beautiful movie without pictures.
Wilson Project - Atto Primo Year: 2025
Score: 80
Style or Subgenre: Rock Progressivo Italiano
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 55th
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For their second album, this modern RPI quartet gives us six cuts, each inspired by an opera composer, although they are not all Italian composers. This is a really good bit of female fronted modern RPI with the strong symphonic bent common in RPI and additional callbacks to the golden age of the genre. An excellent listen. Maybe not absolutely essential, but still a strong recommendation.
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