Hällas - Panorama Year: 2026
Score: 85
Style or Subgenre: Crossover Prog, Neo Prog
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 2nd (of 4 ranked so far)
My first new prog album of 2026 is a solid winner. Hällas has traditionally sat on the crossover side of prog; in fact, as they settled into their first real groove, I was half expecting Swedish vocalist Tommy Alexandersson's to bust in with a refrain of "it's the final countdown...." Good lord, please no! But thankfully, the song morphed into something with more depth, and it was clear this formerly crossover band was headed for serious neo prog (with a strong symphonic prog foundation) territory. And thankfully, any thoughts of a Europe clone dissipated, and the strongest influence became a very strong Genesis.
So, Gabriel Genesis or Collins Genesis you ask?
The answer is yes. Even Alexandersson's voice sounds like a cross between Gabriel and Collins, which is to my ear a good thing.
Now to be clear, the opening epic and highly theatrical cut, Above the Continuum, clocks in at a whopping 21:29, clearly taking its cue from early Genesis. But when the album transitions to the remaining shorter cuts, one apparently written for big arena rock wall of sound, i got strom images of a 90s Phil Collins belting out big lines from behind his drum kit. And while that's much less my kind of music, it's mostly well composed and always well executed. So overall, I'm very pleased with my first foray into current year prog.
Awen - All Shades of Blue Year: 2026
Score: 75
Style or Subgenre: Crossover Prog, Prog-Folk
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 3rd (of 5 ranked so far)
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
My second prog album of 2026 is a bit of an enigma. Usually, if it takes me a second or third listen to appreciate an album, it's because the album is challenging or knotty in such a way that multiple listens are required to be able to truly grasp it. Awen's All Shades of Blue, despite the prog label, is really quite straightforward, and has a more poppy or even arena rock polish to it without being crazy advanced underneath. Still, I found subsequent listens added to the enjoyment. I think this lies partially in the need to adjust to the timber of the voice of lead singer July Linden. Oh, and while the music sounds basic at first as opposed to, say, Yes's Close to the Edge or Genesis's Selling England By the Pound, there are more subtle layers of compositional complexity here that do grab the ear more the second time around. Awen, despite being Polish, come from a Celtic oriented Prog-Folk background. On this album, they deliberately shed most of the Celtic influences in an attempt to go both more proggy and heavier. While the Celtic influences are hard faint, few, and far between, I'm not sure they achieved the goal of becoming overtly proggy or particularly heavy. But the slightly heavier, accessible approach works fine and it ends up being a good album. Interestingly, it's in the strongest ballad (which also carries the most obvious Celtic influence) where I appreciate Linden's voice the most. Really, it's quite beautiful. So I cam looking for a heavy prog album and got a more accessible (usually a drawback for me in prog), relatively easy listen that somehow grew on me.
Yggdrasil - Yggdrasil Year: 2002
Score: 85
Style or Subgenre: Prog-Folk, Eclectic Prog
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 4th
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
This is just a beautiful prog album. Beautiful I say! Hailing from the Faroe Islands, Yggdrasil bring a blend unlike any other group I've heard. Immediately identifiable as prog-folk, what else quickly emerges is the huge jazz influence. And then there's a significant dose of classical influence as well. Top it all off with airy and ethereal female vocals, and you've got a supremely lovely bid of eclectic and just gorgeous progressive music. At times, if you didn't already know you were listening to a prog group, you'd think you've stumbled across some long lost ECM record, and I daresay the approach works even better than it does on a lot of actual ECM recordings. The compositions are strong, the execution flawless, the instrumentation continuously intriguing (lots of superb jazz sax as well as a good dose of classical flute, all sympathetically aligned), and the whole ultimately still greater than the sum of its parts. I never thought prog-folk and jazz would go so well together, especially in that sparse, Norse setting. Gotta' love it though, a new fave for sure.
Il Castello di Atlante - Capitolo 7... Tra Le Antiche Mura Year: 2009
Score: 80
Style or Subgenre: Rock Progressivo Italiano, Symphonic Prog
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 7th
Although Castello di Atlante didn't release their debut until 1992, they are well rooted in the vibe of a couple decades earlier. That is especially apparent in this, their 2009 release. The good news is that they leverage modern recording to bring that classic sound comfortably to the modern ear. The bad news is that they bring nothing new to the prog game. But then the other good news is that they do that classic thing at an exceptionally high level. Other than a short introduction and epilogue, the songs that make up this 67 minute progressive monster are all long, ranging from just over 8 minutes to an epic 20 minutes. The first few songs were cool enough, but didn’t really grab me in a huge way. Now when the 8-10 minute songs aren’t announcing genius, that doesn’t bode well for the approaching 20 minute epic. But when that song, Malebolge, rolls around, all the instrumental and compositional skills of the group reinforce each other to create a brilliant and compelling prog epic more than worthy of its not inconsequential running time. It’s definitely the highlight of the album and alone worth the price of admission. Overall this is definitely an album that will either climb or drop in my ratings with subsequent listens; I just don’t know which way it will go. I see an equal likelihood of me deciding that its sort of nothing new under the sun vibe will drop the rating as the joy of new discovery wears off, or I could just as likely decide that it’s just so darn good at what it does, that it deserves a more lofty shelf in my collection…. I’m leaning toward the latter cuz’ damn, that Malebolge is incredible! Either way, it should be fun finding out.
Pererin - Yng Ngolau Dydd Year: 1985
Score: 75
Style or Subgenre: Prog-Folk
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 14th
I don't fault Welsh folk proggers Pererin for not being more prog.... like most prog-folk outfits, they're a lot more folk than prog, and that's perfectly okay. But I might still fault those who choose to bestow the prog lable on them as the prog can be even harder to find than in most prog-folk groups. This is nice very folk music with a very strong Welsh origin which should appeal to fans of traditional Celtic music. Now when they do sneak a little prog into their folk, they do find a solid groove and get rocking. The folk is nice, but the genuine prog-folk is super solid. Had this album more of the latter, I'd rate it higher.
Iconoclasta - Reminiscencias Year: 1985
Score: 80
Style or Subgenre: Jazz Rock Fusion
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 12th
Iconoclasta hail from Mexico, not the most fertile grounds for growing prog. This album fits very neatly into the jazz fusion side of things and does that fairly well. Although they don't break much new ground in 1985, they do what they do very well and there is more variety than one might expect from a fusion album from that era. Both electric and acoustic instrumentation are used to good effect, muisicianship is solid, and the bigger the composition, the better the tune. At one point we get dueling electric guitars, one sounding like John McLaughlin and one sounding like Carlos Santana, and the mix works quite well. Then they roll into acoustic/classical/flamenco and the transition may or may not make sense to all listeners, but I found it intriguing and important in sustaining the longest piece on the album. Overall, I really like this.
Frank Zappa - Jazz From Hell Year: 1986
Score: 80
Style or Subgenre: Jazz Rock Fusion, Experimental, Avant Garde
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 9th
There's no way I should like an album that relies so heavily on technology as I like this one, but leave it to the idiosyncratic Zappa to find a way to make it work. Completing the role reversal is that the one song that actually relies on human performance is my least favorite on the album, although that's probably more due to it seeming out of place among the synthclavier pieces than the quality of the song itself. I dont really want a whole collection of albums like this, but as a unique one off, it sits nicely among my more human discs.
FischmanRockMonster, JazzMeister, Bluesboy,ClassicalMasterProfile Land of Enchantment
News From Babel - Letters Home Year: 1986
Score: 80
Style or Subgenre: Rock in Opposition/Avant Prog
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 16th
Well, that was different! This is some serious avand prog right here. Very strong art song vibe. Fortunately, it never gets to artsy-fartsy for its own good, it just remains highly creative throught, in compositional style, instrumentation, lyrical subject matter, and vocal delivery. There are nine sings with five different lead singers. Unfortunately, the weakest vocalist of the bunch gets five of them (sorry, folks, Robert Wyatt is weak in the vocal department). But I still give this album top marks for its continuously audacious creativity.
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
Ain Soph - Hat and Field Year: 1986
Score: 80
Style or Subgenre: Jazz Rock Fusion
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 8th
This album took a much more direct route to my appreciation. It is, by comparison, relatively straightforward, and a fine example of mature jazz rock fusion. This is not a vocal album, and the music (and especially the musicianship displayed in its execution) is easily good enough to carry the album through its length. This Japanese band slips just enough unique character into its otherwise straightforward approach to make it just another fusion album and elevate it to the upper deck of my 1986 stack.
FischmanRockMonster, JazzMeister, Bluesboy,ClassicalMasterProfile Land of Enchantment
Year: 1980
Score: 75
Style or Subgenre: Symphonic Prog
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 29th
I remembered liking this one more. It's certainly a far cry from the 6 that preceeded it, that was never in question. But I could really enjoy the album despite it being Kansas on a downward trajectory. Now, not quite so much. There are plenty of competent, reasonably hard hitting rockers, but this is where the once great symphonic prog band starts approaching generic arena rock. Prog moments are too infrequent and short lived, and not replaced with something else of interest. Topping it all off, Livgren's veiled calls to Christianity are becoming less veiled. In the end, we still have an album which is better than average for it's time, but a disappointment considering the artist who produced it.
FischmanRockMonster, JazzMeister, Bluesboy,ClassicalMasterProfile Land of Enchantment
Ark - Burn the Sun Year: 2001
Score: 85
Style or Subgenre: Progressive Metal
My Rank in Year as of this listen: 2nd
I've been wanting to add this one to my diary for a while. Today I had a craving and this 2001 progressive metal album really hit the spot. The album abounds with celestial themes, but this is no space Rock album
.. it's heavy! So much of the prog metal of the day bears the indelible stamp of Dream Theater, but this one leans mor Fates Warning. The riffs are big, the vocals heavier, and there's outstanding, propulsive bass work from shred generation alum Randy Coven.Round it all out with dynamic, superb, and just all around perfect drumming, and there"s a prog metal album I can comfortably stand up alongside the genre's best. Too bad this was a two-and-done group. This comes in as my #2 album of 2001, behind only the mind bowing epoc Bridge Across Forever by Transatlantic.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Fischman
