Classic Rock

"While Ki was a rambling, spacious and highly melodic trip through a futuristic world of transcendental art rock and Addicted was a sparkling, sugar-drenched turbo-riff glitter bomb, the final two parts of Townsend’s latest masterwork take both him and his legion of listeners on a far less expected and disorientating journey. Part three, Deconstruction, is arguably the most deranged, complex and extreme record that Devin has ever made. Fans of Strapping Young Lad will almost certainly feel at home with its bug-eyed maze of riffs and breathtaking dynamics. Fans of Devin’s more mellow work will have to grit their teeth and hold on for dear life."

"‘Empath – The Ultimate Edition’ is the definitive version of Devin Townsend’s acclaimed 2019 album Empath. Featuring the original album & bonus disc, it also includes 2 Blu-Ray discs, the first of which contains a brand new 5.1 surround sound mix by Devin, as well as visuals for each track on the main album, plus a visualizer for the stereo version of the album. The second blu-ray disc contains ‘Acoustically Inclined – Live in Leeds’, a live show filmed during the April 2019 acoustic tour, as well as the Empath Documentary, ‘Genesis’ 5.1 mixing lesson, acoustic gear tour, a full Empath album commentary, and a video for the bonus track ‘King’. This is all contained within a hardback artbook with expanded artwork and photos, as well as new liner notes by Dave Everley."

Sons Of Apollo have certainly enriched the music sphere since their formation in 2017. It says much that the huge talent involved immediately combined with a cohesive and recognisable individual stance on debut album 'Psychotic Symphony', acknowledged as one of the finest releases in '17. And in 2019, the band put out the glorious 'Live With The Plovdiv Psychotic Symphony'.Now, though, Mike Portnoy (drums & vocals), Derek Sherinian (keyboards), Jeff Scott Soto (vocals), Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal (guitar & vocals) and Billy Sheehan (bass) are ready to take everything to a new level with second studio album 'MMXX'.Stylistically, we have followed the same path as the debut, outlines Portnoy. “But we feel that it has come out stronger, simply because we know one another better. 'Psychotic Symphony' was the first time the five of us had worked together, so there was bound to be an air of experimentation happening. Now, we can draw on having the experience not only of recording that album, but also of touring together a lot. And now there is clearly a lot more obvious chemistry going on.We did 83 shows on the last tour, adds Sherinian. And it was so worthwhile, because we came out of it with a stronger bond, and that is certainly reflected in what we wrote.The writing process began at the start of the year, as Portnoy, Sherinian and Bumblefoot got together.The three of us were at my home studio in Pennsylvania, explains Portnoy. And it took about three weeks to get all the music written. That was a very smooth process. The last time, it certainly must have felt a little weird for Bumblefoot to be writing with Derek and me, because we were strangers to him. Now, we know one another better and that helped things push along.Sherinian reveals that at least two of the songs began to take shape even earlier than January '19.I am always writing, and started to come up with ideas straight after we finished work on the previous album. The tracks 'Asphyxiation' and 'Desolate July' definitely date back to that period.I agree with Mike on the way things were smoother this time around when writing with Bumblefoot. The first time I ever met him was when we started getting the songs together for the debut. He walked in, we shook hands, then he put on his guitar and we got right to work!Once this part of the equation had been successfully resolved, things quickly went to the next stage.We demoed everything and then did the pre-production process, continues Portnoy. Once this had been worked through, Derek and I went back to Ocean Studios in Burbank for me to do my drum tracks. It's also where I did them in 2017.As with that debut, 'MMXX' was produced by The Del Fuvio Brothers, who are...That's Derek and me, using the same pseudonym as we did first time around, laughs Portnoy. I got my drum parts done by the end of January, because I had a lot of other commitments coming up. Then the rest of the guys fitted in what they had to do as they had time available in their busy schedules.Because we all have our home studios, it meant everyone could record there as and when they had opportunity, continues Sherinian. We all had the luxury of being able to take our time to get all the parts done, which was a huge help in the way the album's come out. I suppose in all, it took about eight months to record everything.The lyrics were written by Soto, who also came up with the melody lines with input from Sherinian.While Jeff was left to come up with the words on his own, as the melody lines are part of the music, it made sense for me to be involved with that part, says the keyboard player.The mixing stage has once more been handled by Jay Ruston, who also oversaw the mix for the first album.We leave Jay to get on with the mix at his home studio in Sherman Oaks, explains Sherinian. He then sends wav files through to us, and we come up with tweaks when necessary. It doesn't take long for it all to be agreed.There are eight tracks on the album, with variations in length.The final song is 'New World Today, which is 16 minutes long, says Portnoy. This one has elements similar to 'Opus Maximus' and 'Labyrinth' on the previous album. It has some insane, brilliant instrumental moments, which I am sure the fans will love.We wanted to do something epic here, as we did with 'Opus Maximus' last time around, adds Sherinian. You have to remember that Mike and I come from Dream Theater, where we never bothered about how long a song was. So, for us doing a 16 minute track is not a problem.There's also 'King of Delusion', which clocks in at nine minutes in length.This opens up with a piano solo, explains Portnoy. And it also has a middle section where Derek and I do a piano & drum duet.I have actually played more piano on this album than I have ever done before, delights Sherinian. This fitted nicely with what we were aiming for. I am also so pleased that I get to play a lot of Hammond organ this time.The first single will be 'Goodbye Divinity'...This is seven minutes long, says Portnoy. And we have also shot a video for it.The album title was inspired by a chronological fact.This will be released in mid-January 2020, outlines Portnoy. That means it will be one of the first releases in what is a new decade. So I came up with the idea of calling it '2020', except having it written in the Latin form of 'MMXX'.The artwork, which has been done by Thomas Ewerhard (who was responsible for the cover design last time out), inevitably reflects the title.For the first record, we had a mythological feel, explains Portnoy. This time around, though, there's a much more futuristic style to what we've got. It has a very 21st century appeal. And the band crest is more polished, cleaned up and a lot more modern than last time, when it had an old fashioned look.Portnoy and Sherinian are very happy with the way everything sounds.I have never thought we were a progressive band as such, insists Portnoy. I would define Sons Of Apollo as a hard rock band, with occasional prog moments. I would compare us to Rainbow, Van Halen and Aerosmith with some crazy shredding musicianship on occasion and touches of progression.There's a very balanced and good mix of material here. It's a 60 minute album, which I think works nicely when you have eight tracks. And we will certainly aim to do much of this live. The last time out we had to put in covers for our live set list. But when we tour again, we won't have to do that at all. All the material we play onstage will be original. That's a very positive thing.Each member of this band has their own signature sound on their instrument, adds Sherinian. And when you put all of this together what you get is a wonderful five-headed beast. It makes this a sonically special band, which is definitely what comes across on 'MMXX'.You can hear odd time signatures and amazingly crazy performances here. And I feel that personally I have gone deeper musically than I have ever done before. For instance, you'll find some great harmonies. Overall, we've been satisfyingly more adventurous this time than we were before, and I know people are sure to love what we've done. 'MMXX' is an album I am proud of.

"“Eye Of The Soundscape” features 13 experimental and highly atmospheric compositions, previously used as bonus material for the “Shrine Of New Generation Slaves” (2103) and “Love, Fear and the Time Machine" (2015) albums, alongside rare cuts (e.g. a new mix of “Rapid Eye Movement” and the single “Rainbow Trip”, so far only released in Poland) as well as 4 new songs (“Where The River Flows”, “Shine”, “Sleepwalkers” and “Eye Of The Soundscape”) into a massive +100 minutes 2CD/3LP package, which showcases RIVERSIDE’s ambient electronic side.RIVERSIDE’s Mariusz Duda explained and introduced this rather unorthodox and experimental release as follows:“I had a feeling that the sixth RIVERSIDE album might be the last chapter of a story. That the future releases might have a different sound, a different character... Unofficially, I called our latest three albums "the crowd trilogy". Each subsequent title was longer by one word – four, five, six. Six words were long enough as a title and I thought that was the one to finish it off with...Before we started a new chapter, perhaps a "new trilogy", I had an idea to release a complementary album. An album in between. An album we had always wanted to record. It wouldn't be just new music but in our case and in such configuration it would definitely be a new quality because we hadn't released such an album before.For years, we have accumulated a lot of material, a part of which was released on bonus discs. I know that some of our listeners still haven't heard those pieces and do not realise that Riverside, basically right from the start, have been experimenting with ambient and progressive electronic music. And that's always been a part of our music DNA.So I presented the idea to the rest of the band and the decision was unanimous. We decided to make a compilation of all our instrumental and ambient pieces, and release it this year as an independent album. Some of the songs would be re-mixed to make them sound better, but most of all, we'd add new compositions.At the beginning of the year, we locked ourselves in the studio and we started to compose. We even published a picture on our facebook page, in which Grudzien is holding a small keyboard as a joke. That was that recording session. We were working with smiles on our faces, genuinely excited, knowing that this time it wasn't just a bonus disc or an addition to something "bigger" but a fully fledged, independent release with that kind of music, full of space, trance, melodies and electronics. The day before I got a text message from Grudzien, "I really can't wait for this release, I have always had a dream for RIVERSIDE to release such an album."The release of “Eye Of The Soundscape” therefor also honours late RIVERSIDE guitarist Piotr Grudzinski, who tragically passed away of natural causes on February 21st, 2016.“Eye Of The Soundscape” is composed of material created between 2007-2016 and concieved in 2015/2016 at Serakos studio in Warsaw with Magda Srzednicka, Robert Srzednicki as well Mariusz Duda as producers, and the release comes packaged in artwork by RIVERSIDE’s longterm design partner Travis Smith (Opeth, Katatonia, Nevermore, etc.)."

Virtuoso keyboardist Vivien Lalu has created a new progressive metal epic featuring an all star cast:Band [A-Z]---Martin LeMar (Mekong Delta) - VocalsMike LePond (SymphonyX) - BassSimone Mularoni (DGM) - GuitarsVirgil Donati (PlanetX)- DrumsVivien Lalu (Shadrane) - KeyboardsGuests [A-Z]---Jens Johansson (Stratovarius)Joop Wolters (Shadrane)Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater)Marco Sfogli (James LaBrie)Mike Andersson (Cloudscape, Fullforce)Peter Wildoer (Darkane, James LaBrie)Born of Noelle and Michel Lalu, musicians from the ‘70s French progressive act Polene, Vivien Lalu has released a surplus of recordings through an array of different bands and projects since 1997, as the keyboard player for underground black/doom band Time For A Change. At the turn of the millennium Lalu played keys for two underground progressive metal bands from Paris, Sad Warden and then Mind’s Orchard, and in 2002 was hired by Hubi Meisel (ex-Dreamscape vocalist) to compose and record the keys for his solo album EmOcean, the following year doing the same for Meisel’s sophomore album Kailash, both of which were released by Lion Music.It was at this time Vivien Lalu begins recruiting his own associates from major prog and metal bands — some of which he shares time composing music alongside in progressive metal act Shadrane — and forms his own solo project, LALU. The first full-length Oniric Metal was released on Lion Music in 2005 and began an entirely new chapter for this composer and his insatiable need to create mind-expanding, cinematic music.These accomplishments helped Lalu to begin securing score and soundtrack work for film and television; over the last few years he’s written many cues for the orchestral soundtrack for the Warner Bros movie Seuls Two, for the show Science X made in association with Lucasfilm Ltd. Additionally he joined the production team behind Laszlo Jones in order to assist the recordings and production of Banana Nation (Universal Music Group). He’s composed many soundtracks for French television, music and sound effects for Neko Entertainment, worked as a sound designer for Ubisoft Entertainment and much more.After collaborating with Shadow Gallery for a song on their Digital Ghosts album, and working with Canadian drummer Chris Nalbandian for his Paralysis of Analysis solo album — recording all keys and sharing solos with Derek Sherinian and Alex Argento — Vivien finally settled in and began work on the second LALU opus. Handling all composition and songwriting duties, as well as all keyboards on the massive production, Vivien weaved the cloth of the new album with vocalist Martin LeMar (Mekong Delta), bassist Mike LePond (SymphonyX), guitarist Simone Mularoni (DGM), drummer Virgil Donati (PlanetX), the album’s parts recorded in several countries including the United States (Los Angeles and New York), Germany and Italy, produced by Lalu in his own studio, and mixed at Boumbox Studio in Paris by Yan Memmi (Dio’s Lock Up The Wolves, Marcus Miller’s The Sun Don’t Lie, etc.). Additional contributions from Jens Johansson (Stratovarius), Joop Wolters (Shadrane), Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater), Marco Sfogli (James LaBrie), Mike Andersson (Cloudscape) and Peter Wildoer (James LaBrie) were also carefully built into the album, the final product boasting over fifty minutes of exceptional, massive  cinematic, atmospheric metal Lalu has dubbed, Atomic Ark. 

Its been seven years since Phideaux Xavier's last album.  Everyone has been chomping at the bit for this album and I can honestly say he delivers the goods.  If you are unfamiliar with his work you should expect contemporary progressive rock with lots of references to the 70s giants.  A perfect blending of old and new sounds.  (I'm a sucker for the Mellotron sounding bits).  While he originally started out as pretty much a one man show, Phideaux has morphed into a band with 10 musicians contributing, including Discipline's Matthew Kennedy who holds down the bass notes.  There is a lot of music here and its new so its going to take some time to digest.  This will easily sit high on year end top 10 lists.  Buckle yourself in and dig deep into this one.  Well worth the effort.BUY OR DIE!"Arguably no other progressive rock creation in recent years has been shrouded in as much mystery and expectation as Infernal, the latest studio effort from Phideaux. After all, it follows what many fans (myself included) consider to be three of the best genre albums of all time: 2007’s Doomsday Afternoon, 2009’s Number Seven, and 2011’s Snowtorch. (Of course, the prior collections were great as well and paved the way for such distinction.) As such, devotees have spent the last seven years—if not eleven since Infernal concludes the Great Leap/Doomsday Afternoon set—speculating and anticipating how exceptionally it’ll tie into the trilogy, maintain the idiosyncratic brilliance of its predecessors, and rank as one of the top works of its release year.So, was it worth the wait?Well, that depends on what you expect. Upon initial listens, those hoping for a consistent continuation of the aforementioned trio’s robust eccentric intricacy may find it a bit wanting; sure, that side of Phideaux certainly crops up from time to time within its ninety-minute duration (especially during the second half), but Infernal is deceptively unvaried and reductive at first glance since it appears to prioritize straightforward songwriting and lush yet modest arrangements. However, a deeper analysis and appreciation reveals how resourcefully Infernal actually does two things at once: touch upon the styles and stories of its two narrative precursors while also establishing an almost brand-new approach entirely. Thus, the double LP is markedly different from—yet equivalent to—the extraordinary achievements that came before it.Just as The Great Leap and Doomsday Afternoon were different kinds of albums, so too is Infernal (despite featuring the complete Doomsday Afternoon line-up). In fact, during our last correspondence, Phideaux confirmed my conclusion that the first and second discs are meant to channel the first and second entries in the trilogy, respectively, as it simultaneously feels more theatrical (“like a play”) than either of them. Perhaps, then, it’s best to think of Infernal as the BE (Pain of Salvation) or The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (Genesis) of the band’s discography, as it extends out of its predecessors in the midst of existing as a singular experiment unlike anything else in their catalog.Although the first half of the undertaking captures the more accessible rock nature of The Great Leap overall, it’s still filled with multilayered splendor and a fair amount of complexity. Opener “Cast Out and Cold,” for instance, is a tour-de-force that builds ominously (with effects and harmonies) before instantly evoking the classic Phideaux charm with its blend of male/female lamentations and pastoral instrumentation. In doing so, it sets a great stage on which to introduce the more multifaceted, urgent, and dynamic “The Error Lives On”. Later, “We Only Have Eyes for You” is relatively bouncy and playful (despite being foreboding beneath the surface), whereas “C99” is a venture into sinister surrealism and “Tumbleweed” uses the trademark piano ballad as a poignant cliffhanger. Again, these songs in particular may seem too similar to each other originally, but they eventually become truly essential components in making the record flow like a unified performance filled with captivating melodies, lively textures, poetic lyricism, and entrancing structures.The concluding portion of Infernal absolutely channels Doomsday Afternoon in its heighted emphasis on flamboyant intricacy. This is clear from the start, with “The Order of Protection (One)” contrasting its introductory choral serenity with a latter helping of dissonant tones over mesmerizingly mischievous piano motifs (that—no surprise—are reimagined brilliantly in “The Order of Protection (Two)”). Elsewhere, “In Dissonance We Play” finds a strong balance between solid songwriting and musical showmanship, “The Sleepers Wake” is tenderly enchanting, and “Endgame – An End” wraps things up in a mildly foreseeable yet entirely fitting and satisfying way. Without question, though, the standout track of the whole journey is “From Hydrogen to Love,” a fourteen-minute masterpiece that serves as the “Microdeath Softstar” of Infernal (in more ways than one and I’ll leave it at that).At the risk of spoiling any more of the LP’s magic (hence why the breakdowns of each disc barely scratched their surfaces), suffice it to say that arguably the chief feats of Infernal are its abundant allusions to past sequences and its refreshing theatricality. Not only does it offer plenty of links—both subtle and overt—to itself, Doomsday Afternoon, and The Great Leap as it develops, but it even throws a nod or two at another full-length triumph (whose identity is then made obvious via a clever anagram). Every one of these connections will delight devotees, as will the brief scattered respites that basically act like soliloquys/monologues/intermissions. Together, these elements make the album feel at once laudably unique and endearingly familiar while also revealing (and justifying) why it took so long for such a passion project to be completed.Ingeniously, Infernal simultaneously pays tribute to the Phideaux legacy and etches itself as a wildly ambitious, enthralling, and fresh entry into it. Although it can be a bit incongruent and underwhelming at first, those who fully internalize all that it offers—and appreciate what it’s doing both expectedly and differently—will find it to be another benchmark creation in the catalog of one of the most distinctive and essential artists in modern progressive rock. Taking that into consideration, a new question must be asked: Is it Phideaux’s greatest achievement to date?Well, it could be." - The Prog Report