JOHN HOLDEN (UK) Proximity & Chance

Since 2018, this composer and multi-instrumentalist has not only been consistently delivering standout albums that I am proud to possess and review, all very highly rated but also because the recipe ingredients and manpower invited happen to vary from album to album....

RETURNED TO THE EARTH (UK) Stalagmite Steeple

The previous album “Fall of the Watcher” released in 2022 made my heart flutter so deeply that an EKG was not necessary in determining the workings of my arteries. So, what… I fell in love again! That is what romantic progressive ‘pop’ music can do to the melancholic...

OCEANS OF NIGHT (USA) Mindstorm

When discovering rock back in the very early 70s as a teenager, the exploding hormones certainly found a haven within loud and crunchy power riffs, being raised on Deep Purple, Sabbath, and Led Zep, to name only the obvious. Yes, banging heads was fun and more...

CELESTE (ITALY) Echi di un Future Passato

Two words to start: flute and mellotron. If for whatever odd reason, these two instruments are not among your favourites, please stop reading promptly. Phew, now that we got that out of the way, Celeste will always be remembered for their luminous 1976 debut album...

VIOLENT JASPER (GERMANY) Control

The much-vaunted German group Sylvan decide to go on a mini-sabbatical, subsequent to releasing their latest album, “One to Zero” in 2021, a masterful album of the highest order. Longtime keyboardist Volker Soehl and guitarist Johnny Beck decided to launch a new...