THIS WINTER MACHINE (UK) The Clockwork Man

Back in 2017, a snowblower cleared off the dense white powder from the Neo-Prog highway and introduced a modern twist to the genre with a clever debut album “The Man Who Never Was”, fronted by a talented lead vocalist in Al Winter. Incorporating all the traditional...

PATTERN-SEEKING ANIMALS (USA) Spooky Action at a Distance

Though I own and enjoy all their studio albums, this 2023 offering is my first review of this talented US band, often described as a Spock’s Beard offshoot because of common musicians, a group that just never stuck with me even though I have 4 albums of theirs! ...

OVRFWRD (USA) There Are No Ordinary Moments

I am occasionally criticized for rarely being a proper music critic in that I never consider posting negative reviews and demolishing verbally some struggling artist is something I am loathe to do. Why? Two main reasons: I witnessed the Rise of the Glory days of Prog...

MARK KELLY’S MARATHON (UK) Marathon

After such a storied career manning the Marillion keyboard arsenal, I really had no expectations either way, fueled more by the smile-inducing presence of drummer extraordinaire Henry Rogers, a Paul Thompson-like thumper who has beaten powerful drums on a few...

PACHA & PORSTI (SPAIN-FINLAND) Sea of Mirrors

I always find it baffling when some prog musicians out there seem to have found an endless well of inspiration and dish out first-rate albums as if some prog bakery (Premiata Forneria Marconi was a rather famous one!) that just keeps on giving. Between the Samurai of...