This is the second release by this Chilean instrumental progressive quartet of keyboards, guitar, bass and drums. Their first album was quite good although it passed by sort of un-noticed and it's nice that they are back on a higher-profile label...

After two excellent albums of chamber rock (with the accent on 'chamber') by this great Belgian septet (2 violinists, accordion, piano, guitar, flute and double bass) and a third album that mixed things up a little bit by adding three vocalists on some...

Really superlative first full length from this jazz/rock band. This French group from Strasbourg first came to attention 3 years ago with their self-released EP, which showed great promise. But this new release really ups their game and presents this...

The first release on Fading, a new subsidiary of AltrOck, who aim to release high quality music that is more squarely in the progressive rock/symphonic rock vein, as opposed to their more usual eleclectic/avant-garde releases. They picked a good one...

Factor Burzaco’s popularity grows day by day in the RIO/Avant-Prog world. Coming from South America, due to their sound and musical style they are also known as the “Argentinian Thinking Plague”. With this new album the group moves forward with their...

A California group who I had not run into/heard of before, but who appear to have been a group since 2005. Their music is somewhere between jazz and rock, but not 'jazz/rock'. The personnel is
Melody Ferris: Vocals
Ivor Holloway: Tenor and Alto...

Locanda were one of the greatest of the 'one and done' Italian progressive/symphonic rock bands of the 1970s. They released their one album, Forse Le Lucciole Non Si Amano Pui, in 1977 when the progressive scene there was all but dead. They are...

This Israeli progressive rock band has gathered a bit of a reputation for a bit of a unfortunate reason: despite being well regarded and well received by those who have seen them/heard their demos, they recorded this album in 2005 (with Udi Koomran...

The third release from this Spanish 'modern R.I.O.' styled group and definitely their most assured so far. While most of the characters from their previous releases remain Angel Ontalva (guitar and compositions), Victor Rodriguez (keyboards and...

Very good chamber-rock from Siberia (!) that uses two guitars, bass, drums, clarinet/bass clarinet, piano and female voice with guests on violin and viola on the majority of the tracks. For some reason, parts of this remind me a bit of Macchina...

From Moscow, the group's name is actually in Cyrillic and most closely comes out as "Vezhliviy Otkaz". The group is a six piece with vocals, acoustic guitars, grand piano, electric violin, trumpet, double bass and drums. Their songs are mostly...

A RIO/chamber rock-styled band from Belarus. They are a 7 piece of Vitaly Appow-bassoon, Maxim Velvetov-guitars, Cyrill Christya-violin, Olga Podgaiskaja-keyboards, vocals, Anna Ovchinnikova-cello, Dmitry Maslovsky-bass and Nikolay Gumberg-drums...

A RIO/chamber rock-styled band from Belarus making their debut here, and it is an extremely well done first album. A sextet of Vitaly Appow-bassoon, tenor sax, accordion, Maxim Velvetov-guitars, Cyrill Christya-violin, Eugeny Alexeyev-keyboards...

I have long enjoyed the work of Simon Steensland, a Swede who has released a number of very good albums over the last 15 years or so. He is a multi-instrumentalist and releases heavy, zeuhl/Univers Zero-flavored heavy and dark progressive albums. This...

Third album by this Italian 'difficult music' ensemble, who derive great pleasure in presenting for your ears what Frank Zappa referred to as "The Black Page" (i.e. musical scores so filled with notes that it appears as a sea of black ink)!...

Tommaso Ledi was the violinist/mondolinist and later the keyboardist in Stormy Six. He is also a member of Yugen and major composer in his own right and this, the second Yugen album, takes on his compositions, giving the album a different, more folky...