1. THE NEAL MORSE BAND - The Great Despair (6:18) Album
: The Great Adventure (2CD) (2019) Label/Distribution
: Radiant/Metal Blade/Sonywww.nealmorse.com
The NEAL MORSE BAND goes all out with their new double album "The Great Adventure": For 105 minutes the listener is bombarded with wonderful melodies, frickel riffs and crazy instrumental contributions. "The Great Despair" delivers with its mellotron choirs, Eric Gilette's fantastic lead guitar and tight drums prog to perfection.
2. FROM THE FIRE - Hold On (4:36) Album
: Thirty Days And Dirty Nights (1992/2019) (From The Fire [3CD-Box]) (2019) Label/Distribution
: MIG/Indigowww.fromthefire.com
On the 3CD box "From The Fire" the American AOR band FROM THE FIRE combines their albums "Thirty Days And Dirty Nights" (1992), "Evil Men Do" (2014) and "OctOpus" (2016). "Hold On" is representative of the melodic style of the group and still sounds timelessly good 27 years after the first release.
3. O.R.K. - Kneel To Nothing (4:37) Album
: Ramagehead (2019) Label/Distribution
: Kscope/Edelwww.orkband.com
O.R.K. are unbeaten in the discipline of creating prog in song format. They also prove this with their third album "Ramagehead", which once again touches amazing metal riffs, unusual harmonies, striking melodies, exquisite arrangements and explosive virtuosity to a tasty dish.
4. ANTIMATTER - Existential (7:17) Album
: Black Market Enlightenment (2019) Label/Distribution
: Music In Stone/Just For Kickswww.antimatteronline.com
It is no exaggeration to say that "Black Market Enlightenment" belongs to the best that ANTIMATTER have produced so far. The songkompatible Artrock has reached a new level: melodramatic, crisp rocky and unusual exotic can be found here, as "Existential" impressively proves.
5. WHEEL - Tyrant (9:58) Album
: Moving Backwards (2019) Label/Distribution
: Odyssey/Rough Trade
www.wheel.band
The hypnotic groove riff attacks of the Finnish WHEEL also work in longtrack format. About his lyrics to "Tyrant" singer James Lascelles says: "We are on our way to a society where soon nobody is allowed to say anything anymore. I hope we can nip this development in the bud."
6. MASSIVE WAGONS - Under No Illusion (3:55) Album
: Full Nelson (2019) Label/Distribution
: Earache/Warnerwww.massivewagons.com
In the world of MASSIVE WAGONS the beer is always wonderfully tempered, its bluesy hard rock fresh and fresh. The fact that the focus is on Volbeat or Green Day doesn't stop the fun. In March the Nordengländer can be seen on tour with Thunder.
7. MÖRGLBL - Les Légions Du Rhum (4:57) Album
: The Story Of Scott Rötti (2019) Label/Distribution
: Free Electric Sound/The Laser's Edge/Alivewww.morglblmusic.com
The French jazz metal/fusion trio MÖRGLBL is in a class of its own. His seventh album "The Story Of Scott Rötti" is a prime example of highly virtuoso instrumental music full of wit. "Les Légions Du Rhum" combines math rock rhythm thunderstorms with Allan-Holdsworth harmonies.
8. MATTHEW LOGAN VASQUEZ - Vacation (3:58) Album
: Light'n Up (2019) Label/Distribution
: Dine Alone/Caroline/Universalwww.matthewloganvasquez.com
MATTHEW LOGAN VASQUEZ, frontman of Delta Spirit, walks on solo threads. "Light'n Up" is a predominantly melancholic, thought-provoking Americana album on which the American reflects a dark phase of his life. However, he also intersperses some exalted moments, like in "Vacation".
9. TELEGRAPH - Initiation (8:15) Album
: Mir (2019) Label/Distribution
: Acum/Just For Kickswww.facebook.com/Telegraph.theband
TELEGRAPH from Israel are fond of Camel's music. They openly admit that. On "Mir" they want to continue the sounds of the English Seventies Progrocker quasi. They do that remarkably well. Songs like "Initiation" live accordingly from warm, luxuriant guitar and keyboard melodies.
10. TIME OF COMMOTION - Requiem (edit) (7:48) Album
: Live From The 70's - It's Never Too Late (2018) Label
: New Music-Green Treehttp://www.newmusic-greentree.eu
TIME OF COMMOTION revive the seventies on their first live album. The song "Requiem" was written after two young concert goers had a fatal accident on their way home - starting with an expansive church organ passage, the title picks up speed and rocks in the best herb manner.
