exo-X-xeno – Luminous Voyage (exo-X-xeno, 2025)
Luminous Voyage is the debut from progressive rock superband exo-X-xeno. It is led by virtuoso guitarist, vocalist, and composer Craig Maher. The project assembles a constellation of prog-rock veterans, Billy Sherwood (Yes, Toto, Conspiracy), Jay Schellen (Yes, Asia, Hurricane), and the legendary Patrick Moraz (Refugee, Yes, the Moody Blues). The result is an exquisite, engaging, and technically dazzling concept album.
While the album was released in two editions (Flight and Infinity), each featuring different Maher-designed covers, the music remains identical; a single musical journey told across seven tracks.
From the spacey synths and soaring guitar of opener “The Event Horizon” to the layered vocal harmonies of “Vitruvian Man,” the band wastes no time establishing its Yes-inspired stylistic range. Maher’s chameleonic guitar sounds carry the melodies with virtuosity, awe-inspiring precision and emotion.
“Onward, Love” and “Reaching for Beyond,” released earlier as singles, serve as the emotional heart of the album. The former pairs Maher’s impassioned vocals with a cinematic arc, while the latter builds toward a lush, harmonized climax, anchored by Sherwood’s inventive bass lines and Moraz’s outstanding synth work.
Elsewhere, “At the Water’s Edge” offers a brief, meditative interlude, acoustic and reflective, featuring bautiful keyboard and acoustic guitar interplay.
Sherwood calls Maher’s approach “inspiring” and praises his ability to “push the envelope” without abandoning melody. Maher’s guitar “chops,” as Sherwood puts it, are “off-the-chain good.”
Moraz, never one to lavish praise lightly, describes the record as “absolutely brilliant,” full of “discoveries and sonic explorations.” He’s not wrong. The interplay between his synth melodies and Maher’s multi-layered guitar work reaches a particular high on “Live Life,” which closes the album with a sense of earned uplift.
Maher, whose credits include scoring Brooklyn Lobster and releasing two solo records in the 2000s, brings a clear author’s vision to the project, musically, visually, and conceptually. His invitation is to “think and feel on a deeper level.”
For fans of Yes, cor anyone who believes progressive rock still has galaxies left to explore, Luminous Voyage delivers.
Buy Luminous Voyage.