CD Reviews | Progressive Rock Central.com

The album cover for Big Blue Sky by Doris Brendel and Lee Dunham features a desert landscape with a towering pile of guitars—both acoustic and electric—stacked atop scattered rocks and debris. Many of the instruments are painted in shades of blue. The sky is vast and bright, stretching endlessly over the barren terrain.

CD Reviews

Doris Brendel and Lee Dunham – “Big Blue Sky”

Last year I wrote my first review for Doris Brendel and Lee Dunham. It was for their album, Pigs Might Fly. It was a fascinating…

The album cover for Beat Mirage by Mina Cho’s Grace Beat Quartet is a minimalist design. It features a dark, almost black background with jagged, cracked glass-like textures running across the image. A spectral burst of rainbow light emerges in the upper left portion. The album title, Beat Mirage, appears in bold yellow uppercase letters.

CD Reviews

Grace Under Pressure: Mina Cho & The Beat Mirage

Charlie Melville February 20, 2025 No Comments gugak Insoo Kim Korean jazz Korean music Max Ridley Mina Cho Mina Cho & Grace Beat Quartet piano world fusion world jazz Yeongjin Kim

Mina Cho & Grace Beat Quartet – Beat Mirage (International Gugak Jazz Institute, 2024) Rooted in the larger Gugak Jazz Society, a nine-piece powerhouse devoted…

The album cover for Victims of Convenience by Conveniens features a glitchy, distorted aesthetic with bold, overlapping cyan, magenta, and black silhouettes of band members. The typography is similarly fragmented, with a digital or photocopied effect.

CD Reviews

Synths, Jazz, Percussion, Chaos: Conveniens Plays by No One’s Rules

Stefan Bruno February 20, 2025 No Comments

Conveniens – Victims of Convenience (Smith&Maz Music, 2024, originally released by Convenience Records in 1986) Conveniens, an American underground band, emerged in the 1980s. They…

The album cover for Between Two Worlds by Hats Off Gentlemen It's Adequate features a surreal, blurred double-exposure effect of a faceless humanoid figure.

CD Reviews

Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate – “Between Two Worlds”- EP

Professor Mark February 19, 2025 No Comments "Between Two Worlds"- EP Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate – "Between Two Worlds"- EP Malcolm Galloway Mark Gatland Progressive rock symphonic rock UK

Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate, is one of the best progressive rock bands from the UK. This year they have released an EP, Between Two…

The album cover for Remnants of Light by Needlepoint features a black-and-white hand-drawn illustration with a folk-art aesthetic. A barefoot figure, dressed in loose clothing, sits on the ground surrounded by scattered leaves, resting their head on one hand in a contemplative pose. Around them, several crows gather, seemingly engaged in an interaction with the leaves. Behind them, bare trees, a stone wall, and a distant village. Above, a vast flock of birds forms a flowing pattern in the sky.

CD Reviews

A Fine Needle in the Prog Haystack

Angel Romero February 17, 2025 No Comments Canterbury Needlepoint pastoral folk Progressive rock psychedelic rock

Needlepoint – Remnants of Light (BJK Music, 2024) With Remnants of Light, their sixth album, Needlepoint continue to carve out a singular space within Norway’s…

CD Reviews New CDs and Digital releases

World’s Beyond – “Rhapsody of Life”

Professor Mark February 17, 2025 No Comments Ewoud Dekoninck Female fronted progressive metal Jakob Declercq Robbe Adriaens symphonic metal symphonic progressive metal symphonic rock Tijmen Matthys Valerie De Kempe World’s Beyond – "Rhapsody of Life"Wout Debacker

Another new metal symphonic band has been located, within a famous city in Belgium. Ghent, is the home of the famous city where the War…

The Bob Lazar Story's Vanquisher album cover features a minimalist design with a single bright red chili pepper, possibly a ghost pepper, set against a deep teal background.

CD Reviews

The Bob Lazar Story – Vanquisher: Intricate, Offbeat, and Accessible Instrumental music

Kevin Baker February 16, 2025 No Comments Progressive rock The Bob Lazar Story

The Bob Lazar Story – Vanquisher (Bad Elephant Music, 2019) Vanquisher marked the seventh album from The Bob Lazar Story, the musical collaboration between UK-born…

CD Reviews

Hartlight – “The Triumph of Metal”

Professor Mark February 16, 2025 No Comments Adrien Djouadou Adrien Guingal Female Fronted Metal Female fronted progressive metal France Guillaume Remih Hartlight Noémie Allet progressive metal symphonic metal symphonic progressive metal The Triumph of Metal

I found another great progressive symphonic metal, female-fronted band from France. The band is Hartlight, and they are about to release their second full album,…

The album cover for Imaginaerium - The Siege features a fantasy-inspired battle scene. A massive metallic sphere with intricate engravings and a fiery opening looms at the center, seemingly an otherworldly siege weapon. Surrounding it, Roman-style soldiers clad in red capes and armed with spears and shields advance through swirling blue mist. Towering stone fortresses, adorned with flags and statues, frame the scene, while the sky burns with a crimson inferno.

CD Reviews New CDs and Digital releases

Imaginaerium – “Siege”

Professor Mark February 15, 2025 No Comments Clive Nolan Eric Bouillette Imaginaerium – "Siege"Laura Piazzai Luis Nasser Mirko Sangrigoli Progressive rock Simone Milliava symphonic rock

Imaginaerium has returned to tell several stories conceptualized on the term “siege”. The stories range as far back as the archives of the history of…

The album cover for With Eyes Closed by Matt Panayides Trio features an abstract, watercolor-style background with overlapping brushstrokes in shades of blue, orange, pink, green, and yellow. The title, "With Eyes Closed," is centered in bold, modern black typography, while "Matt Panayides Trio" appears in a smaller, straightforward font at the bottom.

CD Reviews

Panayides Reworks Old Jazz Tunes

Charlie Melville February 13, 2025 No Comments contemporary jazz Matt Panayides Trio

Matt Panayides Trio — With Eyes Closed (Pacific Coast Jazz PJ93456, 2024) Matt Panayides, a New York City-based virtuoso guitarist and composer, is recognized for…