CD

The Finnish band Kaliban presents on The Tempest Of Thoughts eight heavy metal tracks on the same label as Embraze, another heavy metal band from that country. Their music is in the vein of classic heavy metal with lots of familiar chords. The main composer, guitarist and grunt-voice is Henri Peltola.

Notes From The Past (2002) was already an impressive album, but as far as I'm concerned the Swedish masters of progressive symphonic music hit the big one with their new, seventh studio album Keyholder. The album contains a delicate balance between classic symphonic rock (Fields, Yes) and the contemporary progressive music as played by The Flower Kings orTransatlantic with some influences of Jazz and fusion.

Fanatic is the fifth studio album by Jadis in the fifteen years of the group's existance. Fanatic is the successor to Understand (2000) and after a period of changes in line-up Jadis are back to the front with both IQ-members Martin Orford (keyboards, vocals) and John Jowitt (bass) in their midst. Together with drummer Steve Christey they show on their new album. This is definitively a great line-up! The album features nine tracks ranging from four to just over eight minutes.

The successor to the rather experimental album Floating World by the duo Jade Warrior, consisting of Tony Duhig and Jon Field, was Waves. With guest performances by David Duhig, Graham Morgan (drums), Maggie Thomas (alto recorder), Suzi (vocals) and no one less than Steve Winwood (Moog, piano solos), this album contains only two tracks but these are divided in many parts, representing many musical styles.

Jade Warrior was founded in the late sixties. The band made three albums and Floating World is their fourth one. In 1974 they were reduced to a duo consisting of multi-instrumentalists Jon Field (main instrument flute) and Tony Duhig (main instrument guitar). Both musicians have roots in jazz and African music. Together with some psychedelic, pop and rock elements, these two came up with a very strange mixture of musical styles.

Ixion is a project by the Dutch musician Jankees Braam. He has a job as a computer programmer, but in his spare time he is the sound engineer for the Dutch bands S.O.T.E., Knight Area and Ulysses, among others, and he is a multi-instrumentalist. He plays the bass, bass pedals, guitars and keyboards. Garden Of Eden is his third album.

Frequency by is the ninth studio album in 23 years of IQ. It isn't a prolific production, but fortunately the quality of the albums, especially of this new one, compensates for this more than enough. Although drummer Paul Cook as well as keyboardist Martin Orford left the band in the new millennium, their substitutes are doing a terrific job. During the live shows, Cook is replacing Andy Edwards adequately.

The Japanese band Interpose creates traditional symphonic rock on their eponymous album. The classic line-up, the limited female vocals by Sayuri Aruga and the music remind me of bands like Outer Limits or Pageant. Kenji Tanaka (guitars), Katsu Satu (drums), Toshiyuki Koike (bass) and Kyuji Yonekura play together in regular intervals since the eighties.

Some thirty years after the Mexican band Iconoclasta was formed by guitarist-keyboardist Ricardo Moreno, the band returns with Resurrección, an appropriate title after a silence of two decades. Some line-up changes were inevitable but both guitarist Ricardo Ortegón and drummer Victor Baldovinos are present from the original line-up.

From the ashes of the Dutch prog band Maryson arose Ice. The late W.J. Maryson (Wim Stolk) has been replaced by Ardie Westdijk, the former keyboardist of Differences. There's a solid base for a good symphonic and progressive band. With The Saga these five men deliver an album full of music influenced by bands like Genesis, Marillion (Strangelight), Saga and Eloy.