CD

Progressive rock? No definitely not! But so many of the musicians from today name these godfathers of hard rock as their heroes, so it seems appropriate to have a review on the The Devil You Know, the new album by Heaven & Hell.

Although distributed through Inside Out, Steve Hackett’s new 'classical' album Metamorpheus has been released through his own label Camino. This successor to A Midsummernight's Dream (1997) combines Steve’s nylon strings with a classical orchestra. In the vein of his earlier albums Bay Of Kings (1983) and Momentum (1985) this album with its fifteen tracks offers almost an hour of pure delight in ‘modern’ classical music. Be aware that this music's got no rock elements whatsoever!

The Japansese guitarist and keyboardist Tadashi Goto wrote the music for Soundscapes in 2000 and 2001 during his stay at the university of Newcastle in Australia. The music may be categorized as jazz-rock. The atmospheric opening is beautiful, but the inevitable drum machine sets the tone. The second track World Update as well as the third one Lapstone comes close to the music UK made on their album Danger Money (1978). Furthermore influences of bands like Casiopea can be heard throughout the album.

Innervisions is the sequel to Tadashi Goto's debut Soundscapes (2005). The keyboardist, originating from Japan, spent quite some time in Australia and is a well-known musician in many countries.

If is the ninth studio album - not included the Middle Earth-album and compilations - by the American band Glass Hammer, that I would rather refer to as a duo. In essence Glass Hammer consist of the nucleus Steve Babb (bass, keyboards) and Fred Schendel (keyboards, mandolin, steel guitar) and a different cast of musicians and vocalists. This time Babb and Schendel chose to conceive a retro album which is reminiscent of Yes in the mid-seventies.

Sighs Of The Water is the tenth album by the Japanese progressive rock trio Gerard. Since the release of their first album in 1983, the musical style remained roughly the same throughout the years.

It’s no secret that Gazpacho was founded in the late nineties by members of the Marillion fanclub. Tick Tock is the sixth studio album by this Norwegian outfit, consisting of founder members Jon-Arne Vilbo (guitars) and Thomas Andersen (keyboards). When they met Jan H. Ohme (vocals) things began to get serious. Rounding off the current line-up are Mikael Krømer (violin), Robert Johansen (drums) and Kristan Torp (bass).

The Gathering are amongst the Dutch pioneers of alternative rock, but one could also call it female fronted rock and sometimes even gothic rock. The band celebrated their twentieth birthday in 2009 and The West Pole is their ninth studio album. For many years The Gathering were fronted by Anneke van Giersbergen (Agua De Annique), but they had to find a replacement when she decided to leave in 2007.

The Spanish prog band Galadriel recorded four albums from 1988. It's a well-respected name in the progressive genre. However, are they still a band? Just two of the members remained: Jésus Filardi (lead vocal, keyboard programming) and José Bautista (bass, keyboard programming). With the majority of the music composed by the latter, the two are helped by some pretty good musicians, amongst others Jean Pascal Bofo on guitar. The recordings took place between 2004 and 2007.

Twelve new songs from Chris Bay (vocals, guitar) are featuring this fourth studio album by Freedom Call, the melodic rockers from Germany. The production for The Circle Of Life was done by Sascha Paeth, so that any insider will know what kind of music can be expected, what kind of arrangements can be heard and, of course, that the production is impeccable.