Amplifier
Echo Street
Kscope (2013)
This review is part of my coverage of the 2013 Progressive Music Awards, on 3 September. Amplifier is one of the few bands in the small but noticeably growing post-progressive scene (proving, once and for all, that "post-" can be appended to anything). It's music that firmly falls into the progressive rock camp--you won't be at a loss for extended … Read more
Anathema
Universal
Kscope (2013)
Anathema's live performance had always been something special and their latter day music is built for an arena such as the roman theatre of Philippopolis and the accompaniment of the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra. Outdoors, under the stars and note perfect, Universal showcases the Liverpudlian bands' incredible atmosphere with a heavenly precision.Directed by Lasse Hoile, who has also made concert films … Read more
Anathema
Weather Systems
Kscope (2012)
Liverpool's Anathema are a curious entity. Starting life as a death-infused doom band full of intense lamentation and a deep-seated despair they struck a path that no-one could see coming. Eternity heralded a change in direction for Anathema in 1996 and ultimately led them to the stratospheric height of We're Here Because We're Here in 2010, a record of loss-filled … Read more
Blackfield
Welcome To My DNA
Kscope (2011)
Steven Wilson is a man of many talents--and more than three dozen of them are just different ways of making music. Though he's known mostly for his more complex work, his progressive conquests all take a side seat for a moment as he again sits down with Aviv Geffen on the third album from his pop rock project Blackfield, titled … Read more
Jonathan Hulten
Chants from Another Place
Kscope (2020)
It is always interesting to see well established artists step out of their comfort zone, attempting to broaden their horizons and produce something novel. Jonathan Hulten has taken such a turn once already, when his main band Tribulation departed from their early, death metal drenched style and stepped into a forward-thinking heavy metal bliss. Incorporating everything from black metal to … Read more
Mothlite
Dark Age
Kscope (2012)
Mothlite's Daniel O'Sullivan has spent his time away from his personal project collaborating with some of the world's most well known post-progressive acts. Ulver, Æthenor, Guapo and Grumbling Fur are but a few of the groups O'Sullivan has somehow found time to participate in but Mothlite is his completely and as such the second record from this project, Dark Age, … Read more
Steven Wilson
Grace For Drowning
Kscope (2011)
It's pretty easy to get inside Steven Wilson's head. It's abundantly clear from his works with Porcupine Tree that the man has a fetish for 1970s era progressive rock à la Pink Floyd, Yes and King Crimson. Sure, Porcupine Tree has also picked up influences from modern extreme metal, but nobody can deny that the roots of Steven Wilson's pet … Read more
Steven Wilson
The Raven that Refused to Sing (And Other Stories)
Kscope (2013)
Though they all claim lineage to the great acts of the 1970s, no modern progressive band can claim that they sound even remotely similar to them. Bands in the modern progressive rock genre (see Transatlantic, Spock's Beard, Coheed and Cambria) tend to sound closer akin to brightly-polished half-metal than the rock of the 70s, with a loudness and clarity that … Read more
