50 new releases, 6 highlights: March is marching on!

With Yossi Sassi’s solo albums it’s been a bit like with Devin Townsend’s output after he left Strapping Young Lad (and Sassi Orphaned Land respectively): is the new album gonna be released under his own name? As Yossi Sassi Band? Or with The Oriental Rock Orchestra like the latest two, now three? Anyhow, what you can expect in any of these cases is premium quality (mostly) instrumental oriental/mediterranean rock, led by Sassi’s signature Bouzoukitara sound. “Prediluvian” is no different and features 12 tracks that perfectly captured the sun on the beautiful Greek island of Santorini, where it was recorded. 12 instrumental tracks to put you in a good mood with infectious melodies, often played on the flute by Yossi’s daughter Danielle Sassi (Storchi), with one surprise vocal track again, featuring the returning collaborator, Haken’s Ross Jennings. What a brilliant start to the week this album provided last Monday when it was released and I’m sure it’s gonna get lots more spins in the coming weeks and months. Dario

Oscillating between massive onslaughts of heaviness and ambient/electronic parts, Paris instrumentalists Stömb present their third full length record after two EPs and two albums, “Massive Disturbed Meta Art”. We proudly presented an advance stream of the full album on Monday already and Bob wrote an in depth review diving deep into the individual songs and concept of the album which you can read here. Or you do yourself a favor and dive into 67 minutes of “Massive Disturbed Meta Art” yourself. Unless you’re looking for something easier on the ears. The albums highlighted above and below might just provide that. Dario

When it comes to progressive rock from Germany, RPWL from Freising near Munich is definitely a well respected mainstay. And while I have to say that I’m not the biggest fan of the aesthetically not so pleasing cover artwork of their new, eighth studio album “Crime Scene”, the musical content is exactly the wonderfully melodic prog we’ve come to expect from them. The departure of long standing keyboardist Markus Jehle is expertly compensated by vocalist Yogi Lang himself and the partially (where needed) prominent bass of newcomer Markus Grützner (7for4) makes a great addition to the band’s sound. Kalle Wallner’s knack for great guitar leads is pronounced and spot on as ever. Unlike the previous album “Tales from Outer Space”, it seems to be a collection of six different short crime stories, rather than an album spanning concept. Not as happy as A.C.T’s “Falling” recently, it still seems rather interesting to have such beautiful melodies tell tales of tragedy and the abysses of the human psyche. Be that as it may though, that dichotomy doesn’t take away from the quality of the music in the slightest. Dario

An unexpected, fun little guitar album comes from Denmark this week in the form of Simon Laulund’s “Persona: Elements”. The various styles he tackles on it range from straight hard rocking tunes over some funky bits all the way to jazzy modern prog and he even finishes off with a proper cover version of the jazz piece ‘Foretold You’ by Walter Smith III. Exactly what I needed to keep up the vibes after the fantastic Plin/Jakub Zytecki/Jack Gardiner & Owane concert here in Munich last Thursday. Apparently “Persona: Elements” is Simon Laulund’s second solo album, but I wouldn’t mind to hear more from where that came from. Dario

Satisfying me need for something slightly more extreme and avantgarde this week is “Total”, the fourth album from Poland’s Entropia. No, this is not a Pain of Salvation cover bandPsychedelic SludgeKrautBlackMetal anyone? Whatever you wanna call it, “Total” is a totally different kind of beast for sure. With its title track totalling in at just over 15 minutes, the other four songs are not exactly radio friendly either, neither in their length nor in their musical alignment, none of them being shorter than seven minutes, none of them dialing back in the relentless maelstrom of dissonant riffing and cathartic screaming. But we’re not here for radio friendly material anyways, right? Dario

Redemption seems to be a band that has been a bit overshadowed by its bigger sister bands (Fates Warning during Ray Alder’s stint 2005-2017 and Evergrey since Tom Englund replaced him on the vocal front), but also their more recent output wasn’t always capable to live up to the two masterpiece’s early in their career (“The Fullness of Time” and “The Origins of Ruin”). So while “This Mortal Coil” and “The Art of Loss” somehow weren’t quite able to reproduce the (even a tiny bit too perfect) perfection of their direct predecessor “Snowfall on Judgement Day”, 2018’s “Long Night’s Journey Into Day” could and should have been a forceful comeback with the introduction of fresh blood in the form of Tom Englund and the keyboard magic of Vikram Shankar. And I’m guessing it was for many a long-time Redemption fan, however the songwriting by mastermind Nick Van Dyk still didn’t seem to be able to grab me again personally. Hell, this mini review surely doesn’t read that enthusiastic so far, does it? Anyways, all I’m trying to say with that long-winded build up is that their new, seventh album “I Am The Storm” seems to finally do the trick and bring me back into the Redemption fold. Top notch melodic prog metal (despite the odd cover version in the middle of the album, a weird tradition they started a couple of albums back). Dario