A broad sum-up for the last March and first April release week

Just recently, I was reminded of the brilliance of Sylvan, one of Germany’s premier Prog Rock bands, when I saw them live again in Munich after quite some years. It’s been even longer since guitarist Kay Söhl was a part of Sylvan, that was even before I got to see them for the first time. Kay was a founding member and integral part of the band throughout all their classic albums (“Artificial Paradise” and “Posthumous Silence” included) until his departure from the band some 18 years ago or so. Now, he’s finally back with a new project called Vlyes and a captivating debut album, “Why”. That being said, anyone who’s expecting some marvelous emotional prog rock – would be entirely right. In addition to Kay’s captivating guitar and bass work (and songwriting, I’d assume), we have Jens Lueck (aka Single Celled Organism) providing a stellar drums and keyboards backbone, with Volker Oster’s rather dark timbre giving the songs the final, heartfelt touch. ‘The Abandon’, one of two long tracks on the album, even gives me unexpected, yet very welcome mid-era Depeche Mode vibes after a “Division Bell” worthy ‘Calm Down’. With Marco Glühmann’s solo debut around the corner and new Sylvan material on the horizon, 2024 is shaping up to become an extraordinarily stellar year for fans of this particular, wonderful brand of progressive rock straight out of Hamburg, which is always welcome even in the deepest south of Germany. Dario

Distinctively more psychedelic than imagined (for whatever reason), longstanding Polish prog rock band Amarok returns with their seventh album, “Hope”. Conjuring up a quite mesmerizing atmosphere, the quartet distills their influences to a signature Amarok sound. Just like with the aforementioned Vlyes, the ever-present Pink Floyd, my first love, looms large over everything, without overshadowing the whole thing though. And with a completely different outcome to “Why”. And even though Amarok’s debut album was released the very same year as Poland’s most popular prog band was founded, when it comes to some of the heavier proggy riffs (‘Trail’), I can’t help but to think of Riverside. Despite their name, Amarok are neither strict Mike Oldfield worshippers nor playing odes to a certain VW car. Instead, you’ll find some very good psychedelic, electronic prog rock here. Dario

Now that we’re deep within prog rock territory clearly inspired by some distinct influences, we can as well fast forward a little bit to the turning of the century when a certain UK trio called Muse revolutionized radio friendly rock by infusing proggy and classical craziness. Or was it the other way round? In any case, the music by Swedish trio Reach can definitely be seen (or heard) in the tradition of Muse and while it’s not quite as revolutionary, their second album “Prophecy” is definitely a fun trip through ten exceptionally catchy songs (plus bonus christmas song in Swedish). And I’m counting on it to be even more fun when they’ll be bringing all this to the live stages in May. Can’t wait! Dario

Out of all the metal subgenres, black metal was probably the last/latest one I got into, preferably with a prefix like ‘atmospheric’ or ‘avantgarde’. ‘Cosmic’ works a treat as well, especially if it’s a nice epic treat like “Beyond the Palest Star”, the second album from German cosmic black metal entity Vorga. The vastness of space and its connection to the human condition and collective consciousness of humankind:  that’s more or less the area in which we’re floating – both musically and lyrically I’d guess. Whether the music informs the lyrical content here or vice versa is irrelevant, as they function excellently as a unity. Dario

We at The Progspace can’t take credit for bringing Warr-guitarist Jason Blake and Canadian Cellist Raphael Weinroth-Browne together, as their joint EP „Candles Burn“ had already been in the making when both got nominated for a The Progspace Award 2023 at the beginning of the year. We can however take credit for premiering the artistic video for the single ‚Rift and Reckoning‘, and now that the full three-track EP is out, we can‘t recommend it enough to all those seeking an qintrospective fusion of the Warr-guitar‘s progressive rock roots and the pensive, melancholy contemporary chamber music vibes Raphael‘s Cello brings. An intriguing meeting of two extraordinary instrumentalists. Dario

Very dark, very alternative stuff comes from Poland with “The Kids” by Barrus, the solo project of musician and composer Rafał Lipka. The scope of the emotional depth is as vast as the eclecticism of some compositional choices, which makes for quite a disturbing listen in some places. A clear emphasis on conveying dark atmospheres over coherent ‘traditional’ song structures and production choices is evident. Definitely a unique journey that I can only compare to something like Storm Corrosion yet sounds nothing like it if that makes any sense at all. Dario

While the addition “Folk” to a genre tag normally  would push an album downwards on my never ending “need to listen” list, the cover artwork of Concrete Age’s new album introduced a certain seriousness to the offering and woke my interest. Originally hailing from Caucasus, now living in the UK, “Motherland” is the 9th record by the four-piece around main-composer Ilia Morozov, and a musical love-letter to their origins, catching nature’s wildness in a marvelous way. The traditional instruments and chants used here add a melancholic beauty to the rather rough Death Metal compositions, with the traditional rhythm patterns and sounds bringing in something special. Yet the Metal approach is really strong on this one, coming along with powerful, harsh vocals, pushing blast beats, and furious guitar solos. All-together a well-balanced melting pot of styles, and a great listen. Katha

Kello Gonzalez, beard brother and bassist of The Progspace Online Festival alumni/Mexican fusion trio Parazit, presents his first solo album, “Above the Great Beyond Below”. 10 hard hitting instrumental fusion rockers that differ quite a lot from the djenty style of his main band. Enough variety to keep up the entertainment factor throughout. Fun stuff. Dario

An industrial metal album on The Progspace? I guess there’s a first for everything, but “All of Us Divine”, the second offering from Germany-based, Vietnam-born musical entity Lockeheart is extremely heavy hitting with little to no guitars at all, without sounding overbearingly electronic interestingly enough. A multifaceted vocal performance and various guest solo spots with instruments as diverse as saxophone and bass to a sitar all add their parts to the rich variety of the compositions. The gorgeous cover artwork by Moya Illustrations rounds off an intriguing and exciting overall experience. Dario