Weekend music: Mother of Millions, Bioplan, Jo Quail & PRR

What do you do when a band member, an integral part of your creative entity that you have formed together with other creative minds, friends, dies? ‘Where Do We Go From Here?’ Greek post prog metal upstarts Mother of Millions had to face this exact terrifying situation after the totally unexpected and devastating loss of their keyboarder Makis Tsamkosoglou during a show in June 2019. Working together on the “Orbit” EP proved absolutely cathartic for the remaining four members who decided to keep going as a quartet, in memory of their friend Makis, keeping his musical legacy alive. 17 minutes of emotional music and a promise to fans old and new: we are Mother of Millions and we’re here to stay! R.I.P. Makis, we’ll remember you by your wonderful music and your brothers will keep the flame alive! “Orbit” is for you! Dario

Ah yes there he is again. That Swedish prog metal singer with his instrumental solo project. I mean, Andi Kravljaca is known for his powerful vocals in prog metal bands like Seventh Wonder, Silent Call or Aeon Zen. Interestingly enough, for his solo project Bioplan he chose to go down completely vocal-less synthwave/prog metal hybrid alleys, which works just as well on the third EP “Arcade Dreams” (sic!) as on the first two EPs, “Ocular” and “Epipath”. Dreamy, slightly nostalgic, yet still quite punchy and crunchy and a little bit shreddy here and there, Andi’s 7-string guitar/synth mashup is a lot of fun to listen to and comes with The Progspace seal of approval! Keep ‘em EPs coming… Dario

Hot on the heels of its world live premiere at Roadburn Festival, by which this piece was also commissioned, British Cello visionary Jo Quail brings her newest composition “The Cartographer” now to your home as well. Granted, familiar song structures, classic ‘rock’ instrumentation or hook lines and lyrics to sing along with you will seek in vain here. If you’re in the mood for some dark, evocative contemporary classical music with lots of Cello (obviously), trombones and timpani, you’ve come to the right place! There’s a certain arcane. almost primeval quality to the music of “The Cartographer”, yet it feels oddly timeless at the same time, So this is not your standard prog or post metal offering indeed, this is something completely unique that demands your undivided attention. Let “The Cartographer” enchant you! Dario

Two years ago, british modern prog rock innovators Pure Reason Revolution made some serious waves in the scene with their stellar comeback album “Eupnea”. Unable to really present it live due to some worldwide pandemic, they just continued writing music and now they’re back again with “Above Cirrus”, their fifth studio album. And it’s got everything a good PRR album needs: driving riffs, danceable grooves, small electronic shenanigans here and there… Big hooks. But most of all: those absolutely gorgeous signature PRR multi-part harmonies like only they are able to incorporate it into a modern progressive rock environment. With ‘Scream Sideways’, they rival Cold Night For Alligators for catchiest chorus of the year so far, that alone is worth the admission price to enter “Above Cirrus”. An absolutely mandatory listen this year, without a doubt! Don’t miss out on our Progtalks epsiode with guitarists/vocalists Jon Courtney & Greg Jong. And listen to “Above Cirrus”! Dario