On March 16th, Britain’s cult metallers Paradise Lost will release a remastered version of their legendary seventh studio album, ‘Host’ and a first-ever pressing of the songs on vinyl. Originally released in 1999, ‘Host’ earned Paradise Lost their reputation as West Yorkshire’s musical chameleon, as it saw the band moving further away from their previous death metal roots to a melancholic and catchier electropop sound.
Singer Nick Holmes comments: “With the ‘Host’ album we wanted to take the ‘One Second’ concept further and make a very dark album with even more subtlety. It was a bold leap from all our previous albums, a leap too far some would say, but for me, the new remastered version really shows it’s still one of the band’s strongest albums in terms of song writing, atmosphere and sheer misery.”
The album will be available as digipack and in three different vinyl colours (black, clear and mint) for the first time ever. Pre-order started yesterday, you can get your copy here:
The band’s latest doom metal monster ‘Medusa’ is now in stores and has been featured in a number of end of year lists for 2017 in the likes of Metal Hammer, Decibel and Rock Hard Italy.
On the heels of their critically acclaimed 2017 release ‘Malina,’ Leprous are excited to announce a US tour alongside progressive metal giants Between the Buried and Me. Also joining the tour are The Dear Hunter making this one of the highly anticipated tours in 2018.
The tour kicks off March 2nd in Chicago.
Pre-sale tickets go on sale now and general tickets go on sale Friday at 10 AM (local time).
3.2 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues
3.3 – Minneapolis, MN – First Ave
3.5 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre
3.6 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex
3.8 – Seattle, WA – Showbox
3.9 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
3.10 – San Francisco, CA – The Regency Ballroom
3.11 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues
3.13 – Los Angeles, CA – Belasco Theater
3.15 – Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues
3.16 – Phoenix, AZ – Marquee
3.17 – Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theater
3.19 – Austin, TX – Come and Take It Live
3.20 – Dallas, TX – Canton Hall
3.21 – Houston, TX – Warehouse Ballroom
3.23 – Orlando, FL – The Beacham Theater
3.24 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Revolution
3.27 – Nashville, TN – Cannery Ballroom
3.28 – Asheville, NC – Orange Peel
3.30 – Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Smalls
3.31 – Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory
4.2 – Albany, NY – Upstate Concert Hall
4.3 – Boston, MA – Royale
4.4 – New York City, NY – Playstation Theater
4.5 – Silver Spring, MD – Fillmore Silver Spring
4.6 – Cleveland, OH – Agora Theatre
4.7 – Mount Clemens, MI – Emerald Theatre
Neal Morse will be releasing his latest solo album, ‘Life and Times’, February 16 on Radiant Records via Metal Blade Records/SONY on all digital outlets, as well as CD and vinyl.
Premiered in Germany last week, here is the second video clip for the song Livin’ Lightly:
Born in 1960 to a musical Californian family, Morse played in many bands during his youth. He learned and mastered several instruments along the way. In 1995, he wrote and recorded ‘The Light’ with his new band, Spock’s Beard. It was an album grounded strongly in the then-unfashionable progressive rock genre. The album and title song became modern prog classics, and began to bring Morse and the band global recognition. In 2000, he also joined forces with Mike Portnoy (ex-Dream Theater), Pete Trewavas (Marillion) and Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings) to form Transatlantic.
Neal Morse’s solo work has focused almost entirely on music with a strong message of redemption, beginning with 2003’s ‘Testimony’ – a two-disc musical account of his spiritual journey–and most recently with The Neal Morse Band’s ‘The Similitude of a Dream’ , based on John Bunyan’s classic allegory ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress.
Prolific musician John Bassett has announced that pre-orders for the latest album from his 80’s Synthwave / Synthpop side project Sacred Ape will open this Friday, 19/1/18.
Following on from last year’s self-titled debut, ‘Electric Mountain’ promises to deliver more of those retro 80’s sounds that the first album delivered in spades.
John said, “I think, its kind of like a progressive 80’s electronic horror soundtrack, sort of? but that just might be me? I feel this is the closest I’ve got to the sound and style I was hoping to achieve when I first started this project.”
Listen to the title track here:
Originally from Hastings, John now resides in Sligo, Ireland. John Bassett is better known for his work in Metal & Rock with Arcade Messiah & KingBathmat.
Aviv Geffen, the Israeli singer/songwriter as one half of the rock duo Blackfield with prolific British musician Steven Wilson, is taking their critically acclaimed studio album ‘V’ on a new 9-date European tour in January 2018. Following the successful Spring 2017 tour, which saw a surprise appearance from Steven Wilson on the UK dates, European shows with Biffy Clyro and shows with Jake Bugg, Aviv Geffen has answered the many fan requests for more live performances.
Blackfield’s beloved music was recently celebrated with reissues of their classic first two albums on vinyl and CD, with the second also being remastered by Steven Wilson.
Their latest album ‘Blackfield V’, was written and recorded over 18 months in both Israel and England, and contains 13 linked songs that form a flowing 45 minute ocean themed song cycle. The duo expertly handle the vocals, guitars, and keyboards, with Tomer Z from the Blackfield band on drums, Eran Mitelman on keys, and string arrangements performed by the London Session Orchestra. ‘Blackfield V’ is a powerful journey through catchy melodies, lush arrangements, and stunning production, with legendary producer / engineer Alan Parsons working on three of the album’s key tracks.
The pair make for a formidable musical force; Geffen has worked with legendary producers Tony Visconti and Trevor Horn, has played live with U2 and Placebo, and is currently a judge on the Israeli TV show The Voice. Wilson, after a long tenure as the leader of the hugely influential band Porcupine Tree, has since embarked on a highly successful solo career, achieving 3 UK top 40 albums (the most recent also making the top 3 in Germany, and The Netherlands), and 4 Grammy nominations.
For the release of their latest album ‘V’,Blackfield revealed two music videos, created by long time collaborator Lasse Hoile (www.lassehoile.com), for the Wilson-penned “From 44 to 48” and for “Lonely Soul”.
Paul Draper has announced details of a special edition of his debut album ‘Spooky Action’. The two CD set features the original album alongside a disc capturing Paul’s triumphant headline show at London’s Scala (recorded on 21st September 2017). The gig was part of a sell-out solo tour, Paul’s first live shows since Mansun stopped touring in 2002. The gig featured tracks from ‘Spooky Action’ (featured in the Prog, Louder than War and Guardian writers end of year charts – “the perfect confection for the later days of the 2010s” Record Collector 5*,), his solo EPs and Mansun’s ‘Attack of the Grey Lantern’ and ‘Little Kix’. The entire gig has been mixed by Paul’s long time collaborator P Dub.
Live at Scalafeatures:
1. The Silence is Deafening
2. Don’t You Wait, It Might Never Come
3. No Ideas
4. Feeling My Heart Run Slow
5. Things People Want
6. Disgusting
7. Friends Make The Worst Enemies
8. Grey House
9. Who’s Wearing The Trousers
10. I Can Only Disappoint U
11. Wide Open Space
12. Don’t Poke The Bear
Spooky Action & Live at Scala will be available as a 2CD set on Kscope on 16th February 2018. A single disc of the live album will be available from independent shops and a very limited signed 2 x 12” vinyl edition will be sold exclusively on Paul’s forthcoming UK tour dates. At those shows, Paul and his band will play a set of solo material before performing Mansun’s classic debut Attack of the Grey Lantern in full for the first time ever on the 21st anniversary of its release. The dates are:
Paul Draper was the frontman of Mansun – one of the most iconic bands of the late ’90s. Over the course of three albums (a fourth issued posthumously), they achieved something unique – after fostering a fervent cult following, they managed to maintain critical and commercial success with a series of intensely radio friendly yet increasingly experimental records. Off the back of their biggest radio record, Mansun imploded in 2003 and Paul all but disappeared from view.
Fast forward to 2017 when Paul released his long-awaited debut solo album, Spooky Action, on Kscope in the summer. The album wasthe result of a decade of thinking, tinkering, writing, recording and focusing.
Lyrically, biting and brutally honest – an autobiography set to captivating, addictive melody across eleven songs that peak then peak again, then peak again. Taking its cue from 2016’s two EP releases and recorded in collaboration with Catherine AD (The Anchoress) and long time Mansun collaborator PDub, The record’s eleven tracks veer from warped voodoo psych (Don’t Poke the Bear) to glistening synthetic soul (Things People Want); from warped, razor wire rock’n’roll (Grey House) to glorious widescreen analogue pop music (Jealousy Is A Powerful Emotion). Collectively, they represent Paul’s strongest, most consistent set of songs to date – half a lifetime’s work condensed into just over an hour of perfectly formed music.
2017 also saw Kscope acquire the rights to Mansun’s back catalogue. The ground-breaking label will roll out a reissue campaign over eighteen months that will cover the band’s entire history and enhance their reputation as one of the most iconic and innovative bands of the 90s.
Mansun’s four albums – ‘Attack of theGreyLantern’ (1997), ‘Six’ (1998), ‘Little Kix’ (2000) and the compilation ‘Kleptomania’ (2004) – were originally issued by Parlophone. The Kscope reissues will bring these classic records into the modern age by delving into a treasure trove of previously unreleased audio and visual material while fully remastering the original recordings for 5.1 and deluxe 180gm vinyl. This campaign will begin with ‘Attack Of The Grey Lantern’, to celebrate the 21st Anniversary of the album’s release.
Following the release of Welsh rockers Godsticks’ new studio album – Faced With Rage the band have released a video for the song “Angry Concern”.
The clip was filmed during the recording sessions for Faced With Rage at the world-renowned Monnow Valley Studio in Wales. Darran Charles, Godsticks vocalist, guitarist and main writer talks in depth about the track and their time at Monnow: “‘Angry Concern’ is probably one of our most experimental sounding tracks to date and testament to how integral each band member’s contribution is these days. Dan and Tom’s bass and drums are key to keeping an aggressive edge to what is a deceptively vocal-heavy track. I remember that this was one of the first tracks we recorded drums for at Monnow Valley and unusually for us, we ended up tracking drums for the entire song rather than section by section. This ensured a certain dynamism to the performance and I remember that after Tom’s very first take of this track we were all stunned into silence, including James our producer – it blew us away! One of my very favourite drum performances since the band first got together.”
Godsticks, having recently toured with The Pineapple Thief and appeared at Planet Rockstock festival, have also confirmed they will playing two headline shows in the UK in May – their hometown of Cardiff and in London.
A rather excited Darran Charles comments on taking that step to headlining: “After spending the best part of a decade as an opening act you can imagine we have been chomping at the bit to finally do our own headline shows. We’ve more than paid our dues I think, and with 4 albums behind us it’s time to stand on our own 8 feet! We’ll be performing tracks that we’ve never played live before and rehearsing harder than ever to ensure these are the best two Godsticks shows you’ve seen to date. We genuinely cannot wait!!”
Beatrix Players are a London-based all-female trio whose unconventional but evocative music straddles the boundaries of folk, prog rock, acoustic, classical and pop music. The band are thrilled to announce they will be supporting Steve Harley Acoustic Trio, the original Cockney Rebel, across three shows at Cardiff’s Acapela Studios on February 14th, 15th& 16th; followed by their own headline show on April 22nd.
They will also be performing a warm-up London show at Camden’s Green Note on Friday 19th January before heading to The Robin 2 in Wolverhampton on February 11th next year to support symphonic rock band Serpentyne.
Beatrix Players recently released double A-side single ‘All That Thinking / Hurt’ in October. ‘All That Thinking’ being taken from their 2017debut album, ‘Magnified’, while ‘Hurt’ is a previously unreleased studio recording of the Nine Inch Nails song, famously covered by Johnny Cash on his ‘American IV: The Man Comes Around’ album.
The trio recently won the prestigious Limelight Award at the 2017 Prog Awards which took place at London’s Globe Theatre on September 14th, and performed Hurt live to an audience of peers, critics and industry insiders. The Limelight Award highlights the best of the talent that has emerged over the past 12 months on the progressive rock scene. Previous winners of the coveted award include The Anchoress, Messenger and TesseracT.
Through their enchantingly dark and evocative melodies, expansive arrangements and empowered orchestral sound Beatrix Players tell stories of real life and fantasy. Citing influences as diverse as Michael Nyman and Regina Spektor and drawing comparisons to the likes of Kate Bush and Einaudi Ludovico. There are tempestuous passages in the bands’ music that you can imagine being delivered by traditional rock instrumentation but it is the very absence of guitars and drums that means there’s nobody out there quite like Beatrix Players.
On 26th January 2018, Inside Out Music release Wuthering Nights : Live in Birmingham, the new live release from guitar legend Steve Hackett. Wuthering Nights was filmed at the Birmingham Symphony Hall during Hacketts recent, critically-acclaimed Genesis Revisited & Classic Hackett tour. Available as Special Edition 2DVD + 2CD Digipak, Blu-Ray, Digital album and Blu-Ray in stereo & surround sound, this is a must-have for any prog fan.
This tour marked the 40th anniversary of Wind & Wuthering, Hacketts last album with Genesis which reached number 7 in the UK album chart. To celebrate Steve and his band played 5 of the best-loved tracks from this iconic album: Eleventh Earl Of Mar, One For The Vine, Blood On The Rooftops, …In That Quiet Earth and Afterglow.
Other fan favourites from Hackett’s Genesis days were ‘revisited’: Dance On A Volcano, Inside & Out, Firth Of Fifth, The Musical Box and the classic Los Endos. This mesmerising show marks the first ever live performance by Hackett & his band of the tracks One for the Vine and Inside & Out, and also includes many of Hackett’s solo fan-favourites as well as material from his latest studio album The Night Siren.
Following the success of two highly-praised albums with Iamthemorning, Russian virtuoso pianist Gleb Kolyadinaffirms his musical authority with his debut, self-titled album on Kscope, on 23rd February 2018.
The record features a staggering who’s-who of performers, including: Gavin Harrison (King Crimson / Porcupine Tree) on drums; Nick Beggs (Steven Wilson) on bass; Theo Travis (Robert Fripp / Porcupine Tree / Steven Wilson) on flute and saxophone; the unmistakable voice and lyrics of Steve Hogarth (Marillion) alongside Mick Moss (Antimatter); and Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) on additional keys.
‘The Best of Days’ features the instantly recognisable vocals from Marillion’s Steve Hogarth, on the collaboration Steve comments “Gleb is a beautiful pianist and a great musician. I was invited to collaborate on his new solo album and my mind was made up as soon as I heard the music.”
Gleb Kolyadin is an emotive exploration of self-identity; a story of two parts with interweaving leitmotifs. The album’s central concept weaves through an elaborate tonal and thematic structure, built around the extraordinary rhythm section of Gavin Harrison and Nick Beggs, which is accented at its focal points by guest appearances from Steve Hogarth, Jordan Rudess, Mick Moss and Theo Travis.
Gleb is an extremely rare talent as a pianist and as a composer. His compositions are very inspiring as he breaks new ground on the instrument.” Gavin Harrison (King Crimson / Porcupine Tree)
he album is a collaborative piece with each musician recording their own parts separately, starting with Gleb recording himself on grand piano in Moscow Winter-Spring 2017 at the famed Mosfilm studio. The album was mixed and engineered by Vlad Avy, who also previously worked on the two Iamthemorning records.
“Gleb Kolyadin is a rare talent. A virtuoso classical pianist with tremendous compositional skills… believe you will find the listening experience quite breath taking.”Nick Beggs (Steven Wilson)
