Unreal City - Frammenti Notturni. 2017 Italy

Unreal City's 3rd album certainly pushes all the right buttons for the Italian prog rock style. Many shifts in tone and pace, impassioned vocals in the local language, and complex compositions. All that said,  Frammenti Notturni seems a bit flat, and the instrumentals can be stilted. Not sure where to point the blame, as there's no real obvious flaws. Repeated listens in various settings haven't really swayed me one way or another, and yesterday's attempts resulted in a -1 rating. Hanging onto it for now, as there might be that a-ha moment to come (nope).

Ownership: CD: 2017 AMS. Purchased from online retailer not long after release. Wonderful gatefold papersleeve with booklet containing photos and lyrics. 

1/14/22 (new entry); 7/4/22 (remove from collection)

1/1/19

Mar Assombrado - Canções Do Farol. 2017 Brazil

Along with Mantra, Mar Assombrado represents another independently released progressive rock album from Brazil. And while I loved Proximo, Canções Do Farol is even better for my tastes. It's been forever and a day since a new album came out of nowhere like this and knocked me on my ass. The music is assembled in the same way that the Italian masters of the 70s would do it.  Flute is a major component of Mar Assombrado's sound, yet another Italian hallmark. It's a mix of soft and hard passages (but never metal), and the compositions never stop evolving. While Mantra is a bit more eclectic, and could be considered a hard rock band at times, there's no mistaking Mar Assombrado for anything but hardcore progressive rock. The instrumentation is not retro, so again we are dealing with the modern era, but I found the tones here quite pleasing. I heard this album 3 straight times in one evening (I hardly ever do that anymore), and it continued to improve with each listen. A really great album as far I'm concerned, and looking forward to hearing more from this band. Didn't realize until very recently Brazil had so much interesting new music coming out in the progressive rock space!

Ownership: CD: 2017 private. Nice professionally produced digi-pak.

5/26/20 (new entry)

Hellwell - Behind the Demon's Eyes. 2017 USA-Kansas

Hellwell were one of 3 active concerns Mark Shelton was running with before he died. Manilla Road of course was his flagship. He also had Riddlemaster, which featured original Manilla Road drummer Rick Fisher. And then Hellwell, which had Fisher's MR replacement Randy Foxe on drums, and was Shelton's progressive rock outlet. At least in theory. Hellwell pretty much sounds like Manilla Road with a predominance of synthesizers in play (credited to EC Hellwell - a Shelton pseudonym). Behind the Demon's Eyes is their second effort, and is off the pace of the debut. It's a bit of a sloppy run through, and there's a lack of inspired ideas. Not to say I don't like it - I really do - but had hoped for more given the promise of the debut. Of course music like this often takes time to penetrate, so perhaps it will age well. With Shelton no longer with us, it's likely Hellwell has ended its run as well.

Ownership: CD: 2017 High Roller. Standard new jewel case issue with lyrics. 

4/28/20 (new entry)