LITEROTICA PODCAST
LIT CAMS (200 Free Tokens)ADULT TOYSVOD MOVIES

What Are You Listening To Now? 6.0

I haven't been in the AH for a few weeks because of an insane work schedule and some family emergencies ... back now, though.

It's been a shitty few weeks, but I need to get back to normal...

Blind_Justice said:
Vintersea - The Host
https://youtu.be/JK5FwXTejKg

This showed up in my Youtube suggestions and being the grumpy ass hat I am at the moment, I clicked on it expecting yet another third-rate Nightwish or Epica clone.

Boy, was I wrong.

Vintersea have no intentions of playing by-the-books symphonic cheese metal. Their stuff is dark and complex, much heavier than I anticcipated, and the vocalist has serious skills. I'm not a fan of female growls and I probably never will be, but thankfully, she's capable of fantastic clean vocals too. Bonus points to the songwriting department, for leaving her enough room despite a seriously massive wall of sound.

After being blown away by "The Host", I checked out a few other tracks and I'm happy to see that they also have some with minimal gutturals in them. Fascinating discovery.
Click to expand...

Sounds interesting, thanks. I've lined it up to spin after my meetings today.

litfan10 said:
Here is a run down of the newest prog for the week. Haven't had a chance to listen to much - managed to catch a nasty head cold which is NOT covid-19. Been Nyquilling it up and sleeping a lot.

So the big release was King Crimson guitarist Jakko Jakszyk's new solo album, "Secrets and Lies." Gorgeous album with a bunch of guests including several form King Crimson including Robert Fripp himself. As expected this is a gorgeous album - reminds me more of Alan Parsons Project with a distinctly different guitarist from Ian Bairnson.

Another album I've been highly anticipating is Norway's Wobbler with "Dwellers of the Deep." Their last album from three years ago was stunning and this is every bit as good. Wobbler only use instruments available in the seventies which gives their music a very distinct recognizable sound. Love it.

The big surprise was two releases from the ashes of Hawkwind with Hawkestral's "Pioneers of Space" and Hawkwind Light Orchestra's "Carnivorous." I haven't heard these yet but looking forward to them.

Big Big Train's Steve Hughes released "Themes Vol. 5" This is an instrumental prog album with Hughes playing all the instruments. It was lovely background music and I mean that in a very positive way.

From Pakistan comes Takatak's "Acrosphere." This is a prog metal album which I haven't heard yet.

From Italy comes the metal release "Blue Light Cage" from Soul Secret.

Sweden's Salva released "A Thousand Ways to Disappear."

Starfish64 from Germany released "Crimson Cabinet."

USA's Fervent Sand released "Dietro la Saglio." I did listen to this instrumental heavish prog album and quite enjoyed it.

Another instrumental prog album from Australia with Brown Spirit and their album "Vol. 2." This was lighter than Fervant Send and more in the prog jazz spectrum. I liked this quite a bit and picked it up as well as their other two albums.

Finally from France comes Gepetto with "Evolutive Songs."

Big prog release coming with Flower Kings on Friday. Be safe and well and have a great music filled week!

More Nyquil and back to bed for me.
Click to expand...

I used to be friendly with Per from Salva. But after a while the only "social" communiques I had from him were his asking me to review his latest albums etc., so I went arms-length. (I used to be a very active reviewer / interviewer / writer, etc., and still own one of the biggest prog sites, and co-manage one of the better prog and metal webzines.)

Regarding Wobbler - I've picked up their latest, but have yet to spin it.

I hope you feel better soon!
 
Rikard Sjöblom's Gungfly : Alone Together

Good, but I prefer his Beardfish releases :(
 
Fish : Weltschmerz

Good, but not his best. I've spun it 6 or 7 times, and can't remember a thing about it. :(
 
Haulover said:
Rikard Sjöblom's Gungfly : Alone Together

Good, but I prefer his Beardfish releases :(
Click to expand...

Spun it again - and about to spin it yet again. I'm gaining respect for it - don't love all of it, but it's pretty damned good.
 
Still feeling like crap, but I can feel it shifting and leaving me. Still ugh.

Huge release for new prog with twenty new albums and I've barely been able to listen to any.

The big release is Flower Kings with their new double album "Islands." It's Flower Kings, it's good, better than most of their albums actually I feel. Unusual for them they went with shorter songs - no long epics and it works nicely. Not crazy about almost thirty dollars for a regular double album clocking in at one hour and thirty-two minutes.

The big surprise for me and my favorite of the week so far is Scardust from Israel with "Strangers." Symphonic prog with a very strong female lead - the comparison to Nightwish fails as this band stays to more straight hard rock. Some male deathish growls but still loving this one.

I also listened to Ring van Mobius from Norway with "The 3rd Majesty." This is another retro style band sounding very much like a fusion of ELP and Yes. Nice stuff.

the rest has been unplayed for me so far but looking forward to it:

Celestral Burst from France with "The Maze" listed as prog rock

Vitam Aeternam from Norway with "The Self Aware Frequency"listed as eclectic

Arya from Italy with "For Ever" listed as prog rock metal

Rainbow Face from USA with "Stars' Blood" listed as prog rock

Krzysztof Lepiarrzyk from Poland with "Album Piesni" listed as art rock

Looking-Glass Lantern from UK with "A World of Great Inventions" listed as prog rock

Fiaba from Italy with "Di gatti di rane di folletti e altie storie" listed as Prog folk metal (that designation scares me honestly)

Rick Miller from Canada with "Unstuck in Time" listed as atmospheric prog

Multi Story from UK with "CBF10" listed as prog rock

Millennium from Poland with "The Sin" seven songs each about the seven deadly sins listed as Neo prog

Black Fate from Greece with "Ithaca" listed as prog power metal (this one screams Blind_Justice to me for some reason)

Kadaver from Germany with "The Isolation Tapes" listed as psychedelic

Zirp from Germany with "Circle Divine" listed as instrumental prog folk

White Walls from Romania with "Grandeur" listed as prog metal

Mageia from Austria with "Mageia" listed as prog metal

Phoenix from USA with "Immaterial Witness" listed as prog rock metal

Vultress from the USA with "Hypnopompia" listed as prog rock metal

Anybody interested in checking any of these bands out (or any from my crazy weekly lists :rolleyes:) can find the lion's share of them on bandcamp or spotify or possibly youtube.

Have a great week everyone happy music listening! New Fates Warning coming Friday!
 
Last edited:
Black Fate - Ithaca

A strange beast. Sometimes they sound a bit like Symphony X without the weird, hyper-dry guitar tone, then they're heaping the ultra-saccharine Italian style of symphonic metal over everything. Also, the drummer seems to have his foot on the proverbial brakes too often. The guitars play some headbang-worthy power riffs while the drums do these odd time signatures, much to the whole song's detriment. There are some nice hooks in there, but the vocalist is massively over-emoting. It's the worst of Kamelot and especially Rhapsody mixed together. After five songs, this is a clear "meh" for me. After hearing "Ithaca", I'm craving some Persuader. I need that full-throttle double kick therapy.

Ah, here it is:
Persuader - The Fiction Maze
https://youtu.be/04jzsBlnQ_w
 
Blind_Justice said:
Black Fate - Ithaca

A strange beast. Sometimes they sound a bit like Symphony X without the weird, hyper-dry guitar tone, then they're heaping the ultra-saccharine Italian style of symphonic metal over everything. Also, the drummer seems to have his foot on the proverbial brakes too often. The guitars play some headbang-worthy power riffs while the drums do these odd time signatures, much to the whole song's detriment. There are some nice hooks in there, but the vocalist is massively over-emoting. It's the worst of Kamelot and especially Rhapsody mixed together. After five songs, this is a clear "meh" for me. After hearing "Ithaca", I'm craving some Persuader. I need that full-throttle double kick therapy.
Click to expand...

Both Rhapsody and Kamelot have their appeal, especially in their earlier releases. In fact one of the best power ballads was by Kamelot, and I saw them play it live at a ProgPower several years ago. I din't recall the name of the track, or the album, but will see if I can find it. They play the track, then - as a bonus track at the end of the album - they do it again but this time the vocals are in French.

Very catchy.

That said, I grew tired of both of those bands pretty early on.

litfan10 said:
Still feeling like crap, but I can feel it shifting and leaving me. Still ugh.

Huge release for new prog with twenty new albums and I've barely been able to listen to any.

The big release is Flower Kings with their new double album "Islands." It's Flower Kings, it's good, better than most of their albums actually I feel. Unusual for them they went with shorter songs - no long epics and it works nicely. Not crazy about almost thirty dollars for a regular double album clocking in at one hour and thirty-two minutes.

The big surprise for me and my favorite of the week so far is Scardust from Israel with "Strangers." Symphonic prog with a very strong female lead - the comparison to Nightwish fails as this band stays to more straight hard rock. Some male deathish growls but still loving this one.

I also listened to Ring van Mobius from Norway with "The 3rd Majesty." This is another retro style band sounding very much like a fusion of ELP and Yes. Nice stuff.

the rest has been unplayed for me so far but looking forward to it:

Celestral Burst from France with "The Maze" listed as prog rock

Vitam Aeternam from Norway with "The Self Aware Frequency"listed as eclectic

Arya from Italy with "For Ever" listed as prog rock metal

Rainbow Face from USA with "Stars' Blood" listed as prog rock

Krzysztof Lepiarrzyk from Poland with "Album Piesni" listed as art rock

Looking-Glass Lantern from UK with "A World of Great Inventions" listed as prog rock

Fiaba from Italy with "Di gatti di rane di folletti e altie storie" listed as Prog folk metal (that designation scares me honestly)

Rick Miller from Canada with "Unstuck in Time" listed as atmospheric prog

Multi Story from UK with "CBF10" listed as prog rock

Millennium from Poland with "The Sin" seven songs each about the seven deadly sins listed as Neo prog

Black Fate from Greece with "Ithaca" listed as prog power metal (this one screams Blind_Justice to me for some reason)

Kadaver from Germany with "The Isolation Tapes" listed as psychedelic

Zirp from Germany with "Circle Divine" listed as instrumental prog folk

White Walls from Romania with "Grandeur" listed as prog metal

Mageia from Austria with "Mageia" listed as prog metal

Phoenix from USA with "Immaterial Witness" listed as prog rock metal

Vultress from the USA with "Hypnopompia" listed as prog rock metal

Anybody interested in checking any of these bands out (or any from my crazy weekly lists :rolleyes:) can find the lion's share of them on bandcamp or spotify or possibly youtube.

Have a great week everyone happy music listening! New Fates Warning coming Friday!
Click to expand...

I'll try the Flower Kings. I respect them and have 8 or 9 of their albums, but have never been their biggest fan. Roine Stolt's vocals turned me off, though I rather like his guitar work. He has a style I can pick out in about 5 bars.

I'll also try the Scardust. I've never heard of them, but you've persuaded me :)


Feel better!
 
Haulover said:
Both Rhapsody and Kamelot have their appeal, especially in their earlier releases. In fact one of the best power ballads was by Kamelot, and I saw them play it live at a ProgPower several years ago. I din't recall the name of the track, or the album, but will see if I can find it. They play the track, then - as a bonus track at the end of the album - they do it again but this time the vocals are in French.

Very catchy.

That said, I grew tired of both of those bands pretty early on.



I'll try the Flower Kings. I respect them and have 8 or 9 of their albums, but have never been their biggest fan. Roine Stolt's vocals turned me off, though I rather like his guitar work. He has a style I can pick out in about 5 bars.

I'll also try the Scardust. I've never heard of them, but you've persuaded me :)


Feel better!
Click to expand...

I am now listening to Scardust's back catalog.
 
Wobbler : Dwellers of the Deep

A good modern take on classic prog ideas. I tend to prefer newer, more edgy stuff, but am enjoying this.



What's the best album of 2020 so far?
 
Beethoven's only violin concerto. The last movement was on the radio while I drove to work this morning. For me, it was a good way to start a work day.

I hunted it up on YouTube, and now I have Hillary Hahn playing it with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
 
Haulover said:
Wobbler : Dwellers of the Deep

A good modern take on classic prog ideas. I tend to prefer newer, more edgy stuff, but am enjoying this.



What's the best album of 2020 so far?
Click to expand...

Man, tough question especially as I dabbled much more this year than usual.

First off, I feel that nothing has come as close to best as 2017's release of Barock Project's "Detachment." I adore that album.

Okay as for this year and I fully admit this is subjective totally by my very particular tastes but for me right now it is a tie between OAK's "Nine Witches Under a Walnut Tree" and Magenta's "Masters of Illusion."

Of course I fully admit I might have forgotten something in the myriad of new albums I listened to this year but those two are the ones I keep playing over and over.

Still some time to go and I am excited for the new Fates Warning and Mark Kelly's Marathon release.

How about you? What stuck out as the best?
 
Album of 2020 so far?

That's a tad difficult for me. Most music I bought this year came out earlier. My shortlist has the last albums by Katatonia, Paradise Lost, The Birthday Massacre, Lik, Necrophobic and Enslaved on it and I'm heavily leaning towards Enslaved's Utgard as my pick of the year.

Ayreon's Transitus is - sadly - nowhere near that list. The Electric Castle live celebration got a ton more spins than the new studio album, and deservedly so. Here's hoping the next one will be less gimmicky.
 
I'd love to check out some of litfan's bands on his list. I've never heard of most (or any) of them but a lot of those sound really intriguing to me.

I've been on an Electric Wizard kick lately. They play really dark, heavy psychedelic rock, like a more tripped out, spaced out Black Sabbath on a ton of hallucinogens. I absolutely love this band.
 
what HP said: Lyin' Eyes, The Last Resort, Sad Cafe, Desperado, and so on. (I suspect HP and I are pretty much in or near the same age group)
 
PaxNurgle said:
I'd love to check out some of litfan's bands on his list. I've never heard of most (or any) of them but a lot of those sound really intriguing to me.

I've been on an Electric Wizard kick lately. They play really dark, heavy psychedelic rock, like a more tripped out, spaced out Black Sabbath on a ton of hallucinogens. I absolutely love this band.
Click to expand...


Have you tried the latest Pallbearer yet? Not as psych as EW, but drawing from the same Sabbath/Vitus influences. Check this:
https://youtu.be/OuH3pX8tqCg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

ShelbyDawn57
Do you listen to music when you write?
2 3
Replies
53
Views
755
ColtonWrites
C
JenniferSmithJones
You get a lot of nasty comments and low ratings in Loving Wives, but ...
2 3
Replies
60
Views
2K
firefox27eros
F
AG31
What do you call a story about sex, without much plot or character, but that doesn't clearly endeavor to result in arousal?
Replies
16
Views
353
AG31
AG31
TarnishedPenny
Nostalgia just ain’t what it used to be
4 5 6
Replies
130
Views
2K
LexxRuthless
LexxRuthless
ADirtyPerv
Your characters after they are done being written
2 3
Replies
51
Views
742
UnexpectedLuggage
UnexpectedLuggage
Back
Top