I started assigning letter grades to albums a while back. To formalize their meaning, here is how I feel about each grade:
A is a truly fine album that is worthy of returning to in the future
B is a good album or has a mix of great songs with not-so-great songs
C is generally listenable, but unexceptional. It may have a good tune here or there.
D is not good, probably means not following any future (or past) efforts
F means it just plain sucks. Since pre-screening rules these out, there shouldn’t be many.
Obviously pluses and minuses means it is close to the next letter grade.
Best of the Week
Black Moon Circle - Leave the Ghost Behind
2023 7 tracks (1:25:08)
Black Moon Circle hails from Trondheim Norway and plays a mean earthy style of jam rock with a little Osric Tentacles flavor thrown in. It makes for a beastly turn-it-up-to-10 performance that may find a regular part of my playlist. “Radiant Sun” clocks in at 22 minutes and it smokes. It’s a live set, probably the best quality of any live set I’ve heard. It grinds in a good way. A
Laura Loriga - Vever
2022 9 tracks (37:04)
Possessing a gorgeous angelic voice and terrific song craftwork raises this above the regular singer-songwriter crowd. The instrumentation is a little slow and sparse, but it is presented in a way that adds a great amount of texture in tandem with Loriga’s voice. The result is a hypnotically tranquil work that doesn’t fade from song to song. Wonderful. A
Interesting Finds
The Ocean - Holocene
2023 8 tracks (52:29)
Excellent progressive metal rock from this German band, their sixth album. Combining the guttural punch of metal with prog rock dramatics makes the whole album work. Occasionally, some of the scream vocals appear, but it is limited. The song “Unconformities”, featuring female singer Karin Park, is a standout piece. B+
M-Opus - Origins
2020 28 tracks (2:16:49)
For instance, “A Perfect Day For Flight” is a throwback to the early days where Genesis and Yes ruled. It is well done. Then there is the odd cut called “2048 Numbers” that sounds more like a play than a song. “Midnight on the White Rose” starts off like a good well-produced prog rock number before evolving into - more dialog. So you get this blend throughout the album and its 28 tracks. The music is fine but it isn’t playlist material. It isn’t radio material. It isn’t streaming material. The only way to really enjoy it is to start at the beginning and play it until you are tired of listening to it. B for music, C- for general listening.
Creep Show - Yawning Abyss
2023 9 tracks (41:16)
Songs about Yahtzee
Notable for its use of electronic based music in the style of mid-70’s symphonic rock with EDM rhythms. It has its moments. C
Cairo - Nemesis
2023 10 tracks (57:49)
Nifty prog rock band from the U.K. features better than average songs and production values. It has all the features you would expect - timely song shifts, well song vocals, songs given a chance to develop - all well done. Despite that, every time I reached to click a song for future transfer to a playlist, I held back, deciding that the song didn’t quite make the cut. It was missing the ‘it’ factor. Nothing really wrong with the album as a whole, just collectively missing a little something to make it really good. B-
Rick Armstrong - Chromosphere
2023 5 tracks (1:07:06)
A good space rock album is hard to find. This has a mashup of influences, hearing Vangelis, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schultze, sometimes all at once. With only five tracks and being over an hour long, time is given to set up a theme. This a sultry style, or New Age as it was called back in the early days of electronic music. Very listenable, but be careful of being pulled into a slumber in total relaxment. B-
Sleep Token - Take Me Back to Eden
2023 12 tracks (1:03:31)
From MOR hip-hop to full throated doom metal, this covers an obscene range of music. Maybe too much. That said, the first cut “Chokehold” with the special guitar treatments and dynamic power chords really demonstrates the chills they can send down your spine. Same goes for “Ascensionism” as it starts with an R&B feel before ripping into full Linkin Park mode (which, when you think about it, the rap in LP is not far off from these vocals). It is an odd mix, but one that can offer a different take on modern rock. B-
Arjen Luccasson’s Supersonic Revolution - Golden Age of Music
2023 15 tracks (1:07:51)
So the first song I hear is “The Glamattack” and I swear I’m listening to Kansas or Deep Purple. Hammond organ and lightning fast finger tapping guitar abounds. The multi-talented Dutchman from Aryeon knows how to nail it. Luccasson and his band of time travelers do complete justice to genre, but to what end? Sonically, it's great, very little lacking. The songs are spot on, the vocals are perfect, so it’s hard to be critical. I’m all for a tribute to an earlier style that is well done and with fresh material. But, been-there done-that. Still, I added a few of the cuts to my playlist which automatically makes it a better than average offering. B
The National - First Two Pages of Frankenstein
2023 11 tracks (47:40)
Stylistically opposite from the prog metal doom music genre, The National offers a serene dream-like form of prog rock. The J.J. Cale type vocals add to the softer soundscapes. The song “The Alcott” features Taylor Swift, which the band has a connection to and has played for her performances. It does occasionally suffer from what I call the “prog rock chord progression trap” which is a music crutch using a similar series of chord changes on several tunes. It’s nice and easy to listen to until you realize you’ve heard it on the last song. Still, it’s likable enough. B-
Forgettable
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