The Mountain

Sometimes these things are really tricky. I remember once I try to hear a few songs from Haken - The Mountain, that time I had heard some people saying good things about them, like they were really awesome, but that time I really couldn't see that, it's like something was blocked in my head. The weird is that now (better late than never) I really like this album not as much as I like Affinity, but these guys really got, by the way these guys really got the scepter and the crown!


Haken - The Mountain (2013)

 

1. The Path
2. Atlas Stone
3. Cockroach King
4. In Memoriam
5. Because It's There
6. Falling Back to Earth
7. As Death Embraces
8. Pareidolia
9. Somebody 

Buy It!!


We'll play our hand..

 

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DOT

I am a follower of Karmakanic since "Entering Spectra", I think they've changed a little bit when compared to old times, but it's undeniable They did not supress their prog sparks. DOT is an album that show us in a subtle way many progscapes, sometimes it reminds something from Tangent, there is a flute, there are many great instrumental performances, although what gets my attention is Lalle Larsson keys which are really more intense in this new album than their previous, a remarkable release for sure! 


Karmakanic - DOT



1. Dot_God the Universe and Everything Else No One Really Cares About, Pt.I
2. Higher Ground
3. Steer By the Stars
4. Traveling Minds
5. God the Universe and Everything Else No One Really Cares About, Pt.II

Buy It!



 Jonas Reingold statement about DOT:

“I got my inspiration to start writing DOT when I stumbled upon a text by the famous American author and astronomer Carl Sagan. He was talking about how small and insignificant we are in this vast universe.
Of course that can sound like a cliché and a lot of things have been said about our existence, universe, why are we here, where are we going, when will it end, when did it start, whats the purpose of it all? And so on. But he put it really elegantly in this rather short text, so I never looked at it as a cliché. The inspiration for him was actually a picture of the earth that Voyager 1 took 1990 from the outer areas of our solar system. The earth appeared in the picture as a small pixel, like a pale blue dot suspended in a sunbeam.”
“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every motherand father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every ‘superstar,’ every ‘supreme leader,’ every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”
 

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Man, The Circus is Coming..

I never thought Someday this would be possible, I remember in 2008 I was grumbling about how hard is for some bands coming to Brazil, but this time is truth. Circus Maximus is coming for only one performance (September 17), anyway it couldn't be better, it's gonna be a blast!

 

Also I couldn't forget about CM started a campaign to release a DVD/Bluray, it has a lot of perks for who want to get this (as to get your name in the booklet) https://www.indiegogo.com/project/preview/229bd238 .

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Theories of Flight

Even that I learned about Redemption first than Fates Warning, mainly because Ray Alder who is the lead singer of both, They are really well-know in progressive scenario, although I've never been a follower. But this new album (Theories of Flight) really draws my attention, even if this album doesn't show musical instruments playing one thousand notes per second, it really impresses for being pleasantness, it's like every song was made with the right notes. I do like every song, but The Ghosts of Home is the most complex and progresive song of the album, although I really like SOS, in sum Theories of Flight is an enjoyable and great album! 


Fates Warning - Theories of Flight
 


01. From the Rooftops
02. Seven Stars
03. SOS
04. The Light And Shade of Things
05. White Flag
06. Like Stars Our Eyes Have Seen
07. The Ghosts of Home
08. Theories of Flight

Buy It!


"I can feel the rain
Falling on me
I can see the waters rising
Undermining me

I can feel the rain
Wash over me
Can the places and the faces
 In the flood be saved "
 

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Anderson/Stolt

I ain't a lover of 'old school' progressive tunes, but a few songs from 70s are really enjoyable and speaking exactly of Anderson (his voice reminds me of John Woloschuk from Klaatu)/Stolt - Invention of Knowledge, it's really so, for those fans of classic tunes and even for who don't like these, Invention of Knowledge is indeed a classic prog album, but even so they bring up a lot of fresh stuff, such as: the instrumental sometimes really reminds the symphonic progressive side of "TFK", it's beautiful!


Anderson/Stolt - Invention Of Knowledge 



01. Invention
02. We Are Truth
03. Knowledge
04. Knowing
05. Chase and Harmony
06. Everybody Heals
07. Better by Far
08. Golden Light
09. Know… 

Buy It!


Despite this album is a great release of 2016, Inside Out that is the record label of  Anderson/Stolt, and also The Flower Kings, did not launch any single. Sometimes I really don't understand how these record label managers could be so dumb as They are. As Sumerian Records, Roadrunner and some other labels do the right publicity, Letting the people decide if it's worth to be bought, some others go back to stone age, fuckers!

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Poverty's No Crime

Putz, Today I was back to 2007, what was a fucking year, although I do remember Poverty's No Crime - Save My Soul, I remember when I heard  for the first time"Open Your Eyes", that was a hell of song, a lullaby for my ears, and I stil do not understand why it doesn't have many songs on YouTube, probably the fuckers of record labels do not allow that, anyway it's really worth it!


Poverty's No Crime -  Save My Soul

 

01. Intro
02. Open Your Eyes
03. Save My Soul
04. End in Sight
05. The Key To Creativity
06. In The Wait Loop
07. The Torture
08. Spellbound
09. From a Distance
10. Break the Spell 




The Curse of the Moment Remains..

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Affinity

It's hard to find some bands that really try to innovate their songs, usually we hear a lot of bands trying to be like band "A" or "B", but Haken really managed to bring something new without being boring. In Their new album they put a lot of new elements that at least I don't remember they did before, these futuristic digital atmospheres they implanted in Affinity is really something technical and at the same time enjoyable to hear, I could quantify the new things, but I really like the djent part (in 1985) most, awesome !


Haken - Affinity



01. affinity.exe
02. Initiate
03. 1985
04. Lapse
05. The Architect
06. Earthrise
07. Red Giant
08. The Endless Knot
09. Bound By Gravity  

Buy It!



In a dying sun
All will be undone
 So our time has come
We are reborn as one

       The stars align
       Vermilion dawn
       Gravity's bind
          Embraces all

When the stars align
Within your bind
 Our worlds will intertwine
All is love
 Our souls collide
 A swarm of minds reborn
Then we find euphoria

     The storm subsides
      Your will is done
      A swarm of minds
     Reborn as one
 

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