"We're happy to finally announce the European release dates and details of the forthcoming album from Arjen's new project, Guilt Machine! The album, titled "On This Perfect Day," will be released by Mascot records on the following dates":

Germany, Austria, Switzerland: 28 August
Europe: 31 August
USA: Date still pending

"The art for the cover (pictured above) and booklet was created by Christophe Dessaigne, a talented new artist whom we discovered (quite by chance) while browsing Flickr. Coincidentally, it turned out that Chris is an Ayreon fan, and was thrilled beyond belief when we asked him to do the artwork. The Guilt Machine logo and packaging layout were created by Thomas Ewerhard."

On This Perfect Day will be released in 3 different editions:

Limited Edition 32-page Digibook (CD + DVD) Special Edition Digipack 24-page booklet (CD + DVD) Regular Edition jewel case, 24-page booklet (CD only)

Porcupine Tree are happy to announce the forthcoming release of their tenth studio album “The Incident”. The record is set to be released via Roadrunner Records worldwide on 21st September, as a double CD.

The centre-piece is the title track, which takes up the whole of the first disc. The 55-minute work is described as “a slightly surreal song cycle about beginnings and endings and the sense that ‘after this, things will never be the same again’.”

The self-produced album is completed by four standalone compositions that developed out of band writing sessions last December - Flicker, Bonnie The Cat, Black Dahlia, and Remember Me Lover feature on a separate EP length disc to stress their independence from the song cycle.

It is with the utmost disappointment that I am forced to share the unfortunate news of both Pain Of Salvation and Beardfish having to pull out of this summer's Progressive Nation tour....
Their label InsideOut just recently lost the financial funding for the tour as a result of their distributor SPV recently claiming bankruptcy...which effectively meant that both Pain Of Salvation and Beardfish lost the tour support that was essential to their ability to come to North America for Progressive Nation.

All parties involved (myself, both bands, InsideOut, etc) are beyond devastated at this turn of events and are truly sorry to all of the fans that were looking forward to this lineup. We tried everything we could do to salvage the situation, but in the end it was not possible...

Well as the album title says, every Black Cloud does indeed have a Silver Lining....so with this unfortunate news, I bring to you the good news of 2 incredible bands that will jumping on board Progressive Nation to join Dream Theater and Zappa Plays Zappa this summer: Bigelf and Scale The Summit.

Los Angeles' Bigelf are my personal favorite new band to come along in many years...their latest CD "Cheat The Gallows" is my favorite album of the year and I already had positioned them onto the European run of Progressive Nation in the Fall....with them now joining us on PN09 in North America as well, it looks like world domination is now not that far out of reach for them!

Pretty soon, everyone will hopefully be falling for their retro, psychedelic, progressive, hard rock, doom metal as hard as I have!

Houston instrumental band Scale The Summit are a recent discovery for me and their top notch musicianship will be a perfect fit to this Progressive Nation lineup stylistically falling very nicely between the musicality of Dream Theater and Zappa Plays Zappa. They bring the instrumental elements of prog rock and fusion into today's contemporary hard rock/metal sounds and are one of the most talented group of young musicians I've seen assembled in many years.

Once again, apologies to anybody disappointed in this unexpected and unavoidable lineup change...but the circumstances were beyond our control...

In any event, PN09 will carry on and still deliver the most musical bang for its buck this summer throughout North America and we look forward to sharing the evening with you!

Sincerely,

Your Progressive Rock Ambassador,

Mike Portnoy

In September of 1997 a magical event took place at Storybook Farm during ProgDay 3. A little known band from Italy called FINISTERRE had been invited to play the festival that year. Few anticipated that the band?s performance would go down in ProgDay history, yet it became known as one of the most lauded and legendary of the festival?s early years. The performance was captured on video and subsequently released with all copies selling out in a rather short period of time. A live album of the performance was also released.

A few years later Finisterre bassist FABIO ZUFFANTI decided to form a new band to capture the essence of the classic Italian prog scene. The band included two members of Finisterre; keyboardist Agostino Macor and drummer MARCO CAVANI. That band was LA MASCHERA DI CERA. LA MASCHERA released their first self-titled album in 2002 on Mellow Records and toured around Italy and in Europe. The next several years saw the band release two subsequent albums, “Il Grande Labirinto” in 2004 and “LuxAde” in 2006. The group again toured Europe and even made the trip across the pond to appear at NEARfest in the United States.

Today LA MASCHERA is considered to be one of the top current Italian progressive rock bands, with a rich 70?s style, soaring vocals, and a modern touch. We're sure they will be a fantastic way to close out Saturday at Storybook.

Dutch band CIRRHA NIVA is now confirmed for ProgPower Europe, the band will open the festival on Friday 2 October 2009. CIRRHA NIVA will release a new album in September ('For Moments Never Done'), on this album they introduce their excellent new powerful singer Legrand.

Spanish band NAHEMAH will make its return to ProgPower Europe, after their splendid performance 2 years ago in 2007. With a new album just released, the band will offer you a 75 minute show as co-headliner on Saturday 3 October. And we are sure they once again will surprise you, those of you who have seen them in 2007 know what to expect, quality!

The line-up is now almost complete, next week we will announce the final band. Check out our website for all further details, www.progpower.eu.

"Due to commitment issues, Kev Jager is no longer with DeeExpus. We are delighted however, to announce the arrival of a very tallented young drummer to the DeeExpus Throne. Since conception, The Band has been crying out for someone of his calibre, someone who can not only cope with the parts but can bring Enthusiasm, Finesse, Vibrance and damn fine Ass Kick to them. Already established in the Progressive scene, winning second place as CRS Prog drummer of the year in 2007; Ladies and Gentlemen, can you please welcome Mr Henry Rogers!!"

DeeExpus - this talented band has so far released only one studio album, but they can easily say... ‘the future looks bright for us’. With their superb performance at the first edition of Prog Rock Festival at the Wyspianski Katowice, Poland, the band show that they do have much to say on the prog rock scene. DeeExpus’s music constitutes a modern approach to the genre, more rock-oriented and catchy, yet formed with undeniable finesse and attention to sound and musical nuances. Their sound is as eclectic as their influences, drawn from years of listening to such groups and artists as Joe Jackson, Iron Maiden, It Bites, Crash Test Dummies, Rush, Nik Kershaw, Marillion and recently - Porcupine Tree and Spock’s Beard. If you happen to think that prog rock is an old and stagnant genre, DeeExpus are surely going to prove you’re wrong! Currently, DeeExpus is writing and recording the follow up to their debut album. DeeExpus forthcoming DVD entitled "Far From Home" will be released by Metal Mind Productions on 6th July in Europe / 14th July in USA (via MVD).

On Monday, May 18, Queensryche -- featuring Geoff Tate, Michael Wilton, Scott Rockenfield, Eddie Jackson and Parker Lundgren -- rocked the troops at Fort Benning, Georgia in between tour dates in support of their new Rhino Records CD, American Soldier. The post welcomed Queensryche with "open arms" as they gave all band members and their crew an exhilarating ride in an M1A1 Abrams tank and an M2 Bradley tank. In addition to that experience, the band dined with the troops earlier in the day and gave a concert performance on Sledgehammer Field, Kelley Hill in the afternoon. To commemorate the day, the band was given a personalized sledgehammer by the 3HBCT / 3 ID Sledgehammer Brigade (3rd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division). Queensryche will continue to tour throughout the year in support of American Soldier and plan to visit and perform for more troops along the way. For more information, please see the band's official website at www.queensryche.com.

A very special charity event will be taking place in the band's home town of Yeovil on September 19th 2009. A unique gig of exclusive performances, special guests and TPT memorabilia will be up for grabs. All proceeds from the gig will be donated to the Piers Simon Appeal. This is a charity the band has supported for many years. The evening will also be the 'unofficial' launch of the long awaited "3000 Days" double CD compilation featuring tracks from the TPT back catalogue. The show will feature one-off, never-to-be-repeated performances of some of these songs. The band will play two sets (one acoustic) plus the band is planning to spend time relaxing with fans before and after the show. So all in all, this promises to be a very special and intimate evening with The Thief. Tickets can be purchased in advance from HERE.

We are aware that copies of the TPT back catalogue are exchanging hands for hundreds of dollars. We are not happy that fans are having to pay so much money to listen to TPT music so we will be working hard with Kscope to ensure these are re-issued as soon as possible. The first re-issue will be "Little Man" this autumn, closely followed by the rest of the catalogue. To get these to you as quickly as possible they will initially only be available via mail order either from us or from the Burning Shed website. In time they will all be released worldwide via Kscope's excellent distribution network. Also, don't forget there are still a few copies of the 'Dawn Raids' EPs available but only from Burning Shed. The band has a few left to sell at gigs but when they're gone, they're gone!

The band has recently signed up to open for Riverside on the Dutch and UK legs of their forthcoming tour. Full details of those gigs plus all our other are here:

05/07/09 - Rock in Progress Festival, Parma, Italy
10/07/09 - Loreley Festival, Frankfurt, Germany
19/07/09 - The Orange Box, Yeovil, UK
16/10/09 - The Louisiana, Bristol, UK
26/10/09 - Auw Kerk, Bunde, Netherlands (with Riverside)
28/10/09 - Patronaat, Haarlam, Netherlands (with Riverside)
29/10/09 - Poppodium Romein, Leeuwarden, Netherlands (with Riverside)
30/10/09 - Hedon, Zwolle, Netherlands (with Riverside)
31/10/09 - De Pul, Uden, Netherlands (with Riverside)
15/11/09 - O2 Islington Academy, London, UK (with Riverside)
16/11/09 - The Robin, Wolverhampton, UK (with Riverside)
05/12/09 - The Musician, Leicester, UK
23/01/10 - Half Moon, London, UK

Unicorn Digital is proud to announce that legendary keyboardist Roger Powell (Utopia, David Bowie, Meat Loaf) has signed a deal with the label to release "Blue Note Ridge", a collection of improvisations that embrace classical melody, contemporary harmony and impressionist forms on this debut solo piano album.

A stream of consciousness merging styles and eras, "Blue Note Ridge" is pure, elegant and honest. In the 70’s and 80’s Roger Powell’s groundbreaking electronic synthesizer albums Cosmic Furnace (Atlantic) and Air Pocket (Bearsville) were hailed as masterworks. Powell has always been held in high esteem by his peers.

2006 signaled a welcome return of Roger Powell with the retrofuturistic, groove oriented, "Fossil Poets". The critically acclaimed release was produced by award winning producer Gary Tanin who, along with Powell, produced the 2009 solo piano offering "Blue Note Ridge".