Issue 2025-024
Here at DPRP towers, we frequently receive some interesting albums that whilst not strictly "prog", would be of interest to many of our readers. We sometimes receive albums that have been released in previous years. Also, with so many albums submitted, it is not always possible to find a writer with the time to give every release our usual in-depth review.
So how best can we still bring you news of such releases?
This is an edition of Prog Bites. Each still has all the usual album information and links to samples and videos (where available), but the reviews are much shorter, and we do not award any score.
We hope you will find some great music that you think deserves further investigation.
Xavier Boscher — Starseeds IV
| country: | France |
|---|---|
| year: | 2024 |
| time: | 46:04 |
| info: | xavierboscher.com |
| samples: | Bandcamp |
| tracks: | |
| Galactic (5:24), Vega (6:55), Zeta Reticuli (4:11), Avian (4:25), Lyran (5:11), Epsilon (5:29), Apollonian (3:41), Cygnus (3:46), Annunaki (3:40), Ursa Minor (3:17) | |
Calum Gibson
Xavier Boscher, from France, is an established guitarist, having played with Misanthrope, as well as artists such as Per Nilsson (Meshuggah) and Derek Sherinian. Beginning with pop and new-age rock for his solo career, it wasn't long before his metal roots were apparent.
This release, Starseeds IV is a nice work of instrumental prog. We get touches of gentle, almost jazz and blues through tracks like Lyran, and other more metal-styled ones like Galactic. Soft, clean passages, thrumming bass work and multifaceted drumming sits alongside crunchy guitar work and blistering solos throughout.
This duality is expressed perfectly between the ethereal Annunaki, with soft keys and a bass solo leading to a repeating guitar line that builds as it grows to the end, and then the darker, heavier Ursa Minor which kicks into a near copy of the previous outro lead, but with full on distortion.
The album here is a lovely mix of “vanilla” prog instrumentation, and modern technicality mixed to provide a blend of hard music, and soft emotion.
Crypto Knight — A Traveller's Tale
| country: | USA |
|---|---|
| year: | 2025 |
| time: | 1:03:00 |
| info: | |
| samples: | Bandcamp |
| tracks: | |
| Kings & Queens (6:40), Here & Now (4:18), The Night Watchman (6:07), Up with the Larks (6:23), Crossed Wires (8:41), A Traveller's Tale (5:21), S.O.S (5:13), Lost Kingdom (8:18), The Light (5:24), Winter Nights (6:34) | |
Calum Gibson
Formed after an online music course, Crypto Knight is formed of musician/composer Dave Johnson and lyricist/vocalist Tim Malugin. Combining future and past for the name, the duo feels it showcases their music too – inspired by early prog, but incorporating modern technology.
There is certainly a vibe of the 70s/80s to the music. At various points I'm reminded of artists like Big Country or a good version of The Who. The music combines prog along with thoughtful atmospheres and uses it to weave stories for you. It drifts through layers of rock, to ballads and almost electro pop stylings. S.O.S reminded me a bit of War of the Worlds in its structure, with the steady drumming, bopping bassline and use of keys and synths.
The overall sound and style serve up nostalgia for the storytelling days of old school prog, with some tracks bringing to mind the Animals era (my favourite one) of Pink Floyd with their structure and tone. Never too dark, but equally not afraid to shy away from the lighter moments, while still keeping enough playful passages remain a very enjoyable tribute to golden era of the genre.
Fans of Yes, Pink Floyd, rock operas or Aphrodite's Child would enjoy this release I think.
Gingerbass — More Or Less
| country: | Ireland |
|---|---|
| year: | 2024 |
| time: | 21:05 |
| info: | gingerbass.com, Facebook, Instagram, Bandcamp |
| samples: | gingerbass.hearnow.com |
| tracks: | |
| Less Is More (4:23), Double Voltage (3:58), Much More(4:50), Timeless (4:18), A Little Less (3:36) | |
Greg Cummins
Gingerbass have made their 5 track EP available for review and being a release featuring the bass guitar as the predominant instrument, I was naturally interested. Despite the bass guitar being considered by some as one of the lesser important instruments in a band's arsenal, I have always felt otherwise. I have always admired a musician who can make their instrument dance and sing while maintaining a coherent foundation upon which other musicians can add their own embellishments, making a good song even better.
One only needs to listen to Charles Berthoud whose incredible self-promoted videos have taken You tube by storm. If ever there was a motivation to pick up an instrument and learn how to play it properly, one needs to look no further. The same can proudly be said of Gingerbass which consists of Ralf Garcia (bass, keys, synth, drum programming, notation and concept), David O'Donovan and Ralph Huber, (lead and rhythm guitars), Karine PJ (additional guitars and sax) and Con Doyle (Bodhran)
Gingerbass play a very tight set of jazz fusion instrumentals along the lines of Dixie Dregs, Steve Morse Band, Mastermind and The Aristocrats and others whose ultimate success is well supported by good song-smithing skills and consummate playing. Needless to say, the playing and execution of these 5 tracks is equally exemplary with each member contributing a very meaningful assortment of skills that have been based upon Ralf's foundations.
The songs are at times complex yet still maintain an accessible degree of familiarity whereupon the listener will hear snippets of music that scratch that itch. The crunch factor is high and the interplay between each member is compelling addictive. The various lead guitar flourishes are extremely well done while the drumming sounds man made rather than being more robotic as is often found on lesser offerings by weaker musicians.
Although 5 short songs are not always enough to excite the senses for a listener who is looking for a full experience, this EP boldly asserts what the band is capable of and should encourage them to build upon their talents and release a full 40-50 minute album. As much as I fall into that segment of the listening market, I very much like what I am hearing but would still prefer a full albums worth of music. Great effort guys!
Louison — Le Livre De Portes
| country: | France |
|---|---|
| year: | 2024 |
| time: | 14:16 |
| info: | louisdemieulle.com, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Bandcamp |
| tracks: | |
| Le Livre Des Portes (version longue) (14:16) | |
Martin Burns
Louis "Louison" de Mieulle is a bassist from Paris who, on his new EP Le Livre Des Portes (version longue) or The Book Of Gates(long version), also provides keyboards and sequencing. It is the first in a series of four EPs.
Consisting of eleven short sections (see his Bandcamp page for details) it is a musical journey through the Egyptian mythology.
Le Livre des Portes is an ancient text that narrates the 12 hours of the night as the Sun god Ra travels through the Underworld, eventually attaining resurrection/sunrise. All this under the watchful eye of Ra's own daughter, the cat goddess Bastet.
Louison's music here is bass driven modern jazz-rock with plenty synth accents and fairly weedy 1980's style programmed percussion. Guest trumpeter Christophe Rostang pops up occasional to add a different colour to the mix. That the programmed polyrhythmic percussion is steadfastly running in conflict with the short melodic lines gives the music an Rock In Opposition feel. And there lies the problem with this EP, it never settles into any sort of groove and the melodies are too short to be memorable. The off kilter percussion thoroughly annoys me.
Louison's Le Livre des Portes is the kind of messy, disconnected jazz-rock I just find irritating and for a 14 minute track it seems much longer, outstaying its welcome in the first few minutes. Not for me.
Octopus Syng — Insanity is the Song We Sing
| country: | Finland |
|---|---|
| year: | 2024 |
| time: | 43:35 |
| info: | Bandcamp, Facebook, YouTube |
| samples: | Bandcamp |
| tracks: | |
| Beetroot Republic Rainbow (5:33), Agent Code 420 (3:18), Magic Box (3:40), My Weekend (3:13), Distorted Light Strips (3:10), The World is Big (3:00), Where Is All My Stuff? (3:21), Factory (4:23), Chambers Of Primal Desires (4:01), Hedvika Is Getting Married (6:33), Do You Have A Light? (3:23) | |
Jerry van Kooten
Octopus Syng is the name under which Finish musician Jaire Pätäre releases his music. A solo project from the beginning, then a band with many line-up changes, and now a solo project again. For this latest album, Pätäre has written, played, and sung himself. (A live video from late 2024 shows a full band again, though!) Although prolific, this is the first of his albums to be included here on DPRP.
Advertised as "psychedelic", I find this a rather charming mix between early Pink Floyd (early, I mean Syd Barrett era) and mid-70s Hawkwind. A nice groove is present on all songs, rather busy drumming and guitar strumming giving off a real nice 1960s vibe, with quirky melodies and hooks. The vocals are a surprising mix of Syd Barrett and Bob Calvert, of aforementioned bands, in sound and way of singing. A limited range here but very fitting.
The solo aspect is admirable, but I have to say the band sounds better. I cannot find proof a lot of work has gone into recording and mastering. The stereo effect is very static and could be used much more to create more psychedelic effects. The sound of the instruments are limited, hinting towards limited recording facilities. I do feel the music deserves it.
The Orphaned Bee — Thinking Without Language
| country: | Australia |
|---|---|
| year: | 2025 |
| time: | 23:15 |
| info: | LinkTree, Facebook |
| samples: | Spotify, Bandcamp |
| tracks: | |
| Rain (4:05), Water (3:43), Sanctuary (4:31), Fire (5:05), Ascendance (5:50) | |
Jan Buddenberg
Mastermind behind this debut by The Orphaned Bee is the Australian sound engineer and multi-instrumentalist Brett Tollis, inviting listeners for an emotional journey of optimism, pain, joy, fear and eventual redemption.
Best to be listened to in sequence, Tollis has clearly put a lot of thought and effort into the creation of his songs. Which is unfortunately more than I can say for the vocoder vocals on offer, as they in general tend to be monotonous in nature and even require a lyrical check at times in light of their computerised inaudibility. Despite this, Thinking Without Language is on a whole an enjoyable disc that offers five concisely constructed tracks of delightful Electronic Music entertainment.
Starting in Rain with upbeat and energetic retro synthpop which downloaded straight from the 80s resonates with catchy impressions of Kraftwerk and Eloy, this in the nicely flowing and semi-bombastic Water takes on a more gamely industrial character that splashes freely about in hypnotic poppy realms close to The Prodigy and Yello. To which Sanctuary adds a delightful cinema inspired spacious environment that complemented by a victorious conquest of gracefully cascading melodies satisfyingly reminds of Vangelis and Eternity.
Contrary to the fireworks expected, Fire then slows the experience right down to stationary running smoulder of mellow-paced intricate textures which in light of their melodic repetitiveness and vocoder dullness don't fully light my fuse. Something that Ascendence ultimately does manage to achieve perfectly with futuristic pulsating designs and Bladerunner like atmospheres that beautifully transition from oppressive moody darkness into eternal liberating brightness.
With further impressions of Jean Michel Jarre and Robert Schroeder, as well as elements from the gaming industry, Berliner Schüle, and krautrock, I have to admit that Thinking Without Language at times does sound overly familiar. Yet fresh in ideas, the EP all in all makes a fine starting point for future offspring and offers plenty of engaging EM variety for admirers to bee happy with.
Seventh Station — On Shoulders of Giants
| country: | various |
|---|---|
| year: | 2025 |
| time: | 27:28 |
| info: | seventh-station.com |
| samples: | Bandcamp |
| tracks: | |
| Three Days In Dresden (2:51), Seid nüchtern und wachet... : VII. Es geschah (5:41), Tropical Limbo (7:49), Melodia Sentimental (3:31), Nagasaki Kisses (7:34) | |
Calum Gibson
Multinational group Seventh Son are awash with talent. Founder Dimitri Aplerovich was awarded the highest score in Isreal for his instrumental skills at the age of 17, Turkish keyboardist Eren Başbuğ conducted the orchestration on Dream Theater's Breaking the Fourth Wall, not to mention Subterranean Masquerade vocalist Davidavi Dolev joining the ranks too to reimagine 5 pieces of modern classical music.
Three Days in Dresden starts with a frantic and intense bout of technical death metal, twisting leads and orchestral hits fly out beside staccato drumming and bass work from Grega Plamberger and Alexy Polyanski respectively. Before you can process that whirlwind of tightly woven and structured chaos, Seid nüchtern und wachet starts. A slow and dark track, full of foreboding, violent tones and clean vocals, backed by mixes of choirs and screams while the music layers of fierce atmospheres mixed with middle eastern sound structures.
Tropical Limbo however, is a slow, minimalistic piece focused on uneasy sounds before the fervent music starts again. A mix between excited fretwork, creepy harmonies, death metal video game soundtracks and playful carnival-like music. A bizarre mix to be sure, but it works…somehow.
Melodia Sentimental is soft, giving some rest as we are lured in by Dolev's gentle vocals and superb classical guitarwork from Aplerovich for this calming classical piece. And finally, Nagasaki Kisses. Here, Dolev doesn't sing, but uses his voice as instrumentation before Başbuğ continues to back everything with an endless bank of sounds to contrast the harsh, sometimes bleak and brutal, other times playful and bombastic music.
Fans of Gorod, Necrophagist, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer would probably enjoy this.
Thrailkill — Unperson
| country: | USA |
|---|---|
| year: | 2024 |
| time: | 47:54 |
| info: | westhrailkill.com, Facebook, YouTube, Spotify |
| samples: | Bandcamp |
| tracks: | |
| Emptiness That Is You (4:20), Encapsulated Error(s) (4:14), Ego Lender (3:49), Cattywampus (4:31), A Smile In Exile (5:07), Recidivist (4:48), Base Jump (2:44), Karma Test (3:58), The Uncanny Valley (3:35), NeveroddoreveN (10:48) | |
Jerry van Kooten
My team mate Raimond was very impressed by the 2019 album Everything That Is You and five years later guitarist Wes Thrailkill is back with a new line-up of Chase Bryant on bass and Aliyar Kinik on drums (apparently old friends) to bring us Unperson.
Mix prog metal shredding with Dixie Dregs jazz, and add a dose of funk, modern prog, and ambient. That sounds like a lot but it is really all there. Speed varies, but changes do not, changes are everywhere, even where you don't expect them.
There's a reasonably easy-listening track with Recidivist, almost bluesy and reflective. My favourite track is A Smile In Exile, which is the most proggy track out there before turning to fusion. The ambient side of the band is something I have not seen in any other bands yet and offers ears like mine a bit of rest.
The recording and mix are excellent. With just three people one could record several layers, but I think they could perform this live in this line-up. A lot is done with panning.
Personally it's too much distorted riffing and on the fusion side. A bit too much, so to speak. But if you're up for that level of aural attack, or you love artists like Animals As Leaders, Aristocrats, Dream Theater at their most technical, Neil Howell, or Steve Vai, this is an excellent listen with a lot to discover.
Thus Live Humans — Art Déco I
| country: | France |
|---|---|
| year: | 2025 |
| time: | 50:48 |
| info: | |
| samples: | Bandcamp |
| tracks: | |
| Motionless (4:53), Postmodern Deconstruction (15:07), Colours of Consciousness (8:20), Dreams and Lies (4:02), The Vertical Screens (5:15), Incoherence (7:35), About the Seaside (5:36) | |
Calum Gibson
Back in 2016, Jérémy Payan and Clément Carta began what would become Thus Live Humans. A project to bring together musicians, artists and creators to explore different musical landscapes, through different individuals with a wide range of musical backgrounds.
The album certainly has an arty, avantgarde feel to it. Stylistically, it traverses the realms of blues and hard rock, occasionally taking a detour into more metal areas as well. Elements of the early days of King Crimson rear their heads at times, while at others the album has a more modern, Porcupine Tree type sound. When the guitars go heavy, its with a chunky and deep sound which complements the music well and provides contrast to the lighter, more ethereal musicianship and vocals.
The well-crafted tracks are able to keep interest through their duration, including the epic 15-minute Postmodern Destruction. It weaves and twists through both the earthy crunch of darker passages reminiscent of early doom metal groups, and atmospheric moments that David Gilmour would be proud of.
Fans of that style of music, King Crimson, Porcupine Tree, and Pink Floyd should have a listen. It's a fine collection of music.
Winter In Eden — Therapy
| country: | UK |
|---|---|
| year: | 2025 |
| time: | 11:01 |
| info: | winterineden.com, x.com, Facebook, Instagram |
| samples: | YouTube, Spotify |
| tracks: | |
| Silence (3:33), Prove You Wrong (3:38), Impossible Dream (3:50) | |
Jan Buddenberg
One year after the outstanding release of Social Fake, Winter In Eden as a band decided to call it a day. The upsetting statement also contained the positive news that Vicky Johnson (vocals) and Steve Johnson (keyboards, bass, orchestrations) would one day continue their musical quest. This day shortly after materialised in March 2023 when they premiered the single Silence of their newly founded Never Untold project.
This project has now essentially evolved into a new version of Winter In Eden. An incarnation in which Vicky and Steve write and perform all of the material on the spectacular rebooting Therapy EP, with the assistance of guest musicians.
Silence is an extremely pop-catchy multi-layered composition which, rich with orchestrations and purity of emotional vocals, enticingly looks back and simultaneously prolongs Winter In Eden's musical path as chosen on Social Fake. Dynamically driven with commanding melodies in Magnum metal gear, the subsequent Prove You Wrong does everything right for the symphonic metal fan who adores Delain, After Forever, and Within Temptation. Upping the symphonic aspect while guest Jolie riffs stuns with amazing guitar work, this compact song however reminded me of League Of Light, when Vicky's wonderful vocals and the easy approachable pop appealing melodies are taken into account.
Impossible Dream finally rounds off the EP in grand enchanting style. This song showcases an excellent build-up in intensity. A wonderful example in song-smithery, with elegant symphonies and marvellous emotional and sensitive vocals by Vicky.
Available digital-only, Winter In Eden intend to include these three songs on the physical issue of their fifth album which they are currently in the process of recording. If you're a fan of Nightwish, Stream Of Passion, Epica and the bands mentioned above, this upcoming release is a mandatory mark on the calendar. For now my simple advice is to treat yourself to the deeply satisfying outcome of Therapy and show your support by attending Winter In Eden's upcoming August and September gigs!