On the heels of their celebrated 2019 studio album Don’t Panic, IZZ is set to release a 20-minute EP entitled Half Life featuring four tracks including three new studio songs as well as a previously unreleased live version of “The Wait of It All,” a track originally featured on their 2004 EP, Ampersand Volume 1.
Half Life will be available beginning on July 28 via download on Bandcamp: izzmusic.bandcamp.com. A limited vinyl pressing and a limited run of Half Life on CD will also be available for purchase directly from the band and their label, Doone Records, via their website: izzmusic.com.
“The title track of this EP was actually written several years ago, but when we listened to it again recently, it took on new meaning given the uncertainty in the world today and it became obvious to us that we needed to finish mixing it and get it out into the world,” says bassist John Galgano.
Lyrically and thematically, the three new studio songs cover a wide range from the joy and mystery of “The Soul of Music” to the heartfelt contentment of “Into the Sun” to the escapism and wonder of the title track “Half Life.” Musically, the EP shows a different side to IZZ which the band is keen to present to their fans.
“We’re a band that never likes to do the same thing twice. We want to keep things interesting not only for our fans, but for ourselves,” says keyboardist and producer Tom Galgano.
“This EP comes at an interesting time for the band and for the world because we have been using our time at home these past few months to take a deep dive into writing our next proper studio album which we plan on releasing in 2021 and this EP kind of snuck its way into our consciousness, so we decided to go with it and follow the muse,” says drummer Brian Coralian.
“A beautiful, soul-lifting labor of love! Check it out!” Bob Ezrin
Out of the extraordinary circumstances of Covid19 that kept him in lockdown at his home in Spain for three months, renowned guitar player Steve (the Deacon) Hunter came up with an idea to pick half a dozen classic songs and give them a whole new coat of paint.
Steve used skills learned over the last 45 years in recording studios around the World, working with artists like Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, Alice Cooper and Tracy Chapman, to come up with these musical gems.
A cocktail of influences and styles, glued together by his outstanding gifts as a musician, arranger and Producer. Steve’s old compadre, bass player Tony Levin, stepped in as a special guest and added a bottom end to die for. So, along with Steve’s wife Karen Hunter’s smokey vocals, he had a recipe for six tracks of delicious ear candy.
Between them they have conjured up a little slice of Blue/Jazz Heaven that Steve calls his “Cafe la Rouge” Project.
Tracks:
1) “Centerpiece” (written by written by Harry Edison and Jon Hendricks, was covered by Joni Mitchel on her album “The Hissing Of Summer Lawns”) 2) “Spooky” (written by Mike Sharp and Harry Middlebrooks Jr. Recorded by Classics 1V and Atlanta Rhythm Section, it has been covered by many but most notably Dusty Springfield) 3) “Beginning to See the Light” (written by Duke Ellington, Don George, Johnny Hodges and Harry James) 4) “And I Love Her” (written by Lennon and McCartney) 5) “Majesty of Life” (written by Phoebe Snow) 6) “S'Wonderful” (written by George and Ira Gershwin)
I have been a follower of the band, Fatal Fusion since I heard a track from an early album. Fatal Fusion was formed in Oslo, Norway in 2008, and utilize classic instruments, vintage synthesizers, mellotron, and Hammond organ as they pay homage to the 70’s prog bands, but they have their sound.
That sound has been described as a blending of different genres such as rock, classical, metal, blues, jazz, and even psychedelia and Latin. The band has released four albums, from the debut, Land Of The Sun (2010), through The Ancient Tale (2013), and Total Absence (2016) and onto the album being reviewed, Dissonant Minds (2020).
Fatal Fusion has had a settled line-up since its inception in 2008 and the 5 members appear on all albums; Knut Erik Grontvedt (vocals), Stig Selnes (guitar), Erlend Engebretsen (keyboards), Lasse Lie (bass) and Audun Engebretsen (drums, percussion). Dissonant Minds is a four-track release with a running time of just over 43 minutes (43:08), with track 3, “Beneath The Skydome,” the shortest at 4:23 minutes and the final track., “Broken Man Pt 2,” is the longest track on offer at just under 17 minutes (16:42).
The opening track, “Coming Forth By Day” (14:22), is straight to work almost immediately with the band into full flow with 2 distinct passages, the sound building up, dropping away and then this flow repeating, so when the 3-minute mark is reached, the sudden arrival of an acoustic Spanish style guitar passage is a great surprise. The electric guitar puts in an appearance, now and again, before the acoustic passage is joined by a flute, which heralds the entrance of the instantly recognizable vocals of Knut Erik Grontvedt. Initially, there follows a very gentle passage before the vocals harden, and the band starts to rock, changing the style, before a switch back into the gentle, almost meandering passage, which then repeats ensuring the listener is kept on their toes (aurally speaking). Around the 7:10 minute mark, the electric guitar of Stig gets the opportunity to shine and he carries the track until the vocals return around 9:00 minutes. By 9:30 minutes, the pace has changed again and the band is in full flow with the keyboards of Erland getting the chance to come to the forefront. A more choral style keyboard passage appears around 11:20 minutes and the vocals return, as does the electric guitar of Stig and the band start to drive towards the finish. However, at 14:00 minutes, the band leaves the finale to the vocals of Knut Erilk and the superb piano of Erland.
I feel that the opening track to any album requires to be one that will grab the listener and “Coming Forth By Day” does just that. The listener is taken on a journey from the soothing and gentle to the harder and rockier areas which leave the listener looking forward to the rest of the album.
The final track, “Broken Man Pt 2” (17:22), is the second epic-length piece of music on the album and it has taken from the debut album in 2010 to come up with Part 2 of “Broken Man” which graced that earlier album. The opening of “Broken Man Pt 2” starts in a relatively gentle style with the band working as a tight unit with bass (Lasse Lie) and drums (Auden Engebretsen) setting down the solid foundations of the track. By the 6th minute, the style changes with keyboard swathes and an insistent drive from the powerhouse, the bass, and drums, behind Knut Erik’s vocals. The keyboards and that driving beat then switch with the entry of Stig’s electric guitar around the 9:00 minute mark. The track continues to drive along with the keyboards to the forefront and similar to track one, the listener is frequently teased with “retro snippets” which hark back to time away in the past, but no sooner have they appeared then they are gone. Around 11:45 minutes, everything drops away leaving the solitary piano playing a plaintive theme, which heralds the appearance of the vocals again, which are similarly plaintive, before the band are off and running, if not quite as fast as earlier, before again taking a backseat as the vocals come to the fore. The band again gets to flex their collective muscles with a keyboard-driven passage taking the track onto 15:30 minutes. Stunning guitar work just after 16 minutes heralds the impending end of the track, with the sound building to a crescendo and then simply vanishing.
A terrific final track, with the regular movement from the gentle to the more aggressive style, gives the track an edginess and the stunning solo passages, both from guitar and keyboards, completing the superb ending to Dissonant Minds.
Fatal Fusion has continued to build from the foundations set down in 2010, and Dissonant Minds is the culmination, thus far, of the evolution of the band. If you like your prog rock to sound fresh, but still give a nod of the head to the prog scene from the ’70s, welcome to the sound of Fatal Fusion. This is an album that should find its way onto many listeners CD shelves or storage areas, so give it a good listen and if this is the first Fatal Fusion release you have heard, be prepared to dig deep to collect the earlier albums.
Jim “The Ancient One” Lawson - Prog Rock Music Talk Staff July 9, 2020
Tracks: 1. Coming Forth By Day (14:22) 2. Quo Vadimus (7:41) 3. Beneath The Skydome (4:23) 4. Broken Man Pt 2 (16:42)
Prog Legends Gentle Giant reunite for new version of “Proclamation” premiered by PROG Magazine
The classic Gentle Giant line-up have reunited for the first time since 1980 for a unique new video. Pieced together over the last few months, it’s a brand new performance of “Proclamation” (originally from the band’s 1974 album “The Power & The Glory”) including appearances from Gentle Giant alumni Derek, Ray and Phil Shulman, Gary Green, Kerry Minnear, John Weathers and Malcolm Mortimore. There are also guest appearances by numerous notable musicians including Jakko Jakszyk (King Crimson), Billy Sherwood (YES), Lee Pomeroy (ELO/Steve Hackett), Dan Reed (Dan Reed Network), Richard Hilton (Chic) and Mikey Heppner (Priestess).
“This terrible pandemic is being felt all over the world and with everyone being stuck at home, I figured now would be the perfect time to bring positivity out in the world, bring everyone together and celebrate our love of music and Gentle Giant,” explains Noah Shulman, son of Derek and mastermind behind this project tp Dom Lawson of PROG Magazine. “Over the years I was always amazed with how many people were filming their renditions of Gentle Giant tracks from all over the world on an array of instruments. So that sparked the idea of wanting to see them all in one place, blending sounds and instruments into a single track.”
Directed and edited by Noah Shulman and mixed by his uncle Ray, the video is likely to be remembered most for the momentous reuniting of the real Gentle Giant, albeit only briefly and via to the wonders of remote communication. Seeing that the band have never seemed likely to reform, this is a significant and exciting moment for Gentle Giant fans everywhere. Says Noah, “It’s a sort of thank you from the band to the fans.”
Gazpacho, The Kings of Atmospheric and Affective Rock, Return With New Album Fireworker Due For Release on Kscope on September 18th
For nearly twenty years, Gazpacho have reigned as the kings of atmospheric and affective art rock. That’s certainly no small feat, as the subgenre is full of wonderfully moody, ornate, and emotional artists; yet, none of them manage to achieve the same level of exquisite baroque resonance and hypnotically introspective weight as the Norwegian sextet. As a result, they never fail to provide awe-inspiring examinations of the human condition, and their latest observation, Fireworker, is no exception. It is undoubtedly among their greatest achievements, as well as one of the most profound pieces of music you’ll hear in 2020.
Conceptually, the album follows the band’s tradition of blending grand philosophical quandaries, stimulating literary leanings, and haunting personal turmoil. In a way, it acts as the culmination of the themes and techniques that’ve decorated earlier collections, combining the fatalistic isolation of Night and Missa Atropos; the ill-fated narrative drama of Tick Tock and Soyuz; and the hefty theological/scientific contemplations of Demon and Molok. Beyond that, its central premise (that humanity has always been controlled by an infallible and omniscient creature determined to propagate at any cost) means that Fireworker comes across like the overarching umbrella under which all of its predecessors occur.
Keyboardist Thomas Andersen elucidates: “There’s an instinctual part of you that lives inside your mind, separate from your consciousness. I call it the ‘Fireworker’ or the ‘Lizard’ or the ‘Space Cowboy.’ It’s an eternal and unbroken lifeforce that’s survived every generation, with a new version in each of us. It’s evolved alongside our consciousness, and it can override us and control all of our actions.” In order to get us to do what it wants, he clarifies, the “Fireworker” will silence the parts of our mind that feel disgust or remorse so that we’re unable to stop it. The conscious part of our mind, Andersen notes, will actually “rationalize and legitimize” those thoughts and actions so that we never discover the beast behind-the-scenes. No matter how we feel about ourselves in terms of identity, accomplishments, and value, we’re all just vessels—or “Sapiens”—that the creature uses until it no longer needs us. “If you play along,” Andersen explains, “It’ll reward you like a puppy and let you feel fantastic; if you don’t, it’ll punish you severely.”
Like Night, Fireworker is a single “trip” broken into five chapters but meant to be appreciated all at once. This time, however, Gazpacho’s recurring protagonist is investigating the labyrinthian hive of his own psyche to engage in a Bergman-esque confrontation with the “Fireworker.” This journey is even represented by the Wimmelbilder cover, which, as usual, was designed by collaborator Antonio Seijas and depicts “the billions of neurons that create the cave of the mind”.
Fireworker declares its mesmeric dominance right away via “Space Cowboy,” a side-long suite whose ominous lyricism (“The parasite / That lives in me / Murders words / From where I stop / And it breathes in / We’re biting our tail / The cycle begins”) is but one of many reasons why it’s among Gazpacho’s greatest compositions. From its heartbreakingly delicate first movement and chaotic centerpiece, to its mournfully symphonic penultimate phase and thunderous outro, it is a masterpiece onto itself, cementing how vivacious, evocative, and imaginative Gazpacho remain after all these years.
From there, the sequence remains just as seductively eccentric and beautiful. In particular, “Hourglass” is a gorgeous piano ballad that evokes March of Ghosts in its fusion of welcoming melodies and gentle orchestral flourishes. That then make way for the feisty layers and catchy hooks of the band’s first single and title track “Fireworker.” Fittingly, “Antique” takes over with angelic mystery and the album closer “Sapien,” echoes the dynamic range and epic scope of “Space Cowboy,” resulting in an awe-inspiring finale that envelops you in luscious arrangements and poignant existential realizations.
Naturally, Gazpacho’s career has been full of great performances and glowing praise. Outside of issuing three superb live LPs (2010’s A Night at the Loreley, 2011’s London, and 2015’s Night of the Demon), they’ve played festivals such as Be Prog! My Friend, Night of the Prog, Midsummer Prog Festival, and Cruise to the Edge, where they delighted audiences alongside exceptional brethren like iamthemorning, Anathema, Pain of Salvation, Caligula’s Horse, Riverside, The Neal Morse Band, and Steve Hackett. Unsurprisingly, their records have been met with similarly enthusiastic reception; for instance, their previous statement, 2018’s Soyuz, earned superlative accolades from publications such as PROG, Echoes and Dust and Louder than War.
Fireworker is truly life-changing experience, so you would be wise to turn off all of the lights, clear your mind as best you can, and prepare to meet the Fireworker.
Fireworker will be released on Kscope on 18th September, on CD, a gatefold 2LP on 180g black vinyl (3 sides audio, 1 side art etching) and digitally (digital pre-orders receive the title track “Fireworker” as an instant download) and is available to pre-order HERE (https://gazpacho.lnk.to/Fireworker)
GAZPACHO LIVE
Sadly, due to the current covid-19 situation the band’s European and UK dates scheduled for October 2020 have been postponed to October 2021, but as the band didn’t want to disappoint their fans Gazpacho are planning to play Fireworker in its entirety via a livestream, alongside a Q&A about the concept plus will play a few favourites from their repertoire. Details of the streaming event and the rescheduled tour will follow soon
In the meantime, they suggest, you should internalize the record as much as possible to eventually “research your own ‘Space Cowboy.’” Anderson adds: “It’s an attempt at a safe way of looking at something highly dangerous because the animal does not understand music or poetry. We’re trying to outsmart it by writing around it, as music can go places words can’t and there’s a magic to it all.”
Gazpacho are: Thomas Andersen – keyboards, programming Jan-Henrik Ohme – vocals Jon-Arne Vibo – guitars Mikael Krømer – violin, additional guitars Kristian “Fido” Torp – bass Robert R Johansen – drums
First album track, “Future History”, to be released on Friday 10th July 2020. Video directed by Nigel Dick (Guns N’ Roses, Def Leppard).
Forthcoming new album “DarWin 2: A Frozen War” featuring Simon Phillips (Toto/The Who/Jeff Beck), Matt Bissonette (Elton John, David Lee Roth, Ringo Starr), Billy Sheehan (Mr Big/ Steve Vai/Winery Dogs), Guthrie Govan (Aristocrats/Asia/Hans Zimmer/Steven Wilson), Greg Howe (Michael Jackson/Justin Timberlake), Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater/Alice Cooper/Black Country Communion)
Following the release of debut album “Origin Of Species” in early 2019, DarWin releases a new single, “Nightmare Of My Dreams”, on the 14th August 2020.
The epic 7 plus minute “Nightmare Of My Dreams” builds on the themes set out by DarWin on “Origin Of Species”.
The announcement of the first single will coincide with the release of the first album track, “Future History”.
Both songs are taken from the forthcoming album, “DarWin 2: A Frozen War”, which will be released later in 2020.
Once more DarWin has assembled a stunning ensemble of musicians. “DarWin 2: A Frozen War” continues the deep collaboration with Simon Phillips (drums, Toto/The Who/Jeff Beck) and Matt Bissonette (Elton John, David Lee Roth, Ringo Starr). Joining them are powerhouse players Billy Sheehan (bass, Mr Big/ Steve Vai/Winery Dogs), Guthrie Govan (guitar, Aristocrats/Asia/Hans Zimmer/Steven Wilson), Greg Howe (guitar, Michael Jackson/Justin Timberlake), Derek Sherinian (keyboards, Dream Theater/Alice Cooper/Black Country Communion) and more…
“Darwin 2: A Frozen War” was produced by DarWin and Simon Phillips and recorded primarily in Iceland and the USA.
DarWin says, “We started working on DarWin 2: A Frozen War while still finishing Origin of Species. This new album is therefore more like a final chapter to OoS. The title song “A Frozen War” represents the final battle for the future of Earth. It has a heavier feel than the first album, and I think represents our best stuff.
“We shifted live recording to Iceland and Billy Sheehan joined us on bass in the studio while Matt was often traveling with Elton John. We’re also joined on the album by Guthrie Govan, Greg Howe and Derek Sherinian doing killer leads, and many more players that are super exciting.
“This first song we’re releasing, “Future History” is about traveling faster than lightspeed and therefore going back in time. It’s a real chuggy jam song that should rock hard. Matt’s thick harmonies soar over the heavy grooves to provide a sensation of flying next to a ray of light and watching your life pass before you. It was great to jam with Billy and Simon on this and trade licks with Greg in the solo section. Check it out!”
The first release “Future History” also features a video directed by the legendary Nigel Dick (Guns N Roses/Band Aid/Def Leppard/Britney Spears)
DarWin’s critically acclaimed debut “Origin Of Species” was the first installment in an epic saga that addresses the challenges of mankind in our coming era. It depicts the role of a changing planet, and the potential, as well as limitations, of technology to help solve mankind’s greatest challenges. A complex project that’s eschews the hollow immediacy of much contemporary art. A story that demands attention and imagination. With music sweeping in scope, at times evoking hard rock virtuoso shredding, alongside grand orchestral compositions, warm harmonies and soaring choruses. A project that is even more relevant in the strange times we live in.
“At the end of it all, DarWin has saved the concept album as well as the planet.” – Classic Rock review of debut album “Origin Of Species”
“…a smorgasbord of styles, dripping in YES pomp, melodic pop and riffy modern day rock” – Prog Magazine review of debut album “Origin Of Species”
“DarWin 2: A Frozen War” is released later in 2020. “Nightmare Of My Dreams” will be released on the 14th of August 2020. It will feature an exciting narrative video, also directed by Nigel Dick
