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Mantric Muse, Denmark

News: Not much happening with Mantric Muse, with a posting of a live concert in 2015 being the last activity.


Location: Copenhagen

Overview: Mantric Muse are bread and butter Hillage-era Gong styled progressive rock. For fans of early Ozric Tentacles and Quantum Fantay.

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Free System Projekt, Netherlands

News: As noted on this site in April, Free System Projekt's first album in many years did indeed come out (entitled Five Suns).

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Location: Huizen (east of Amsterdam)

Overview: Of all the current bands playing in the retro Berlin School of sequencer based electronic music, Dutch ensemble Free System Projekt may be the closest in imitating the original pioneers. Especially the Tangerine Dream variant from 1974 to 1977.

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Il Bacio della Medusa, Italy

News: Il Bacio della Medusa have a new album, their 4th, called Seme*,and has just been released om AMS, who picked the band up in 2015 and reissued their back catalog. Label says: "Contrary to what often happens in the vast progressive rock panorama, crowded by many prolific artists, Il Bacio della Medusa has always taken their right time to release a new album: this time six years have in fact passed from the previous “Deus Lo Vult”. Nothing to complain, however, when the wait is rewarded by the high quality of the result.“Seme*” is no exception in this sense and, if the wind instruments played by Eva Morelli and Simone Cecchini’s voice represent elements of continuity with the past, everything else has been completely revolutionized. We are in fact facing the band’s most immediate and at the same time more varied record, a blend of hard, folk, jazz and classic rock, typical songwriter’s moments and even country and electronic music! If it’s true that ‘prog’ means also evolutio…
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Kenso, Japan

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No new updates from Kenso since 2015.

Kenso - s/t. 1980 Pam (LP); 1995 Arcangelo (CD)
Kenso - II. 1982 Pam (LP); 1993 King (CD); 2002 Pathograph (CD papersleeve)
Kenso - s/t (aka III). 1985 Nexus (LP; CD); 2011 King (CD papersleeve)
Kenso - Sparta. 1989 Crime (CD); 2009 Pathograph as Sparta Naked (CD)
Kenso - Yume No Oka. 1991 King; 2011 Pathograph (CD papersleeve)
Kenso - Esoptron. 1999 King (CD); 1999 Musea (France CD)
Kenso - Ken-Son-Gu-Su. 2000 Pathograph (CD)
Kenso - Fabulis Mirabilibus De Bombycosi Scriptis. 2002 Nexus (CD); 2002 Vinyl Magic (Italy CD)
Kenso - Utsuroi Yuku Mono. 2006 King (CD)
Kenso - Uchi Naru Koe Ni Kaikiseyo. 2014 King (CD)

There are many other live and archival releases from the band, though I only own Ken-Son-Gu-Su. All the other entries above represent their studio albums. There's also a 14 CD box set on King that contains all their studio albums through 2012, as well as a handful of live recordings.

For a band with so many recordings, an…
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Homunculus Res, Italy

News: New album out February 15th (was slightly delayed and is now available as of March 8). Title is Della Stessa Sostanza dei Sogna.

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Location: Palermo, Sicily

Overview: Homunculus Res are a tremendous new Canterbury styled band from Italy that have perfectly captured the spirit of another era. Brilliantly mixing melody and complexity, with a jazzy undertone.

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The Morrigan, England

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The Morrigan - Spirit of the Soup. 1984 private (LP); 1999 English Garden (CD)
The Morrigan - Rides Out. 1990 private (LP); 1997 English Garden (CD)
The Morrigan - Wreckers. 1996 English Garden
The Morrigan - Masque. 1998 English Garden
The Morrigan - Hidden Agenda. 2002 English Garden

I haven't heard the debut, so we start with "Rides Out"...

On paper at least, England's The Morrigan doesn't sound like my cup of tea. In essence, The Morrigan play rocked out versions of English traditional folk songs. Or self-penned tracks that sound like English traditional folk songs. Fortunately I happened upon "Rides Out" not long after the CD release, and was captivated immediately. Not only are these spirited reproductions - or originals - but there is definitely a psychedelic/heavy rock slant to their approach (and guitar sound), reminding me of some of the early 70s greats like Mellow Candle or The Trees. The female vocals and recorders - heck th…
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Il Segno del Comando, Italy

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Well I can see that I never created any notes or updated this post for Il Volto Verde. I bought it after release and think it's great! So next time I hear it, I'll update here and move the whole thing forward.

Il Segno del Comando - s/t. 1997 Black Widow (CD; LP)
Il Segno del Comando - Der Golem. 2002 Black Widow (CD; LP)
Il Segno del Comando - Il Volto Verde. 2013 Black Widow (CD; LP)

----Il Segno del Comando

Il Segno del Comando's debut comes from the 90's renaissance wave of darkly influenced Italian progressive music as promoted by the Black Widow label of Genoa. Their haunting formula includes pipe organ, synthesizer, echoplex'd guitar, and impassioned vocals in Italian. Il Segno del Comando were the culmination of Black Widow's stable of the era, which included Runaway Totem (especially at the time of their debut), Standarte, Malombra, and Abiogenesi. Perhaps a bit more space rock influenced than the aforementioned bands, making it …
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Ayahuasca Dark Trip, Peru

News: Ayahuasca Dark Trip have released their latest opus in September entitled Upaya. It's download only so far, but there's talk of a vinyl issue.

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Location: Lima

Overview: Ayahuasca Dark Trip are a psychedelic ambient band from Peru that use guitars and soft vocals to achieve a hypnotic affect.

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Vespero, Russia

News: Addendum and good news at that - Now on CD! Vespero has just announced their latest studio album Shum-SHIR, which will be out November 17th. That's the good news. The OK news is that it will be LP only (on Tonzonen). I'm not so keen on this trend myself. I love LPs - but from another era. Oh well I'll probably get it anyway, since I'm such a huge fan of the band. Band says: "Shum-Shir' is second part of 'Abyssinian Tales' (first -'Lique Mekwas' was released as CD on R.A.I.G. In 2016). Fully instrumental psyche-kraut-rock with ethno influences. Mastered by Eroc."
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Location: Astrakhan

Overview: Vespero are a space rock band from Astrakhan, a city on the northern shore of the Caspian Sea in Southern Russia, near the border of Kazakhstan. So, in effect, miles from anything familiar. And yet there are few bands today - or perhaps none - that have captured the European spirit of space rock, Krautrock, and progressive r…
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Sithonia, Italy

News: Not much a happening in the world of Sithonia. Hopefully the reunion wasn't a one and done.

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Location: Bologna

Overview: Sithonia were one of the best of the neo Italian prog bands that emerged in the late 1980s. Their composition style was a cut above the rest, but the sounds were decidedly digital. Their reformation brought back more solid analog gear, and probably their best album objectively speaking.

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Malady, Finland

News: Malady have announced their second album will be released February 2! It's titled Toinen Toista and will be released on Svart as was the debut. I'm most excited about this one, as their debut is excellent.
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Location: Helsinki

Overview: If you like the music of Finland circa 1973, you'll love Malady. They've captured the essence of another era perfectly.

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