And so it’s farewell to The Reasoning who have called it a day after 5 studio albums....


Whilst not in the premier league of Prog, a good band who leave a back catalogue worth exploring (all of which I got from their website on an embossed USB stick which doubles as a bottle opener !!)

A good couple of years in the making but the new Alabama Shakes album is quite a disappointment...... Sound & Color (learn to spell, please) suffers some very obvious faults such as being at 3 songs too long and trying to be too diverse

This is a sprawling, disparate album totally lacking the cohesion that made made Boys & Girls such a fantastic debut

The star as before is Brittany Howard's voice which at times cajoles and coo's and then becomes a full blown holler....

Stand out tracks are Don't Wanna Fight which is reminiscent of a full blown funk attack on the Pussycat Dolls tune Don't Cha ! Additionally Future People adds some keys and a bit of that southern feel which is missing elsewhere

Unfortunately for a band that looks to base it's career on albums there is too much filler here for this to be considered a step forward

And so here we go with a Record Store Day rant.....

This has to have been the poorest year yet - over 450 "exclusive" discs and only one I actually wanted and even then I knew I could walk in 3 hours after opening and pick up a copy (due to no one else being interested in a bunch of polished Nephilim demo's that even the band disowned)

The list was poor on a couple of points - firstly too much product from a few bands
3 from Bowie, 4 from Deep Purple, 6 (!) from Pulp.....

Secondly a lot wasn't exclusive. For example last year John Grant released an EP of duets that didn't appear on the album, this year it's a vinyl release of the same orchestral album that's been out for months

Finally there also seemed to be a lot of really expensive box sets. Genesis being a prime example at £80+ with single sets from Donna Summer and The Beat going for over £50....

So after putting aside my money I spent a third of what I did last year but at least I got the one I wanted (even though I did pick up the Johnny Cash single as a bonus!)

Now this album is a difficult listen.... Not in sense that it's awful but that you need to dedicate time and effort to listening to it.


Enslaved's new album is called In Times. It's a loose concept album on the theory and nature of time (you will never get that from listening to the album, but trust me it's apparently true) and none of the six tracks clock in at under 8 minutes


In addition for a lot of people there is the issue of the vocals. Like Opeth used to do, there is a mix of clean vocals and death metal histrionics. Unfortunately from the point of getting commercial acceptance the opening track Thuriaz Dreaming starts with some serious throat shredding yelps and furious drumming which will have many reaching for the off button but stick with it and there are many delights to be found.


All the tracks are labyrinthine epics of time changes and the occasional quiet interlude or icy blast of blackest metal. One Thousand Years of Rain being a fine example where there is almost a sing along chorus before the introduction of some acoustic guitar and a finale of blast beat drumming.


A fascinating album which won't appeal to many but if you put in the work this is a really good modern prog/metal album

The new Public Service Broadcasting album has arrived and The Race For Space is a fully blown concept album....

Whilst on the debut album the archive samples could seem forced or tacked on, this time they add real depth and feeling to the story

The album opens with the famous JFK speech ("we go not to the moon because it is easy but because it is hard") backed by a choir before the Sputnik pulses along on a Kraftwerk beat. The single Gagarin is a much funkier proposition full of brass

The real emotional heart is almost Porcupine Tree like The Other Side which depicts the first Apollo flight to the dark side of the moon (pun probably intended) As ground control loses contact with the rocket, the track lapses into silence and really give a real sense of tension before contact is resumed - quite stunning

The Smoke Fairies add some lovely vocal harmony to Valentina which brings something different to the album rather than the sampled voices.

This is a short old school album - 9 tracks at approx 40 mins - so nothing is superfluous or unnecessary.... It needs repeated listens and always in one sitting as befits a concept album but this could turn out to be up there with the great prog concept albums in terms of fantastic storytelling

So whilst waiting (and waiting) for the new issue of Prog I decided to check out the critics top 20 lists for 2014..... Normally I can predict whose list most closely matches what I've bought in the year (hello, Natasha Scharf !) but this year there was a new winner - step forward deputy editor Hannah May Kilroy with an impressive 4 matches

Solstafir - Otta
Alcest - Shelter
Crippled Black Phoenix - White Light Generator
Wolves In The Throneroom - Celestite

Just what Sepultura needed - the backing of more than a dozen mad French percussionists playing oil drums and yet this is exactly what they've done for the new live album Metal Veins


Les Tambours du Bronx add even more tribalism to the Brazillian brand of thrash metal... In places it's utter chaos but in others inspired. Refuse/Resist and Fever work spectacularly well - This is clearly the sound of the worlds angriest samba band


The live version of the Prodigy's Firestarter  is quite, quite surreal and the big finale of Roots Bloody Roots is fantastic


Sepultura are a band I've dipped in and out of throughout their 20 odd year career but with this they still show they have the ability to surprise