Author: Team Uber

Divided by Design – ‘Stages To Osiris’ (Self-Released)

Divided by Design – ‘Stages To Osiris’ (Self-Released)

Posted by | Aug 17, 2020 | ,

There’s a very splaylist called “Prog Me Harder” on Spotify – and that’s because he can’t get enough of the experimentalism and unorthodox nature of prog metal. He loves the way that the songs are structured in such a way that they seem to suck you out of your body and into an almost dreamlike state, then suddenly you’ve listened to a 20 minute track and it feels like no time has passed at all. So, when the debut album from the progressive trio from Leeds, Divided by Design, landed in front of me for review, he knew it was time to see if it passed the Jonny Bakes prog playlist test…

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Robby Krieger – ‘The Ritual Begins At Sundown’ (The Players Club)

Robby Krieger – ‘The Ritual Begins At Sundown’ (The Players Club)

Posted by | Aug 13, 2020 | ,

Robby Krieger is probably most well known for his stint as guitarist in The Doors. Born in LA, his early love was for classical music but after an initial attempt to learn to play the trumpet, he found the piano and used it to play mostly the blues. Krieger joined The Doors in 1965 after the departure of co-founder Ray Manzarek’s brothers, Rick and Jim from the original band, ‘Rick & The Ravens’. The Doors never replaced the bassist as they felt this gave them a unique sound, and it is this piece of information that hints at the talent that existed within The Doors.

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Nana – ‘Selfish Propensities’ (Rum Bar Records)

Nana – ‘Selfish Propensities’ (Rum Bar Records)

Posted by | Aug 13, 2020 | ,

Jonny B will be the first to admit that he’s particularly up to speed with the comings and goings of the Boston music scene. When he thinks about the scene in Boston, he’s always assumed that it’s all Irish bars and Dropkick Murphys clones, but obviously that’s not the case as this “new” release shows. Why “new”, we hear you ask? Well ‘Selfish Propensities’ is perhaps the only documented evidence that the band Nana existed in mid to late ‘90s which has recently been uncovered in a box of CD and written by Tom Baker (not the Doctor Who one, The Dirty Truckers one). So, while this may be new to most of us, this is certainly a bit of a relic of its time…

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Black Crown Initiate – ‘Violent Portraits of Doomed Escape’ (Century Media)

Black Crown Initiate – ‘Violent Portraits of Doomed Escape’ (Century Media)

Posted by | Aug 13, 2020 | ,

Black Crown Initiate are one of these prog bands that honestly baffles Jase W as to why they’re not bigger in the UK. In comparison with the sizable following they’ve got in the States, it’s surprising they’re not throwing larger weight around here as they’ve got solid offerings that are reminiscent of some of Opeth’s older material with all their heavy proggy motifs that blend in a bit of death metal. Their third album offering, ‘Violent Portraits of Doomed Escape’ comes in at nine tracks with two appearing to suit “outro” style tracks on a vinyl (‘Bellow’ and ‘He Is The Path’), and is the first album with their new rhythm guitarist Ethan McKenna. Jase mention this as their second album featured the well-known Wes Hauch on rhythm, so it’ll be interesting to see how the songwriting dynamic changes…

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