旧日足迹 Beyond

The British band Fantasy released two albums in the early '70s of predominantly pastoral progressive rock. Originally called FireQueen, the group was comprised of Paul Lawrence (vocals, guitar), David Metcalfe (keyboards), and Dave Read (bass). Their first album was Paint a Picture (1973), a mellow and imaginative collection of song-based material that featured a heavy use of acoustic guitars, Hammond organs, and pianos. In 1974, the band recorded Beyond the Beyond, which was not released until 1992. The album saw the group expanding their sound into more quintessential progressive material while remaining true to the pastoral sound of their debut.

In the 21st century, the power metal scene isn't just veteran headbangers like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and Queensrÿche, it's also power metal revival bands such as Symphony X, Iron Savior, Morifade, DragonForce, and Rhapsody. The difference between the older power metallers and the younger power metal revival acts is not a stylistic difference but rather, a matter of when a band came along; stylistically, the power metal revival combos that were formed in the '90s or 2000s are consistently mindful of the power metal artists who started recording in the late '70s or '80s. That is certainly true of the Sweden-based vocalist of Hammerfall, Joacim Cans, who maintains his devotion to old-school power metal throughout his solo project Beyond the Gates…

One of the most interesting German art/prog rock bands in a spectacle you'll never forget! The double CD DG features a special show recorded earlier this year at Wyspiaoski Theater in Katowice, Poland, which was also the last complete performance of their most recent album ""Beyond Man and Time"" in Europe…

San Francisco's Beyond-O-Matic plays a dreamy, sometimes quirky, electronically psychedelic brand of space music that has just enough freakiness, and even a fair dose of dissonance, to put it firmly in the space realm, but is somewhat undefinable in it's interpretation. The band consists of Kurt Stenzel (aka Stenzo) on vocals, keyboards, guitar, and delay loops, Franktus Evictus on drums and voices, David Gresalfi on linndrum, samples, and vocals, and the Reverend Peter Fuhry on vocals, cross5 guitar, thebeatles, acoustic bariguitar, long stiff finger off doom, toy piano, accordion, flute, metal clarinet, and delay loop effects. What's that? You've never heard of a thebeatles? Or a long stiff finger of doom? Well there are pictures of these nifty buggers on the band's web page and they sure seem to be homemade stringed instruments of some mutated fashion (I ask about them in the interview). The end result is a work that puts electronics in the forefront, but subtly incorporates this varied instrumentation to produce music that is beautiful and uniquely beyond-o-matic. "Your Body" is the band's third release.

Three years on from their acclaimed debut album, Ash In Realms of Stone Icons, Atlanta, GA progressive blackened metal band Tómarúm return with Beyond Obsidian Euphoria on April 4 via Prosthetic Records. Following extensive North American touring since 2022, Tómarúm’s sophomore full-length in the next chapter in the group’s ever-evolving search for inner meaning, strength and peace. Where Ash in Realms of Stone Icons served as a prologue in the band’s continuing narrative thread, Beyond Obsidian Euphoria marks the beginning proper of Tómarúm’s story. Thematically a concept album that follows immediately after the events of their first fulllength, Beyond Obsidian Euphoria finds Tómarúm reaching out from the depths of depression and despair for transcendence and triumph on the other side of woe…

Nitin Sawhney's Beyond Skin works on at least two levels. First, it's a plea against racism and war, relating, as Sawhney writes in the liner notes, that one's identity is defined only by oneself – that identity is "beyond skin." Second, the music is an extremely accomplished blend of classical, drum'n'bass, jazz, hip-hop, and Indian elements. The album's political statements are seen most clearly in the samples imbedded in the beginning and ending of most tracks. Dealing with nuclear testing and identity, the samples are effective in setting the tone for the songs. The music is quite lush, featuring among other instruments, tablas, pianos, and cellos to equally beautiful effect. The production brings a crystal-clear polish to nearly every element in the mix, whether it's the passionate, intense vocals of the Rizwan Qawwali Group on "Homelands" or the stunning, impossibly gorgeous voice of Swati Natekar on "Nadia." The entire album is bathed in eclectic touches which never fail to maintain a poetic, accessible sense of charm and wonder. Rarely has electronic music been crafted with as much substance and style as it has on Beyond Skin. Sawhney travels back and forth between genres quite effortlessly. The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

This isn't just a 2-CD set of some unbelievable guitar work from a long-esteemed player of truly formidable skill but rather a treasury that proves beyond doubt that Melvin Taylor needs to be placed within the museum of the guitar greats: Wes Montgomery, George Benson, Chet Atkins, Frank Zappa, Earl Klugh, Jim Hall, Leo Kottke, Robert Fripp, Grant Green, Pat Metheny…all of 'em, regardless of style and genre. And he not only plays all the many layers of various guitars here but bass as well in a nominally foursome format.

Captain Beyond is a one-of-a-kind progressive album with rock, heavy metal, and jazz influences with a "space rock" lyrical bend. Formed by former members of Deep Purple (Rod Evans, vocals), Iron Butterfly (Rhino, lead guitar, and Lee Dorman, bass), and Johnny Winter (Bobby Caldwell, drums) Captain Beyond is an album that flows from riff to riff, drumbeat to drumbeat, often with various time signatures within the same song. Taking a tip from the Moody Blues, songs flow directly into each other without benefit of any lag time between selections.