Amethyst Yoshiki

The third installment of the season EPs from 1998 found William Breeze returning to add more viola as well as mandolin, while Rose McDowell, Louise Weasel, and Sorrow's Robert Lee are among the various guests. Coil worked initially with treated vocals and synth, then built up the arrangements of the five tracks from there. The feeling at many points is very much in line with the Coil/World Serpent tree of modern mysticism. Certainly Balance and McDowell's chants and pronouncements on the exquisite "Rosa Decidua," backed with descending chords on organ and further murky waves of noise, feels like a centuries-old ritual returned to life…

“HYMN: Sarah Brightman In Concert” was captured from the Festspielhaus in the enchanted Bavarian Alps, known for its magical lakes, mountains, castles, ‘cuckoo clock’ houses, and the historic and captivating Neuschwanstein Castle. Conceived and created by Sarah Brightman, Anthony Van Laast (“Mamma Mia”, “Beauty and the Beast”), and Frank Peterson, the two-act performance is a hybrid of a musical film and a large-scale concert production. Sarah is accompanied by her band, the Bavarian Philharmonic orchestra, a 50-voice choir and the Ludwig Ensemble of dancers, Special guest performers include Japanese superstar Yoshiki, Vincent Niclo, Mario Frangoulis and Narcis.

Recorded in the heart of the breathtaking Bavarian Alps at the fairytale Neuschwanstein Castle. Conceived and created by Sarah along with Anthony Van Laast (Mamma Mia, Beauty and the Beast), and Frank Peterson, this cinematic performance is a unique hybrid of a musical film and a large-scale concert production. Staged in Ludwig II’s Festspielhaus, Sarah is accompanied by her band, the Bavarian Philharmonic Orchestra, a 50-voice choir and the Ludwig Ensemble of dancers…

Primarily consisting of vocalist/musician John Balance and programmer/visual artist Peter Christopherson, along with various other members and contributors, Coil were one of the most beloved, mythologized groups to emerge from the British post-industrial scene. Initially established as an offshoot of Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV in 1982, the band spent more than two decades making uncompromising, often unspeakably beautiful music that explored themes related to alchemy, dreams, the occult, drugs, and sexuality. They have remained a longstanding influence on genres such as goth rock, dark ambient, neofolk, techno, and experimental music in general.
In 2000, Coil shocked their fans by announcing a live concert at the Royal Albert Hall. This was to be, essentially, their first live performance, having had some abortive live shows in the very early 1980s…

In 1989, Omar Hakim released his first solo album, Rhythm Deep, which occupied a middle ground between jazz, R&B, and pop, and gave him a chance to showcase his vocal abilities as well. The results earned Hakim a Grammy nomination.

Susanne Abbuehl startled listeners in 2001 with her debut release, April, in which she took on the poems of e.e. cummings, and created lyrics for a Carla Bley composition. A studied and original vocalist – she worked with Jeanne Lee – she is also a solid composer. Her aesthetic and restrained approach lend themselves easily to Manfred Eicher's production M.O. On Compass, Abbuehl and her band, which features the wonderful clarinetist Christoph May, dig deep into the words of James Joyce, William Carlos Williams, and the music of Sun Ra and Chick Corea. The project is once more refined and mannered yet utterly ambitious beginning with her original composition "Bathyal."

The first-ever single-disc anthology of Queen drummer Roger Taylor's solo material, 2014's Best brings together tracks off all five of his studio albums. The collection follows-up the more exhaustive 2013 box-set, The Lot, and features cuts from 1981's Fun in Space, 1984's Strange Frontier, 1994's Happiness?, 1998's Electric Fire, and 2013's Fun on Earth. While primarily known for his commanding drum presence with Queen, Taylor is also a strong rock singer and talented songwriter, responsible for penning such Queen hits as "Radio Ga Ga," "Breakthru," "These Are the Days of Our Lives," and others. Vocally, Taylor has a throatier, more gravelly presence on the microphone than Queen's highly resonant, operatic frontman Freddie Mercury. In that sense, he often brings to mind the sound of such similarly inclined contemporaries as the Who's Roger Daltrey, Mott the Hoople's Ian Hunter, and Deep Purple's Ian Gillan. Perhaps not surprisingly, many of the cuts here sound like they could easily have ended up on a Queen album, and tracks like "Let’s Get Crazy," "Man on Fire," and "Strange Frontier" showcase the same synth-driven, pop/rock approach Queen was championing in the '80s.

Power metal quartet KALIDIA hails from the fertile soil of Italy. Their first record, “Lies’ Device” was released back in 2014 where the title track went viral on Youtube garnering more than 900,000 views. On 23rd of November this year, they presented their second incarnation, “Frozen Throne”…