Corvus Recondite

CORVUS from England play cool AOR/melodic rock but with a slightly different twist than most of the usual suspects from Sweden which is nice. Finest music for lovers of TEN, CATS IN SPACE, VEGA or WIGELIUS. Frontman Ciaran James offers a phenomenal and unique voice reminicent of RICK ASTLEY to a certain degree. A few pop elements in some of the songs add a pleasant flavor. A new version of the title track of the debut "Chasing Miracles" (2015) and a formerly digital only Christmas single make up the two bonus cuts. The second album of the five-piece will definitely arouse massive attention.

The multinational project Corvus Stone consists of Pasi Koivu (keyboards), Colin Tench (guitars), Petri Lemmi Lindstrom (bass guitars), Robert Wolff (drums and percussion). Special guests on their second album are, amongst others, Phil Naro (Drackfarben, Talas), Sean Filkins (ex-Big Big Train), German Vergara (Aisles), Blake Carpenter (The Minstrel's Ghost, Voice Of The Enslaved) and Victor Tassone (Unified Past). This album is a festival of musical sounds, as diverse as the origin of the musicians involved. While music in general is in the field of progressive rock, it's easy to notice that the band doesn't care about labels. Progressive rock is a means to sublimate their influences rather than an end in itself. Thanks to their experience in music, a great musicianship and a sense of humour, they deliver a music that is heartfelt, not dictated by any trend of the moment, and that will put a smile on your face and certainly make your day.

Corvus Stone's "Unscrewed" is irrisistible, as their previous albums were saturated with innovation and glorious progressive music. This latest adventure in excess is flooded with more inventiveness and dwells fairly in the realm of atmospheric diversity. Many of the tracks are remixes or revamps of earlier tracks but now with added dynamism or new instrumental sections. Overall this album is brimming over with lashings of creative musicianship. Each track brings the listener into a different mood and takes them on an adventure. It is not conceptual but somehow each track seems to belong here. The moments of brilliance are when the band allow the cork to pop and the genie to escape…

2012 turned out to be a another fine year for progressive rock, and this album was certainly one of the more attention grabbing releases. It sets the bar high for a debut album (the beautiful production really gives it a kick too), and it shows a band with so much potential and talent that should be very proud of what they've achieved here.
Corvus Stone is an unfathomable quasi-religious foray into the essence of progressive rock, a delirious symphony of sound, atmospheres and structures where the compositions have merit both as sonic arrangements as well as showcasing individual performances by the musicians involved…

There’s no question that Manchester’s Dead Sea Apes have made an impressive footprint in the world of heavy psych. Things change quickly from there though. Relying more on gravity - and gravitas - the heaviness of Dead Sea Apes is far beyond an arbitrary turning up of the volume knob and a trip to the the guitar shop for just one more fuzz pedal. Underneath the slow-burn bone-rattlings and rumblings, there’s a deliberateness and nuance to their catalogue that sets them apart from other bands that traffic in bringing the ‘heaviosity’. While their influences and methods may not be obvious to the casual listener, it’s the deep divers that Dead Sea Apes speak to…

With a combination of historical music and modern fantasy elements, the Berlin musicians have shaped our present understanding of medieval music. After countless fabled albums such as "Mille Anni Passi Sunt", "Sverker" or "Gimlie" they brought Vikings, gods and legends back to life. Now, one year before their 30th anniversary, their new and spectacular album "Skál" revives the mood of old times and makes people dance and jump around crazy (as we know from medieval music).

It's Christmas time, by gosh and by golly, and here comes Santa, only the sleigh has been commandeered by Colin "Mad Yeti" Tench and is being pulled by thirteen granny prog tracks. In the back are several helpers, elves who are chucking digital copies of the new Colin Tench Project album "minor Masterpiece" to the crest of the new fallen snow below…