Seventh Wonder

Metal's artisan of ambitiousness Arjen Anthony Lucassen returns with his project Ayreon taking time off from his other musical projects Star One, Guilt Machine and The Gentle Storm to embark on yet another sonic journey into the world of science fiction, where he unleashes yet another concept album that is a prequel to 2008's "01011001" laid out in his usual monstrosity of a double album with an army of guest vocalists and musicians to play the proper roles in his larger than life metal operas. As a prequel, The Source tells the origins of the Forever which is an alien race that is a key force in the overall storyline. While Ayreon is accustomed to mostly new cast members changing things up on any given album, The Source makes use of plenty of returning performers which include James LaBrie (Dream Theater), Simone Simons (Epica), Floor Jansen (Nightwish), Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian)…

Withem is an upcoming Progressive Metal band hailing from Norway who are inspired by the likes of Symphony X, Pagan's Mind, Dream Theater and Circus Maximus, concentrating heavily on melodic, memorable hooks, but still with plenty of stunning and virtuoso instrumental sections. The band debuted with “The Point of You” in 2013, gathering excellent reviews from several music websites, blogs and magazines from all over the world. The release was followed by European touring with Pagan’s Mind, Circus Maximus and Seventh Wonder, and performances at both ProgPower USA and ProgPower Oslo, always with an extremely positive reception. The new album, “The Unforgiving Road” sees the band perfecting their style.

2nd studio album by the high-class Swedish Melodic Rock group. Swedish AOR group Hydra returns on September 20th, 2024 with their sophomore release ‘ReHydration’. With a stable line-up, the band still consists of long-time friends from the Swedish rock scene, songwriter/ musician Henrik Hedström (First Signal, Angelica), drummer/ producer Daniel Flores (Find Me, First Signal etc.), bassist Jonny Trobro (First Signal, Find Me) and singer Andi Kravljaca (Aeon Zen, Seventh Wonder). Hydra once again delivers a high-class AOR release with some obvious influences from the Westcoast genre as well.