Sterile Melodic Canvas

They came from the mountains of British Columbia with ideas to fill ears with sounds so strange as to entrance the imagination into vivid lucidity. "Moon Phase Compendium" is the compilation of Melodic Energy Commission's first two albums: "Stranger in Mystery", released in 1979 and now a cult classic due to the two Hawkwind alumni that played with the group, and "Migration of the Snails", released in 1980 with the same great response. The original vinyl was selling for $1000 a copy so in 1997 they were re-released in this one classic recording. The band uses rather "Gong-ish" equipment such as "Gas and steam" bass and "hydro-electric" guitar, and bubble synths are featured to create unique spacey trip music with an experimental edge. Less common instruments such as several types of flutes, theremin, tablas, and glockenspiel among others, provide additional musical coloration.

Canvas Solaris was a band active from 1999 to 2011 that played a complex, experimental and technically sophisticated style of instrumental metal. The early line-up, namely Nathan Sapp (guitars, vocals), Jimmy McCall (bass guitar), Brad Jeffcoat (vocals) and Hunter Ginn (drums), recorded two demos and played several shows in South-Carolina. Jeffcoat and McCall left the band in 2002 and the group added Ben Simpkins (guitar, bass guitar, keyboards) to the line-up and began writing much more experimental instrumental technical, jazz-inspired progressive music. In June 2003 they released their first EP, "Spatial/Design". The group scaled back from live appearances and one year later arrived their first full-length album "Sublimation"…

Two years spent for composing, arranging, recording and mixing “Canvas”,the last double cd by Venegoni & Co. A strong band, put together by guitar player and composer Venegoni, to perform a repertoire which is not strictly prog, jazz, fusion, folk or classic but, hopefully, the musical sum of all these influences. The Cd features many great musicians: Jason Rebello (keyboard player with Sting, Jeff Beck and Wayne Shorter) on acoustic piano, Enzo Zirilli and Federico Ariano on drums, Alessandro Maiorino, Mauro Battisti and Paolo Franchini on acoustic bass, Roberto Puggioni (Arti & Mestieri) on fretless bass, Piero Mortara (Arti & Mestieri) and Francesco Sappino on acoustic piano and accordion, Silvano Borgatta on keyboards, Diego Borotti on sax soprano and Sandro Esposito on percussions.

The final Japan release was sold and marketed as a live album, though actually it's a bit of a catchall – it is indeed mostly from concerts, but also includes a variety of studio instrumentals and a re-recorded version of "Nightporter" mixed in to sound like it's part of the show…

"Blood On Canvas" is the most ferocious album to date from the thrashers Darkness from Essen, Germany.
The songs are more aggressive and heavier than anything else in the Darkness discography to date. Although it is not a concept album, "Blood On Canvas" is not a mere collection of nine songs created in one period, but a multi-faceted sound painting, painted with the colors of wrath. Musically, Darkness deliver the uncompromising and fast thrash metal they have been known for since their debut album "Death Squad" (1987). However, the compositions on this album are more complex and detailed than usual, without losing any of the aggression, heaviness and authenticity. The lyrics are no longer just a description of the madness that determines the course of this world, but get to the heart of the matter in a straightforward and uncompromising manner.