Tehnoloogiline Päike 2 Studio Albums (2008 2011)

Lady Roma (2008). In his thirteen years of activity as a prog musician, Corrado Sardella seems to have learned that one-man bands, no matter how gifted one can be, will hardly ever be able to replace a real band in terms of overall quality. Luckily, over the years the number of guest musicians employed by Sardella has steadily grown, and some of them (like guitarist/violinist Riccardo Mastantuono and vocalist Milton Damia) have become steady presences on his albums. On "Lady Roma", Doracor's seventh studio album, one finally gets the impression of a real band, not just a collection of hired hands (even if talented ones). This time, in particular, there are no less than three drummers involved - a vast improvement over Sardella's previous use of programmed drums. As the title implies, "Lady Roma" is meant as a tribute to the Eternal City of Rome (Sardella's home town), represented on the cover as a beautiful woman…

I Treni All'Alba are prog band from the north western Italy that was formed between Aosta and Turin in 2002. The line up features Paolo Carlotto (acoustic and electric guitar), Daniele Pierini (acoustic and electric guitar), Sabino Pace (piano and keyboards) and Felice Sciscioli (drums and percussion). All the members are experienced musicians with different influences that managed to shape an amazing blend of folk and progressive rock. In 2008 they released their first full length album "Folk Destroyers" for the independent label Smartz Records. The album was recorded with the help of some guest musicians that contributed to enrich the sparkling sound of the band, with counter bass, flutes, sax, congas, trumpet, violin, accordion and many other musical colours…

Albatros is a Progressive rock band from Spain formed in 2000. The musicians make the listener get the most suggestive atmospheres through an epic journey full of distortion, melody and poetry. In 2008 they released their debut studio album "Pentadelia", where they managed to blend psychedelic influences, hard rock and progressive in a very interesting way.
"Ursus", published on the Musea Parallèle label in 2011, combines classic-rock ala Pink Floyd and Rush with Porcupine Tree modern sound and a spanish approach influenced by Triana. Albatros is flying high again. Would you like to go with them?

Songs From the Lighthouse (2008). With their 2008 release Songs from the Lighthouse, Italian band Moongarden have created a highly appealing album. Symphonic rock is the name of the game on this one; most compositions dominated to a greater or lesser extent by layered keyboards and synths, creating dreamlike atmospheres easy to sink into and soothing for the mind. Some nice guitarwork adds a lot to the tunes, the acoustic guitar being chosen just as often as the electric guitar; the last which is used to good effect to create haunting and epic atmospheres in chosen parts in selected tunes. What ties many of the songs together are the vocals though, in tunes like My Darkside and Dreamlord the slightly gritty but also fragile-sounding and melodic vocals very similar to Seal adds a lot to the tune, often covering over weaknesses in composition…

RanestRane is an Italian prog band from Rome that was formed in 1996. The aim of the musicians involved in this project was to compose and perform a rock-opera, so they chose a famous Werner Herzog's film, "Nosferatu The Vampyre", and commented it with music and original lyrics. They started their live activity in 2000 and conceived their shows as a "cineconcerto", with the images of the Herzog's film flowing in the background. In 2007 they released their rock-opera on a self-produced studio album, a double CD called "Nosferatu il Vampiro", and they have continued with works based on "The Shining" and "2001: A Space Odyssey". Among their musical influences you can find bands like Goblin, PFM, BMS, Genesis, and Marillion, to name a few. Incidentally, the band makes up a large part of the reorganized Il Rovescio della Medaglia.

Krakow is the place to search if you like melodic Neo Prog and Polish band Loonypark is another act from the city trying to be sidelined somewhere in the proggy map of the country. The band was formed in 2008 with Krzysztof Lepiarczyk on keyboards (formerly of Liquid Shadow), Sabina Godula-Zajac on vocals (also with Liquid Shadow), Jakub Grzeslo on drums, Piotr Grodecki on guitars and Piotr Lipka on bass, while Maciej Tomczyk contributes on lead guitars in five tracks of their debut ''Egoist'', launched in 2008 by Lynx Music and co-produced by the founder of the label Ryszard Kramarski. Loonypark's style has strong links with the Polish Neo Prog movement, though the sound is less flexible than to say the approach of Millenium or Satellite, while all lyrics are written in English.

Iron Will (2008). Perhaps more than any other popular music style, heavy metal has the most subgenres. But besides Manowar, "he-man metal" has been a subgenre explored by few others - a style so testosterone-heavy that only the toughest and proudest of specimens are allowed entrance into the proceedings. However, circa the early 21st century, another similarly styled loud and proud outfit, Grand Magus, triumphantly arrived on the scene (undoubtedly via horseback, with swords drawn and ready for battle). As evidenced by their 2008 release, the appropriately titled Iron Will, the chaps fit the aforementioned description oh so perfectly - given their stellar song titles such as "Like the Oar Strikes the Water" and "Silver into Steel," their galloping guitar riffs, and singer Janne "JB" Christoffersson's manly roar…

Osiris The Rebirth is the brainchild of veteran space-rocker Dave Adams. He started the project under the moniker Osiris in 1987, which went in hibernation though one year later. Twenty years later, while playing bass with Hawkwind tribute band Assassins Of Silence, Dave had the idea of forming a band to resurrect some of the old songs and push the idea forward. He initially joined forces with guitarist/producer Milo Black, and the duo began reworking some of the more promising old Osiris stuff. New songs also quickly began to take shape, and the music began to evolve, taking a more progressive rock direction while retaining the space rock elements…

Tom Moto is a RIO/Avant-prog band from Pisa, Italy comprised of Marco Calcaprina on trumpet and trombone, Giulio Tosi on bass/guitar, and Juri Massa on drums. They describe their sound as a mixture of 20% jazz, 25% punk, 20% funk, 20% metal, 15% progressive and 100% junk. Their groove-laden sound is very similar to that of Jean Louis, utilizing noise elements with distortion on the trumpet and bass in much the same way as the French trio. They are highly recommended to fans of groove based avant-rock and noise fans.

Deep Nature Mysticism by Tomas Weiss/Mathias Grassow and guests.
North Passage (2008). "Norvegia" opens the disc, a low drone bed with occasional sounds overtop, a very beautiful atmospheric piece that brings to mind the Nostromo disc by Sleep Research Facility. Very dark and somewhat ominous, "Norvegia" is inspired in its approach at conjuring a dark atmosphere. The transition into "Arkona" is nearly imperceptible, but as time passes it becomes clear that new elemements have been added to the sound. A haunting call, a deeper drone, we've clearly entered new territory but it all feels to be part of the same journey, a logical step in our travels…