#16 - Top of 2016

Marillion - F.E.A.R (earMUSIC)

Marillion return in 2016 with F.E.A.R. (Fuck Everyone And Run), their new album that through a very introverted and pessimistic tone is frighteningly reflective of the the times we live in. Marillion have been on a streak of excellent albums (as can be witnessed by the previous excellent "Sounds that can't be made") and this album is another gem that despite it's pessimistic cynicism, delivers high quality progressive rock music and is truly what is called "Food for Thought". Five-part opener "El Dorado" is very slow to reveal itself and initially comes across as disjointed fragments and only after hearing it multiple times does it start sounding cohesively as part of a whole. Lyrically the album recounts the plight of immigrants, and the roadblocks they face, with a very bitter and cynical edge to it.
`Living in Fear' is a more compact song, pondering about fear and how it creates barriers between people, dividing us. The lyrics are again very pessimistic with the highlight being "There's a price to pay, living in fear is so very dear". "The Leavers" is much more optimistic to its predecessors, packing a great real warmth. The band juxtaposes itself as 'leavers' versus the 'remainers', who lead a normal life, and cannot understand the way of life of the band until a moment, when in concerts, the band and its audience share their experiences and transcend their positions becoming a whole.
`White Paper' is an emotional ballad, with the band sounding personal and relating how personal relationships can be affected in the age of Fear. The album culminates with "The New Kings". This is a truly heavy and venomous piece with anger directed at the current status quo and how everything seems to be dictated by Big Money and concludes with the almost fatalistic  ""Remember a time when you thought that you mattered/Believed in the school song, die for your country/A country that cared for you -- all in it together?/A national anthem you could sing without feeling used or ashamed./If it ever was more than a lie, or some naïve romantic notion/Well, it's all shattered now./Why is nothing ever true?.../On your knees, peasant. You're living for the New King."
The album concludes with "Tommorow's New Country", that tries to aleviate the blow from the new Kings and close the album on a more positive note than the bleakness promised in "The New Kings".
The album is very political and for this it may not appeal to some who want their music to be separate to their political views, but for everyone else that lives in the real world, F.E.A.R. is a thought-provoking piece of progressive rock music that will live on as a testament of the times will live in.

93/100

Below is the audio for "The New Kings" track.

#17 - Top of 2016

Twilight Force - Heroes of Mighty Magic (Nuclear Blast)

"Heroes of Mighty Magic" is the second full-length album by the Swedish power-adventure metallers, Twilight Force and it offers everything that the fans of this genre might want from an album including: exciting keyboard-driven anthems (by Blackwald), clean high-pitched vocals (by frontman Chrileon), catchy&fast guitar solos (by Aerendir and Lynd), excellent musicianship with symphonic-neoclassical elements and the perfect amount of cheesiness, which ranges from the pompous titles of the songs (such as the intro song "Battle of Arcane Might" and "Flight of the Sapphire Dragon") to the pure fantasy-loaded cover of the record which seem like they were inspired by Dungeons & Dragons!
To top this up, the record also includes some impressive guest singers such as Joakim Brodén of Sabaton (in the title-song "Heroes of Mighty Magic") and Rhapsody Of Fire’s Fabio Lione (in "There and Back Again" which is one of the highlights of the album with all its 10-minute might)! Although some listeners might find the album over-the-top, it is an amazing example of true power metal that can make everyone excited and ready to join in an epic adventure!



93/100

Below is the music video for the song "Flight of the Sapphire Dragon".

#18 - Top of 2016

Headspace - All that you fear is gone (Inside Out)

Headspace is a band formed as a collaboration of Adam Wakeman (son of legendary Yes keyboardist, Rick Wakeman) and Damian Wilson (Threshold). Lee Pomeroy (ex-Archive) is on the bass while Pete Rinaldi (ex-Hot Leg) is on the guitars and Adam Falkner in drums. This is the band's second release with the very interesting "I am anonymous" being released back in 2012. Here, the band exceeds their debut, both in songwriting and album cohesiveness and produce an album of veritably contemporary progressive music, with elements from 90s progressive metal and 70s progressive rock mingling effortlessly. What truly separates this album from similar well crafted bands are the vocals of Wilson which truly put this over the top. Songs such as "Polluted Alcohol"(with a southern feel), "Your Life Will Change” or “Killing You With Kindness” are a very good indication of how the band has progressed in terms of songwriting and how they can produce very different songs that still sound as parts of the same whole due to the cohesiveness demonstrated throughout this release. However it is in big epic songs that Headspace truly shine. And this album has two such moments of progressive brilliance, the "The Science Within Us", a Yes-esque epic and "Secular Soul", the album closer. It is there that all elements found throughout the album converge, ideas intermingle and the album reaches its finale with a big emotional bang.

93/100


Below is the music video for "The Science Within Us"

#19 - Top of 2016

Opeth -Sorceress (Nuclear Blast)

In 2016, Opeth released the third album of the new phase of their career, with "Sorceress" following in the footsteps of "Heritage" and "Pale Communion", with a really progressive rock feeling, taking the band further away from its metal roots, while at the same time, paradoxically, bringing some metal elements back! This is a very interesting release in terms of the progress & ongoing transformation of the band, while at the same time their musicianship remains at very high levels! The album kicks off with the interlude "Persephone" which directly leads to the title track, an interesting prog piece with constant changes in pace. It is followed by the mystical and progressive, but equally Opeth-esque "The Wilde Flowers", and while "Will-O-Wisp" is more solemn and personal, "Chrysalis" breaks out in a progressive orgasm of riffs and a very 70s feel, while retaining a more contemporary edge. "Sorceress 2" is more of an acoustic interlude which reprises the themes of the title track flowing into "The Seventh Sojourn", a mostly instrumental track which features some of the most "Opeth" melodies in recent memory. "Strange Brew" starts off slow and quiet and slowly adds some guitar touches before going full prog and then returning to its silent solemnity, coming full circle. "A fleeting Glance" is another masterpiece of blending the quiet with the powerful - with a very emotional solo- as most songs contained here, while "Era", which closes out the album, is a very experiential piece with a very strong chorus part. 
A very good effort, which while not reaching their creative peak in the progressive rock/metal genre (which was probably "Heritage"), is still an incredible musical journey worth exploring by any fan of the progressive scene.


93/100

Below are the official lyric video for the title track and the music video for "Era".