Sound of Contact have officially released their debut concept album ‘Dimensionaut’ this week, and the band just wrapped up their first tour in Europe as part of the InsideOut Music 20th Anniversary shows with Spock’s Beard and Beardfish.
The band’s first ever live show was at the Marillion convention in Montreal, Canada and they are pleased to reveal a live video from said performance of the instrumental track ‘Cosmic Distance Ladder’.

Commenting on the albums release, the band had this to say:

“The release of our debut album “Dimensionaut” is a proud moment we’ve been looking forward to.” says Simon Collins vocalist/drummer of Sound of Contact “We’re so excited to be sharing the music and concept of this album with the world and look forward to bringing it to life on stage everywhere.“

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Bly De Blyant are another one of those bands one stumbles across while looking for something else entirely. In fact I had completely forgotten I had sent the band an email asking if they wanted their work reviewed here, such is the pace of life at ABS Towers.

Anyway, when Norwegian drummer Øyvind Skarbø kindly replied to my request in the affirmative, I had to remind myself what I was letting myself in for.

A quick perusal of the album sampler on Soundcloud allayed any fears I may have had at making a possible rash choice, as ABC is a fine and wonderfully undefinable work.

As well as Øyvind on drums we have Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, who has played with John Zorn amongst others, and a rather fine Icelandic guitarist by the name of Hilmar Jensson, and together ...

As my readers will not have failed to notice, my love affair with music – especially progressive rock – has cooled down considerably over the past few months. A combination of personal issues and the inevitable burnout caused by the punishing pace maintained for over three years forced me to take a break after I realized that writing reviews had become a chore. Though I had previously experienced periods of writer’s block, this time around it had impaired my enjoyment of music to the point that I was dreading, rather than anticipating, the evening of April 20, when the celebrated Steven Wilson and his “all-star” band were slated to grace the stage of Washington DC’s historic Howard Theatre...

Bruce Dickinson is getting on his bike for charity, alongside TesseracT guitarist James Monteith Classic Rock Editor In Chief Scott Rowley and Metal Hammer Editor In Chief Alexander Milas and a host of luminaries from the rock world.

The Iron Maiden singer is flying in from Germany to join the Heavy Metal Truants, who will be cycling from Alexandra Palace in London up to Donington.  However, Dickinson will only do the final 25 miles with them on June 14.

Over 40 riders, including Messrs. Ewing and Monteith, will start out from London’s Alexandra Palace on June 12 for this charity event. And, as Dickinson is a huge prog fan, there will be plenty of time for the trio to get into serious proggy style discussions en route...

Back in the summer of 2009, the release of Toronto-based outfit Half Past Four’s recording debut –  the quirkily-titled Rabbit in the Vestibule - caused quite of bit of stir in the progressive rock community. However, in spite of the album’s largely positive reception and a barnstorming appearance at the 2010 edition of ProgDay, the band seemingly dropped off the radar for over two years...

The rather splendidly refurbished and gleaming white Jamm Studios in St Helens played very welcoming hosts  to a similarly splendid little event last Sunday evening. Local band Mr So & So, having just completed the mastering of their new recording, invited fans and ‘pledgers’ to spend a few hours listening to an album playback and the chance to grill them on the new material.

With around 40 in attendance, the slight awkwardness of a group of strangers in a room, albeit with a common interest was soon dispelled as the five band members milled about and then took to the small stage with a welcome and explanation of the way the evening would work...

For a band who’ve suffered more than their fair share of upheavals in personnel, American prog rockers Spock’s Beard have, in response, shown more than their fair share of resolve. Resorting, as some observe, rather Genesis-like  to having their drummer step up to lead vocal duties on the abdication of main man and inspiration, Neal Morse, they recently recruited former Enchant singer Ted Leonard when drummer/singer Nick D’Virgilio then took his leave. And as bizarre as it seems, they appear even stronger for the change.

On the back of an extremely well received new album and perhaps their most consistent for some time, Spock’s Beard have hit Europe, with the second date of a 17 concert tour taking place at Sheffield’s cosy Corporation venue...

A couple of months into the extensive tour of the Genesis Revisited album, Steve Hackett brought his extravaganza to the UK for the first of two short bouts of touring. From the opening night with a nostalgic return to  Aylesbury where special guests were a plenty in preparation for their role in the following night’s filmed performance in London, it was into the provinces with shows commencing in one of the world’s rock and roll capital cities – Liverpool.

Harking back to the early days of Genesis with whom Hackett served a short time from 1971-1977 (remarkably over 35 years ago yet the pull is still strong), Aylesbury and the Friars promotion was almost home turf...

Jethro Tull will release a four-disc DVD set entitled Around The World Live on June 3 via Eagle Rock.

The package includes unreleased material recorded between 1970 and 2005 at locations including the Isle of Wight, Germany, Holland, the US and Switzerland.

It comes packaged in a 32-page hardback book containing photos from Ian Anderson’s personal archive and explanatory text on each live show.

Disc One

Isle Of Wight, England, 1970:
1) My Sunday Feeling
2) My God

Tampa, Florida, USA, 1976:
1) Quartet (intro)
2) Thick As A Brick
3) Wond’ring Aloud
4) Crazed Institution
5) Barre (instrumental) / Drum Solo
6) Medley: To Cry You A Song / A New Day Yesterday / Bourée / God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
7) Living In The Past / Thick As A Brick
8) A New Day Yesterday (reprise)
9) Too Old To Roc...

There are few things that unite the metal community so much as a healthy hatred for a shitty album. Metalheads are still blasting Celtic Frost’s “Cold Lake” over beers a quarter-century following its release, as similarly has been the case for Metallica’s “St. Anger”. More recently- and especially since social media took off- these love-to-hate-’em records seem to become social events; there were jokes and memes aplenty about the infamous “Ilud Divinum Insanus” by Morbid Angel, or “Lulu” by (again) Metallica...