Scarlet Hollow – A Window To October (Melodic Revolution)

 

Just after the release of the band’s 2012 debut album band member Gregg Olson suffered a devastating stroke, leaving him unable to even hold a guitar. After eight years of rehabilitation he’s fit enough to play on this new album of songs that he wrote while recovering. The result is a stunning progressive rock album, featuring the haunting vocals of Allison Von Buelow, and is a testament to Olson’s determination.   

Scarlet Hollow - Adventures In The Kings Garden

Fife Augury – The Shape Of A Tree (Self-released)

  

Fife Augury is made up of two young French multi-instrumentalists with a love of progressive rock. It’s in a prog-metal style, with influences including Pain Of Salvation and Steven Wilson, and imbued with a Gallic twist, with the album being a mixture of short, punchy tracks, interspersed with two epics pieces that top the eleven-minute mark. For a debut album it shows a lot of promise, so definitely one to watch.   

Fife Augury - Escaping Light

Tim Minchin – Apart Together (BMG)

 

Tim Minchin is my favourite Antipodean comedian, and one of the main reasons for that are the caustic comic songs that litter his live shows, but for his first studio album he’s dropped the comedy and gives us a compelling collection of personal, self-questioning songs. If you’ve seen him live then you’ll know he’s a superb musician, and here he shows he’s able to turn those talents in a completely different direction.        

Tim Minchin - The Absence Of You

Djabe – The Magic Stag (Esoteric Antenna)

 

If Djabe are known for anything, it’s for their work with Steve Hackett, and it was he who inspired this album after he penned the lyrics for the title track, based on an old Hungarian folk-tale of a magic stag. Djabe ran with it, with the result being an impressive prog/fusion album built around the tale, and they’ve completed the package with some evocative artwork by painter Imre Egerhazi, father of guitarist Attila.      

Djabe - The Magic Stag

Carlton Melton – Where This Leads (Agitated Records)

  

For their seventh album, West Coast space-rockers Carlton Melton move even deeper into the ambient, post-rock field, with long, sprawling tracks flowing over the listener. The 18-minute opener ‘The Stars Are Dying’ is a sonic soundscape that sets the tone for the whole album, and it’s not until nearly the end of the hour-long running time that ‘Three Zero Two’ crashes in with some crunching guitars. Superb stuff.      

Carlton Melton - Butchery

Wobbler – Dwellers Of The Deep (Karisma Records)

  

Norwegian prog-rockers Wobbler really upped their game on 2017’s ‘From Silence To Somewhere’, and have taken their time in order to produce something that won’t let down their new fans. The two lengthy retro-prog epics show their mastery of the genre, and the shorter ‘Naiad Dreams’ is a lovely ballad leading to the stunning closer ‘Merry Macabre’. If you miss classic 70’s prog-rock then Wobbler will do for now.    

Wobbler - By The Banks

The Left Outsides – Are You Sure I Was There? (Cardinal Fuzz)

  

No sooner had Alison Cotton’s excellent solo album ‘Only Darkness Now’ appeared than she’s reunited with Mark Nicholas for a fifth record from The Left Outsides. Folk, psyche and ethereal drones are all present and correct, and the alternating vocals of Mark and Alison provide the light and shade which make this such a beguiling and entertaining album. If you don’t know the band you should start here.    

The Left Outsides - Only Time Will Tell