Progressive Rock & Progressive Metal

S... bis T...

Shadow Gallery

• Shadow Gallery - aktuelle Konzerte

• Shadow Gallery - the official site
• Shadow Gallery - Linkliste bei UBL

71:57 min

73:54 min

71:06 min

60:02 min

Special Experiment

Die Band:

Special Experiment ist das Solo-Projekt des Multitalents Dzidek Marcinkiewicz. Er stammt aus Polen, lebt und musiziert aber schon seit über 20 Jahren in Deutschland. Seine bisherigen Stationen waren u.a. die Osnabrücker Band Blues Company und die in Rumänien bekannten Transsylvania Phoenix.

Mit Special Experiment macht er sich seinen Traum vom eigenen Solo-Album wahr,  schreibt alle Songs, spielt mehrere Instrumente und vertreibt das Album auch selbst.

Web-Adresse:

• special-experiment.de - the official site

Prog-Alben:

 
Fortune Memories
(2000)

Das Solowerk von Dzidek Marcinkiewicz präsentiert sich mit 8 Instrumentalsongs, für eine Eigenproduktion klanglich sehr überzeugend. Stilistisch bewegt sich das Album irgend wo zwischen Joe Satriani und Solo-Alben von Keyboard-Playern wie Jordan Rudess.
Leider kommen die Songs nicht ganz an die progressive Vielfalt der erwähnten Heroen heran, doch hörenswert ist die Scheibe allemal. Zu beziehen ist sie über die Web-Site von special-experiment.de...
Anspieltipp: Night over Marakesh (-Hörprobe).

47:20 min

Spock's Beard

• Spock's Beard - aktuelle Konzerte

• Spock's Beard - the official site
• Spock's Beard - Linkliste bei UBL

56:30 min
+ 58:17

63:01 min

67:49 min

Symphony-X

• Symphony-X - aktuelle Konzerte

• Symphony-X - the official site
• Symphony-X - Linkliste bei UBL

Im Jahr 2000 präsentieren sich Symphony-X variabel, progressiv und dynamisch. Der Instrumental-Track No. 9 The Death of Balance (-Hörprobe) vermag die Dynamik auf einen Punkt zu bringen. Eines der besten Prog-Metal-Alben des neuen Jahrhunderts!

62:49 min

52:47 min

65:28 min

46:25 min

Tool

To understand where Tool is coming from, one first must try to figure out the mind of its lead singer. Armed with a brutal wail and a fistful of attitude, Keenan was born to a Baptist family in Akron, Ohio, and spent time at both West Point Prep and U.S. Military Academy Prep, eventually joining the Army in 1982. If that wasn't enough to incite a young mind to anger, he's also suggested that he was abused by his stepfather as a child — and it's generally accepted that the song "Prison Sex" is his attempt to communicate his feelings about those events. After his discharge from the service, he ended up in Los Angeles, where his friend Adam Jones tried to convince him to experiment with music. Jones worked in film as a special- effects designer and sculptor, and as day jobs go, his was a good one. Working on such films as Terminator 2, Predator 2, and Jurassic Park paid the rent, and taught him what he would later need to make some interesting videos.

After Keenan's resolve was worn down, the two began writing songs and soon found themselves looking for a drummer. Several came and went until Keenan's neighbor Danny Carey — the drummer for another Zoo Records act, Green Jello — offered to fill in. The fourth piece of the puzzle fit when the prospect of a film job transplanted bassist Paul D'Amour from Spokane, Washington, to L.A. In April of 1991, the construction of the band Tool was complete.

Once together, Tool rose to fame at breakneck speed. In March of 1992, they released Opiate, a seven- song EP of extremely dark songs, that would serve as the primer for the band's new brand of heavy metal. They hit the road with the Rollins Band, and in April of 1993, released their first full- length album, Undertow, a deep journey into the dark recesses of Keenan's psyche. Much more melodic than Opiate, it included such blistering tracks as "Sober," "Prison Sex," and the stunning album closer, "Disgustipated" (listed as the tenth track, it pushes CD players up to track sixty-nine, and then plays for another fifteen minutes). The cover of Undertow was an eerily lit ribcage sculpture made by Adam Jones, and was somehow deemed offensive enough for Walmart to create its own cover art for the album, a huge bar code.

An early gig on the Undertow tour found Tool playing at a Scientology Celebrity Center. Not thrilled with entertaining L. Ron Hubbard's rich and famous disciples, the foursome eventually found their way to the second stage of the 1993 Lollapalooza tour. Their live show was dynamic enough to bump them to the main stage, which increased their exposure and helped create a loyal group of Toolheads across the country. August of 1993 saw the video for "Sober" debut on MTV, a ground- breaking stop- action piece directed by Adam Jones which went on to win Billboard Video Awards for "Best New Artist" and "Best Clip." Before the end of the year, the band set off to conquer Europe with Fishbone and Rage Against the Machine.

Although almost three years passed before Tool managed to release its next album, the band wasn't idle. Undertow went platinum in August of 1994, and their next video, "Prison Sex," landed a Best Special Effects nomination at the 1995 MTV Video Awards. In September of 1995, Tool went to Australia for the Alternative Nation Music Festival, and the band's lineup changed slightly. Bassist Paul D'Amour parted with the band (on good terms), joining Failure for a short while before starting his own group, Lusk. Inside two months, Justin Chancellor, a former member of the band Peach, had signed on, and by May of 1996, Tool was back in the studio. Sylvia Massy, who had produced their first two projects, was replaced by King Crimson producer David Bottrill.

The new album, Ænima, was released in October of 1996, and picked right up where Undertow left off. It debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard album chart, satisfying three years of hunger pangs for Tool fans, and proved that the band's audience was still growing. Ænima also showed ambition and growth in the band, both lyrically and musically, and the first single, "Stinkfist," was given immediate radio play across the country. (MTV couldn't stomach the term "Stinkfist," and, in a fit of prudishness, renamed the video for the song, "#1.")7

• Tool - aktuelle Konzerte

• Tool - the official site
• Tool - Linkliste bei UBL

78:58 min

Threshold

Threshold came into being in the greater London area in 1989. The lineup of the band was Damian Wilson, Karl Groom, Nick Midson, Jon Leary, Richard West, and Tony Grinham. The band released their debut disc, Wounded Land, in 1993. Shortly after the release, though, Wilson chose to move on to other musical ventures, leaving Threshold without a vocalist. That deficiency would not last long, though, the band finding Wilson's replacement in the personage of Glynn Morgan. That was not to be the end of the band's personnel problems, though. Just before recording their sophomore effort, Grinham left the band. So, in 1995 when they went into the sessions that gave birth to the album Psychedelicatessen, it was with Nick Harradence of Shadowland filling in temporarily behind the drum kit. Later that year, they filled the spot in a more permanent way with the addition of Jay Micciche. This was the lineup that released the EP Livedelica. It would not last long, however, with both Morgan and Micchiche leaving the following year to form the band Mindfeed. So, when they recorded their next studio disc, Extinct Instinct, it was once again with a session drummer. This time Mark Heaney handled the sticks. For longtime fans of the band, though, the filling of the vocalist spot brought some definite joy. Wilson had returned to the band just in time to record the album with them. However, by 1998, he was once again out, and new vocalist Andrew "Mac" McDermott accompanied the group as they recorded the next album, Clone. Interestingly enough Heaney, originally brought in just as a session player, was still with them to the point of finishing Clone. However, he left just after that time, being replaced by Johanne James. The group released Hypothetical in 2001. ~ Gary Hill, All Music Guide

• Threshold - aktuelle Konzerte

• Threshold - the official site
• Threshold - Linkliste bei UBL

59:59 min

56:04 min

66:48 min

Transatlantic

• Transatlantic - aktuelle Konzerte

• Transatlantic - the official site
• Transatlantic - Linkliste bei UBL

76:51 min

77:14 min

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