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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

Nattefrost Different Stages (Vinyl) Review by Gary Hill Nattefrost is one guy, Bjorn Jeppesen. His music might not be what you think of progressive rock. If you consider stuff like Kraftwerk and Vangelis as prog, though, then this clearly is. Either way, this live album is quite cool. It’s called “Different Stages” because it was recorded at four different shows. They advertise this record as “colored vinyl” and they weren’t kidding. I just can’t decide what color. It’s somewhere between a white, a clear and a silver. Either way, it’s stunning. The music is equally so. This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2014 Volume 3 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review

Side 1

In Natura This keyboard based instrumental reminds me a lot of some of Hawkwind’s space rock. It’s on the mellower end of that musical spectrum. This one was recorded at the Norberg Festival in Sweden in July of 2010.

Draconian While there are some hints of things like electronic dance music, this falls more in the territory of stuff like Vangelis. It’s not as strong as the opener, in my opinion, but it’s quite good nonetheless. This is the first of three recordings from the E-Live Festival in Netherlands from October of 2010.

The Dark Spell Recorded at the same show as the last one, this number makes me think of a cross between Kraftwerk and Hawkwind. It’s another cool one. In fact, I like it better than the previous piece.

Transformation To me the start of this is stronger than the rest of it. It evolves into more dance music meets Kraftwerk sound. It’s still a good piece. It just doesn’t stand as tall as some of the rest does. This closes out the E-Live Festival songs of the disc, and the first side of the LP.


Side 2

Valhal Recorded at the Raumzeit Festival (Germany June 2012), this cut is a step above because it has a lot more variety to it. It starts off in a mysterious kind of mellow way. It eventually turns into a bouncy kind of number that feels more accessible.

Absorbed in Dreams and Yearing This comes in pretty and powerful. It doesn’t change much, rather evolving organically. The general concept is like a blend of Kraftwerk and Vangelis. This and the rest of the tracks here, was recorded in England at the Awakenings Festival in September of 2012.

Ghost Mind Another mellow and pretty piece, this one also doesn’t have any drastic changes. It does have some cool melodic moments, though. It makes me think of a blending of Kraftwerk, Hawkwind and Vangelis. This transitions into a different mode later, though. If I had to pick a favorite section of the disc, it would be this one. The music has a dramatic, mysterious kind of vibe to it. There’s a driving rhythmic element while waves of melody dance over the top. This thing is so cool.

Intergalactic Journey More of a bouncy vibe emerges on this. There are Kraftwerk elements mixed with some Hawklike space concepts.

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