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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

Marius Tilly Words for the Wilderness Review by Gary Hill This is certainly not included under progressive rock in the traditional sense. However, this is literally music that progresses from the norm. It's also outside of the box type stuff. There are definite links to things like modern King Crimson and post punk, too. All of those elements led me to place this under prog. The one thing I will say about this album overall is that it's really intriguing that music this odd can be this catchy. It almost feels mainstream, while actually living in a place that's almost the antithesis of mainstream. This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2018 Volume 2 at garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2018.

Track by Track Review

The World's End Psychedelic textures bring this into being. It works out from there to an arrangement that has a driving kind of element but also a dreamy texture. That holds it for a time until it explodes out into some harder rocking stuff. This creates a good mix of psychedelic rock and modern prog elements. It's a killer tune and a great way to start things in style.

The Ladder There is a bit of a modern proggy texture here. That said, this rocks out pretty heavily. It has some catchy hooks. It's almost a merging of pop music, punk and modern prog. There are some intriguing changes.

Back on Track There is a percussion basis to the early parts of this, accentuated by a rocking jam that comes in almost as punctuation. Eventually it works out to an arrangement that's a bit in the same vein as the previous piece. Still, this is quite rhythmically based. There are some intriguing proggy sounds to some of it, though.

Sold Out This one really isn't proggy at all. Instead, it's more of a hard rocking, catchy glam rock tune. It's solid.

The Wilderness This is just a short bit of atmospheric proggy instrumental magic.

Are You Ready to Go Acoustic guitar brings this into being with a bit of a folky vibe. There is a bit of a bluesy element to this piece, yet it has some trippy modern prog meets space music in the center section.

War There is a bit of a funk vibe to this. The cut has a lot of psychedelic rock in the mix, too. When it shifts out to the hard rocking jam it has elements of modern prog and post punk in it. This is playful and a bit weird. It's also very cool and dynamic.

Mr. Kites Memorial This is crazy stuff. It shifts this way and that with psychedelic rock, punk and more merged into it. The mellower sections have a moody modern prog texture. The guitar solo screams out with a rocking power.

Land of Grains A bit on the moodier side of the equation, this gets more rocking later in the track. Later in the piece it explodes out into a hard rocking, fast paced movement that's part punk rock and part modern King Crimson. It drops back down to the mellower bit to end.

Hercules Percussion starts this cut. It works out from there to a bouncy kind of fast paced arrangement that's classy. There is some funk in the mix here. It has some intriguing changes and hooks. It's oddly catchy while also having a decidedly left of mainstream vibe. There is a metallic jam later that again has a bit of that heavy modern Crimson texture.

Bank Robber Punk edge merges with creative textures and oddities. I can again make out some of those more recent King Crimson elements here.

Traveling Boy There is a lot more folk music here. Yet it has an odd kind of space rock element built into it at the same time. This is modern, but roots music based at the same time.

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