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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

Kevin Wood & From The North Monument Review by Gary Hill I’ve bounced back and forth on what category this fits into. Parts of it are probably non-prog, and parts could be argued to fit into progressive rock. Ultimately I’ve decided on prog because I think prog fans will like it and because it is rather daring. The music here moves between stoner rock, funk, progressive rock and even old school heavy metal. It’s an extremely entertaining disc that I’m sure I’ll be spinning for years to come. This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2010 Volume 5 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review

Goodbye Just In Case This powers in extremely heavy. That sound is merged with something akin to both Lenny Kravitz and Living Colour. It gets a bit of a fusion element worked into it as they continue. As this continues I hear some Sleep and some King’s X in the mix. Then it powers out to a killer jam that’s like old Black Sabbath.

Friendship Ring Now we get the prog rock. The riff that opens this is very prog-like. They turn it towards modern prog meets alternative rock funk and metal as it continues. This is an extremely cool track.

Never Proud The mix of hard rock, funk, progressive rock and other elements continues with this piece. It’s another strong one, even if they don’t change the formula.

My Luv Take many of the elements we’ve heard in the previous cuts and throw them into a jam band meets prog rock blender and you’ll be really close to the sound of this scorcher.

He's A Mover This one’s more purely modern progressive rock, but there are plenty of the other sounds we’ve heard throughout the disc present here.

Love Child Take the musical mélange we’ve been getting throughout and blend some more pure stoner rock and sounds like Clutch and you’ve got a great image of what you’ll be getting here. There’s this cool little accenting guitar riff bit that I love. I’d have to say that this might be my favorite cut on the disc.

Another You (Mirror Of Guilt) A slower jam, this is extremely tasty. It plods along with an old school metal turned more dramatic element.

Duty Bound A more stripped down hard rocker, this comes in closer to progressive rock. Mind you, that’s a modern prog sound and there’s still plenty of stoner rock built into this.

Man Of Golden Words This one is a bit more melodic, but otherwise fits nicely with the rest of the music here.

Make Love To My Heart A slower grind, this is rather psychedelic in texture. It reminds me quite a bit of Anubis Spire at times. It’s another strong cut.

Monument This slow moving melodic instrumental is one that puts the balance in the progressive rock category.

More CD Reviews

Metal/Prog Metal

Non-Prog

Progressive Rock

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