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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

Chris Lastovicka Fortune Has Turned (Remixed) Review by Gary Hill This is not progressive rock. It is, however, progressive music. The instrumentation is all classical, and you might call this classical music. To me, though, it's more song oriented and has a bit of a rock insistency at times than that label would seem to suggest. Whatever you call this, though, it's an intriguing set that really works very well. This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) in Music Street Journal: 2019 Volume 3. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2019.

Track by Track Review

The 7th Chapter of Job There is a dark and ominous tone to the sounds created by the classical strings as this begins. That holds the piece for a time. Other strings come over the top bringing some lightness to the proceedings. Chorale vocals join later, and this has a real sense of drama and mystery as it makes its way forward. It is quite classical in nature, but also very much something that would be home in the soundtrack to a film. It eventually resolves to a short mellower movement that seems to convey a sense of hope to take the number to its ending.

Abraxas Piano starts this, at first slowly and tentatively. It grows outward from there gaining intensity and pace. Other instrumentation joins after a time. The soundtrack tendencies return after a time, and this really gets quite powerful as it continues to build. This gets incredibly powerful and very pretty. This is moving and evocative classical music based sound. It has a lot of drama and really seems to tell an epic story with music. This turns rather rocking as it approaches the closing.

The Tender Ones Coming in a bit tentatively via a horn, this gradually grows outward from there in unsettling, rather spooky ways. There is very much a Rock In Opposition kind of vibe to this. It also feels like it could fit in a soundtrack. There is a lot of piano at the heart of parts of this piece.

Shanti Piano and strings are at the heart of this piece. It is packed full of drama and emotion. It's a powerful piece of music that is quite pretty. It's a bit mellower in terms of volume level than some of the rest of the music here. Yet it's every bit as intense. Other instruments join later, and that volume level does rise a bit. This is an extensive piece, and that extra time is put to good use with a lot of varying tones and themes.

The End of Tyranny Piano starts this with a real sense of emotion, movement and hope. This is a much shorter piece than the last one, and a much less dynamic one. It is very pretty, though. It makes for a good closer.

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