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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

Joe Macre Bullet Train Review by Gary Hill When I'm getting ready to do a new issue of Music Street Journal, I listen to some short snippets of songs from each CD to decide where they fit (prog, metal and non-prog). I initially put this under heavy metal. I would say that if it kept in line with the first few songs, I would have put it under metal. It isn't content to sit there, though, stretching into other zones. Part of this even quality as progressive rock. Interestingly enough, Joe Macre is the bass player for Crack the Sky, and they are a prog band. So, in the end, that connection gets the disc placed under prog, even though only a little bit of it fits that category. Whatever you call it, it's a strong album. This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2021 Volume 3. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2021.

Track by Track Review

Drag it down Percussion brings this into being. A killer metallic jam emerges from there. Organ lends a different sonic angle to the piece. The short guitar solo is fierce. The bass has some pretty impressive work on this, too.

Bring On The Night While there are some hints of things like prog on this, particularly in some of the shifts and changes, this is a fiery metallic stomper with lots of energy and drive. The keyboards on the tune definitely beg some prog comparisons.

You Can't Take it With You magine something like The Beatles' "Come Together," but delivered with more of a metal edge. The harmonica is an interesting touch on the tune. I can hear hints of The Doors on this, too.

Slow Ryder With a blues rocking edge, this grind is a killer metal stomper. It has a tasty riff at its core and some smoking hot guitar work.

Diesel Locomotive (I'm a Bullet Train) Appropriately this starts with the sound of a train. It powers in from there to a blues rocking hard-edged piece. Perhaps this isn't precisely metal, but it's killer blues rock with a real hard edge to it.

That's Summer A bit more of a melodic rocker versus metal song, this has a lot of AOR prog built into it.

At the Roadhouse Now, this has an old school rock concept at play. It has blues rock and makes me think of The Doors to some degree. This is very bluesy stuff that's a lot of fun.

If I Only Had a Brain With a clip from "The Wizard of Oz," this is literally a version of "that" song. This is done as a bouncy kind of nearly prog rock piece.

Safety in Numbers Now, this piece is a full-on AOR prog piece. This is one of my favorite pieces of the whole album.

Goodbye This is much more of a melodic rocker. It's neither metal nor prog.

More CD Reviews

Metal/Prog Metal

Non-Prog

Progressive Rock

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