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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

Mindivide Fragments Review by Gary Hill I made the decision to put this album under progressive rock. It could just as easily have gone under heavy metal, though. Certainly both concepts are prominent here. Personally, I think they have enough of the prog side to fit there, but they are clearly very metallic, too. Rosanna Taormina's vocals are one of the biggest selling points of this album. I'd say that fans of bands like Dream Theater are probably the most likely audience for this. This is so strong. I should mention that it isn't the best suited for track by track reviews, but since that's how we do things at MSJ, I have done it that way. Note that while there are some definitely similarities between all the music here, each track is unique. This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2023 Volume 1. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2023.

Track by Track Review

Fragment 28 A cool melodic arrangement brings this into being. The cut grows outward from there as the vocals come over the top. This works through a number of twists and turns along the road, turning much harder rocking after a while. This thing really gets quite metallic at times, but it's definitely metallic prog.

Skull This comes in metallic. The vocal arrangement brings more of a proggy vibe. There is a dropped down section further down the road, but overall the metallic prog concepts drive this throughout.

At Your Whim There are no big changes here in terms of the overall concepts, but this song is unique from the two that preceded it.

D.I.D. Starting on the mellower side, this one drives out to more of the metal-leaning prog we've come to expect here. While there is no huge change here, this is a particularly effective piece of music. I really love some of the guitar playing on this piece. The subtler sections of the tune work so well, too.

Reign Of Mediocrity I really love the contrast between more driving and restrained sections here. For some reason this song really makes me think of the first Dream Theater album.

Children Of Nonsense This comes in decidedly metallic with a killer groove. It gets onto proggier zones further down the road, but is not a big change.

Timeless Spaces While not any kind of full departure, more of this track is evoted to mellower zones.

Beauty Insane Much heavier and more metallic, this is a real powerhouse. There are even some death metal vocals on this one.

Home While there is still plenty of metal in the mix on this, the cut gets into proggier territory. It also has some hints of psychedelia. This is arguably the strongest thing here. It's a real powerhouse that works so well.

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