Marillion to tour Scandinavia after an 8 year gap

Here are details of the first leg of Marillion's European tour 2012

Date	City	Venue	Tickets
23 July Mon	Amsterdam Holland	Paradiso	TBC
24 July Tues	Amsterdam Holland	Paradiso	TBC
25 July Weds	Hamburg Germany	Markthalle	TBC
27 July Fri	Copenhagen Denmark	Amager Bio	TBC
28 July Sat	Gothenburg Sweden	Tragarn	TBC
29 July Sun	Stockholm Sweden	Debaser	TBC
31 July Tues	Oslo Norway	Rockefeller	TBC
1 Aug Weds	Bergen Norway	Ricks	TBC

Groups well worth checking out

I have certain bands I champion. Everybody knows I am a huge Marillion fan, but I like other stuff too. Here is a list of bands that you should really check out

Sylvan - www.sylvan.de

Brilliant German neo prog band - new album Sceneries out now

RPWL - www.RPWL.de

Another German band - new album out in March

Marllion - www.marillion.com

Find a better way of life - lots of solo stuff out at present, plus new Marillion album and world tour this year!

Also Eden - www.alsoeden.com

UK prog outfit, excellent stuff - New album Think Of the Children is superb!

Maze Of Time - www.mazeoftime.com

Sweden Neo prog band - just discovered them, Their new album is out this autumn

DeeExpus - http://www.deeexpus.com

Mark Kelly on Keyboards on their new album. Both their albums are stunning!

The Reasoning - www.thereasoning.com

New EP coming soon!

Interesting times in Prog!

The past couple of weeks have been more than interesting! I've been taken back to a time when I used to work in the music industry (before the Internet came along and killed it!). Three years ago I move up here to Järbo from a little village called Grillby. My then neighbour and good friend informed me that a guitarist had moved in next door from a prog band a few months back. He posted this video on my FB wall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DUSfkdVRdk

The rest is history - I was well impressed (and I little sorry I moved away!) - The guitarist is Robert Edman, the band Maze of Time. They are a 5 piece Neo Prog outfit with a style not unlike that of Also Eden, with a touch of a Genesis / early Marillion edge to them.

My ex-neighbour arranged a meet at his place along with drummer Thomas Nordh. We got involved in conversation about upping the bands status. I told them I'd happily do what I could via Facebook and friends to help. Well it paid off - 16 likes on their FB page is currently 79 and rising daily!

Some of my friends have already bought MOT CD's, but I spotted a huge "black hole" in their European distribution, Amazon were selling their first CD at £22 labelled as an import and the other as download only. So I can now offer MOT fans their first 2 CD's "Tales From The Maze" and "Lullaby For Heroes" directly from me - Prices are 10 Euros each plus 2 euros P&P. I should have stock from their record label next week :)

For those who don't know the band - Check out their page on FB here. Don't forget to "Like" it! their 3rd album is now recorded - awaiting mixing at present - release date to follow around April or May with any luck! :)

The album "Tales From The Maze" is on Spotify for those who would like to listen first - you won't be disappointed!

Give me a shout if you want to order, payment by paypal :) - they are simply progtastic! :)

Review - Sylvan "Sceneries"

I have been waiting all year for this one. Sylvan are a 5 piece German band in the Neo progressive genre who have been making music since the release of Deliverance in 1991. Sceneries is their 8th studio album.

Image this if you can - a double album with only 5 tracks, the shortest of which is 14 minutes long. The other 4 tracks are all around 20 minute mark. Each track is split into 3 or 4 chapters or movements. This is an album of "epics." The 5 tracks are all stunning and lyrically brilliant, Marco's vocals delivers emotion and in combination of Volker's melodic paino playing is spine tingling! Jan's guitar playing on this album in the same vein as Steve Rothery or David Glimour. Wonderful soaring melodic guitar solos throughout. This album is truly stunning, a prog music lovers dream! Although I only received my copy of Christmas eve and can without doubt say this is the best prog release of 2011! It's a must for every music lovers collection. - Stand out track for me is "Share the world with me"

You can buy this and Sylvan's other releases here www.sylvan.de