Originally Posted: March 24, 2013 at Me, Myself, Music and Mysteries – Please Note my running and music listening are linked so sometimes you have to put up with the running info to get to the music, or then again you can just scroll past it!!
So some days you really look forward to your run, you start, you feel good and the run goes very smoothly. Then there are other days, well, they don’t go as well. Saturdays area often a slow day for me. I work all day at Lippincott and then at Target not getting done until 11:15 plus! Yesterday the day went from 7:15 to 11:15, so overall today this 61 year-old body was moving kind of slow! So this afternoon when I just felt like taking a nap I did some kundalini yoga trying to wake me up, and it worked so I got motivated enough to run, went out and discovered that it was a lot colder and windy than I thought it was, anyway, I put on another layer of clothes and set out. I had created a new four mile course and the start looped around a little, so that, after just a little bit a left turn would have led me back home, which was where I really wanted to go or a right turn would set me on my way into the fourteen mile an hour wind and the first leg of my four mile run. Now the only thing good about heading into the wind on the first two miles of a run is that the wind is at your back on the way back!! That’s what happened and really the only reason that I was able to finish the run! The other thing that got me through the run was the music, as always! The music was from a prog rock band Day Six and their album The Grand Design. So with the wind at my back for half of the run, I made it through with an overall pace of about 10:05 per mile, so overall it was not a bad run!
(note: the writing of this post has been slowed by two great basketball games. First, Marquette and Butler battled it out and then Wichita State upset the number one team in the nation Gonzaga! Great games it’s what makes the NCAA tournament so great!)
The soundtrack of the Run was Day Six’s album The Grand Design. This may be my favorite Prog album yet it really has everything, strong vocals, great changes in the tempo and sprint of the music, really nice guitars and synthesizers, and even saxophone! Here’s what Prog Archives says about the band:
 This is a Dutch symphonic metal band that is rooted in the early Nineties when schoolfriends Dolf en Robbie (at about 11 years old) founded their first band named KING OF DARKNESS but it became really serious in ’97 when the two friends formed PEANUTS. In 2002 they changed their name into DAY SIX in 2002, in that year the band includes Daan Liebregts on drums, Dolf van Heugten on synthesizers, Nick Verstappen on bass and Robbie van Stiphout on guitars and vocals. DAYS SIX made two CD’s until now, their sound is a blend of hardrock (METALLICA) with ‘heavy progressive’ (RUSH and AYREON) in a very refreshing way.
From the biography page of the Day Six website:
Day Six has grown to be one of the most well known progressive metal bands in the Netherlands. Day Six makes progressive rock, heavily influenced by various other musical genres like sympho, funk and – every now and then – even jazz. In addition to these influences, the band doesn’t shy away from experiments with sounds and samples.
Overall the album has a 4.05 rating so far at ProgArchives with 38% of the rating five stars and 46% four stars! Check out  Mellotron Storm’s review at ProgArchives for all the details about the songs. Here’s what he starts his review with!
 4.5 stars. Hey they’re back ! It’s been seven years since the debut and they sound better than ever. DAY SIX are a Prog-Metal band out of The Netherlands and i was very impressed with their debut and reviewed it 4 1/2 years ago on here.This is a concept album and i really like the way they use the synths to create atmosphere.They can get really heavy at times but they mix it up well. Lots of samples too. I enjoy the singer’s voice a lot.Yes this all adds up to a must-have for Prog-Metal fans.
The current line up (from their website) for the band includes:
Drums: Daan Liebregts
Bass: Eric Smits
Synthesizers: Dolf van Heugten
Guitar/ Vocals: Robbie van Stiphout
So if you like bands like: Rush, Pink Floyd and Deep Purple, as well as more recent groups as Porcupine Tree, Opeth and Dream Theater. Check these guys out as for me I’m checking out the first album they released now ten years ago Eternal Dignity!
Here’s the opening track of the album “Massive Glacial Walls”