Archives:The Music Safari explores the Tunisian Prog Rock of Myrath!

Originally posted at Me, Myself,Music and Mysteries -May 2013 In Tunisia, Myrath (means Legacy or Legend), in the progressive rock world it means great prog-rock with a Tunisian flavor! Myrath was founded in 2001, by a then 13-year-old guitarist Malek Ben Arbia. The band changed musicians over the next several years and played mostly cover songs and gravitated towards progressive rock. In 2005 MYRATH released their first self-produced album  Double Face. In 2005 Malek Ben Arbia the band’s founder and guitarist traveled to Nancy – France and enrolled in the famous Guitar school, Music Academy International (M.A.I.) After graduating, Ben…

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Progressive Metal from Philly’s Tungsten – The Reservoir

The Safari did not really travel far today folks, just across the Delaware River to the Port Richmond area of Philadelphia, the city that the new progressive metal band Tungsten calls home! Their debut album The Reservoir was released today, Jan 14th. Tungsten is a progressive metal band whose signature sound according to their biography at their website is.  ….dark, innovative, and creative, but still bursting at the seams with classic metal attitude that makes you want to pump your fist in the air. Drawing on influences both timeless (Iron Maiden, Rush, Pink Floyd) and modern (Opeth, Mastodon),  The  band…

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The Safari runs with Italian Progressive Rock from Laviantica’s – Clessidra

  Ok so I admit that I am a fair weather runner. When it’s dark and cold out Edward is not in the mood for running! But today it was nice, a decent temperature, bright and sunny and so off I went! I won’t bore you with my times. etc. If you’d like to read about them though you can go to Me, Myself, Music and Mysteries in a bit and check that stuff out. But for here I’ll write about the soundtrack for the run, which was the Italian Progressive Rock band Laviantica. I have started to listen to…

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Archives: Classical Prog Rock from Italy’s Three Monks – Neogothic Progressive Toccatas!

Originally posted Oct 20, 2013 @ Me,Myself,Music and Mysteries So early this evening after the Eagles loss to the hated Cowboys I listened to Three Monks a prog rock band with a different sound. Their forte is music that has arisen from organist/composer Paolo Lazzeri’s,study of romantic classical music, both symphonic and for solo organ…… Pause and switch gears – my evil wife posted this ecard on my Facebook Anyone who reads this blog knows that I am always totally focused on the task at hand and never, ever get distracted! Now where is my banana,and what was I writing about!!…

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This Day in Music Jan 9, 1970 – Alex Staropoli keyboardist for Rhapsody of Fire is born!!

So on this date in 1970, while I was in my senior year in high school, Alex Staropoli,the keyboardist for the Italian symphonic  prog rock band Rhapsody Of Fire was born! While I am not familiar with Alex on an individual basis, I have listened to Rhapsody of Fire/s latest release Dark Wings of Steel and enjoyed it particularly the keyboards!!   Some background from ProgArchives:   The Italian power metal band incorporate classical and baroque sounds into their music, a combination which proves to be very powerful. Each album fits into one ever-expanding storyline, “The Chronicles of Algalord”, comparable to…

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Evening Distractions lead to Oliver Wakeman and Steve Howe and some great jazz guitar!!

So I came home tonight from being outside all day doing a percolation test in Howell Township, all ready to write about the albums that I listened to on the way to, and from the site, and then…… I was researching the album  Ravens & Lullabies from Gordon Giltrap and Oliver Wakeman. As part of the research,  I went to Oliver’s page on Spotify and found a great album The 3 Ages of Magick-  wait Oliver Wakeman and Steve Howe?? The light bulb goes off over the dim old man’s head…….and at AllMusic I read this about the album…… It seems…

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The Safari finds The Netherlands’… instrumental prog/fusion metal band Exivious!

So this afternoon the soundtrack of the work was the 2013 release from Exivious –  Liminal. When I first spotted the album on the iPhone at the beginning of the afternoon, I didn’t even remember downloading it to the phone let alone where I saw the album in the first place!! I had a vague memory of the album being on the ProgArchives’ list of Top 2013 Albums, but I wasn’t sure, then the music started and I was sure that I saw the album at ProgArchives!   The album is in fact on the list well hidden down at number 86,…

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The Safari listens to Crossover Prog from Norway’s Fatal Fusion – The Ancient Tale

Today I was reviewing the Top Albums of 2013 at the ProgArchives  at number 16 was a band that I had listened to earlier this year, Fatal Fusion. Their 2013 release is The Ancient Tale and was the soundtrack for several periods of time today. Earlier in the year I had listened to their 2010 release Land of the Sun. I liked both of the albums. Fatal Fusion is a Norwegian crossover prog rock band strongly influenced by bands like  King Crimson, Camel, Pink Floyd, ELP, Yes, Genesis, Rainbow, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Deep Purple from the 60’s and 70’s and 80’s and…

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The Safari explores Estonian Music and finds Metsatöll!!

So today so far has been a strange musical day. It started when I was thinking about Estonia! Ok so why was I thinking about Estonia? The  reason was that yesterday was the birthday of Ingrid Hagel who according to All About Jazz is an: Estonian violinist and singer, currently living in Copenhagen/Denmark. An instrumentalist, as well a vocalist, Ingrid Hagel expresses her musical ideas through her original compositions. Her themes and melodic violin solos are full of vigorous energy and are talking the language of the heart and her life in different cultures. …..Ingrid is currently searching for a…

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The Music Safari meets the Dutch Crossover Prog band Tumbletown!

Over the last week or so I’ve listened to the debut album from a band named Tumbletown Done with Coldness  and enjoying it more with each listen. Of course this leads to the ubiquitous question: Who are these guys and where in the world  do they hail from?  The answer to  the who is Han Uil and Aldo Adema, two skilled producers, guitarists and composers and the where is the Netherlands. Uil and Adema both were members of the band Egdon Heath and its continuation Seven Day Hunt. Uil also played with the band Antares and has released some solo works. Seven Day…

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