This morning I took a moment and gave a quick listen to a few of the albums now on progstreaming, I picked two, found the albums on Spotify, put them on the iPhone and listened today. The two albums were from Roy Strattman: The Lie of the Beholder and Mike Kershaw’s Ice Age. Of the two I listened to more of Strattman than Kershaw, so I guess I’ll begin there.
The Lie of the Beholder is the first album produced by Roy Strattman under his own name, prior to this release Strattman has been, since 2002, the sole guitarist and joint composer for the band Little Atlas.Little Atlas has released five albums the last being 2013’s Automatic Day. The last four albums have fairly high ratings at the ProgArchives.
Although Strattman’s primary instrument has been the guitar, he is a multi-instrumentalist and on The Lie of the Beholder, along with writing all the material, he played guitar, keyboards and provided the vocals. Helping out on the album are The album features Nick D’Virgilio (Genesis, Kevin Gilbert, Spocks Beard, Mike Keneally, Tears for Fears) on drums, and Ricardo Bigai (Little AtasS, Supersam, Julio Iglesias) on bass, and making a guest appearance, Steve Katsikas (Lttle Atlas, The Dark Side of the Wall) on piano and cajon.
Writing at ProgArchves tszirmay a special collaborator for the Crossover Prog Team writes this about the title track….
The title track is a fine resume of what this album is about, a foreboding riff that seems unshakably present, a monster drum intrusion and this melancholic relentlessness that shows no mercy or any signs of abating. Fans of heavier prog acts like Haken, Porcupine Tree, Final Conflict or Deeexpus will love this hurricane of sound, the unending contrasts that have no prior warning about them, so deep is the musical journey. The piece ends in sudden terms, which I first thought was some streaming error until I noticed that the next tune was called ‘Connection Lost’, I do like being caught unawares like that, from time to time! Another mellotron-laced ditty, very listenable, memorable and inspiring, a power prog- pop song that has all the ingredients to soar into the mindset of most open-minded listeners Read Full Review
I think that over the next few weeks this album with be explored a lot, so check it out with me and let me know what you think!
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Here’s the video for the album’s opening track “A Better World”