No-Man (the duo featuring Tim Bowness and Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson) will be performing their first full concert since 1993 at the Bush Hall, London, on August 29th (Doors open, 7.30-8pm). The gig will be filmed for possible DVD release and there are plans (as yet unconfirmed) for a European mini-tour to follow in December, 2008.

The Schoolyard Ghosts CD/DVDA and t-shirts are also now in stock and shipping from the No-Man store at www.burningshed.com/store/noman/. A video for the track "Wherever There Is Light" is now up at the Schoolyard Ghosts micro-site: www.kscopemusic.com/no-man/.

[Source: Burning Shed]

The German progressive band Sylvan are now confirmed to headline the Subtacto Progfest 2008 on Saturday October 18th.

The dominant style of Sylvan is a mix of symphonic progressive rock, neo-progressive and classic rock including touches of progressive metal, all blended together in a new and interesting way, decorated with lot of intricate keyboards and guitar sounds.

The band has been compared to groups like Porcupine Tree, Pink Floyd, Marillion and IQ.

For a lot of fans, their personal Sylvan-story starts with Posthumous Silence. None of the band's other albums has made so many uncommitted "part-time"-listeners instantly to enthusiastic devotees. In all relevant forums, you can often find statements like "I didn’t know the band before but then I listened to them at a festival and it just blew me away." Prog-magazine reviewers were enthused, too, and awarded top scores in a row.

With last years release Presets they added a lot of new fans outside the prog-devotees, and showing a new side of the band.

On the 16th June 2008 Metal Mind Productions will release a new live DVD by Flotsam And Jetsam. The material entitled Once In A Deathtime features an extremely intense show the band gave at the Metalmania Festival 2008, offering metalheads everything Flotsam and Jetsam came to be respected for: brutal non-conformist sound, a slaughter of powerful, furious and perfectly executed thrash riffs, as well as excellent song-writing. With a great selection of songs from their discography, also including such classic compositions as "Doomsday For The Deceiver", "No Place For Disgrace", or "I Live You Die," the band treated their fans to one hell of a ride at this genuine thrash metal feast!

The cover artwork was designed by Graal known from his previous work for Vital Remains, Sinister, Solitude Aeturnus, Bulldozer, etc. Graal was also responsible for the cover artwork for the Artillery box Through The Years and their forthcoming DVD One Foot In The Grave, The Other One In The Trash.

The DVD will be available on 16th June 2008 (Europe only), also in a limited edition - including a CD with songs recorded at the Metalmania Festival!

The premiere of the new album by Believe is just around the corner. The band’s second full-length album entitled Yesterday Is A Friend will be released by Metal Mind Productions on 19th May 2008 in Europe and 8th July 2008 in USA (via MVD). Just to give you a foretaste of the new material, Believe posted on their official Myspace site - www.myspace.com/believeartrock excerpts of two songs: "Tumor" and "You And Me."

Believe’s debut album Hope To See Another Day (2006) received very good reviews from both media and fans. The music appealed to the lovers of the old Collage but also to the fans of Porcupine Tree, Pink Floyd and Riverside. The follow-up brings a powerful sound full of faith and melody with some hidden flavors.

Tesla's Comin' Atcha Live! 2008 DVD set for release June 24 on Tesla Electric Company Recordings; world tour begins June 6 in Sweden.

After 25 years, 12 albums, over 2,500 shows, over 16 million albums sold worldwide, Tesla is stronger than ever. Continuing on that momentum, Tesla -- Jeff Keith (vocals), Frank Hannon (guitars), Brian Wheat (bass), Troy Luccketta (drums) and Dave Rude (guitar) -- will release their third DVD, Comin' Atcha Live! 2008, on June 24 on the band’s Tesla Electric Company Recordings label (in partnership with Ryko Distribution).

"This DVD marks a new era creatively for Tesla because we put it all together ourselves, capturing the band's concert and life on the road," says lead guitarist Frank Hannon. "Nowadays, we are more involved in every aspect of our music career than ever before. We are very excited about the creative results and it really shows in the new DVD."

Faith Strange Recordings is pleased to present the first new full length orchestramaxfieldparrish work since 2002's highly revered Tears, titled The Silent Breath Of Emptiness. This new recording consists of an improvised solo electric guitar soundscape originally intended for an exhibition of local area visual artists that never came to be. This piece was totally improvised and freeform, recorded live and captured in one take and then divided into 4 parts. No overdubs were done so as to not augment the original intention of the piece. A hauntingly beautiful reconstruction of the entire work is included as the fifth track. Recorded and mastered in 96K 24 bit audiophile audio. Beautifully presented in a full color limited edition digipak with matte varnish. First edition includes a handmade obi strip of vellum. This work is a refreshing return to the art of true improvisation in the age where music is now recorded mainly as computer edits. Fazio has gone back to his roots of abstract guitar playing on a very personal level with a symphonic approach first explored in past outfits Æ, Copernicus and Chill Faction throughout the 1980's and early 90's and further explored on 2002's Tears.

Subtacto Progressive Rock Society is happy to announce that Credo from United Kingdom has been confirmed for the second Subtacto Festival in October this year.

Labelled as "The best band you have never heard of…" British proggers Credo cut their first album in 1994, and their second in 2005. The band's members have been playing music since the 70s, and play their own brand of neo-progressive rock with inspiration from Fish-era Marillion, Yes, IQ, and Arena.

Credo, who last weekend made their first appearance outside the UK with their performance at the American festival ROSFest, makes their first foray into mainland Europe with their concert at Subtacto.

The band will have the honour of opening the festival on Friday October 17th.

Over a month of hard sessions and recording to define what will be the first full-length [release] from Folkstone, the metal-medieval Italian Alpes band that is quickly spreading in the European metal environment. This work, that has been available from 24 April on Fuel records label/SELF distribution (www.self.it), is a luxury-digipack with a 16-page booklet that includes photos of mountain locations and Jacopo Berlendis' paintings. The CD contains 10 electric songs plus 2 acoustic tracks (Intro and Outro for opening and closing) to make even more beautiful this precious work arisen from more than 2 years of music on the road, like a busker or a poor minstrel. The trouble was the choosing of the tracks among the many. In the end, the definitive list includes 4 remastered old songs. Following the release of the CD, the metal-folk band will go on a European tour that will take them to castles and medieval villages and to prestigious locations like Musikzentrum Sedel, Lucerna (CH); MusicDrome, Milan (IT); Biella-Beltane Festival; Wave Gotik Treffen Festival (with Corvus Corax), Leipzig, (DE), and Fiesta Pagana (with Finntroll), Zurich (CH)... a travel of 2 months trough the most important rock festivals. If you'll have occasion to see one of their bloody shows, you'll personally understand their carrying [on] and contagious happyness, and the warm answer of the people from every part of the world, and above all the enormous quantity of beer that floods on their stage.

Mellotrön, Detroit's Progressive Metal band, will unleash its imminent sonic destruction for a good cause when it brings the full brunt of its prog metal prowess to the Emerald Theater (31 North Walnut Street Mt. Clemens, MI 48043 – (586) 913-1920) on May 29 at 8 p.m. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Sabrina Black Foundation. The evening of great entertainment kicks off at 8 p.m., with legendary progressive rockers Tiles opening the festivities, followed by Lansing’s own Silent Lapse. Mellotrön will take the stage at 10 p.m. Tickets for the event are available from the bands and at the Emerald Theater box office. This is an all-ages show. (click poster at left for larger view)

Millions of lives are affected by cancer each year, including the band members of Mellotrön, which is why the band decided it was time to put their music to work for the good of the community and help the Sabrina Black Foundation.

Northern Kings - Finland's premier symphonic power metal supergroup - are not your average covers band! Featuring four operatic male vocalists performing classic tracks in their own unique symphonic rock style which really must be heard to be believed. The 4 members are all successful frontmen in their own right; singing in a handful of the biggest Finnish metal acts of recent times (Nightwish, Teräsbetoni, Tarot, Sonata Arctica and Charon). Their new record Reborn is released in the UK on Monday 16th of June and features, among others, critically acclaimed awe inspiring covers of Electric Light Orchestra’s "Bring Me Down," Phill Collins' "In The Air Tonight" and Peter Gabriel's 1986 classic "Sledgehammer."

For more info, a full album track-listing, and to hear songs from their Myspace/Youtube sites head over to: www.noblepr.co.uk/Press_Releases/wme/northern_kings.htm

Relocator announce special guest Derek Sherinian (ex-Dream Theater, Planet X) for their self-titled debut album to be released July 4th.

Get ready to relocate: More than two years in the making, the self-titled Relocator debut album will be available on July 4th. Influenced by both modern and classic artists like UK, Planet X, Rush and Allan Holdsworth, the band have developed their own style and worked hard on making their first CD a memorable debut for all fans of instrumental progressive rock worldwide.

Adding his distinctive keyboard style to the Relocator debut is special guest star Derek Sherinian. Derek played with rock legends Kiss and Alice Cooper even before really stepping into the spotlight during his four years with progressive metal titans Dream Theater. More recently he's become known for a string of exciting solo albums each featuring some of the world's most famous guitarists as well as for his live appearances with the Billy Idol band.

Bay Area Rock Promotions is pleased to announce the 2nd Annual Bay Area Rock Festival at the Independent in San Francisco on June 27th and 28th 2008. Liquid Tension Experiment and Jeff Scott Soto will headline the premier West Coast festival for progressive and melodic music.

In 1998 and 1999, Liquid Tension Experiment released two instrumental albums that set the prog world on fire. The project featured Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci, virtuoso keyboardist Jordan Rudess and bass legend Tony Levin. After the success of the two albums and the project's undeniable chemistry, Rudess was asked to join Dream Theater full-time and the project was put on the shelf for an indefinite hiatus, until now! The quartet has reunited to revisit the magical music they created 10 years ago and tap back into their chemistry for a whole new musical experiment. They are closing out their limited tour on Saturday night as the headliner of the festival.

Two Side Moon Promotions announce 3 new releases, beginning with Eden Sands, who "blast out of Lorraine in France with their new hard hitting refreshing debut album called Living Kills. Eden Sands play heavy and melodic rock with fantastic high powered crunching vocals from Stefan Tudela who a few years ago fronted the band Northwind. Joining Stefan are guitarists Maxence Hughes and Bertrand 'Old' Bonnin, bassist Vinz Camacho and powehouse drummer Pere Alex. Eden Sands are influenced by the likes of Edguy, Symphony X, Yngwie Malmsteen, Skid Row and are currently out on the road captivating audiences with their electric live show that the band hope to bring to British soils later in 2008. If you like power metal and guitar driven hard rock then this band are for you."

"With great pride we announce that Winterthrough, the new Hostsonaten album, is selling very well. 3,000 copies are for now sold, a great succes on the progressive world. Thanks to all!

"Due to this success, AMS/VM2000 label will print a vinyl version of the album on beautiful gatefold cover and a very limited picture disc version. All with a bonus track ('Autumn's Decline'). You can pre-order the vinyl album on www.btf.it or send an email to webmaster (at) zuffantiprojects.com.

"Other news on Springsong. The fourth chapter of the 'Seasoncycle Suite', out in 2002 on Sublime label, will be re-printed [by] AMS/VM2000 label and will be available in [the] next [few] months with new artwork, remix, bonus tracks, etc. ...

German melodic metallers Edguy are preparing to enter the studio to begin recording the follow-up to 2006's Rocket Ride.

Commented frontman Tobias Sammet: "People think that we are quite fast but that's not the truth. I completed the Avantasia album last autumn, the Avantasia songwriting itself was completed even way back in 2006.

"All the new ideas I've had since then could be taken for Edguy. In fact, this is a long time to refresh your creativity and gather new stuff. The material sounds very fresh, it embraces all the different trademarks of Edguy, I think it is a logical continuation of Rocket Ride and Hellfire Club.

Frogg Cafe write: "We hope this e-mail finds you well! The original line-up of the band is in the studio right now recording our 4th studio album. Last month we laid down the foundation tracks for tunes called "Terra Sancta" (Sussman), "From The Fence" (Lieto), and "Move Over I'm Driving" (Lieto) and in mid-May we are going to attempt to lay down guitarist's Frank Camiola's latest epic called "Belgian Boogie Board." You won't be spinning "Boogie Board" at your grandmother's 90th birthday party unless you tragically want it to end early. Hold onto your Charles Ives knickers for this one.

"This is the longest break we've ever taken from playing live shows and we definitely miss it. But it has given us the freedom to concentrate on this CD which we are having a blast creating for you. I'm sure that once this CD is done we'll be able to play some shows as long as we get some prog fans who don't mind changing a diaper or two for us in the parking lot. And NO, it's not for our drummer. How dare you. He may be old, but he is spry.

Yeti Rain is an experimental duo consisting of William Kopecky and Roger Ebner. Nest Of Storms (Crimsonic CLSCD-110), the band's second CD (but their first on the Crimsonic label), is a set of spontaneously composed music that is intense and visionary. The haunting sounds conjured up by Kopecky's basses and Ebner's sax and wind synth are by turns meditative and violent, the perfect soundtrack for a disturbing dream.

William Kopecky is known internationally for his progressive and experimental bass playing. His extensive discography includes CDs by Par Lindh Project, Kopecky, Far Corner, Michael Angelo Batio, Parallel Mind, Snarling Adjective Convention, and many others. On Nest Of Storms, Kopecky plays both fretted and fretless electric basses.

Roger Ebner is an adventurous musician who has forged a unique sound on his wind synthesizer and saxophone. His daring and expressive performances as a member of both Yeti Rain and the sinister avant-garde funk/rock ensemble Snarling Adjective Convention have earned him critical acclaim around the world.

British rock legends Uriah Heep have announced tour dates in support of their first studio album in almost ten years, Wake The Sleeper, due out via Universal Music in June. [These dates take the band to Russia, Ukraine, The Netherlands, Austria...].

Recorded in 2007, Wake The Sleeper was produced by Mike Paxman (Status Quo, Judie Tzuke). In the words of Mick Box, "We are delighted to be reunited with a major label in Universal Music. Wake The Sleeper is an album we are incredibly proud of, and one that we hope the fans will see as one of Uriah Heep's best. We can't wait to get back out on the road to showcase the new songs."

Festival organizer John "Bobo" Bollenberg writes, "It is with great pleasure that I can announce [to] you the final two names which will perform at the 2nd edition of the Symforce Festival to be held at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland.

"First of all, the rumoured 'mystery act' which will play its world premiere at the festival is the band PBII. This new band consists of three ex-members of the Dutch band Plackband, augmented with a new bass player. After no less than thirty years, Plackband has played its final concert on 4th April as support to Arena.

After a long delay, the next Robert Svilpa EP and full CD release dates have been set.

The full CD release A Fine Line Between... has been slated for a mid-October 2008 timeframe. Recording has been taking place with final writing sessions getting to their completion. Be prepared for a mix of classic progressive and psychedelic rock, electronic and ambient dance, some metal, jazz and even new age all rolled into this eclectic set. More info regarding guest musicians (one of whom is mentioned below) and a well respected co-producer upcoming in the next week. But in the meantime...

An advance EP release previewing material from A Fine Line Between will be released June 30, 2008. Presales of the CD will started May 1, track listings are as follows: