Hal Leonard Books has released a softcover edition of 108 Rock Star Guitars by photographer/author LIsa S. Johnson on November 11, 2014. This exquisite book, originally issued as an embossed, red leatherette-bound hardcover in a limited quantity that USA Today called "...a monster of a coffee table book..." will now be available to a much wider audience at amore affordable retail price of $54. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Les Paul Foundation.

Prog Sphere is proud to announce to the world of progressive rock that their newest release - Progstravaganza: Beyond Frontiers is now out and in stores. This long-awaited album is the culmination of months of hard work on the part of Prog Sphere and the many bands involved. Beyond Frontiers breaks new ground for Prog Sphere as it is the first in their long series of compilations to be released as a physical CD. Naturally, it is also available for purchase at Prog Sphere's Progify store and at Prog Sphere's Bandcamp page.

The duo of bassist Colin Edwin and guitarist Jon Durant have once again teamed up under their Burnt Belief moniker to release a new album of progressive ethno-ambient fusion instrumentals titled Etymology.

The pair first teamed up for Durant’s 2011 album Dance Of The Shadow Planets, a wholly live in the studio documentation of their nascent musical chemistry centered around Durant’s atmospheric compositions and featuring also the talents of violinist Caryn Lin and multi-percussionist Jerry Leake.

Knight Area is a Dutch melodic (progressive) rock band, founded in 2004 by the brothers Gerben and Joop Klazinga. The group started off as a seven-headed formation. After a few lineup changes, the group now consists of five people: Guitars: Mark Bogert, Drums: Pieter van Hoorn, Keyboards: Gerben Klazinga, Vocals and Keyboards: Mark Smit, Bass and Bass Pedals: Peter Vink (Q65, Finch, The Boxx, Ayreon, Star One).

On October 14 2014, the new Knight Area album was released. The album is called Hyperdrive and has been released world wide by the American label The Laser's Edge.

Sweden's Nightingale are back in the spotlight with their long overdue 7th studio album. Entitled Retribution, the follow-up to 2007's acclaimed White Darkness will be released via the band's new worldwide label InsideOutMusic on January 27, 2015 in North America.

The album's first promotional track has therefor now been launched online via the website of UK's Classic Rock magazine. Check out "Forevermore" here: www.classicrock.teamrock.com

Sentiment, the debut solo album from Rhys Marsh, the voice of The Autumn Ghost & Kaukasus, was released 10 November 2014 on Autumnsongs Records.

Frpm the press release: Sentiment is a journey into the darker side of the soul, both musically & lyrically, and is by far the most personal statement that Marsh has produced. Sonically & texturally, this is a dense album, full of thick atmospheres & intense dynamics, with songs that will grip you and keep you on the edge of your seat.

In playing catch up once again, here's some brief notes on prog (or, in some cases, not prog) happenings in the last few months:

Badass Releases The Video Of Their Powerful Rock Version Of "Wonderful Life": Badass is a brand new Italian power rock band founded by bassist and composer Alberto Rigoni (solo, TwinSpirits, Vivaldi Metal Project) featuring singer Stefano "Stex" Sbrignadello, guitarist Albert "Marshall” Biason and drummer Denis Novello.

When the gods called for metal traditional and true, Visigoth answered. The year was 2010, and Jake Rogers allied his bardic magic with Lee Campana's six-string sorcery to forge a tribute to the old sound of heavy metal. Thus the demo "Vengeance" was born.

Its completion sent tremors throughout the salted wastes of the Salt Lake City underground, attracting the attention of powerful musical forces. Jamison Palmer slung his mighty axe over one shoulder and trudged his way through the ice and snow of this inhospitable realm, lending his soul-rending riffcraft to the legion. He was soon joined by the mystical bass groove thaumaturgies of Matt Brotherton and the unrelenting storm-throned siege of Mikey Treseder's furious drumming. Together, they became known as Visigoth.

Devin Townsend Project's Z2 is out now worldwide. Now [earlier this month] Devin is pleased to reveal a brand new lyric video for the track "March Of The Poozers" taken from the Dark Matters side of the album, and you can view that here: youtu.be/1NGQjRMXg28

Devin checks in with this: "Hey all, Dev here ... closing out the North American tour and a heck of a year. I released 4 albums this year, if you count the bonus disc of Casualties, went through the crazy Pledge process (still going through it) and it was generally a hectic time.

Here's a compendium of a few news items shared with us via site itself (vs email), but um… trapped in the "queue" while we were in summer-to-fall hibernation:

July 24, 2014: New Music Video From Holotropic: Slovakian prog/extreme metallers Holotropic released first lyric video to a song "Traveller" from their record Permeate. The video can be watched here.. The song features guest sitar playing by Miloslav Kollar (Rainbow Eminences) and visuals by Alex Wald (Symbiosis). The record was recorded at M2 Recording Studios with producer Milan Malik and is due to be released in August 2014.

"First Contact" - soundcloud.com/temporary-residence-ltd-1/first-contact "

Swedish progressive rockers Beardfish have been hard at work on the follow-up to 2013's The Void, and now they are pleased to reveal that their brand new eighth studio album, +4626-COMFORTZONE will be released in North America on the 27th of January 2015.

The band had this to say about the new album: "The comfort zone is the invisible protective suit of negative thinking, almost like an entity of itself. It's been with you since birth: your parents and your teachers and your friends and your neighbours all teaching you the way the world works - this is how it is and will be and there's nothing you can do about it. The negative vibe is like a voice living inside of you, a companion through life. With time you start to like that voice and the place it takes you to: your comfort zone. I'm so sick and tired of it and I want to address it and maybe in that way start to work my way out of it."

Firstly (though more recently), MoonJune Records announced the release of two new titles, simakDialog's Live At Orion and Tesla Manaf's self-titled album; prior to that, there was the release of Yagull's Kai and a Free Download 10-track compilation of works by Mark Wingfield.

simakDialog - Live At Orion - Recorded during the simakDialog's first USA tour in 2013 at Orion Studios in Baltimore. On this double album of almost 2hrs of music, the Indonesian band offers up their own brand of inspired and spirited music of extreme integrity which listens as much as it speaks.

The [US] release date for the much anticipated acoustic album Falling Home by Swedish progressive rock innovators Pain of Salvation via the band's longtime label partner InsideOutMusic is drawing closer. [It is already out in Europe and other parts of the world.] Here are the exact street days by territory:

Germany / Austria / Switzerland / Finland: Friday, November 07, 2014 :: UK / Benelux / France / Greece / Denmark / Portugal / Norway / Rest Of Europe: Monday, November 10, 2014 :: Italy / Spain / Poland: Tuesday, November 11, 2014 :: Sweden: Wednesday, November 12, 2014 :: Australia / New Zealand: Friday, November 14, 2014 :: North America: Tuesday, January 13, 2015