We [Pleasure Art Music Productions (Steve Brooke)] would like to announce that Steve Brooke is working om his second album A Story Short. This summer, Steve will be working together with producer Steve Negus (ex-Saga) on the new tracks in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Please check for further updates www.stevebrooke.nl or www.myspace.com/stevebrooke

[Source: Pleasure Art Music productions, The Netherlands]

Snarling Adjective Convention is an adventurous group of talented artists who are fiercely experimental in their approach to music. Combining elements of avant-garde jazz, metal, dark ambient, psychedelic, prog rock, and funk, the ensemble consists of five instrumentalists who are well known in both experimental and progressive rock circles: Roger Ebner (wind synth, sax), Joe Kopecky (guitars), William Kopecky (basses), Dan Maske (keyboards, trumpet, flute, percussion), and Craig Walkner (drums). William's wife Sophie appears as a special guest on two tracks to contribute haunting spoken word performances en francais.

Snarling Adjective Convention's spontaneously composed debut CD Bluewolf Bloodwalk is a startling collection of sinister, cutting-edge works of art that bristle with dark energy and virtuoso playing. Invoking the ghosts of 70’s electric-era Miles and gloomy French sound sculptors Shub Niggurath, Bluewolf Bloodwalk offers the fearless listener an unforgettable and visionary musical trip.

Released by Unicorn Digital

[Source: William Kopecky]

Amon Amarth will perform a series of concerts at the end of 2008 in at Zeche Bochum in Germany - whereas over the four days from December 28 through December 31, 2008, they will play one album in it's entirety, thusly: December 28, Once Sent From The Golden Hall (1998); December 29, The Avenger (1999); December 30, The Crusher (2001) and December 31, Versus The World. Say the band, "We've had plans of doing a smaller club show tour for quite some time now where we'd mainly play older songs, but that has been very hard to pull off. So when this idea was brought to us of re-visiting the 4 first full length albums at Bochum in Germany we were all up for it. This will be a once in a life time chance for us to play and our fans to experience all the old songs that we don't have room for in the setlist anymore, but are still too good to not play! And of course we also will play songs from our new upcoming album.

"Since these shows will be unique we thought we'd might as well record the shows, too!

"We're thrilled over this event and look forward to the shows. It will be some hard work and preparation playing around 50-60 different songs in 4 days. Some songs we haven't played for a very, very long time and some we've never played live at all. But challenges are something that encourages us!"

OHM:, the progressive rock fusion project of Chris Poland of Megadeth fame, will release its new studio CD, Circus Of Sound, on August 26 via Shrapnel/Tone Center Records. Circus Of Sound marks OHM:'s third studio album and fourth release overall and sees the band "exploring a heavier sound overall while retaining the classic OHM: sound and direction," according to a press release.

There are some tour plans in the making and well as a slew of promotional radio interviews that will coincide with the release. The band will also start gigging again regionally in its homebase of the Los Angeles area soon.

Circus of Sound track listing: Fun House / System Of A Clown / Photograph / Circus Of Sound / Point Omega / Abracadabra / The Shortest Straw / The Black Hand / You Don't Know / Steps From Home / Mr. Brown / DD214 / Leap Of Faith / Pan's Plan

Recording lineup: Chris Poland - guitars; Robby Pagliari - bass; Joel Taylor - drums on tracks 1-3; Frank Briggs - drums on tracks 4-7; Kofi Baker - drums on tracks 8-14

[Source: Robert, Rock N Roll Cola]

We are proud to announce the release of our brand new CD, entitled Totality, the follow-up to our last project, the critically acclaimed Blue Marble.

We both feel this is our best and most creative project to date. We have pushed the envelope again with additional … and exotic … instrumentation. This time out, Johnny plays piano and accordion and Jimmy shines on lap steel, glockenspiel and theremin. As our writing and compositional skills mature, we have branched out in many different directions, incorporating many varied and diverse musical styles.

We have been influenced by so many fabulous musicians … many of whom are not guitar players … over the decades. This has enabled us to approach our musical canvas with a more varied tonal palette and a broader brush than most of our contemporaries, inspiring us to think outside the traditional format - and constraints - of guitar-based music.

It is with great pleasure to confirm Cynic as one of the headliners for our 10th anniversary. The US legends will headline on Saturday 4 October. Most likely this will be the only autumn show they will do, the band will play old stuff but also a lot of new material from the upcoming album. So better not miss this opportunity!

Swedish band Wolverine will do 2 sets at the 10th anniversary of ProgPower Europe. On Friday they will do a very special show. Because the band opened the first edition of PP Europe back in 1999, Wolverine will come back this year to play the same setlist as they have done in 1999. On Sunday 5 October they will do a regular set with more recent material.

In the meantime we booked some more bands for ProgPower Europe, 2 of them are Tunesian band Myrath and the British newcomers of Pure Reason Revolution. Myrath will play on Saturday 4 October and PRR will play on Sunday 5 October.

Other bands scheduled to appear at the ProgPower Europe festival are Threshold, Pagan's Mind, Wolverine, Ghost Brigade, Division By Zero, Suspyre, and Zero Hour.

ProgDay is thrilled to announce the addition of Mirthrandir to this year's lineup. With a style in the tradition of classic symphonic, melodic, driving progressive rock, the band also features a unique twin lead guitar attack that allows for added complexity and density.

The band formed back in the early 70s and released For You The Old Women in 1976, generally ranked as one of the top American progressive rock albums of the time. For a while it looked like Mirthrandir would join the top tier of U.S. based progressive rock acts, but unfortunately the band broke up before that happened.

Reunited in the new millennium, critically acclaimed performances at the New Jersey Proghouse, Baja Progressive Rock Festival, and The Rights Of Spring Festival have gained the band a whole new generation of fans. ProgDay is proud to welcome this classic ensemble to the Storybook stage.

ProgDay, the world’s longest running progressive rock festival, takes place this year on August 30th and 31st at Storybook Farm near Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Other bands announced so far are Ain Soph (Japan), Canvas Solaris (US), Cheer-Accident (US), Holding Pattern (US), VonFrickle (US) and Abigail's Ghost (US). To hear music and get information about all the bands, please visit our website at www.progday.com

As revealed last week, Italian power metal band Rhapsody Of Fire(formerly known as Rhapsody) has issued the following update:

"First of all, thank you for all the patience you had in these last times despite the lack of news regarding the band.

"We wanted to inform you that we are in the middle of a hard legal fight with MCM [Manowar's Magic Circle Music] and [the company's] main representative Mr. Joey De Maio [Manowar bassist/leader]. That's the reason why in the last months we had to keep all strictly confidential and could not release any official declaration that could obviously be used against us from the opposite side. And that's also the reason why we were constricted to stop completely our band's activity. Frankly, we are not able to imagine if all this can end in a very close future, but we want to assure you that we are ready to fight with all the strength of body and soul in order to protect yours and our beloved band.

With Symforce II just a couple of months away, organizer John "Bobo" Bollenberg issued this press release, to catch you up on "the story so far" and a preview of the bands scheduled for this year's fest

On Saturday 15th September 2007 the very first edition of the SYMFORCE festival took place at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland. With three separate stages under one roof, Symforce was able to spread well known and upcoming bands over the three separate stages slightly overlapping eachother’s sets so that the audience never had a dull moment all day. A detailed survey showed that everyone loved this new approach as opposed to the regular planning which sees a major act fronted by one or two support slots.

Whilst we tried to get Porcupine Tree and/or Opeth to headline the first edition of said festival, it became obvious that PT would be impossible for 2007 although Opeth let us believe they were interested to do it. After five months of negotiating we got the final news that Opeth would not be performing. So it was back to the drawing board only to notice that a lot of the big names had meanwhile made other plans so it became damned difficult to come up with a decent programme. However, looking back at what we came up with, the first Symforce festival was a damn good effort.

Century Media Records has set an August 25 European release date for The Incurable Tragedy, the new album from the Canadian progressive metal titans Into Eternity. The band's first conceptual offering will be released in North America on September 2.

The Incurable Tragedy, marks the band's first recording effort with Justin Bender (guitars) and Steve Bolognese (drums), who came aboard shortly after the group finished Gigantour '06. This CD was inspired by the deaths of Tim Roth's (guitar, vocals) two best friends, brothers who succumbed to cancer within two months of one another. To make matters worse, Roth's father was diagnosed with cancer as well. Showing no mercy, the disease claimed his life last year, just 10 days before Christmas. Roth channeled his emotions into a moving and riveting album which is sure to propel the band to new heights within the genre. The Incurable Tragedy features a slew of tracks with the band's trademarked heavy grooves, stop-on-a-dime time changes, reflective lyrics, memorable choruses, shredding solos, and vocals that range from guttural growls to soaring harmonies.

[Source: Robert, Rock N Roll Cola]

On/about June 14, guitarist Gavin Harper of the Scottish folk/power metal band Alestorm issued the following update: "I'm very sad to report that [Ian] Wilson [drums] has informed us last night that he is unable to continue in Alestorm due to a heavy touring schedule and a career that unfortunately leaves little room for time off.

"The parting has been on excellent terms and there is no bad blood whatsoever. I, and all of Alestorm/Napalm Records, wish Wilson the best of luck in his chosen path and we understand his decision completely.

"We have got an excellent drummer filling Wilson's big shoes and [he] has already proven himself as the perfect choice for the new Alestorm drummer. Details will be posted in the coming days after meetings have taken place with both band and record label on Monday in London.

Alestorm released its debut album, Captain Morgan's Revenge, in January through Napalm Records. According to a press release, the quartet "plays Scottish 'pirate metal,' by their own definition, and musically resembles the great battle metal bands such as Korpiklaani or Turisas, albeit with a unique touch and Scottish instrumentation." And then....

Finnish superstars Nightwish have been honoured with a platinum award for their End Of An Era DVD, which has sold more than 50,000 units in Germany so far. This DVD contains the very last show with former singer Tarja Turunen and was released 2006. The award was presented to the band at this year's Rock Am Ring festival, where the band played a fantastic show on the main stage in front of more than 80,000 people.

Their last effort, Dark Passion Play, was awarded with gold for more than 100,000 sold units one week after its release in Germany in September 2007. After an US Tour together with label mates Sonic Syndicate, the band is about to headline some of Europe's biggest festivals before going back to the US with Sonata Arctica! Pictured above, from left to right: Jukka Nevalainen, Tuomas Holopainen, Marko Hietala, Emppu Vuorinen, Florian Fink (© Nuclear Blast)

It's not a music release, but like some of the best prog, Dali's art could be mind blowing. So... MVD Visual announce the release of the documentary The Dali Dimension: Decoding The Mind OF A Genius. Multiple Award winning film delves into the psyche of the most important Surrealist artist who ever lived, Salvador Dali. Through a series of rare film clips and interviews with the artist, Dali Dimension explores the many inspirations that resulted in Dali's unforgettable masterpieces. A documentary by Joan Úbeda, Susi Marquès and Eli Pons. Narrated by Joseph Nuzzolo.

DVD: SRP: $24.95; RUN TIME: 70mins; LABEL: SALVADOR; GENRE: Documentary; STREET DATE: 08/05/2008

Greece's Wastefall and Germany's Lanfear have been confirmed for the ProgPower Scandinavia festival, set to take place October 31 and November 1 at The Rock in Copenhagen, Denmark.

[The previously announced Anubis Gate and Raintime have cancelled]

Also included on the bill are: Nostradameus, Wuthering Heights, Pagan's Mind, and Vanden Plas joining Wastefall on the Friday; Cloudscape, Zero Hour, DeadSoul Tribe, and Pain Of Salvation joining Lanfear on the Saturday.

In June, prog-rock powerhouse Umphrey's McGee released Jimmy Stewart 2007 - an ambitious double-live album comprised of some of the band's most inspired improvisations, sequenced into two seamless 70-minute "mixtapes." Several times each performance Umphrey's McGee delves into the "Jimmy Stewart" creation process. They aim to generate melody-rich, spontaneous compositions, utilizing a Zappa-inspired language of body gestures and hand-signals which allow the band to create structure on-the-fly.

As Umphrey's McGee's sound continues to evolve, each live performance is increasingly a showcase for their "Jimmy Stewart" approach to progressive improvisation, which they utilize as a breeding ground for new material. Fan favorites "In The Kitchen," "Intentions Clear," "Bridgeless," and many more have come from such sessions. In fact, the newest original to the Umphrey's McGee live repertoire is "Waist Down," a song with firm roots in the Jimmy Stewart 2007 track "Eat - 2.17.07 - San Francisco."

Available in the North America via Radiant Records is The Flower Kigns Carpe Diem - official bootleg multitrack live recording from Whittier, California Oct 16th 2006. A pro recording with great detail and fidelity.

Tracks include: Paradox Hotel / Psychedelic Postcard / Hudson River Jam / Just This Once / Fishsoup - Bass & Drum solo / World Of Adventures / Silent Sorrow / Vampires View

[The latter seems to have been recorded at their Quebec City date and included as a bonus track]

The players:: Roine Stolt: guitar & vocals / Hasse Froberg: vocals & guitar / Tomas Bodin: keyboards / Jonas Reingold: bass & vocals / Marcus Liliequist: drums & vocals

Stone Island Records in the UK write: Firstly, our artist roster is growing at an amazing rate and we are thrilled to see the wonderful creativity blossoming day by day. Great music!

Our recent additions include Ohead, Oceanfield, The Nigua, Elektrum, Day Shift, Astral Quest, Blue Drift, The Paul Rose Band, Betsan & Corky's Cats, Clear Blue Sky .... and this week Coyote Wrecks, Magic Ship. An update on these great bands is to follow plus we have more additions to announce.

As you know, we are a new record company bringing fresh ideas to the music scene. Already you can 'try before you buy' and hear samples of the quality albums on offer. In the coming weeks we will be announcing new features to the Stone Island Records web site which we shall invite you to experience. We enjoy hearing your comments and viewpoint so feel free to e-mail us. Please invite others to join this warm community.

Releases for May/June include: Magic Ship - Love Tel Motel, Coyote Wrecks - Surreal, Oceanfield - Stolen Time, Clear Blue Sky - Gateway To The Seventh Dimension [this is the same CBS that brought us Mirror To The Stars some years back], Ohead - Gaia's Garden, The Nigua - Will They Understand, and Paul Rose - Promises

Los Angeles-based progressive rockers Spock's Beard will release a concert DVD, simply entitled Live, this summer via InsideOut Music. The footage was shot by D'iMages on May 25, 2007 at De Boerderij in Zoetermeer, The Netherlands.

If you pre-order either of the upcoming Spock's Beard releases, Live (2-CD) or Live DVD and get a limited autographed booklet with purchase! Go the Newbury Comics website by clicking here. [It looks like pre-order is now just order, as the items were released June 16 in Europe and June 24 in the US... and this news item was received June 17 -ed.]. View a trailer for the DVD here.

Rohmer is a project born from the will of Boris Valle (piano) and Fabio Zuffanti (bass, electronic), founder members of Finisterre, the most important Italian progressive group of the last 15 years with four acclaimed albums and a great number of concerts and tours in Italy, France, Belgium, Spain, US and Mexico.

When in 2007 Finisterre broke (due to the abandon of guitar player Stefano Marelli) Fabio and Boris, soon joined by other two Finisterre's members Agostino Macor (synthetizers, mellotron, electric piano, electronic) and Maurizio Di Tollo (drums, percussion, guitars), decide to continue to work together with another name but the same desire of experimentation that countersign Finisterre's music. So Rohmer's music began where Finisterre ends and continues its work between tradition and experimentation, mixing prog, ambient, electronic, postrock, contemporary, minimalism and jazz.

At this moment Rohmer is finishing the recordings of their first album that will call Eliminienne and will be available by September 2008 on AMS/VM2000 label (distribution BTF).

From today [June 16] on Rohmer's official myspace is possible to listen to "LHZ," one song from the fortcoming album: www.myspace.com/rohmerofficial.

A reminder from Rob Metz of the shows that are coming up soon. Rob is also proud to announce the availability of the new CD Axis Shift. The disc was released at the House of Blues show on June 19th and will also be available through CD Baby.com. At CD Baby you can purchase the studio full length CD or high quality digital downloads if you prefer.

Axis Shift is another step in the evolution of Rob Metz as a player and songwriter. This CD has a wide array of guitar tones and stylistic leanings. Much more diverse than previous works. The CD has numerous instrumentation additions - piano, saxophone, orchestral strings and choir and djembe with a much more evident volume dynamic. "I hoped to make the music more accessible stylistically than Legion was. It has rock songs, ballads and some eccentric guitar tones that will appeal to the emotions."

On June 28, Metz will perform at the The Power Of Prog Festival at the Kirkland Arts Center in Clinton, NY, US.