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Friday 18 December

Subterranean Masquerade

Photo: Yalon Schori

“Our hearts beat in a tribal rhythm” Subterranean Masquerade, which until not long ago was considered a cult studio project for fine taste followers (published by the end records, Vicisolum), has transformed over the last two years into an exciting, colorful live act, mixing the traditions of heavy metal together with the aesthetics of world music performance, spiritual punk and pure Rock’N’Roll.

Praised by music journalists all over EU, Subterranean Masquerade have taken over the stages as supporter acts for Orphaned Land, Therion, Sons of Apollo, Dirty Shirts, Harakiri for the Sky and many more – showcasing a distinctly audacious execution of their complex songwriting while maintaining an almost magical grip on their audience, reviewed as rave parties for metalheads. Now, the band is heading towards new grounds.

With their new album “Mountain Fever”, recorded between Golan Heights to Fascination Street Studio (engineered by David Castillo) and mixed by Jens Bogren (Leprous, Katatonia, Opeth), Subterranean Masquerade keep on pushing the balance between pioneering experimentalism to their own take on nowadays pop culture and its manifestation in the middle east, revealing an album 54 minutes long, comprised of African and Balkan brass sections, Arab violins, extended vocal techniques and guest appearances by colleagues while exploring radio-friendly hooks that emerge out of heavy riffs and polychromatic arrangements.

Davidavi Dolev Vocals
Tomer Pink – Guitars
Or Shalev – Guitars
Omer Fishbein – Guitars
Shai Yallin – Keyboards
Golan Farhi – Bass
Jonathan Amar – Drums 

Novena

Novena is a collection of misshapen humans who make the air wiggle, usually in a way that is unpleasant. We recommend keeping a minimum social distance of 2 time zones from Novena. If you spot Novena in the wild, please call an adult for help.

Ross Jennings – Vocals
Gareth Mason – Vocals
Harrison White – Guitar/Keys
Dan Thornton – Guitar
Moat Lowe – Bass
Cameron Spence – Drums

Delta

Delta

Photo: Benjamín Lechuga

Delta is a Progressive Rock/Metal band born in Chile in 2003. During the 17 years of their career, the band has released 5 LPs, 2 DVDs, 2 EPs and several singles which are available on digital platforms. The band has done lots of national tours and some international gigs including important festivals such as Progressive Nation at Sea 2014 amongst others.

Delta is Paula Loza on vocals, Andrés Rojas on drums, Marcos Sanchez on bass, Benjamín Lechuga on guitar and Nicolás Quinteros on keyboards. The band is now in the promotion process of their newly released single Oceans and their next LP called “Fears” that is scheduled for 2021 and will be released in association with WARNER MUSIC and IGED RECORDS.

Paula Loza – Vocals
Nicolás Quinteros – Keyboards and backing vocals
Marcos Sánchez – Bass and backing vocals
Benjamín Lechuga – Guitars and backing vocals
Andrés Rojas – Drums

Jo Quail

Photo: Peter Troest

Jo Quail is an internationally acclaimed composer and virtuoso cellist from London, UK. Equally at home on stage solo, with bands – or in collaboration with choir and orchestra – she combines an eloquent mastery of her instrument with innovative looping techniques, to realize her complex, evocative music for audiences worldwide.

She freely crosses the boundaries between genres, awakening listener emotions, and taking audiences into uncharted territory with each concert. Her exuberant, celebratory performance style has won her a fanbase in the contemporary classical world as well as among enthusiasts of post-rock, metal and electronica.

Jo has released four albums, three EPs and a live DVD. The release of ‘Exsolve’ in 2018 was followed by her collecting the ‘Limelight’ award at the Prog magazine awards. The recognition of Jo’s work has also developed in the live sphere, including many festival appearances across Europe, two appearances at the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the invitation of Robert Smith for his Meltdown curation, and several tours supporting MONO, Amenra, Boris, Myrkur, Battles, Caspian, and Joep Beving among others.

Now at a stage where she is touring throughout Europe and internationally, Jo enters 2021 with composition and performance uniting in her most ambitious project yet: April will see her take on the prestigious Roadburn Festival’s “Commissioned Music” project performing her new work The Cartographer – an honour bestowed only on artists who have the vision to create something truly unique.

Jo Quail – Cello

Parazit

Parazit is a group originally from Guadalajara, Mexico. They awake attention from rock, jazz, fusion, progressive, and noise lovers, which are only a few genres that describe their musical style; however, there is no desire to pigeonhole their music.

They deliver an apparent musical disarray where everything has been meticulously thought out and orchestrated in each of their pieces. Made up by dissonant sounds and a mix of colours that result in this instrumental project that plays incessantly with metric, rhythm, key, dynamic, harmony, and sounds that break the common musical schemes. There are no rules. The result is music that offers an authentic proposal in each of their four albums, A Fractal Journey of Light and Noise (2012), Amateur Radio in Space (2015), Paradigm Paralysis (2017) and Aural Coincidence (2018).

Giving much to talk about among musical lovers and connoisseurs, they have accomplished the transmission of the emotional see-saw of these three musicians, who, during the length of their career, have shared stages with great international artists. Parazit travelled to Europe in 2017, with more than 25 dates across Europe, and participated in the Resurrection Fest in Spain, one of the biggest international metal festivals in the world.

During 2020 lock-down period the band has used the time for creative purposes going back to the studio to work on the yet to be titled 5th album which is going to be out in 2021.

Kello Gonzalez – Bass
Jose Macario – Guitar
Christian Gomez – Drums

Toehider

Toehider is sort of like a band, it’s more like a collaboration between a musician – Mike Mills and an illustrator – Andrew Saltmarsh. New album “I Like It!” is out now via Birds Robe Records

Micheal Mills – guitar and vocals

Deafening Opera

The German progressive rock band Deafening Opera was formed in Munich in 2006 by lead singer Adrian Daleore, guitarists Moritz Frey and Thomas Moser and bassist Christian Eckstein. It was joined by Konrad Diesch on drums and Tilman Eispert.

After their debut “Synesteria” (2009) – a progressive metal album -, Deafening Opera’s style moves towards progressive rock with the release of the EP “25.000 Miles” (2011). This EP serves as the basis for the album “Blueprint” (2013). The lyrics, in English and French, tell the story of a life and the construction of a man. Soundwise, it mixes classic art-rock influences with modern synthesizers being in service of beautiful vocal melodies.

Their latest release “Let silence fall” (2018) is a complex concept album that sums up Deafening Opera’s efforts to continuously innovate and shape their sound. They establish a musical language of their own, sometimes heavy sounding, sometimes sentimental or even joyous with a huge diversity of sounds and detailed arrangements.

Moritz Frey – Guitar
Thomas Moser – Guitar
Adrian Daleore – Vocals
Konrad Diesch – Drums
Christian Eckstein – Bass

art against agony

Art Against Agony is an instrumental progressive jazz/metal band, founded 2012 in Stuttgart, Germany. In 2014 the band released its debut album ‘three short stories’ on Vault Records, which was commented by the German press as ‘a journey from a metal concert to an absinth jazz-bar’ and was categorized as ‘prog-jazz-experimental-brainfuck-metal’.

In 2016, the band released its second album “The Difference Between A Duck and a Lobster” and toured Europe and Russia for the first time. In 2017, they released two EPs, “The Forgotten Story”, which showcases five songs from their first album transformed into an entirely new shape, and another EP called “Russian Tales”, followed by a tour through Russia and Brazil.

The band released in 2018 their third studio album “Shiva Appreciation Society”, involving their new member ‘the_maximalist’, an Indian mridangam player, merging classical Indian sounds and rhythms with progressive metal and jazz. 2018 was concluded by a European Tour and sharing the stage with German math-metal legends ’Panzerballett’. In 2019, the band supported ’Haken’ for their European Summer Vectour. June 2020 saw the release of the bands first electronic prog EP, called “Solanaceae”.

Art Against Agony is an art project, not just a regular band: Besides its experimental musical endeavours, the project focuses on photographic and videographic art as well as performance art. All members of the projects wear masks because the philosophy of art against agony considers every focus on bodily features as insignificant regarding to the creation of art in the project. The members use pseudonyms and insist to stay anonymous.

the_sorcerer
the_twin
the_malkavian
the_maximalist
the_machinist

Saturday 19 December

Chaos Divine

Photo: Ryan Felton

As one of Australia’s finest progressive acts, Chaos Divine have secured their own legacy over the course of 15 years. With band members recently entering into the world of parenthood for the first time, “Legacies” has not only emerged as the most fitting title for their just-released fourth album, but the theme that threads everything together.

Since their inception they have pushed the envelope with a series of stunning releases that would define them. They forged their name as one of the must-see emerging heavy acts with their relentless debut Ratio (2006) and from there continued to progress exponentially. Defying expectations with three phenomenal albums back-to-back (and one hell of a cover of Toto’s Africa) Chaos Divine’s musical output has been nothing short of heavyweight. Each Chaos Divine album has built upon the one that came before it. 2008’s Avalon took the heaviness of Ratio to lofty new places. Its follow-up The Human Connection (2011) was the perfect bridge between sheer heaviness and the increasingly more progressive sound that would define Colliding Skies.

As live performers, Chaos Divine ascended from the ranks of a ‘local band’ to that of a national and then international touring act – growing from sought-after support into a towering headliner. They have earned coveted spots on festivals in Australia and Europe, have been met with chart positions, radio play, and a global following that is beyond loyal. Now, led by the soaring feature track Beacon, Chaos Divine return with “Legacies” in hand – their most ambitious, virtuosic album, and a testament to their own enduring legacy as Australia’s most formidable progressive band.

David Anderton – Lead Vocals
Ryan Felton – Guitars/Back-up Vocals
Simon Mitchell – Guitars
Michael Kruit – Bass
Tim Stelter – Drums

voyager

Photo: Dark Spirit Photography

If there is one word to describe Voyager’s most current form, it is colourful. After years of evolution and amassing worldwide influences that mould the Perth/Australia quintet’s unique sound, Voyager have truly come into their own in recent years, crafting a path of success both on and off stage.

The genre-transfiguring act blend new-romantic and 80’s infused vocals, keytar solos, technical yet melodic fretwork, groovy bass and bombastic drumming efforts. All of which make Voyager the pop/prog/power/rock/metal force that they are renowned as today.

Danny Estrin – Lead Vocals/Keys/Programming
Simone Dow – Guitars
Alex Canion – Bass/Backing Vocals
Scott Kay – Guitars
Ashley Doodkorte – Drums

Anima tempo

Anima Tempo is a 4-men Mexican band catalogued as Progressive Death Metal, founded in 2010 and signed by Famined Records. Anima Tempo has shared the stage with bands like Between The Buried And Me (In Mexico, Germany and France), Dragonforce, Galneryus, Textures, Sabaton, Septicflesh, Veil Of Maya, Vision Divine, Soilwork, Hypno5e, Amorphis, Persefone, Voyager.

Anima Tempo appeared at festivals like Wild Metal Fest 2011 (Cancún, Mexico), Hell And Heaven 2016 (Mexico), Mega Prog 2018 (Mexico) and Euroblast 2016 & 2019 (Germany), Everloud 2018 (Japan), ProgPower Europe 2019 (Netherlands ) and Ready For Prog 2019 (France).

Their debut album “Caged in Memories” (2016) won the Kalani Award in 2017 for the best Mexican progressive metal album. It has been considered by Headbangers Latin America as one of the best 15 Latin American metal albums and among the best 30 albums pf progressive metal worldwide in 2016. In addition, ProgSphere considered this album as one of the best 16 metal albums worldwide.

Anima Tempo has acted in countries such as Finland, Netherlands, France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Costa Rica, Japan.

Anima Tempo won the 1st place on the contest “Rockin in Finland 2010” awarded by the Finnish Embassy and was finalist in the “WOA Metal Battle Mexico 2012”.

Gian Granados – Vocals / Guitars
Dante Granados – Guitars – Synths
Pável Vanegas – Bass
Antonio Guerrero – Drums

Simen Sandnes and friends

I am a drummer who likes people. These are my friends.

Simen Sandnes
Ross Jennings
Nicolas A. Martin
Filippo Rosati
Emil Bringsli
Wes Thrailkill
Johan J. Bakken
Mix: Karim Sinno
Master: Maor Appelbaum

rannoch

Originating from the West Midlands, Rannoch offer a refreshing take on the progressive death metal subgenre with focused extremity, fastidious technical precision, and rich song-writing skills. Swathes of ethereal clean vocals, dark ambience and dynamic shifts accompany sledgehammer brutality & savagely intense screams.

Founding member Ian Gillings has masterminded a sound that presents a distinctly home-grown slant on musical extremity, referencing such artists as Ihsahn, Opeth & Depeche Mode.

Following an encouraging reception to their initial demo, 2008 saw the release of the self-produced debut EP ‘Talamh Màthair’, gaining an overwhelmingly positive reception in the press and securing a string of live dates that would result in Rannoch winning the West Midlands finals of Bloodstock Open Air Festival’s New Blood Stage competitions.

Rannoch’s debut album was released on Eulogy Media (Damim, talanas, Spires, Agonyst) at the end of 2013 and received fantastic reviews far and wide, including a massive 4.5/5 from Zero Tolerance and 7.5/10 from Terrorizer.

A follow-up EP entitled ‘Age of the Locust’ was released in 2015, featuring cuts left over from the BTW sessions.
Now, after five years of gestation, Rannoch reveal their latest offering, ‘Reflections Upon Darkness’. With a more evident polar shift between intensity and chilled movements, Rannoch push the extremity between these two planes further than ever before. Accompanying a more bombastic approach, with the inclusion of grander soundscapes of orchestral and electronic elements, is a more introspective lyrical path. The album explores themes of the obsessive, the lost, and sacrifice, ending with the 39-minute suite, “Darkness”, comprised of the complete epic poem by Lord Byron.

Ian Gillings – Guitar, Synth and Vocals
Richard Page – Guitar
Paul Lloyd – Guitar and Vocals
Alex Micklewright – Drums (session for this recording)

https://youtu.be/nbKhbk69nSI

Raphael weinroth-Browne

Photo: Jonathan Lorange

Canadian cellist/composer Raphael Weinroth-Browne has forged a unique career and international reputation as a result of his musical creativity and versatility. Not confined to a single genre or project, his work encompasses a multitude of styles and combines influences from contemporary classical, Middle Eastern, and progressive metal music.

As a solo artist and with his groundbreaking cello/voice duo The Visit, he incorporates unusual tunings and techniques with electronic effects. In kamanche-cello ensemble Kamancello, he embraces spontaneity in the duo’s improvised performances. For over a decade, he has been composing music and playing cello in the acclaimed progressive chamber-folk trio Musk Ox. With the Norwegian progressive metal/rock band Leprous, he has successfully integrated classical-style cello playing and his own unique sound into the band’s music, both live and in studio.

Raphael’s debut solo album “Worlds Within” was released in 2020 to widespread critical acclaim.

Raphael Weinroth-Browne – Cello

Lux terminus

Lux Terminus
Lux Terminus
Lux Terminus (translated as “the light at the end”) was formed in 2016 by three musicians with a shared vision to create unique and powerful instrumental music. Formed by keyboardist Vikram Shankar (Redemption, Silent Skies), bassist Brian Craft, and drummer Matthew Kerschner, Lux Terminus plays a style of piano-driven progressive rock, informed equally by metal, jazz fusion and cinematic music. After performing in various bands together over the years, Vikram, Brian and Matt decided to combine their established chemistry and diverse musical interests to create a new project, focused on developing a unique musical approach in a growing and ever-changing progressive music landscape.

After almost two years of writing and recording, Lux Terminus released its debut full-length album, “The Courage to Be”, in August of 2018. Over the course of 10 tracks, the album highlights the band’s unique blend of progressive music and features a 21-minute orchestrally driven epic, high-octane jazz fusion, and a variety of other diverse influences including swing and electronic music. “The Courage to Be” includes guest performances from several acclaimed musicians: vocalist Anneke Van Giersbergen (ex-The Gathering, Devin Townsend Project, VUUR, et al.), guitarist Timo Somers (Delain, Vengeance), and cellist Raphael Weinroth-Browne (Leprous, Musk Ox). The album was produced by the band and mastered by Brett Caldas-Lima (Ayreon, The Gentle Storm, Devin Townsend Project). The album was financed by a crowdfunding campaign which reached its funding goal in under a week.

Vikram Shankar  Keyboards
Matthew Kerschner  Drums
Brian Craft  Bass

damian wilson

Photo: Mark van den Hoven

Damian Wilson is a songwriter and vocalist who has appeared on over 70 separate album releases.

Damian is widely known in the rock genre, for bands and projects such as Headspace, Ayreon and Rick Wakeman’s English Rock Ensemble.

As a solo artist, he has released 5 solo albums.

Damian Wilson