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This blog will mostly have posts related to music and musicians. Sometimes 'deep' thoughts from other categories.

[ponderingrandomthings]

This band, Teramaze, is a great (Australian) progressive metal band.

This album, Her Halo, their fifth studio release, a concept album: '...revolves around a traveling circus and a female trapeze artist, merging heavy, thrashy riffs with lush keyboard arrangements and lighter, balladic moments.'

Interesting, because this is more of a melodic metal album than one with frequent time changes (which the band is already great at).

This album has a new vocalist, Nathan Peachey.

In case you want an idea, the themes are below.

Spoiler Alert Warning: Some twists in the story are covered in the detailed song theme (below). If you prefer a very clean listening experience, listen to the album first, before reading the section at the end.

Full Album Playlist (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GxOgZc-MP0&list=PL44gxJwuwoabS3xejRSWWe0r1cXt2NK57

Album Artists:

Dean Kennedy - Drums

Dean Wells - Guitars, Backing Vocals 

Luis Enrique Eguren - Bass

Nathan Peachey - Lead Vocals

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Generic Album Theme:

The Setting The story takes place within a traveling circus. 

The Protagonist It centers on a beautiful female trapeze artist. She is the star of the show. The crowd views her as pure. They see her as an angel. Her trapeze act is her "halo."

The Conflict She is trapped in an abusive, controlling relationship. The circus director is the villain. He manipulates her daily. She feels broken inside. Her stage persona is a lie. 

The Escape A lonely observer falls in love with her from afar. He sees her inner pain. He wants to rescue her. The lyrics follow her struggle to break free from her chains. She fights to reclaim her life. 

This is a single voice album. Not like Scenes from a Memory, with different voices for different characters.

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Detailed Song Themes (the Spoiler Alert part):

1. "An Ordinary Dream (Enla Momento)"

The Theme: Introduction and illusion.

The Story: This epic opener sets the scene inside a rundown traveling circus. It introduces the juxtaposition between the magical fantasy sold to the audience and the dark reality behind the curtains.

2. "To Love, a Tyrant"

The Theme: Manipulation and control.

The Story: The song establishes the toxic power dynamic. The ringmaster is portrayed as a controlling dictator ("king of his world") who treats the trapeze artist as a possession, triggering a dark love triangle with an observer.

3. "Her Halo"

The Theme: Deconstruction of the idol.

The Story: The title track pulls back the glamorous curtain. It dives into the trapeze artist's internal flaws and secrets, showing that her perfect public persona—her "halo"—is a mask hiding a deeply fractured soul.

4. "Out of Subconscious"

The Theme: Obsession and mental descent.

The Story: This track shifts perspective to the lonely observer (often framed as a clown or outsider in the troupe). His innocent infatuation with the trapeze artist mutates into a maddening, overwhelming fixation.

5. "For the Innocent"

The Theme: Nostalgia and lost purity.

The Story: A reflective flashback into the protagonist's past. It contrasts her current captive state with a time when she actually possessed genuine passion, beauty, and innocence before the circus consumed her.

6. "Trapeze"

The Theme: The climax and the fall.

The Story: This track serves as the central set-piece. The music builds alongside her high-flying performance, capturing the adrenaline of her flight right up until a catastrophic, fatal misstep takes place.

7. "Broken"

The Theme: Grief and consequence.

The Story: A softer, piano-driven ballad dealing with the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. The characters are left sorting through the ruins of her life, realizing everything has permanently shattered.

8. "Delusions of Grandeur"

The Theme: Rebellion and closure.

The Story: The progressive finale represents the burning down of the illusion. The remaining characters revolt against the tyrant ringmaster, rejecting their roles as "clowns" to reclaim their identity.

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[ponderingrandomthings]

A beautiful discovery - The Anchoret - "a progressive Metal project that combines prog rock sensibilities with modern metal energy. Mixing fusion sax, flute solos, mellotron vibes and heavy riffs."

Canadian band.

Currently, they have released only one album It All Began With Loneliness.

Song #1 'An Office for...' started with a burst of sound and then went bluesy for a minute (mmm...) then a surprise alto saxophone! (Wait wait! How did that manage that sound? Isn't this progmetal?) Very impressive!

Song #2 A Dead Man, has the initial section (up to a minute) with brief bursts of extreme drumming, and continues with progrock feel, followed by flute in a section.

Full album recommended! (Yes, I heard it all.)

YouTube Album Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQVXi2ysI_g&list=OLAK5uy_mKOWQx76BizCgsBIsVPacsaejE3VXiFmk&index=1

Bandcamp Link: https://theanchoretofficial.bandcamp.com/album/it-all-began-with-loneliness

Review: https://theprogressivesubway.com/2023/06/23/review-the-anchoret-it-all-began-with-loneliness/

And the artists seem very experienced:

Sylvain Auclair (vocals) (Heaven’s Cry, Karcius)

Leo Estalles (guitars)

Eduard Levitsky (bass)

James Christopher Knoerl (drums) (Aviations, Gargoyle)

Andy Tillison (keyboard, synthesizers) (The Tangent)

Recommended for fans of: Opeth, Caligula’s Horse, Pain of Salvation, King Crimson, Disillusion

[ponderingrandomthings]

Andromeda is a Swedish Progressive Metal band.

This is song #5 from its 2001 debut album - Extension of the Wish.

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Just some thoughts:

The first 3 seconds of the intro feels like a Dream Theater song.

Some keyboard parts (~1:30) in between sound like some Explorers Club song.

BUT they are original, technical and very good.

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Inspired to send this song because the way he shouts ‘embrace that which never dies’ (at 1:15) sounds powerful!

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Trivia #1: Extension of the Wish

The "Hired Gun" Vocalist

The band recorded the entire instrumental portion of the album without a permanent singer. They brought in Lawrence Mackrory (vocalist for the melodic death metal band Darkane) as a session "hired gun" just to track the vocals so they could release the record.

The Rare "Director’s Cut"

Because Mackrory was only a session member, he never toured with them. Once their permanent vocalist, David Fremberg, joined the band (2001), they completely re-recorded all the vocals. They re-released the debut album as Extension of the Wish - Final Extension so fans could hear it how it was "meant" to sound.

Signed on a Single Demo

The band formed in Malmö, Sweden in 1999. Guitar virtuoso Johan Reinholdz submitted their very first demo, Welcome to Forever, to WAR Music. The label signed them immediately based on that single tape.

The Melodeath Visual Connection

The striking, surreal cover art for Extension of the Wish was designed by Niklas Sundin. He is famously known as the guitarist for the iconic melodic death metal band Dark Tranquillity and the designer behind legendary metal album covers.

A Masterclass in "Keyboard-Prog"

The album is a staple of early-2000s European prog-metal, heavily praised for the intense, lightning-fast instrumental duels between Johan Reinholdz’s guitar work and Martin Hedin’s heavy synth keyboards.

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Album Artists

Johan Reinholdz - Guitar

Martin Hedin - Keyboards

Thomas Lejon - Drums

Gert Daun - Bass

Lawrence Mackrory - Session Vocalist

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Trivia #2: Drummer, Thomas Lejon - he is drummer for two bands; Andromeda and A.C.T.

"Spying Through the Walls"

Before joining A.C.T, Thomas’s early progressive rock band shared a rehearsal space right next door to them. He used to actively listen to A.C.T rehearsing through the thin walls, completely enamoured by their music. In 2001, when their original drummer departed, Lejon stepped right in - making the ultimate transition from literal "wall-listener" to official band member. 

The Intertwined Family Tree

The Swedish progressive scene is famously tight-knit. While Andromeda is known for a much heavier, technically aggressive prog-metal style, A.C.T leans into a theatrical, melodic, and eclectic prog-rock style reminiscent of Queen and Styx. Fans love to point out that even when A.C.T drops an unusually heavy, thundering guitar riff, it instantly sounds like Andromeda simply because Lejon’s distinct, hard-hitting drumming style anchors both.

A 2001 Double Whammy

The year 2001 was a massive turning point for him. He not only tracked the thunderous drums for Andromeda's debut album Extension of the Wish, but he also joined A.C.T that exact same year to embark on a massive European tour, instantly cementing his status as one of Sweden's finest progressive rhythm masters.

(Ya ya, This is AI-generated wording - it is still good information.)

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So - yay for music!

[ponderingrandomthings]

This artist was a surprise discovery. Larry Fleet.

Started with another song of his before (Where I Find God), and out of curiosity, checked this (next) song.

Nice, mellow, country, deep stuff.

This is from his 2023 album Earned It.

[ponderingrandomthings]

This video requires patience and a will (to complete it).

I still haven't been able to go beyond a part of this after one year because it is too dense (needs to be slowly internalised) and I don't want to make this an exercise of an obligatory completion of a video (like I do for listening to albums).

So, regardless of what you think this video is about or what biases you have:

(1) Take an AI summary of the video first, if that helps,

(2) Then flow with the unpacking, as Chris Williamson and Jordan Peterson provide.

[ponderingrandomthings]

This person - Wanhee, has many tips we can learn from.

(Introverts - this is for you - and me, obviously.)

[ponderingrandomthings]

Trigger Warning: This song hits hard! This is folk music (I didn't notice any instruments) just the beautiful, haunting vocals.

The Rankin Family were a band of Canadian siblings.

This is from their 1989 self-titled album.

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Originally based on a 19th-century poem by Helen Selina Sheridan (Lady Dufferin), the song explores the deep grief and nostalgia often experienced by Irish diaspora. This rendition captures the raw emotion of the lyrics with their signature Nova Scotian maritime harmonies. —

Lyrics:

I'm sittin' on the stile, Mary Where we once sat side by side On a bright May mornin' long ago When first you were my bride; The corn was springin' fresh and green And the lark sang loud and high And the red was on your lips, Mary And the love-light in your eye

'Tis but a step down yonder lane The village church stands near The place where we were wed, Mary I can see the spire from here But the graveyard lies between, Mary And my step might break your rest Where I laid you, darling! down to sleep With your baby on your breast

I'm very lonely now, Mary For the poor make no new friends But, O, they love the better still The few our Father sends! For you were all I had, Mary My blessing and my pride: And I've nothin' left to care for now Since my poor Mary died

Yours was the good, brave heart, Mary That still kept hoping on When the trust in God had left my soul And my arm's young strength had gone: There was comfort ever on your lip And the kind look on your brow And I thank you, Mary, for that same Though you cannot hear me now

I'm biddin' you a long farewell My Mary kind and true! But I'll not forget you, darling! In the land I'm goin' to; They say there 's bread and work for all And the sun shines always there

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Damn! It hurts so much to listen to this song. Poignant.

[ponderingrandomthings]

You are about to hear a fantasy music paradox. Leonard Rosenman, an avant garde film composer, used 100+ elite musicians and vocalists for the The Lord of the Rings 1978 soundtrack (Ralph Bakshi version), to sound completely hollow, haunting, and sparse.

He didn't design the sound to be comforting, grand, sweeping symphonies (like Howard Shore's soundtrack), abandoning traditional heroic themes. He made it a modernist, avant-garde, atonal 12-tone structures sound. (Had to look all this up! And I still don't understand it fully.)

History Of The Ring will make you feel the cold emptiness, evoking ancient dread, isolation, and corrupting of the One Ring.

An interesting (and bold) decision to make an album which makes you feel the discomfort and danger of the narrative (not focused on getting more sales)!

Leonard Rosenman had a talent for making music sound alien, futuristic, or unsettling, making him a go-to composer for major science fiction and fantasy works.

For people who venture into experimental, avant-garde music.

Album Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKkwg0_3fi4&list=OLAK5uy_k1tAMnp94XKJxLdpY_c6-LIhlptPn6HZg&index=1

Once you are done, listen to Mirthandir (song #9 in the album). There is a choir singing the song.

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BONUS: Here are some amazing inserts form the Liner Notes of the album.

[ponderingrandomthings]

There seems to be a lot of good music related to Lord of the Rings (the animated movie).

(Discovery #1) Just stumbled on to the album created by the Rankin/Bass Productions. (A company founded in 1960 by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, they did stop-motion animation.)

(Discovery #2) Music by Maury Laws.

(Discovery #3) The vocals are by Glenn Yarbrough. (I think he sounds somewhat like James Taylor - just my initial impression.) An artist that should be explored...

This is song #1: The Greatest Adventure, from the (rare) original soundtrack from The Hobbit (1977) animated by Rankin/Bass Productions. (Note: This is Not the Ralph Bakshi version.)

The album length is a mere 27 minutes 46 seconds. Short enough to listen to. It has Folk music and Singer/Songwriter elements.

Quite a good album, actually - simple and charming. I heard it twice already. I think this album will be on repeat for many people once they hear it.

Full Album Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dQ5c5SIYnc&list=PL545948224B999E8A&index=1&pp=iAQB8AUB

Also Interesting: Most comments in this YouTube playlist appreciate this work. Great to see obscure artistic creations being appreciated...

[ponderingrandomthings]

The Meshuggah song Nostrum ‘explained’ with overdubbed Konnakol (vocals) by BC Manjunath!

Konnakol: The South Indian Classical art of performing percussion syllables vocally.

Amazing music (time signature) educator - Mr Yogev Gabay.

(Interestingly, Mr Manjunath asked Yogev if he had heard Meshuggah!)

- The band:

BC Manjunath: Konnakol

Alon "Tewl" Tamir - Guitar

Lior Ozeri - Bass

Yogev Gabay - Drums

[ponderingrandomthings]

This was an accidental find!

The Wind in the Willows was an American psych-folk band.

This is the first song from their only album (1968).

The band disbanded and one of the singers formed her next band The Stillettoes in 1973.

The same singer, Deborah Harry, formed the successful band Blondie in 1974 with guitarist Chris Stein.

So - yay!

Artists:

Wayne Kirby – vocals, double bass, piano, harpsichord, organ, vibes

Deborah Harry – vocals, acoustic guitar, tamboura, tambourine, finger cymbals

Ida Andrews – flute, bassoon, piccolo, chimes, vocals

Peter Brittain – lead guitar, vocals

Paul Klein – vocals, guitar

Anton Carysforth – drums

Steve "Marvello" DePhillips – bass, vocals

Freddy – spiritual advisor (this is fascinating)

[ponderingrandomthings]

Another example of how a slow song can hit deep.

(For those unfamiliar with Porcupine Tree, I hope the cover doesn't intimidate - the music is mellow/slow. Read Steven Wilson's explanation in italics below to understand the imagery.)

(The previous example I used was Dream Theater's Space Dye Vest.)

Google tells me this is an example of '...deep melancholia, profound regret, and eerie isolation' (since the argument with his significant other will never get resolved).

Again, a friendly suggestion: Do not over-indulge in this song - it has a strong pull.

From the 2002 album In Absentia.

Artists:

Steven Wilson – vocals, acoustic & electric guitar, piano, keyboards, banjo

Richard Barbieri – analog synths, mellotron, hammond organ, keyboards

Colin Edwin – bass

Gavin Harrison – drums, percussion

Trivia:

This was when Steven Wilson rediscovered heavy metal, and listening to extreme metal such as Meshuggah and Opeth.

This album also had the influences of Avi Geffen, hence a change in sound over the previous album, Lightbulb Sun.

The previous drummer, Chris Maitland, was not available, and the replacement was Gavin Harrison. 

On the In Absentia title: It is Latin for "in absence" or "in one's absence", a term often used in relation to criminal proceedings that occur despite the absence of the defendant. Steven Wilson's explanation: "It comes from... It's related to some of the lyrics. It's about people on the fringes, on the edges of humanity and society. I have an interest in serial killers, child molesters, and wife beaters... Not in what they did, but in the psychology of why. What caused them to become unhinged and twisted? Why are they unable to empathise? It's [In Absentia] sort of a metaphor - there's something missing, a black hole, a cancer in their soul. It's an absence in the soul."

(Now, that is dark! Another such song that comes to my mind is Lazarus - beautiful music, haunting theme.)

[ponderingrandomthings]

Nick Menza's documentary is out!

In case you want to see the trailer before the full documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPo_elqi-6Y

[ponderingrandomthings]

View this post on Instagram

These are 6 book recommendations on music from Ravdeep Anand.

Posted by some serious jazz appreciators in a jazz (WhatsApp) group.

For those who are interested in a deeper study of music and not just saying 'that was a good song'.

Do comment on this video if you want the links he said he will send.

[ponderingrandomthings]

Another feelgood song from a very talented musician.

Did you know, he was Alan Parsons' choice for a touring guitarist? He's that good! Though he may be mostly known for 'Yacht Rock' and soft songs.

Admittedly, this song isn't spectacular in exemplary musicianship - and yet, when those keyboards kick in, it gives such a great vibe, that you want to hear the song just one more time.

[ponderingrandomthings]

This was a good accidental discovery (since I do not understand German).

This soft song is about deep connection, accepting of flaws, and finding solace in a partner.

The video is very strong.

Song opening: A request to get close ("Willst du mir nicht ans Herz geh'n?"), asking for warmth and connection.

The chorus: If both partners let each other be who they are, they will never let each other down (mutual acceptance).

Other parts of the song: Navigate the "streit und das versöhnen" (arguments and making up) and understand each other's quirks ("Schrägen und die Schönen").

The Rework: The 2025 rework emphasizes this message, often described as an emotional, warm song for the cold season.  

[ponderingrandomthings]

Impressive. All this (djent) music comes from a blind person.

This is Andromida's 2020 album Timeless.

(Not to be confused with the Swedish progressive metal band Andromeda.)

From the video description of this album:

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Andromida is a one man progressive metalcore project by composer and producer, Ramon Gutierrez.

Diagnosed as legally blind at a young age, Ramon naturally felt a strong connection with music. At the age of 3, he began learning the violin. While learning the violin, it quickly became apparent that he was unable to read sheet music provided by his teachers, but that didn’t stop him. He went on to learn the instrument by ear, eventually playing pieces well known composers at a very young age. At the age of 11, Ramon decided to take on the guitar. Just like the violin, he learned completely by ear, only this time he did not have any help from teachers.

Ramon is entirely self-taught on guitar. Eventually he became fascinated with the idea of writing and producing music, so he began teaching himself how to arrange songs, produce, and mix and master his own music in his late high school years. During his time in college, Ramon began taking steps to start pursuing music. After trying and failing several times to form a band, he eventually decided to take on the endeavor by himself, thus starting Andromida in 2016.

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This is an ear-friendly album. (You won't have to struggle with your attention while listening to it.)