Agents of Mercy – The Fading Ghosts of Twilight (2009) Sweden

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=4650

Formed in 2008, AGENTS OF MERCY was originally a side-project by Roine Stolt (guitars, bass, vocals) of The Flower Kings fame, whrere the goal was to create a low key, mostly acoustic based type of music.

Along the way Ned Sylvan (vocals) from Unifaun was invited to participate with vocals. However, one thing lead to another, and pretty soon the two of them found themselves involved in a creation that almost took on a life of it’s own – for some reason or other the compositions got longer and longer, more and more progressive rock elements found their way into their creations – pretty soon this had evolved into a collaborative project, and the music had changed from low key and acoustic to anything but low key and highly progressive.

With the participation of several musical friends debut album The Fading Ghosts of Twilight was issued in March 2009. Sylvan and Stolt finished some additional projects following the album release; and are taking this project on the road in the autumn of 2009 – in most cases doing a double bill with another Flower Kings side-projct; Karmakanic.

Neo-Prog • Sweden

Studio Album, released in 2009

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. The Fading Ghosts Of Twilight (7:29)
2. The Unwanted Brother (5:45)
3. Afternoon Skies (4:01)
4. Heroes & Beacons (9:06)
5. Jesus On The Barricades (4:02)
6. Waiting For The Sun (5:17)
7. A Different Sun (8:08)
8. Ready To Fly (4:53)
9. People Like Us (4:54)
10. A Soldiers Tale (11:48)
11. Bomb Inside Her Heart (4:25)
12. Mercy & Mercury (7:56)

Total Time 77:50

Line-up / Musicians

– Nad Sylvan / vocals
– Roine Stolt / guitars, bass, vocals
– Biggo Zelfries / piano, organ, mellotron, minimoog, violin
– Pat Mastelotto / drums, percussion
– Zoltan Csörsz / drums
– Jimmy Keegan / drums
– Jonas Reingold / bass

Castarnac – Little Gods (1989) U.K.

Obscure neo-proggers from the UK mid-80’s scene, CASTANARC only stuck it out for four albums. The sound is a mixture of GENESIS and YES, but the vocalist sounds so much like John Waite that if you’re a fan of his or the BABYS, it can tend to be a distraction. However, the music is more keyboard-oriented and less guitar-dominant than MARILLION, and reminds at times of SAGA. Overall, CASTANARC is a fairly decent neo-prog band, comparable in quality to PALLAS or PENDRAGON.

Neo-Prog • United Kingdom

Studio Album, released in 1989

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. The Dream (2:46)
2. Wake up (3:25)
3. Wow (1:51)
4. The sun (5:48)
5. The lunar tea room (1:43)
6. The moon (3:48)
7. You can see our house from here (1:42)
8. The wind (5:22)
9. Ahhghh (1:30)
10. Old air head (6:06)
11. Terror firma (2:07)
12. The mountain (4:58)
13. Come on you reds (4:49)
14. The tree (4:49)
15. Stream Walking (2:57)
16. The River (4:09)
17. Time to Take your Aqua Gum (2:06)
18. The Sea (5:10)
19. Small Poem for a Small Planet (1:17)
20. It’s Up To You (1:00)

Total Time: 67:23

Line-up / Musicians

– Mark Holiday / vocals
– David Powell / keyboards
– Paul Ineson / lead guitar
– Neil Duty / lead / acoustic guitar, bass
– Dave Kirkland / drums

Satellite – Evening Games (2004) Poland

The polish progressive band Collage are somewhat legendary within the genre. With several albums under their belts, their album Moonshine is considered a staple within the subgenre. Collage eventually broke up, but Wojtek Szadkowski still had the fire within him. “I wanted to go back to the beginnings, to playing music spontaneously, music which could be played without any barriers, to feel this fresh breeze of creativity again. … It was like a new beginning for me. I wanted to start from the scratch to feel creative again, and to feel a particular uncertainty, which one can experience only in the beginning of writing new music for a totally new project.”
A Street Between Sunrise And Sunset debuted on March 10, 2003. It’s follow-up, Evening Games (2006) reached number 8 at the top 100 best selling albums in Poland.

Satellite – Evening Games

Neo-Prog • Poland

Studio Album, released in 2004

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Evening Games (16:45)
2. Never Never (7:02)
3. Rush (5:47)
4. Love is around you (5:39)
5. Why (6:59)
6. Beautiful world (9:05)
7. Evening Overture (10:38)
8. Take it as it is (3:39)
9. Ill Follow the rain (bonus) (3:25)
10. You know and I know (bonus) (6:44)

Total Time: 75:43

Line-up / Musicians

– Wojtek Szadkowski / drums, percussion
– Robert Amirian / vocals
– Sarhan / guitars
– Krzysiek Palczewski / keyboards
– Przemek Zawadzki / bass guitar

La Tulipe Noir – Faded Leaves (2002) Greece

Neo-Prog • Greece

Studio Album, released in 2002

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Silence (7:29)
2. Castle On The Sand (8:27)
3. Winter In Your Heart (8:19)
4. Lost Souls Ballad (5:39)
5. Carnival In Venice (7:49)
6. A Beggar’s Tale (4:15)
7. Le Fond Du Ciel (8:13)
8. Wanderer (9:05)
9. A Memory Picture (5:42)

Total Time: 64:58
Line-up / Musicians

– Ima / vocals
– Alix / keyboards
– S Kontakis / guitars
– Y Barkoulas / guitars
– Hyde / bass
– Nick Kassavetis / drums

Guest star:
– Kostas Savvides / guitar

Galahad – Empires Never Last (2007)

One of the major names amongst the British Neo Prog scene for years. Their music blends melodic moods and with heavier parts and the strong vocals are a trademark, over an orchestrated instrumental. The medieval themes are constant on their lyrics. They have evolved to something quite a healthly new view on progressive rock. Fans of IQ, PALLAS and MARILLION should enjoy their music a lot.

Neo-Prog • United Kingdom

Studio Album, released in 2007

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. De-Fi-Ance
Part 1 (2:03)
Part 2 (3:42)
2. Termination (7:14)
3. I Could Be God (13:58)
4. Sidewinder (11:00)
5. Memories From An African Twin (4:02)
6. Empires Never Last (9:05)
7. This Life Could Be My Last (10:23)

Total Time: 61:27

Line-up / Musicians

– Stuart Nicholson / vocals
– Spencer Luckmann / drums & percussion
– Lee Abraham / bass, backing vocals
– Dean Baker / keyboards
– Roy Keyworth / guitars

Guest musician:
– Karl Groom / production & additional guitars

Quidam – Quidam (1996)

If you’re a prog fan looking for the cream of the nineties progressive releases then add Poland’s QUIDAM to your list. Influenced by MARILLION and CAMEL, this band elegantly blends harmonies, refined arrangements and diversity of orchestrations (keyboards, cello, flute, oboe, strings).

The neo prog style guitar playing is interlaced with haunting flute, cello that evokes depth, female vocals and keyboards that give an orchestral fullness to the music. Their style is a melodic, text-based (female vocals) symphonic rock. The rhythms intensify, the symphonic keyboard textures thicken and the electric guitar plays long melancholic notes. QUIDAM is certainly the main and most appreciated act to have emerged from this field, with ABRAXAS and COLLAGE.

Genre: Neo-Progressive
Origin: Poland

Studio Album, released in 1996

Track Listings

1. Sanktuarium (8:57)
2. Choæbym (7:05)
3. Bajkowy (3:42)
4. G³êboka Rzeka (8:03)
5. Nocne Widziad³a (7:21)
6. Niespe³nienie (9:44)
7. Warkocze (4:07)
8. Bij¹ce Serca (1:53)
9. P³onê (14:09)

(In English)
1. Sanctuary 8:57
2. If I Ever… 7:05
3. Like A Fairytale 3:42
4. Deep River 8:03
5. Night Visions 7:21
6. Unfulfilled 9:44
7. Plaits 4:07
8. Beating Hearts 1:53
9. I’m Burnin’ 14:09

Total Time: 67:01

Line-up/Musicians

– Emila Derkowska / vocals, backing vocal, cello, flute
– Ewa Smarzyñska / flutes
– Zbyszek Florek / piano, keyboards
– Maciek Meller / guitars
– Rafa³ Jermakow / drums, percussion
– Radek Sholl / bass guitar

Guest Musicians:

– Monika Margielewska / oboe (1,7)
– Kamila Kamiñska / backing vocals (4)
– Mirek Gil / guitar solo (2)