Riverside - Love, Fear and the Time Machine

I have to give Iris Hidding a huge amount of credit for getting me into Riverside thanks to her blogsite, Grendel Headquarters. Formed in 2001 in Warsaw, Poland by Maruisz Duda, Piotr Grudzinski, Piotr Kozieradzki, and Jacer Melnicki, they both had a love and share of both the Progressive Rock and Heavy Metal sounds. They have released five albums going back from 2003 to 2013. Last year they released their sixth album entitled Love, Fear and the Time Machine on the InsideOut Music label in the fall.

It is also the last album to feature guitarist Piotr Grudzinski who sadly passed away this year in February of a sudden cardiac arrest. It’s a sad loss for Riverside. They are going to release a 2-CD set on October 21st entitled Eye of the Soundscape which is going to be a compilation with new mixes from 2007 to 2008 from their two previous albums and unreleased material that Grudzinski did between January and February of this year. While it is very sad that it is hard to believe that Grudzinski is no longer with the Riverside family, the sixth album which is now reissued in a CD/DVD format with a 5.1 mix done by Bruce Soord of The Pineapple Thief, it is to honor and dedicate the memory of Piotr Grudzinski.

The opener, Lost (Why Shouldn’t I Be Frightened by a Hat?) begins with the first 2-minutes and 34-second of organ-driven sounds, harmonizing background and scat vocals followed by an acoustic rhythm before it comes a heavier sound kicks into overdrive with a Floydian-sque sound by Grudzinski. Under The Pillow features a clean guitar rhythm through a delay/reverb effect.

It has a psychedelic sound and featuring a darker melody as the lyrics with dealing of being you own worst enemy. Both Mariusz and Piotr work well like an electrical spark of high voltage on Bass and Guitar while keyboardist Lapaj brings forth the moog and organ to create the nightmare sequences throughout his improvisation. #Addicted is a haunting composition.

Beginning with Mariusz’s sinister bass riff as the lyrics talk about the obsessive behavior of social networking and the price we pay from it of our 15-minutes of fame. But it also deals with wearing the mask as it becomes your protective shield and not knowing who you are behind the mask you are wearing underneath it. The first 2-minutes of Saturate Me is an instrumental introduction as Riverside have complete control.

With heavier guitar distortions and bass riffs, it moves into a spacey/electronic melody. Riverside deal on the lyrics throughout the melody of being invisible from the public eye and not feeling you are one anymore. Afloat reminisces Tool’s Lateralus-era as Mariusz channels not just Justin Chancellor, but Riverside honoring both Mike Oldfield and Italian Prog-maestros Goblin.

The DVD contains both the sessions in which the band were working, music video for Found (The Unexpected Flaw of Searching), trailers for the album which have an eerie David Lynch atmosphere and Twilight Zone-sque, and the music video which is on the DVD, has this homage to the late Storm Thorgerson as if Riverside wanted to honor and stay true to the vision of Storm’s vision and they nailed it on Found.

The 5.1 mixing that Soord on here is amazing. It contains five tracks during the Day sessions as a bonus audio track in hi-res stereo mix, and I can hear the instruments flowing in both sides as he nailed it down one by one. I wish I could go on about it, but it’s not just a great album, but one of the strongest, emotional, haunting, and spectacular albums I’ve listened to. 

While it was a sad loss of the death of guitarist Piotr Grudzinski and this was his last album with the band, it is a moving farewell to him. If you want to delve deep into Riverside’s music, then this is the album to get you started. And it's worth recommended.

Barclay James Harvest - Everyone Is Everybody Else (Deluxe Edition)

This 2-CD/DVD consists of Barclay James Harvest’s fifth album released in 1974 entitled Everyone Is Everybody Else. Originally released in the summer of that year on the Polydor label and reissued by Esoteric Recordings, the group parted with their previous label Harvest Records after putting out four orchestrated and symphonic albums and received word-of-mouth. The band were signed to Polydor as they had to pay off their debt to their old label due to using an orchestra on tour.

Recorded for only a month from March to April at Olympic Studios with Rodger Bain who’s best known for his work with Budgie, Black Sabbath, and Judas Priest, wanted the band to give it a strong and powerful sound and move away from their orchestral roots that was shown from their EMI days. You can imagine both Bain and the group didn’t get along and never saw eye to eye with one another. And while there was tension between the two of them, the album is a real gem.

You have their own take of the Bee Gees psychedelic-era with The Great 1974 Mining Disaster. You could tell John Lees has amazing ideas of constructing the melodies of New York Mining Disaster 1941 and going into a mainstream approach and dealing with the political commitment of the 1974 UK Miners’ Strike. The Rhodes riff gets down and dirty as Woolly lays down the rhythm for a dramatic and haunting take before the mellotron swings in to soar of take of the disastrous mission of the Apollo 13 on Negative Earth.

It reminded me at times of a band called Jonesy and their song Mind of the Century and it has these riffs that I can imagine BJH took that as an homage on the riff and take it into the voyage of Space and the crew members decided to head on home. Then, Barclay head into a hard rock approach with power riffs between organ and guitar followed by ascending ‘trons and folk-rock acoustic melodies as it deals with being in with the people that were pretty now are nuts in this Crazy City.

The soaring guitar lines up into the heavens gives me chills with their touch of the Beatles as an homage featuring Woolly’s Mellotron taking the angelic sounds with the harmonic wonders. Lees takes a bit of the Harrison and Lennon-sque guitar styles of the Abbey Road sessions followed by Pritchard’s drumming following to reach the climatic end on See Me, See You.

Barclay James Harvest take into the styles of Jackson Browne as Les takes over on vocals on the deals of the working-class man with the acoustic country rock that would have given the Eagles a bowing down moment with Poor Boy Blues while the closer For No One is chilling and filled with emotions and the deal for peace. Lees’ sings “Then lay down your bullshit and your protests/then lay down your governments of greed/take a look of what lies all around you/then pray God we can live in peace.”

It hits you hard in the gut because the lyrics are true and powerful of not of what happening, but happening right now and the struggle for peace is still out there and there’s no hope, but the fight will live on. Lees and Woolly take you share hands and raise up to sing-along this amazing composition and its closes the album off with a powerful chorus and hypnotic wah-wah solo that Lees’ does that will make you just be in amazement.

The new stereo mixes which are on Disc 2 and on the DVD for the 5.1 mix, which are done by Craig Fletcher and the authoring of the DVD done by Ray Shulman of Gentle Giant, is very interesting to hear. Now the multi-tracks on For No One, are missing, which is a bummer, so what we have are 8 tracks of the new mixes including the bonus ones. It's almost very much as if a piece of the puzzle is missing on here.

I can hear some parts on the opener, Child of the Universe that I never heard before including the swooshing Moog, Bells, and the crashing of the cymbals from what I’m hearing and while it didn’t make it on the original mix, it still is powerful and gives it a moving melody on the loss of a violent ways of man. The Mellotron comes in front and Lees’ guitar in the rhythm for Negative Earth as Mel’s drums gives it a real punch of the dramatic pulse of the rhythm.

The acoustic guitars are coming left and right for Les’ rhythm picked guitar on Poor Boy Blues and the same thing with on the situation of the local mining and cotton industries with a dosage of Pink Floyd’s Fat Old Sun homage on Mill Boys. The bonus tracks on here contains the U.S. single versions along with a new mix and a remake of Child of the Universe, the original mixes of The Great 1974 Mining Disaster and Negative Earth.

But one of the bonus tracks which features the late great Stuart “Woolly” Wolstenholme to take over. Maestoso (A Hymn in the Roof of the World) which was recorded at Olympic and mixed at Trident Studios, is a powerful and symphonic rock with an epic sound as Woolly himself takes a shining and roaring beauty that just sends chills down the spine.

When the album was released, it was the first album not to include any songwriting from Woolly himself so that’s why when he wrote this, Producer Rodger Bain felt it was “out of place”. Woolly would later do an expanded version of the song after he left Barclay to pursue a solo career with his 1980 album, Maestoso. The group went on tour on May 31^st to promote the album along with Rare Bird from Newcastle City Hall and right into June where they recorded the Live album at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane on June 30, 1974.

The late great radio DJ John Peel was very impressed of what he heard and he would mark each track of the album as a standout. Listening to both the original and new stereo mixes of Everyone is Everybody Else is one of Barclay James Harvest’s masterpiece. The 20-page booklet contains photos of the band, promos, and sleeve notes by Keith and Monika Domone who have done other liner notes for the Esoteric reissues of the Barclay catalog.

It also includes a poster of the upcoming album that the back cover includes the lyrics also

Here, listening to this album again shows why they were overlooked and ahead of their time in the history of the genre of the Progressive Rock movement.

Leon Alvarado - The Future Left Behind

Now I’ve always been a massive supporter for up-and-coming bands and artists who taking the torch of the Progressive genre and making sure it doesn’t burn out. Whether it would be from Bent Knee, Lainey Schooltree, MoeTar, Blood Ceremony, Purson, or Sanguine Hum, I always wanted to make sure that they are not going to give it up, but making sure the flames still burn and keep on burning forever and ever. One of the artists that for me, I’ve always wanted to discover but didn’t have the time, was an artist name Leon Alvarado.

He has released two albums and two EP’s. And has worked with people such as Bill Bruford, Trey Gunn, and Jerry Marotta to name a few. This year he’s released his new album entitled The Future Left Behind released on the Melodic Revolution Records label. I remember it was June of this year where I would always go for my morning or afternoon walks and again I came back home and saw a package in the mail from Glass Onyon.

I opened it and it was Leon’s album. Now as I’ve mentioned before in my introduction, I’ve wanted to discover his music and now here we are in 2016 and I have delved into the musical world of Leon Alvarado. Based on the short story, it is an instrumental concept album that tell the story that our home planet Earth is now an empty and polluted area and the overpopulation itself in which the people are living is to work toward a brighter future.

Leon brought along people such as Billy Sherwood (Yes, CIRCA) on Lead and Rhythm Guitars, Rick Wakeman on Moog and Extra Keyboards, and Johnny Bruhns (CIRCA) on Acoustic Guitar. And to add the story and view of our polluted world is narrator Steve Thamer who is brilliant in what is going on throughout the rest of the short story. And with Pink Floyd engineer Andy Jackson lending a helping hand, you could tell that is a perfect combination.

Listening to the entire album in 42 minutes, is like a Movie in your mind. It has a dystopian atmosphere and I can imagine Leon took inspirations including Rick Wakeman’s 1974 concept album of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Pink Floyd, Vangelis, Yes, and Gandalf’s To Another Horizon. And not to mention, Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic, Blade Runner and the 1966 TV series Star Trek for inspiration.

It has the New Age, Symphonic, Ambient/Atmospheric voyage and rhythmic adventuristic quality. I love how Sherwood’s guitar takes on a life of its own as he creates these movements in the styles of an echoing reverb to rattle the mountains with an rumble thanks to Leon’s drumming technique. There are moments on here that are ascending, ominous, dramatic, epic, and futuristic with swirling textures that Wakeman brings on the extra keyboards to give it life.

It does feel like a continuation to Verne’s story but set in Outer Space as Rick himself captures the effects of the concept and brings it to parallel universes as you’ve seen or heard before. Johnny Bruhns’ classical concerto on his guitar is a romantic and warmth finger-picking virtuoso as he gives the sun a chance to rise for a new morning and a new dawn. There are times he channels Mason Williams and Tony Iommi with the string-section on the keyboards for the light to hit to wake-up to start up fresh.

Throughout my second and seventh listen, I was completely blown away and Alvarado’s music has taken my knowledge and experience of the journey for our Earth to seek out where it will go next. As Captain Jean-Luc Picard says at the final episode, All Good Things on Star Trek: The Next Generation, “And the Sky’s the limit.”

Junior's Eyes - Battersea Power Station

This 2-CD set contains the re-mastered and expanded edition release of Junior’s Eyes only debut album, Battersea Power Station. Originally released in the summer of 1969 on the Regal Zonophone label and reissued by Esoteric Recordings last year, the band was formed by guitarist Mick Wayne in early 1968 after the break-up of the psychedelic band, The Tickle. He brought along John “Candy” Carr on Drums, John “Honk” Lodge on Bass, and Steve Chapman on Drums. And then, lead vocalist Graham “Grom” Kelly on Lead Vocals and Organist John Redfern.

And the band recorded their debut with Tony Visconti on the production level at Trident Studios in which they recorded their debut. Listening to the suite of Battersea Power Station, it is an overlooked and underrated achievement that Mick Wayne’s concept based on the inspirations of the talismans and the Tibetan Book of the Dead with a dosage of dealing with dystopian atmosphere of War, Peace, and Corruption.

With a dosage of The Fugs to go with it. You have the swirling psychedelic adventure into the abyss thanks to Mick’s Guitar heading towards the spiral vertigo of terror of essence of Status Quo’s psych-beginnings with Playtime while the organ-mellotron shuffling 12-bar blues delves into the Graham Bond Organization and obscure prog band, Gracious for So Embarrassed.

You can hear the folky inspirations thrown in for an acoustical ballad for the beaches of sandy gold turned heavy rock following by the thumping bass and acoustic/electric guitars that both Mick and John do when they go into a harder sound for a couple of seconds and then back into the dreamy beauty of My Ship. Opener, Total War starts off with a toast and applause before crashing into a hysteria of insanity as Mick gets the guitar heading into insanity as John Carr follows him with a mind-blowing crescendo.

It segues into Circus Days with a mysterious bass riff, jaw harp, and the psychedelic childhood of going to the big tent and seeing the greatest show and reaching adulthood that it’s all gone for all the years that went away. And the lyrics deal with that you can’t let go of the past and while there’s nothing you can do about it, the memories of going to see the Clowns, Acrobats, and Animals are inside your head and never forgetting them.

Then Junior’s Eyes go into outer space with a mind-blowing improvisation featuring a clapping rhythm section, tambourine, lead solos, and thunderous percussion work for a short little minute to end with the styles of the Syd Barrett-era of Pink Floyd’s Interstellar Overdrive of the Freak In. The second disc contains the singles, demos, and sessions they did for John Peel’s Top Gear on October of 1968.

There are two tracks of Mick’s original band, The Tickle. They released singles both the A & B sides in November of 1967. Subway (Smokey Pokey World) and Good Evening are psychedelic nuggets of hidden treasures that bring to mind of both the Sgt. Pepper-era of The Beatles and The Pretty Things. Junior’s Eyes debut single featuring pianist Rick Wakeman of Yes and The Strawbs, goes into a humoristic pop brass adventure for the morning with Mr. Golden Trumpet Player.

Black Snake is an eerie composition featuring pounding piano rhythm, alarming vocals and sinister guitars and spooky organ work, gives it a peculiar effect. The two tracks for the BBC Sessions of Top Gear contains the killer roar of Hang Loose and the upward rocking punch of By The Tree, it shows how much not just Junior’s Eyes were amazing, but why they were so far ahead of their time.

The band would later be a backing band for David Bowie with the release of his breakthrough hit in honor the Moon Landing, Space Oddity in 1969 and for one of his BBC Sessions which was released in 2000 2-CD set entitled, Bowie at the Beeb. The band broke up after their performance at the Marquee Club on February 3, 1970 and it was on the same night John Cambridge introduced Bowie to Mick Ronson and the rest is history.

Mick would later be a backing guitarist for Joe Cocker and then became a painter. After doing session work in America, he returned to London to be added with the proto-punk band The Pink Fairies and then left the music industry. He would be later a guitar teacher and continued his work with his painting. It wasn’t until 1994 when he was about to do a comeback album, but it never happened. He died tragically in a house fire while he was staying with his producer.

The 20-page booklet contains sleeve notes about the history of the band by David Wells and Mick’s daughter Sarah Wayne about the legacy her father was doing and talking to people on what Mick had done to lend support. As she says in the end of her notes “One of the best things about the music is that it reflects the musicians behind it – it has great presence and lots of energy!”

And believe me, when you listen to the expanded edition of Battersea Power Station, there is a lot of energy and power that Junior’s Eyes brought with their only debut release. Ahead of its time, and psychedelic heavy rock power at its best,  it would have been very interesting if they had continued to move forward and release a few more albums up their sleeve.

Lobate Scarp - Time and Space

Lobate Scarp is a 5-piece band from Los Angeles, California that launched back ten years ago. Their music is a combination between AOR (Album-Orientated Rock), Funk, Prog, Pop, and Space-Rock opera. Their music has this combination of Electric Light Orchestra, Yes, Styx, Starcastle, Spock’s Beard, Genesis, Pink Floyd, and The Beatles. When you listen to their debut album Time and Space that was released back in 2012, close your eyes and imagine it is 1977 all over again.

The album took five years to make and with fifty musicians to record the album from start to finish. The band considers; Adam Sears on Lead Vocals and Keyboards, Andy Catt on Bass Guitar, Hoyt Binder on Guitar, Dustin Prince on Drums, and Adrienne Woods on Acoustic and 5-string Electric Viola. The seven compositions are written by Adam himself along with two of the pieces written by Lonny White (Time and Space and Jacob's Ladder).

It’s for me one of the best debuts I have listened to. Adam and his crew mates have brought along something special to the table. It’s very much as I’ve mentioned on some of the albums again and again whether it’s a conceptual album, the soundtrack and movie inside your head. And with four centerpieces on here, you will definitely take a journey with Lobate Scarp.

The Contradiction gives the melodic and soaring melodies between the strings and the rhythm section that combines the twists of Jon Anderson’s Olias of Sunhillow-era and a warmth finale as Sears heads into the styles of Vince Guaraldi followed by Wood’s Viola. Meanwhile, the watery synths intro on Moment begins with a world music with an Egyptian rhythm as they channel the styles of Peter Gabriel’s score for The Last Temptation of Christ and then the last 2 minutes and 50 seconds go into very much of a sequel of Games Without Frontiers.

The opening 15-minute title track epic is perhaps one of the most spectacular and unbelievable compositions I’ve listened to. With it’s eerie violin intro to it’s Jazz-Funk soaring grooves, Lobate Scarp lay down the adventure of a life time. They go from Frank Zappa and The Beatles Abbey Road-era with a psychedelic twist as Hoyt’s guitar thrills and excites the time travel towards other dimensions.

Wood’s electric violin brings to mind of David LaFlamme of It’s A Beautiful Day. And then, the climatic section comes as the rhythm sets the course for another time jump to make the course for light speed as if they created their own take of the Millennium Falcon filled with astonishing epics.

And then Catt’s bass pays homage to Bootsy Collins and the late great Chris Squire as his sound reminisces of the Rickenbacker 4001. Beginning of Us is their take of going into a Progressive Pop voyage. I can hear the sounds of Supertramp’s Crime of the Century-era, City Boy, and Adam Sears channeling Jeff Lynne.

Reminded me of course The Beatles that meets the guitar structure of Starcastle but with a killer Howe-sque and homage to Pink Floyd’s Shine On You Crazy Diamond as Nate pays homage to David Gilmour for an atmospheric fill of a bluesy cry. I had an amazing time listening to Time and Space. And with Lobate Scarp, I will keep an eye out.

This year, they have announced they are working on a follow up to their debut with an album called, You Have It All on they are raising funds on Kickstarter to reach their goal up to $36,090 and they have 18 days to go. So please help them out and check out the funds to show support and make sure the flame of the Progressive Rock genre will keep on going and never burn out.

Here is their Kickstarter website:

(https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/timeandspace/you-have-it-all-a-new-prog-rock-adventure)

My Tribute to Gail Simone

It was May 2012 and I was still a student at Houston Community College in the Spring Branch area. After I had finished my Final Exam for both Ear Training and Music Theory II, I remember I was going to go see The Avengers at the Edwards Greenway Grand Palace Stadium 24 & RPX. But before I went there my Mom and I agreed to go to Barnes & Noble and went in to get the new issue of PROG magazine which covered the 40^th anniversary of Jethro Tull’s Thick as a Brick. That and an issue number 9 of Batgirl covering the Night of the Owls arc.

And I was hooked right from the moment I read it. It was my introduction to Gail Simone’s writing. I remember buying the issues from 1 to 13 from the Lone Star Comics website. I got back into the world of Comics again and I have to give Gail Simone a huge amount of credit for getting me back into it. It felt like being a kid in a candy store all over again. And I got both some of her writings she did for Birds of Prey and the hardcover release of Batgirl’s The Darkest Reflection.

Reading her run with Batgirl from 2011 to 2014, was like a breath of fresh air. Now I wasn’t a huge fan of The New 52 arc that DC did, but there were some good ones including Suicide Squad and World’s Finest: Huntress and Power Girl. But Batgirl was one of the series I would pick up whether I was done for my afternoon or morning courses and go to Bedrock City to pick up an issue or whatever would have taken me by surprise.

But, let’s get to Batgirl. This is Barbara Gordon back into wearing the cape, there was some controversy of a division whether they prefer to be back in the cape or as Oracle. Which is understandable. But I love the reboot of what she did to Barbara. It tells the concept of she is back as Batgirl, but for how long? Despite of what happened to her with the torture of The Joker that was paralyzed from Alan Moore’s controversial story, The Killing Joke, she is struggling and the subject of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and being scared with guns, are the subject matters that took me by surprise.

And Simone nailed it bit by bit. I know Comics fans might agree with me, but my favorite issue is number 19 as Barbara comes back home after being sold out to the Joker by her own insane brother James, she tells Alysia about her past and the struggle she went through as Yeoh herself tells Barbara that she is a Transgender. 

For me, never fitting in with the cool crowd and picked on from Camp and Elementary, Middle, and High School, this was a high water mark. It was like a breath of fresh air as opening up to Barbara to reveal of who she is, is amazing and emotional. And one of the issues where Barbara had a nightmare in issue 4, Shards of Past Lives. Batgirl in the opening sequence of a nightmare was in a Wheelchair as she is confronted with her past with Barbara as she taunts her of throwing her life away and was it all worth it as she yells at her with the background of The Mirror revealing the two faces of Barbara and Batgirl as the past Barbara screams at Batgirl, "WHY CAN'T YOU LOOK IN THE MIRROR BARBARA?!" 

Then she wakes up and finds out it was all a dream. I was expecting her to burst into tears at that moment of what happened. It was one of the disturbing and emotional moments in the arc. I just wish that Gail should have gotten the Pulitzer Prize for issue 19 or an award for best writing in comics. When it was announced that she was stepping down two years ago, I was very sad, but for me, she had an amazing run of her role with Batgirl.

Now with stories such as Leaving Megalopolis, Clean Room, Secret Six, Red Sonja and the continuation of the Megalopolis series with Surviving Megalopolis that started back in January of this year, you never know what to expect she will do next. She’s been around writing comics back in 1999 from The Simpsons, Wonder Woman, and Deadpool followed by writing episodes for TV including Justice League United, Tomb Raider; The Animated Series, and Batman: The Brave and the Bold, she has never disappointed me.

Whether you love her or hate her, she has never given up. There are a few writers I admire including Brendan Flecther, Cameron Stewart, Peter David, Alan Moore, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Marguerite Bennet, and of course Stan “The Man” Lee, Gail is up on one of those amazing writers of the comic books answer to Mount Rushmore. I hope next year, DC Comics will do an animated Batgirl movie based on Gail's arc.

And I would like to close out in the words of The Who's The Real Me from their 1973 rock opera, Quadrophenia, "The cracks between the paving stones, look like rivers of flowing veins, strange people who know me, peeping from behind every window pane."

Tusmorke - Fort Bak Lyset

My love of Norway’s Progressive and Heavy Rock scene still keeps me going. With bands such as White Willow, Wobbler, Hedvig Mollestad Trio, Motorpsycho, Elephant9, Gazpacho, and Gentle Knife, they have always kept my ears going and seeing where I would call it the Yellow Brick Road takes them into. One of the bands that peaked my interest since 2012 when I was in College, was a group called Tusmorke. They have been around since their formation in 1997, and they are a very interesting band with essences of Prog, Occult Rock, and Acid Folk music.

Their third album released on the Svart Records label this year, Fort Bak Lyset which translates to Left Behind the Light is one of the most surreal and haunting albums I’ve listened to. When you put your headphones on, listening to Tusmorke’s new album, is like stories straight out of the Fairy Tales in Norway that have a cross between a darker version of J.R.R. Tolkien, HP Lovecraft, and Ray Bradbury.

With the essence of Psychedelic and Prog in their inspirations of the band’s music and sung in Norwegian, this will take a few listens and five centerpieces to delve in to enjoy. Mind you, you might want to get into the covers or not to delve into the haunting tales that they would give you.

Et Djevelsk Mareitt (A Fiendish Nightmare) give us a question. Is the mysterious reality of whether we are in Hell or is it a nightmare? It tells the story of humoristic demons various forms as the music is a cross between Baris Manco, Trees, Goblin, and Camel’s Mirage-era filled with synths, picked bass, and the pied piper taking us through to meet the creatures with it’s improvisation midsection.

The spiritual journey where the locations of the lighthouse is lit as its future lies within with a desolated scenario combined with a space rock adventure into the unknown of De Reiser Fra Oss (They Are Leaving Us) while the elements of Krieg’s Hall of the Mountain King motif gets us into the haunting side of the Oslo ghetto filled with horror. The song that opens the album, Ekebergkongen (The King of Oak Mountain) is like a story told through a campfire, but with a warning that the King is like the puppet master and they will pull the strings back very quickly for the evil spirits to know they are not fooling around.

Nordmarka (Nordmarka Forest) I can hear the essence of Italian Prog bands Banco and the Storia Di Un Minuto-era of Premiata Forneria Marconi followed by Purson. There is a 3/4 waltz section in the middle followed by the Mellotron with ascending melodies. And then the last minute and 48 seconds features an improvisation between the psych-fuzz groove of the Wah-Wah pedal of the Bass and Drums with a heavier groove.

Vinterblot (Winter Solstice Sacrifice) is a twist of Genesis meets The Moody Blues meets Gentle Giant meets Herbie Hancock. Imagine a soaring interesting adventure of the Space Rock voyage, but with a Canterbury Jazz combination. With wah-wah keyboards, and a mysterious section between the Flute, Bass, and Glockenspiel. I have to admit I was very impressed from the second to fourth time I’ve listened to Fort Bak Lyset.

It’s not a great album and while there are a few setbacks, it is a fine follow-up to 2014's Riset Bak Speilet. And I can’t wait to hear more of what will Tusmorke will do next. A haunting Progressive Acid-Folk-Psychedelic gothic rock adventure at it’s best. So be prepare to be told through the stories as I’ve mentioned earlier in my review, to be told through a campfire because it’s not for the faint of heart.