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Unlike the Cicada insects whose music might sit comfortably in the avant-garde/noise camp, this Greek sextet called Ciccada makes pleasant melodic, folk-tinged progressive rock with heavy emphasis on keyboards and flute.

Ciccada came to be in 2005 as Nicolas Nikolopoulos (flute, keyboards) and Yorgos Mouchos (guitars) joined forces, soon joined in by vocalist Evangelia Kozoni (who also plays accordion and percussion), thus forming the core of the band. More musicians came and went as years went by and in this album they are joined in by bassist Omiros Komninos and contributions from session musicians.

The band's music lies in what many call "symphonic rock" (a term I'm not sure of its meaning, but if it helps you, then that's good). Their music is very pleasant and warm, even soothing and calm. The dominance of the flute and Evangelia's vocals (not an in-your-face type of presence, but in ... -> show full review

One of the greatest albums ever made, a work of genius which surpassed even anything he did with The Floyd.

One of the finest prog albums of recent times. A pleasure from start to finish and proof positive that the genre has plenty of life left in it yet.

Proof positive that retro prog had a place in the world. A stunning debut.

Generally I only comment on albums I like. This is one I don't like. I post it here only to show that I don't like everything....

Good debut album. The music has some resemblance to bands like Oceansize, The Pineapple Thief, Pure Reason Revolution. Might be classified as "Post-progressive Rock"

We've got a winner here! The style didn't change much from the "Natural Disaster" album, but this album contains no filler, all tracks are top the only somewhat weaker track I can spot is "Get off Get Out". This album is a classic which will stand the test of time.

The finest live LP of all time. Period.

Great album, Benoid David is a gifted singer, the compositions and melodies are great. Check this out if you like neo prog with great vocals

A joy to listen to. The perfect fusion of progressive music to world music and an incredible soundtrack to an incredible film. A joy from start to finish.

An incredible album which managed to combine the art of the concept album with the commercial success of pop/prog.

An album of cover songs given the Toto treatment.

Excellent album which will make all listeners regret Heather Findlay leaving the band, because she really is at the forefront of all the best bits.

One of the finest commercial prog albums ever made. A pleasure to listen to, which still grows on me after all these years.

This is a return to form of Spock's Beard: Much better than the previous records, on par with V. It's jazzy symphonic rock (don't know where to put the jazzy part in the tag editor...) and I think it's a great record.

Great album and debut! This is metal mixed with jazzy influences. There are a few growls here but don't let it take you away from the music, it's great (like Opeth...) Any lover of Opeth will love this also.

Future classic!

The debut album by Gracious contains about 45mins of incredibly creative and eclectic music with fairly complex textures and with melodies that are always enjoyable. The spotlights here are on Martin Kitcat’s keyboards (he mostly uses piano, e-piano and harpsichord here, but there is also a fair amount of organ and mellotron on the album) and on Alan Cowderoy’s guitars (really spot-on all through). And, of course, on Paul 'Sandy' Davis’s creative singing, at parts extremely melodic, at parts theatrical and recitative. But the really distinctive feature of Gracious’ debut album is the amazing amount of styles and influences that the band manages to blend together to a great effect: sinister Crimsonian guitar and piano riffing, Beatlesque vocal harmonies, classical and symphonic influences, barroom boogies, bluesy guitar and piano solos, jazzy drumming, weird recitative parts, and much much more. All these influences are ... -> show full review

This actually isn't too progressive - the tracks have somewhat conventional structure, but they also feature the occasional extreme outburst (think Meshuggah or Opeth). All in all: A nicely done album!

Titus Groan is not a masterpiece (as sometimes advertised) but is not a bad album either. It has decent melodies, good dynamics and well arranged songs performed by skilful musicians. And it has loads of woodwind parts, which are actually the most distinctive and interesting aspect of the album. Tony Priestland’s flute, saxophone and oboe feature prominently on all five songs on the album, and to great effect. In fact, his skilled use of the woodwinds is the most ‘progressive’ aspect of Titus Groan’s music – which would otherwise be better described as a sort of ‘psychedelic hard rock’ .

While the 11+ minutes long mostly instrumental “Hall Of Bright Carvings” might look like an obvious candidate for best song of the album, in my opinion Titus Groan’s best moments are the first two pieces on side B: the dynamic “I can’t change” and the mellower “It’s all up with us”. Stuart ... -> show full review