Progzilla Radio

The Progressive Rock show track listing for Sunday 28^th February 2021

If you would like to contact Graham, please email graham@progzilla.com

The Ancient One is very pleased to say that the podcast for Show No 155 is now available. This is one of the series of Mixed Bag shows where TAO gets a chance to catch up on some newer materials that don’t fit into the other themed shows.
Hear music from Sweden, Norway, Germany. The Netherlands France, Spain, The USA and The UK.

Playlist.

1 Greenslade – Spirit of the Dance (excerpt used as the Intro)
2 Bla Lotus – Summer Demons (Hogtid 2019)
3 Wobbler – Leprechaun Behind The Door ( in Taberna Demo from album No 2, Afterglow, available on Bandcamp)
4 Soup – Sleepers (Remedies 2017)
5 Marquette – Into The Homeland (Into The Wild 2020)
6 Nine Stones Close – Thicker Than Water ( Traces 2020 Tenth Anniversary reissue)
7 Lifesigns – Fortitude (Altitude 2021)
8 Esthesis – Downstream (The Awakening 2020)
9 Jesus Munoz Fernandez – Recovery (Strategies 2015)
10 Yacobs – It’s Beautiful (Beautiful 2020)
11 Vinyl Dial – Shapes In the Clouds ( The Flight Of The crown Hawk 2019)
12 Transatlantic – Overture/Heart Like A Whirlwind/Higher Than The Morning. (The Absolute Universe Forevermore Extended Version 2020)
13 Greenslade – Joie De Vivre (excerpt used as the Outro)

Lyrically, and musically, the award-winning Dutch artist lays her soul bare with the most evocative record of her career – captivating song-stories told with acoustic guitars, strings, horns, percussion, and Anneke’s hypnotic vocal harmonies.

Anneke van Giersbergen couldn’t be happier and more excited to be releasing her most personal album to date: ‘The Darkest Skies Are The Brightest’ was inspired by heartbreak, but it is also a manifest of how heartbreak can lead into transformation and make way for something new and bright once the dark has been overcome. Anneke comments in her own words: “When I scribbled down some lyric ideas in 2018, I took the first steps on the long road that would lead to the release of ‘The Darkest Skies Are The Brightest’. It’s easy to get lost in a sea of self-doubt when you’re writing and recording highly personal songs, but once the album was done, I was able to put my mind at ease. I’m so proud of what we’ve created and release day has finally arrived!”

To show a yet different side of the album’s musical diversity, today sees the release of the brand-new track and video for “I Saw A Car”, which Anneke comments as follows: 
“The stomps and plucky brightness might fool you into thinking this was a ditty, but the vulnerable and self-assessing lyrics actually fit the headspace that being expressed throughout the album. This song was written and produced very late in the recording process, but I just instantly knew the track had something special and needed to be included on the album.”

Watch the video for “I Saw A Car” here: 
https://youtu.be/fCfoKtDs0XE 
(Music and words by Anneke van Giersbergen
Directed by Jasper van Gheluwe)

‘The Darkest Skies Are The Brightest’ is available as eco-friendly CD Digipak (plastic-free), as 180g Gatefold LP (incl. the album on CD) & as digital album. 
Click here to pre-order the album: 
https://annekevangiersbergen.lnk.to/TheDarkestSkiesAreTheBrightest 

“The Darkest Skies Are The Brightest” – Tracklist:
01. Agape
02. Hurricane
03. My Promise
04. I Saw A Car
05. The Soul Knows
06. The End
07. Keep It Simple
08. Lo And Behold
09. Losing You
10. Survive
11. Love You Like I Love You

The album’s title, ‘The Darkest Skies Are The Brightest’, refers to the idea that, when facing personal challenges, we are forced to find answers to life’s biggest questions. But, at this point in her near-three-decade-long music career, this solo album – and, crucially, the heartbreak that inspired it – was not something Anneke van Giersbergen ever anticipated writing.

In 2018, Anneke began working on new material for her metal band, VUUR. Although their debut album, ‘In This Moment We Are Free – Cities’, was met with a mixed reception, fans were warming up to their heavy, progressive sound. Therefore, a rapid follow-up album would surely establish Anneke’s return to fronting a metal band. However, behind the scenes, these were troubled times.

Anneke shares, ”My belief in VUUR saw me spend all my savings on recording VUUR’s debut album and taking the band on the road. After completing our first touring cycle, I realized that more VUUR would mean yet more, huge financial risks.”

To make matters worse, in 2018, her long-lasting marriage, which had always been wonderful, unexpectedly saw a storm approaching. Anneke adds, “I instantly knew I needed to write music about fixing my life. This creative endeavour would be far too personal for a VUUR album. And it would also require solitude.”

With just her acoustic guitar and basic recording gear, Anneke retreated to a small house near the woods, just outside her hometown of Eindhoven. She let go of the pressures of what VUUR’s future might be, and fell into the meditative process of writing a solo album. In 2019, work continued on the new songs. In 2020, Anneke asked her friend and producer, Gijs Coolen, to help finish the album.

Throughout the completion of the album, Anneke’s fragile, acoustic song-stories were fused together with an alchemy of panoramic strings, horns, and percussion. The resulting 11-track record has all the intimacy of Anneke serenading an audience of one, combined with surprising departures into swampier, foot-stomping grooves.

The Japanese art of kintsugi has inspired Anneke to use a repaired heart as the album’s symbol. Kintsugi teaches that bringing together the pieces of a broken object – with the use of a precious metal – adds value and uniqueness to it. And, instead of giving up on their marriage, Anneke and her husband decided to take the time to mend their bond. They now cherish the repaired heartbreak as something profoundly valuable. 

Their journey through this personal storm, and the album that Anneke created in the eye of it, proves that the darkest skies truly are the brightest. 

About Anneke van Giersbergen:

‘The Darkest Skies Are The Brightest’ is Anneke’s 23rd career album. It proves, once again, that the award-winning Dutch artist defies being pigeonholed by any genre. 

After thirteen years as the front woman for melancholic metallers, The Gathering, she struck out on her own in 2007. Since then, her creativity has known no bounds. Anneke quickly solidified a successful solo career (initially under the moniker Agua de Annique), and has recorded and performed with Canadian metal genius Devin Townsend multiple times. She has also lent her serene yet powerful voice to the likes of: Anathema, Icelandic folk group Árstíðir, Within Temptation, Ayreon mastermind Arjen Lucassen, Amorphis, and prog legend John Wetton.

2012’s ‘Everything is Changing’ was something of a milestone in Anneke’s solo career. The album, which was the first to be released under her own name, received two Edison Award nominations – Holland’s most prestigious music prize – in the categories ‘Best Female Artist’ and ‘Best Album’.
In 2015, Anneke van Giersbergen and Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon) released their collaborative album ‘The Diary’ under the name The Gentle Storm.
In October 2017, Anneke’s progressive metal outfit VUUR released their much-anticipated debut album. ‘In This Moment We Are Free – Cities’ entered the Dutch Album Top 100 at number 2, Anneke’s highest-ever chart position.

Forever the unpredictable artist, in late 2018, Anneke released ‘Symphonized’, an 11-track live orchestral album. It was recorded at two career-spanning concerts alongside Residentie Orkest The Hague, and features rearrangements of songs from her entire back catalogue.
2019 saw Dutch music copyright organisation Buma Cultuur honor Anneke with the Buma ROCKS! Export Award. This is their award for the Most Successful Dutch Artist Abroad in Heavy Music.
In 2021, the release of her new solo album ‘The Darkest Skies Are The Brightest’ will see Anneke surprise her fans all over again.

ANNEKE VAN GIERSBERGEN online
www.annekevangiersbergen.com
www.facebook.com/annekevangiersbergenofficial
https://instagram.com/annekeannique
https://twitter.com/AnnekeAnnique
www.youtube.com/AguaDeAnniqueMusic

LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT, the legendary supergroup comprised of Mike Portnoy (Transatlantic, Sons of Apollo), John Petrucci (Dream Theater), Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater), and Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel) are set to return with a new album titled ‘LTE3’, due to be released March 26th, 2021 via InsideOutMusic. 

Today, the band are pleased to share the video for the album’s second single “Beating The Odds”. You can watch the video, created by Christian Rios, here: https://youtu.be/RJWTT35GhQc

“This was a riff that I brought into the sessions that I thought was interesting because it’s in an odd time and phrased in a way that is hard to wrap your head around at first until you understand where the groove is. When I first presented it to the guys, their initial reaction was “how are you feeling that?” When the band enters after the opening riff it probably sounds a little ‘odd’ because the time signature is a bit unclear until the song gets going. If LTE ever had a ‘prog pop hit’ this would be it!”
– John Petrucci

“I remember the look of confusion on ALL our faces when JP started playing that opening riff! It’s was seemingly so straight ahead but with a bizarre rhythmic twist! Took a while to internalize that but then we all loved it! One of the great things about LTE is the fact that we just let ourselves loose and have FUN!”
– Jordan Rudess

“ ‘Beating The Odds’ is the 2nd song we wrote in the LTE3 sessions. I jokingly referred to it as “the feel-good song of the Pandemic” in the studio as it has a very upbeat happy feel to it…but also takes a few cool musical twists & turns ranging from the glorious melodic chorus & end vamp to the dark driving solo sections”
– Mike Portnoy

“Starts with an off-step riff, kind of like walking upstairs backward, but at the repeat you get it. Then it opens up into “anthem land.”. Later there are unison bass lines where both Jordan and John got flangy sounds that work well with the bass. Mike’s unstoppable energy is evident here, and we’ve got more fantastic J&J solos. At only five and a half minutes we start fading out… a short song by our standards. But we’re just getting warmed up.”
– Tony Levin

The album will be available in the following formats:
• Limited deluxe hot pink 3LP+2CD+Blu-ray Box Set (incl. a poster and 4 Art-cards, Blu-ray incl. a 5.1 surround mix with visuals, and full band interview from the studio)
• Limited 2CD+Blu-ray Artbook
•.Limited 2CD Digipak
• Gatefold black 2LP+CD
• Digital album (2CD)

You can pre-order ‘LTE3’ now here: https://liquidtensionex.lnk.to/LTE3/ 

Tracklisting:
1. Hypersonic (8:22)
2. Beating The Odds (6:09)
3. Liquid Evolution (3:23)
4. The Passage Of Time (7:32)
5. Chris & Kevin’s Amazing Odyssey (5:04)
6. Rhapsody In Blue (13:16)
7. Shades Of Hope (4:42)
8. Key To The Imagination (13:14)

Bonus Disc: Includes almost an hour of improvised jams.

Watch the video for the album’s first single “The Passage of Time” here:
https://youtu.be/jWP4JLUxiqY 

Watch the ‘LTE3’ teaser trailer here: https://youtu.be/VRvCuDIMIzo

In 1997, Mike Portnoy, John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess, and Tony Levin, joined forces to create Liquid Tension Experiment. The foursome would release their iconic, self-titled debut album in 1998 and the dazzling follow-up, LTE2 in 1999, creating a dynamic, frantic, and inventive sound all their own. The incredible creativity between the collective would prompt Petrucci and Portnoy to invite Rudess to join Dream Theater, effectively marking the end of this side project. However, since that time, there have been few reunions more in demand. Now, with the world in lockdown and calendars unexpectedly aligned, the inconceivable has finally happened… a new Liquid Tension Experiment album.

TONY LEVIN online:
https://www.facebook.com/tonylevinofficial
https://twitter.com/tonylevin
https://www.instagram.com/tonylevin/

JOHN PETRUCCI online:
https://www.facebook.com/johnpetrucciFB
https://twitter.com/JPetrucci
https://www.instagram.com/johnpetrucciofficial/

MIKE PORTNOY online:
https://www.facebook.com/mikeportnoyofficial
https://twitter.com/MikePortnoy
https://www.instagram.com/mikeportnoy/

JORDAN RUDESS online:
https://www.facebook.com/jordanrudessofficial
https://twitter.com/Jcrudess
https://www.instagram.com/jcrudess/

KRAZZ LOFT VINYL SHOW

Broadcast 21^st Feb 2020

Show 149

If you want to get in touch with Alan about requests or the show please use

Krazzloft@yahoo.com