We rarely review progressive rock albums here. This is mostly because most “prog-rock” nowadays obviously don’t know that “prog” is short for “progressive” and that “progressive” means “favouring or promoting progress”. Well, No More Pain is no different. The Post Human Condition is a great, albeit standard, prog rock album; it sticks to the prog rock formula.Heavily influenced by Spock’s Beard, apparently, themselves heavily influenced by the likes of Gentle Giant, ELP, King Crimson, and Pink Floyd, NMP dwell in 60s and 70s progressive rock, with a modern edge to it. There’s nothing new that’s brought to the … Read more
I quite frankly wasn’t expecting that one… Over the very first listen there wasn’t much that just hit me. It wasn’t overly impressive and it wasn’t really “novel” in any way, but I kept coming back to listening to that album. I didn’t really know why, but there was something drawing me towards it. And now, after quite a bunch of listens, I can safely say that I really like the album. It’s good, well varied, nicely constructed, and the fact that it’s a live recording (with ulterior overdubs) makes it all the more interesting.
Does the name Nathan Parker Smith ring a bell to you? No? Well, that is about to change. His album Not Dark Yet certainly would have been on our best of 2014 list if we only knew about it earlier, but life, as good as it is, can sometimes be unfair. However, it’s certainly not too late to give the album a spin, and marvel at its ingenuity, and pure goodness.