My journey to discover bands at Progpower continue...
Pretty Maids - I have the Kingmaker album now and listened to it only a few times so far. It's pretty solid, but nothing mind blowing. I do enjoy it but there's only a few songs that really stood out in those listens. I think I've come to really enjoy Ronnie's vocals through Avantasia even though I thought he was a weak link when I first started listening to them years ago. Finally checking out his own band and I do enjoy his vocals much more now, the music is just a bit generic. I do enjoy it overall though, I should probably get another album, but for now I still need to digest this one as I can't even name the songs that I said did stand out to me.
Poets of the Fall - I have the Ultraviolet album and I'd say this band is an outlier of the festival. This isn't metal and I don't connect with it.... until I do. The thing is, I listened/watched a bunch of their youtube videos and really had no interest. They just didn't seem like they were for me. I still got the digital download because I figured I'd give it a shot. I actually really like the singers voice, the guy sounds great and if I am going to see them (well I could do a food break or something, but I would like to check all the bands out for a little at least) maybe it's best I just listen a little more, maybe their singles aren't what interests me type of band. Anyway, I listened to the album and didn't care for it at first, but then my gf broke up with me and all of the sudden I found myself listening to this and feeling a connection. Standstill is not my music at all and yet, right now, I feel like it's one of my favorite songs. It brings a tear to my eye, seriously. I don't know if they play this one, but if they did, I think I'd be crying at progpower this year
But otherwise, My Dark Disquiet is a really awesome song. I don't love the album and still kind of feel this music isn't for me, but I find that it hits some of my current emotions and I actually can connect with this.
Threshold - OMG maybe my favorite album of all the discoveries. Legends of the Shires would have been a top album of the year for me if I had known about it then. I even shared this with one of my friends who is becoming more obsessed than I am over it
Great prog metal album if you ask me. I want to explore more but just haven't yet. It's nice to know they will be playing lots from this album though. They are up there for me as a top band to see now.
and my latest and maybe just as surprising as enjoying Poets of the Fall... Insomnium. Now I had heard some good things about this band and actually should have seen them open for Epica and Lacuna Coil a year or two ago, but got there too late. I remember people in the crowd saying how good Insomnium were at that show. But I never really looked into it because well, they are death metal and that's never been my cup of tea. BUt maybe it's hitting another emotion for me with my current state of anger and depression. Holy shit this one album Winter's Gate that I just got recently is really good. I don't think I ever really listened to this type of metal and enjoyed it before. Maybe it's because it's progressive too and the music is really interesting that I can get past the cookie monster vocals. Whatever it is, I am enjoying this album and I'm still digesting it as well so I don't know which of these tracks I love the most or anything, but this album as a whole is very solid.
So that kind of leaves me with the openers that I haven't really started to dig into yet.