Persefone’s metanoia (Napalm Records) opens and it feels as if I’m watching an Andrew Lloyd Weber Broadway musical. Metanoia is atmospheric and grandiose; one would expect nothing less from Persefone. ‘Katabasis’ explodes onto the listener with a bombastic array of seventies progressive rock and psychedelia feel. Marc Martins Pia has shades of Yaz and Freddy Mercury on the opening track juxtaposed with the guttural vocalizations of death metal. The guitar work of Carlos Lozano Quintanilla and Filipe Baldaia are a wild mixture of mathematical genius, LSD, and a plethora of thirty-second note runs. ‘Katabasis’ can be an intense listen.
Super-groups are everywhere in 2013, but nowhere more-so than in progressive music. It seems the milk of creativity is bringing some of the best names in the world together, is producing killer new albums. One such group is Levin Minnemann Rudess, and their stellar, new album LMR (Lazy Bones Recordings).
Guitarist extraordinaire Guthrie Govan may not be the most prolific musician around, but he’s one of the most respected and in demand players around. He recently toured with Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) in support of The Raven Who Refused To Sing album and he is also about to release a new album with The Aristocrats, his other musical project with fellow musical mavericks Bryan Beller (Dethklok, James LaBrie) and Marco Minnemann (Adrian Belew Power Trio, Kreator). Ghost Cult caught up with Guthrie as he returns from a clinic tour in Brazil..