Looking past the rather gaudy artwork, the third album from Mike Lepond’s Silent Assassins sees the group continuing to thrive on an over the top presentation. As with previous albums, Lepond’s bass playing leads the charge with intense flurries accompanied by surging power metal rhythms and Alan Tecchio’s flamboyant wails detailing history and legend. However, Whore of Babylon sets itself as the group’s most eclectic effort so far.
Sadly, the long-running and legendary ProgPower USA has been forced to cancel their 2020 weekend-long festival in September. Promoter Glenn Harveston took to social media to announce that ProgPower USA XXI, the annual Atlanta event is canceled, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and rescheduled for September 8 – 11, 2021. “We can’t social distance in the venue (Centerstage) which is sold out.” The festival has rebooked for 2021 and launched a GoFundMe campaign to try and recover the lost monies from their $14,000 lost to a one-time US Visa application. On the plus side 19 of this year’s anticipated 21 acts have reconfirmed for next year. Theyhavealreadyreceived 25K of the 14k goal. Continue reading