Tag: Heroic Materials

2022 Progradar’s Best Of The Year – The Editor’s Top 20

Your intrepid editor running a 24 hour event earlier in 2022.

As most of you know I am a very committed runner so the above picture is really my personal running highlight of 2022 (a 24 hour running event) but below you will find my top 20 albums of the year for 2022.

The first fifteen are in no particular order, they are just brilliant albums that I really enjoyed throughout the year but the final five are my definitive favourites of the year. So, without further ado, here we go…

David Longdon – Door One

A wonderful collection of songs that made a fitting and poignant epitaph for an amazing songwriter, musician and, above all, a wonderful man. I was lucky enough to meet David a few times and he was the least likely ‘rock star’ you could ever meet but, boy, what a voice and this album was the culmination of his musical career. One that was tragically cut too short.

Gandalf’s Fist – Widdershins

The ‘Clockwork Saga’ will always be seen as a monumental piece of work but, as a stand-alone release, ‘Widdershins’ sees Gandalf’s Fist at their absolute vibrant and dynamic best, every musician giving 100% and, while I’ve always been a fan of this very distinctive band, this new release sees them hitting an entirely new level.

Avandra – Prodigal

AVANDRA have created a thrilling and compelling take on the progressive-metal genre and one that is delivered with not a little expertise and finesse. ‘Prodigal’ is one of those intricate and influential albums that takes some understanding at first but when you peel back the final layer of this epic behemoth, it is a wonder to behold.

The Opening Song – Hidden Walls

Imagine music written like a classic novel of the 20’s and 30’s, there’s a wide eyed and wistful innocence that you just don’t get anymore in the world but behind that innocence, there’s also a world weary knowledge that the world isn’t always what you think it is or what you want it to be. ‘Hidden Walls’ is achingly beautiful but also wistfully painful at the same time. It’s made me quite emotional and that’s a rare thing but, isn’t what what music should do?

Comedy of Errors – Time Machine

After a long five year absence, ‘Time Machine’ is a fine return from one of progressive rock’s premier artists and an album that I am constantly revisiting. Cementing Comedy of Errors‘ status as one of the foremost artists in the genre, it is sure to be one of 2022’s most welcome releases.

Esthesis – Watching Worlds Collide

An object lesson in combining the stylish sensibilities of smokey jazz grooves with an almost 50’s noir film score to deliver a slick musical experience, all wrapped up in a sharp suit. Overall, ‘Watching Worlds Collide’ is a seriously good album with tons of Gallic flair, intelligence and inventiveness, it is also the coolest thing you are going to hear this year and I love it!

The Round Window – self-titled

A high quality release with wonderfully emotive songs and superb musicianship, this self-titled album may be The Round Window’s debut release but it shows a group of musicians who are already playing at a very high level and have creativity to burn. I can’t recommend it highly enough, this should be in everyone’s music collection…

Oak – The Quiet Rebellion of Compromise

Oak have a unique, innovative sound and you can hear it mature and transform on every album they release. Their approach to music is refreshing and sees them deliver meaningful music that has heart and soul and, with ‘The Quiet Rebellion of Compromise’, these talented musicians have created their most accomplished and consummate work yet.

Glass Hammer – At The Gate

Melodic, symphonic and, at times, monumentally heavy, ‘At The Gate’ is a superb, majestic leviathan of an album that enhances the band’s legacy as masters of the genre. This final instalment in the impressive trilogy brings things to a triumphant and proudly pompous conclusion, this is Glass Hammer at their finest, hugely expressive and sonically brilliant.

Threshold – Dividing Lines

For fans of the band it’s been a long five years since ‘Legends Of The Shires’ but when they return with an album as strong as ‘Dividing Lines’, you could say it has been worth the wait. Threshold are one of the pre-eminent proponents of prog-metal performing today and this fantastic new release has cemented their position right at the top of this particular musical tree.

VLMV – Sing With Abandon

There are times when you hear a piece of music that leaves you open mouthed in appreciation and, when I first heard ‘Sing With Abandon’ I was utterly stunned. Albums like this are more than mere music, they pervade your very soul, take over your life and almost bring you to tears at their beauty. VLMV have created something so good that it almost becomes a state of mind and I thank Pete Lambrou from the bottom of my heart for doing so.

Dim Gray – Firmament

I was seriously impressed with Dim Gray’s debut release ‘Flown’ but the last forty five minutes has shown me that this band have elevated themselves to another level entirely. ‘Firmament’ is a magnificent achievement, twelve songs that ebb and flow superbly and sum up perfectly what music is truly about. These three truly inspiring musicians have created something that is prime and organic, their music can get under your skin and influence your very moods and my life would truly be a much sadder place without it!

Ghost Of The Machine – Scissorgames

This superb album was reviewed for Progradar by my good friend Leo Trimming and I have to agree with every single one of his words:

‘Scissor Games‘ is a remarkable debut album. It clearly owes so much to earlier eras of Prog Rock but when it is done with this sheer amount of brio and skill, allied with powerful, impactful lyrics, then it is entirely valid and worthy as a piece of music and art. Many Prog fans will absolutely fall in love the style and emotional content of ‘Scissor Games‘ which will very probably be rightfully be regarded as one of the best debut progressive rock albums of 2022.

Gustaf Ljunggren with Skúli Sverrisson – Floreana

Philosophical and meditative, ‘Floreana’ will leave you in place of utter calm and leave you ruminating on life, the universe and just about everything. It’s as much about the spaces between the notes as the notes themselves and the state of mind that your are left in. To me, it is one of the surprises of the year so far and an album that I implore you to listen to at least once, trust me, it will be worth it…

Omega Point – A Great Escape

Matt Cohen has brought together a stellar group of musicians and, in Omega Point, created a powerful musical statement, close-knit and cohesive. ‘A Great Escape’ is another fantastic addition to the ranks of accomplished new releases we have already been lucky enough to hear in 2022 and can proudly hold its head high along with the best of them. Let’s hope this is just the start of things to come!

So that’s fifteen of the best albums I’ve heard in 2022 and they all rightly deserve a place in this review but now for the top five…

In fifth place:

Bjørn Riis – Everything to Everyone

Music can make a world that seems to be falling into monochrome light up and be revitalised with blazes of colour and vitality and this wondrous new album from musical maestro Bjørn Riis brings all that and more. Power, soul and grace are infused throughout its six tracks and combine to make it one of the outstanding releases of 2022 so far.

Fourth place was taken by:

The Tangent – Songs From The Hard Shoulder

‘Songs From The Hard Shoulder’ is just a wonderful piece of work, The Tangent at their brilliant best. People need some cheer in the world and music has the power to lift people, after just one listen to this amazing album I was smiling again. Andy and the band could just have released their most important record yet…

Now on to the top three, starting with:

cosmograf – Heroic Materials

The sumptuous, questioning ‘Heroic Materials’ is undeniably brilliant. Robin has laid his heart and soul, his whole being in fact, down as music. Emotive, melancholy at times, this record is a story and history at the same time. A plea for the future of the planet it may be but, above all, it is an immersive artistic triumph and one of the best releases of recent years.

And, as hard as I tried,I couldn’t split the final two so we have joint winners of my album of the year and I’m listing them arbitrarily by release date:

Joint First Album of the Year – Marillion – An Hour Before it’s Dark

I have been a fan of Marillion for over three decades and, in a career of superlatives, ‘An Hour Before It’s Dark’ can truly be seen as one of their most accomplished albums. It is an outstanding piece of music that the band should be incredibly proud of and, even though we are only in February, it will take something amazing to knock it off the top of my album of the year list.

Joint First Album of the Year – Galahad – The Last Great Adventurer

When music is as good as this and touches you in a very personal manner, it can’t really get any better. In my opinion Galahad have returned with what can only be described as a modern progressive masterpiece and one that will stand the test of time and should be remembered as being one of the best albums of recent years. It’s my joint first album of the year and I really can’t give it any higher praise than that.

So, in a year of high quality releases, this is my definitive top twenty, a collection of superb albums that would grace anyone’s music collection, tomorrow will see Progradar’s respected contributor John Wenlock-Smith’s top 20 albums and I am already looking forward to what 2023 will bring…

Review – Cosmograf – Heroic Materials

“Music is the moonlight in the gloomy night of life.” – Jean Paul Friedrich Richter

Music heals you, music lifts you, music gives you solace, music is one of the only things that gives you succour when you are both happy and sad and music has made my life a better place to be.

Music can also tell a story and when it is in the hands of a talented musician like Robin Armstrong, that tale can be absorbing and captivating.

‘Heroic Materials’ is the ninth album from Robin’s musical project Cosmograf and tells the story of William ‘Billy’ May, a heroic Spitfire pilot, who looks back on his life at the age of 99 and realises the world has completely changed since he was a young man put into an impossible scenario, defending his country from the air. He no longer recognises much of the modern world but understands that the human race must live in a different way in the future.

The album sees the character wrestling with his memories of the war, and harbouring nostalgia for a past era but he realises that change is essential if we are to avoid climate catastrophe.

“Well goodbye to the age of steam, I felt you
Goodbye to the age of cars, I loved you…”

‘Heroic Materials’ represents Robin’s most complete release yet and is the pinnacle of his musical career so far, the opening spoken word intro of I Recall draws you into the sepia tinged world of nostalgia and Robin’s plaintive vocal takes up the refrain and the feeling of loss of a past that will sadly be missed. As we segue into the next track with the unmistakeable sound of a Rolls Royce Merlin engine, the hairs begin to stand up on the nape of your neck…

“Eastleigh dawn,
Behold a new design is born. A battle in the sky,
Requires the best design to fly…”

The three-part title track Heroic Materials opens with a delightful piano refrain from former Big Big Train member Danny Manners and turns into a majestic, slow burning classic with evocative lyrics that see you almost losing yourself in the story of this fighter pilot and his fateful life in the sky. Robin’s guitar playing, always stellar, reaches incredible new heights on this utterly compelling and emotive tale. Both stirring and touching at the same time, the way the narrative ebbs and flows with the music shows there’s genius at work here.

“Close the Door,
It’s not this era anymore… A story told,
I know it never will grow old…”

Industry is a voice over telling us about how the E-Type Jaguar evolved from the D-Type racer…

“Designer, fold the light, Great art, make it right…”

Lead single from the album, the dynamic and powerful British Made stands tall as a statement of what we have lost as a manufacturing nation and is a nostalgic throwback to a golden era of motoring and you can feel the pride in Robin’s vocals, a feel of the calm before the storm that is the fervent energy in the ardent guitar playing. It is music as a statement and you can feel the yearning for times gone by and the remorse at the loss of what was once a fine and well respected industry in this country.

“There’s never a moment to talk or reflect Mary, there’s never a chance, to speak to you…”

Our hero Billy met Mary in 1941, she was in the Air Transport Auxiliary and lived her life like the Spitfires she flew, at high speed. Mary is a beautiful tribute to the woman that he loved and lost as she ran out of fuel on a routine run and crashed. A melancholy but bewitching piece of music that hits me on an emotional level, perfectly crafted and performed.

“Is this a long goodbye to everything that’s real?”

Blinkers is a wonderful, if brief, diatribe of finding the courage to change that which we have become accustomed to and its mournful vocals and delicate piano give it a truly wistful, rueful feel.

“To live beyond the dirty war,
To live beyond the worst disease, To help my loving family,
To love a life where I am free…”

Robin is truly one of the best songwriters out there when it comes to progressive rock and on If Things Don’t Change he is at his illuminating best. A modern balladeer and troubadour, the way he crafts his stories is inspirational. Talking about how climate change will destroy the earth and how change is difficult but we must try to make a difference. The empathy in the vocal and the thought provoking, electrifying music is just outstanding, just check out the heartrending guitar solo and tell me you are not touched deeply by it.

“But if this world returns to dirt,
Erased by fire and greed,
There will clearly be no need, to start another one…”

The Same Stupid Mistake fires a warning shot, if we don’t change, we will destroy the earth and there’s no need to start again. A slow, meandering rhythm has a serious and thoughtful atmosphere and the words slowly work their way into your brain, hopefully to make you sit up and listen.

“I wish I’d made the most of what I had
The chances lost just make me sad…”

Robin’s soulful guitar leads into the contemplative thoughts of Regretful Refrain, a persuasive reflection on a past unfulfilled. As we come to the end of our time on this planet we wonder if we could have done things differently and made a difference, left a legacy and this rueful track captures that feeling perfectly. The dynamic vocals and sorrowful, potent guitar yearn for a perception of better times.

“This is what is left,
It’s down to you.
The world you left is dead, What shall we do?”

The musical refrain from the opening track returns on final song A Better World, a sumptuous and charismatic track and a promise to the world that we can, and will, do better, it’s a fine way to bring things to a close as Robin intones, “I wish you were here too, We’ll make it new.”

The sumptuous, questioning ‘Heroic Materials’ is undeniably brilliant. Robin has laid his heart and soul, his whole being in fact, down as music. Emotive, melancholy at times, this record is a story and history at the same time. A plea for the future of the planet it may be but, above all, it is an immersive artistic triumph and one of the best releases of recent years.

Released 9th September, 2022.

Order from Gravity Dream here:

Cosmograf – Gravity Dream Music




New single and new album pre-order from Cosmograf…

Much loved UK progressive rockers Cosmograf, the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Robin Armstrong, have released a video for brand new single British Made, from their forthcoming ninth studio album ‘Heroic Materials’.

Watch the video here:

The new album, released through Robin’s own label Gravity Dream on 9th September, 2022, is a conceptual piece, centred around the character William ‘Billy’ May, who looks back on his life at the age of 99 and realises the world has completely changed since he was a young man put into an impossible scenario, defending his country from the air. He no longer recognises much of the modern world but understands that the human race must live in a different way in the future.

The album sees the character wrestling with his memories of the war, and harbouring nostalgia for a past era but he realises that change is essential if we are to avoid climate catastrophe.

“This album is really about change, our refusal to accept it, but also recognising that it’s essential to our survival”, says Robin. “The story centres on a WWII Spitfire pilot who laments a lost golden era, but reflects that the human race must change its ways in order to preserve our existence on the earth.”

The album will also see a special guest appearance from Robin’s ex-Big Big Train bandmate, keyboard player Danny Manners, who plays piano on the 13 min title track, set in three parts.

Heroic Materials will be available on CD, Deluxe Media book edition, vinyl and digital formats.

Pre-order the album here:

Cosmograf – Gravity Dream Music