Ah,glad you're enjoying Haken @Anduan.I knew you weren't a fan of growled vocals but they only do them in 2 tracks throughout the album and it's done more as an emphasis of heavier sections rather than normal metal which does it for no reasons.I look at it like how Ayreon has also used growled/screamed vocals on some albums - it's done more as a characterisation but is not central to the music

So,in a way it makes sense.What's great about Haken though,as you've said,is their great grasp of strong melodies - some of the melodic lines are very Spock's Beard influenced to my ears.I think as their first album,it's an incredibly mature and well constructed release and is surely one of the better prog metal debut albums in recent history.Get the rest of the album Anduan,you won't be

disappointed,as I said there's only 1 other track with heavy vocals (the first track) and it's not nearly as long even as Streams,so it's actually a very melodic album with great writing,clever bits and overall very impressive for a first album.

I got it, i'll listen it later. This band reminds me something but im not sure what is this yet I must listen the whole album 2-3 times and we'll see.

About the new Beardfish album, from InsideOut site: ''It's always good to have friends. One of Rikard Sjoblom's (Beardfish) friends insisted, that he'd pay attention to a very special band. ''He said: Listen to this and only this for a week. And I did. At the beginning it sounded like cr*p but at the end I thought: Why didn't I know that before?'', Rikard remembers. The record was King Crimson´s masterpiece ''In The Court Of The Crimson King'' from 1969.

After that disclosure, Rikard's life never was the same. He discovered the music from the 70s and especially Prog Rock bands like King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Camel, Genesis, Frank Zappa and many more. ''The other guys in the band got to know these groups through their fathers' record collections'', noticed Sjoblom. After that discovery Rikard began to write his own songs in the wake of this grand classic style of music.

''You can do songs that are ten minutes long, you don't have to restrict yourself to verse-chorus-verse. I like the freedom, that in Prog you can do whatever you want!'', enthuses the main writer, singer, guitarist and keyboarder of Beardfish. According to main songwriter, singer, guitarist and keyboarder Rikar Sjoblom ''Mammoth'' turned out a little harder and rougher than the Prog champions’ previous records.

Besides certain metal influences of their youth, we can also look forward to hearing some riff based Hard Rock, mature epics and even a swinging saxophone and a piano-solo. Why you should not dare to miss this album, tells you no one less than MIKE PORTNOY: ''Beardfish is one of the few bands out there that blows me away with each and every release...

I absolutely love every one of their albums...great musicianship and amazing songwriting that is both melodic and epic...and they struck gold yet once again with ''Mammoth''.

European Release Dates: GERMANY / AUSTRIA / SWITZERLAND: Friday, March 25, 2011.
UK / BENELUX / FRANCE / GREECE / DENMARK / NORWAY / PORTUGAL / REST OF EUROPE: Monday, March 28, 2011.
SPAIN / ITALY: Tuesday, March 29, 2011.
SWEDEN / FINLAND / HUNGARY: Wednesday, March 30, 2011.
AUSTRALIA / NEW ZEALAND: Friday, April 1, 2011.
Available as: Digipak CD + Bonus DVD, LP + bonus CD, Digital Download

Fantastic news!Thanks for sharing...I loved the previews Ive heard for this album so cannot wait to hear the whole thing-will definately be buying a special edition for this...Good to hear praise from Mike Portnoy as always about them,he has given them very good exposure in the US which is very deserved

hi folks ...well ,very sad to hear that Jem is disbanding Frost* ,but i doubt this it it for the band -its his project and the lineup has changed a few times whilst still soundibg very much 'frost*' , like you were saying before about great melodies in prog , spocks beard etc - no matter how diverse the song may be it still needs a foundation ,and a strong melody neednt just be the job of the pop

..... producer. I love when progressive artists have not just an eye for an odd quirky signature, but an eye for sonics too , the production, the atmosphere.Wilson does that to perfection, and i think in a different way Jem Godfrey's recorded work sounds gorgeous, uniquely so.

so anyway, great to hear about new beardfish and i echo the excited comments , one band that just never stops pushing themselves...no two beardfish albums sound anywhere near the same. yeah theres the same influences , zappa always pops up somewhere and you can name a half dozen others.. whilst destined was something of a step into the blurred line between prog rock and the abstract , i really

....admire Sjoblom for it . The Sane Day is far easier to listen to as a classic prog record, but whilst theyre probably going to hit and miss with some tracks, theyre always going to thrill and captivate, the spirit of prog if ever it had a three word definition

ans prog have the same subversive , left of centre approach whether theres a ton of mellotrons or not ..and i highly recommend them to anyone who likes prog , a fine band .

The Big Red Spark,

aahhhhh it deleted half my mesaage