So, what are you listening to these days?

[JayneWonders]

What can i say listening to my Christmas play list for kids

 

[WhyCzar]

Good Weather for Immaculate Conception

 

[Mendalla]

Good Weather for Immaculate Conception

Haven't got to that track yet. Was listening to the album earlier but didn't finish and that's the final track.

I'm usually about salty about Christmas stuff coming out this early but it's such a good album and it's Alanis so I'll forgive her this small sin.

 

[Mendalla]

Steven Wilson is a multitalented musical wizard from the UK. He sings, composes, plays multiple instruments, produces, and more. His genre of choice tends to be prog rock but he has influences from across the rock music spectrum, even metal (he produced a classic album by Swedish progressive death metal band Opeth). His latest solo album is Requiem For A Village. And so far, it's a beauty. The inspiration is village life in the British Isles with some notes of folk horror and fantasy. The title is borrowed from a 1975 British film. Oddly given the title and theme, a lot of the music leans to the heavier end of Wilson's musical spectrum. The whole thing is held together with a narrative written by Andy Partridge (from the band XTC, of "Dear God" fame) and spoken by actor David Tennant.

"Now Departing" is one of my favourite tracks.

 

[Mendalla]

And believe it or not, Canada has its own counterpart to Steven. Devin Townsend is rooted in rock and metal, starting his career in the band of US guitar legend Steve Vai. Like Wilson, Devin writes, sings, plays, produces, and more. His latest is an ambitious rock opera/concept album entitled The Moth. The work was debuted live in Groningen, The Netherlands last year, with the studio version coming out in May and the live version (a recording of that Dutch performance) released last week. This track features, besides Devin backed by full orchestra and rock band, Lynn Wu of the Chinese prog metal band OU, whose last album was produced by Devin.

And why the Netherlands and not Canada? Well, the head of the Noord Nederlands Orkest (North Netherlands Orchestra) helped with the orchestration. And, generally, Europe seems more receptive to Devin's brand of prog metal than we do at home. Too bad. He's one of our greats (and does get the odd Juno nomination).

 

[Mendalla]

Another Canadian who seems to get more attention abroad than at home is Montreal's Alissa White-Gluz. And what a busy year Alissa is having. About a year ago, she left the Swedish melodic death metal band Arch Enemy (who have carried on with American Lauren Hart taking over on vocals) and released her solo debut. But then, rather than following that up with more solo work, she proceeded to (a) start a new all-female band called Blue Medusa in partnership with a pair of crack guitarists and (b) joined UK power metal greats Dragonforce as a second vocalist (they already had a solid male singer in Marc Hudson). And now she's touring with them and appearing on their next album (March 2027) as well as starting to do some gigs with Blue Medusa, which also includes Dragonforce's bassist Alicia Vigil on bass.

For now, here's her second single with Dragonforce. Alas, Marc Hudson has now been sidelined by tinnitus so his former vocal coach, Italian Alessio Gravello, is covering the male vocals for a while. Alissa's presence has shaken up the band's sound a bit, given her background is metalcore and death metal. Lots of her fantastic growls in this one.