For this year’s End of the Year episode, we assembled an illustrious round again: Karl Westerlund, Robert Stenvall & Christian Berglönn (An Abstract Illusion), Andy Schmidt (Disillusion), Colin MacAndrew (Ashbreather) & Rioghan Darcy, talking about all of their own 2022 records as well as our favorite albums of the year.

There must have been something in the water in Providence, Rhode Island around 2004: Dirt Poor Robins emerged parallel to The Dear Hunter to go on a separate, but similarly artistic journey, culminating in their latest record and silent film, “Queen of the Night”. Mastermind Neil DeGraide told us everything about it!

Lars Enok Åhlund, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, moustache man and all around secret weapon of Swedish prog masters Soen, called mid-tour from Quebec, Canada to talk about their current and future live activities, choosing a certain cover version and of course everything about their new album “Atlantis”.

Pondering the similarities of Hip Hop and Psychedelic Rock while talking about Progressive Metal: Canadian-born, Leipzig-based guitarist Morgan Reid presents his very first solo album Terran. We covered a lot of ground including sight reading sheet music, his admiration for Philip Glass, creating a dance choreography to David Maxim Micic’s music and not to forget the #ibanezgiveaway! Hop on board!

Calling from Cologne, ÆRIES guitarist Julian Suhr talked to us about the ÆRIES sound, working in the studio vs. recording at home and everything else there is to know about the band’s debut album, “Arcanum”.

Joe Branton, bassist and designated mic-duty guy of London/Brighton instrumental proggers Poly-Math talks standard Fripp tuning, the very broad church of prog, full-on bass gear nerdery and of course “Zenith”, Poly-Math’s brand new album, out Nov. 18 on Nice Weather For Airstrikes!

Andrew Stout, initiator, composer and guitarist of schizo prog metal upstarts Apeiron Bound talks about the conception of the band, the initial reception of their debut album “Multiplicity” (released Aug. 26 through Layered Reality Productions), crazy music video shoots and upcoming plans.

The artistic core trio of international prog metal band Seventh Station, Dmitri Alperovich, Eren Başbuğ & Davidavi Dolev called from their respective corners of the world to talk about arranging Shostakovich for a prog metal ensemble, channeling and translating the artistic vision of a song into a music video and of course everything else about their second album, “Heal the Unhealed”, out Nov. 7th!

Violinist Olivier Allard of Canadian genre-benders Cydemind talks about composing instrumental music, making the classical influence interesting in a metal context and of course their new sophomore album, “The Descent”.

Jon, Øystein, Lars, Claudia and Sondre from Major Parkinson called in from Bergen and Oslo respectively to talk about the creation of “Valesa - Chapter I: Velvet Prison” (with hints to Chapters II and III), good and bad pop music and upcoming live plans.

What does “epic” mean? What is “progressive”? Roy Khan and Tore Østby of Norwegian Prog Metal Legends Conception ponder the big questions while reminiscing about their 4 classic albums that just got a proper Deluxe Reissue treatment. We also talked about the successful reunion, future plans and the “Conception Camp” they just returned from.

The chances of a huge social media platform re-naming itself after your album vs. a brain appearing out of nowhere: big Boltzmann Brain times with Simen Hundere Ruud & Magnus Johansen of Norwegian prog shooting stars Maraton talking about their impending sophomore album “Unseen Color” and more.

Avandra Mastermind Christian Ayala called from Puerto Rico shortly before boarding the plane to ProgPower Europe to talk about power blackouts after hurricanes, the magic of discovering bands live first before diving into their studio recordings, the new album “Prodigal” coming in November and more upcoming Avandra plans.

“You don’t get that organic band sound unless you play the songs and feel the pain!” Electric Cuatro player Abraham Sarache and bassist Tristan Turner talk about how to play the famous Melkweg in Amsterdam for the first time three times, fast moving chats at The Progspace Online Festival, the upcoming ProgPower Europe Pre-Party and more…

Danish prog newcomers return with a very. personal sophomore album in the form of “To Exit A Maelstrom”. We talked to vocalist Mikkel Lohmann and drummer Andreas Dahl-Blumenberg about increasing the heaviness, why they don’t play Bossa Nova and the challenges of playing emotionally heavy music live. Don’t miss out on their performance at ProgPower Europe in the Netherlands on Oct. 1st!

The Progtalks are back after the summer break, and we have Australian multi-instrumentalist Mike Mills, sole (musician) member of Toehider calling and talking about his new album “I Have Little To No Memory of These Memories”, adequately rated artists and advantages and disadvantages of being a one man band.

One last Progtalks episode before our summer break: Porcupine Tree’s Richard Barbieri talks about different approaches to composing, sound design and of course the most anticipated album of the year in the Prog world: “Closure/Continuation”. Don’t miss out on the last Progtalks episode before our summer break!

Tim Smolens & Chris Bogen, the driving duo behind the newly founded High Castle Teleorkestra, talk about the creation of “The Egg That Never Opened”, the first part of a planned trilogy based on Philip K. Dick’s novel “Radio Free Albemuth”, out July 17 on Art As Catharsis.

The Aristocrats drumming powerhouse and resident master of polyrhythmic insanity, Marco Minnemann, talks working with an orchestra (namely the Primuz Chamber Orchestra), his current main projects besides The Aristocrats and (self-)releasing music in the age of streaming services.

Sometimes, musical innovation is simply born out of a desire to listen to a specific mash-up of styles that you’ve never heard mixed together - or at least not in the way you’re imagining it. French band Ckraft, led by accordionist Charles Kieny did exactly that. Their debut album “Epic Discordant Vision” is out on June 3rd.