What albums are in heavy rotation for you right now?

First up, we have Frost* – Milliontown. I got turned onto this particular group through the Mike Portnoy Forums when somebody posted over there that people should check them out. It’s made up of a bunch of people from other bands, like Jon Jowitt and Andy Edwards from IQ.

The main creative force behind it is Jem Godfrey, who is primarily a pop songwriter who secretly has a love for Progressive music. Frost* is his take on what progressive rock/metal should be. I’m always horrible at explaining how music sounds, so it might be easier for you to go check it out and listen to some of the samples ;) It’s a very well produced album, and probably my favorite release of the year so far.

Another CD that’s been played a lot recently is from Spock’s Beard. Their second release after the departure of Neal Morse, Octane, really shows their growth as a band. I think they’ve finally found their sound, which is a cross between Prog and more popish songs. They’re really not that great at making long epic songs anymore, but the individual parts of A Flash Before My Eyes can stand on their own. What they excel at are tracks like There Was A Time and As Long as we Ride which are shorter songs with great hooks and wonderful production and playing. I can safely say I enjoy both the Neal Morse era Beard and the new Post-Neal era stuff.

Oh, and ONE WEEK until Dream Theater – Score is released! This is a live DVD and audio CD release from one of the best shows of Dream Theater’s carreer at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The best part is they got a full orchestra to play along with them in the second set and encore. I’ve heard samples of Metropolis Pt. 1 played along with the orchestra and I can’t wait to get the full audio quality of this one. There’s going to be a teaser preview happening this weekend on VH1 Classic if you get that channel. About an hour of the concert is going to be shown, and each showing is preceded by an episode of Metal Mania hosted by Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci

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