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Ed’s Letter

Hello and welcome to the latest issue of

Bloody Well Write

Send your letters to us at: Prog , Future Publishing, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London, W2 6QA, or email prog@futurenet.com . Letters may be edited for length. We regret that we cannot reply to phone calls and we cannot always respond to individual messages. Find us on facebook.com under Prog .

EINAR SOLBERG GOES WIDESCREEN WITH SECOND SOLO ALBUM

INTRO IF IT’S OUT THERE, IT’S IN HERE

MAGENTA RETURN WITH A NEW LP

Celebrating their silver jubilee, Tarot is the band’s first studio release in six years.

HEKZ FIND THEIR DESTINY ON THE AMBITIOUS QISMA

Double concept explores fate and hope.

GRACE UNDER PRESSURE REVAMP

Rush’s 10th studio album is given a sonic sheen with a host of bonus material added.

HAKEN ANNOUNCE SURPRISE CHANGES

Guitarist Charlie Griffiths and bassist Conner Green have quit the band.

GODSTICKS GO DARK AND HEAVY ON NEW ALBUM VOID

The band reflect on a polarised world devoid of subtlety.

CROWN LANDS RETURN TO PROG

After the relative calm of Ritual I & II , Apocalypse reaches new heights.

PAT METHENY ANNOUNCES NEW LP

The guitarist launches new imprint and prepares to tour this year.

BILL NELSON ORCHESTRA FUTURA RELEASE DEBUT LP

Improvised recordings have been mixed and polished.

FAD GADGETS

Rhodri Marsden on three of the latest must-have gizmos currently putting the prog in progress.

SAMMY HAGAR

MY PROG HERO Inspiring the wider music world…

PROG IN BRIEF

PAUL NATKIN/GETTY IMAGES Adrian Belew: The Atlantic Years

TAVANANNA

Liverpool prog-fusion quartet combine jazz and Turkish influences.

SCOTTISH PROG RISES AGAINST NEGLECT

It’s high time to look north of the border.

TRITONEA

ALL AROUND THE WORLD Our far-out trip to far-flung prog

PROG IN BRIEF

PRESS French band Rise Of Mercury (right) will

HOLOSOIL

Berlin-Helsinki quartet mix energy and technicality for bold new sound.

Z MACHINE

Five go mad in Swansea! Musical scientists cook up an explosive blend of prog and fusion.

DIVIDED BY DESIGN

British instrumental trio form widescreen ambitions for their dazzling talents.

BRIAN WILLOUGHBY

The British guitarist reflects on his time in the Strawbs and reissuing The Bridge , his 90s collaboration with the late Dave Cousins.

THE PROG INTERVIEW

NEAL MORSE

NMB

Praise be! Prog’s most devout figure, Neal Morse, gets the gang back together, dials back the sermonising and reaches for the stars on his band’s sparkling first album in five years.

JAZZ PROG

Sid Smith rounds up the best releases from prog’s jazzier reaches.

Take a bow

Neil Durant lays down some impressive keys. CARSTEN

ZOPP

VENUE THE HAIRY DOG, DERBY DATE 07/12/2025 SUPPORT

JOHN MITCHELL & FRIENDS

A strong performance from Leddra Chapman and her

DAMIAN WILSON & ADAM WAKEMAN

VENUE VICTORIA HALL, SETTLE DATE 19/12/2025 T here

SWALLOW THE SUN

VENUE REBELLION, MANCHESTER DATE 16/12/2025 W ith their

PROG THE FOREST

Mother Black Cap get the crowd singing. KEVIN

SQUARE WILD

VENUE THE STAR & GARTER, MANCHESTER DATE 19/12/2025

TREVOR HORN

VENUE O2 CITY HALL, NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE DATE

ANNA PHOEBE

VENUE THE LOWER THIRD, LONDON DATE 15/01/2026 A

PETER JONES (TIGER MOTH TALES)

The great and good of progressive music give us a glimpse into their prog worlds. As told to Grant Moon.

IN MEMORY OF MICK ABRAHAMS

Jethro Tull co-founder Mick Abrahams was only in the band for a few years – his only studio album with them was their debut, This Was – but he had a considerable impact on their formation. Better known for his work with Blodwyn Pig, the guitarist also enjoyed a degree of success with solo work, including 2015’s Revived! with his Tull replacement Martin Barre. We pay tribute to the musician who died in December.

THE PROG READERS’ POLL 2025

PRESS/KEVIN WESTENBERG A new year and the results

Long Distance Voyager

In 1971, 20-year-old Steve Hackett made his debut with Genesis. His imaginative guitar work became a key feature of their 70s sound, but when Peter Gabriel departed, Hackett’s future with the band came into question. Two years after the release of his debut solo album, Voyage Of The Acolyte, he also left to hone his craft as not only a solo artist but also a bandleader. As he prepares for his upcoming Best Of Genesis & Solo Gems Tour, we look back on how one of prog’s great guitarists turned what could have been a death knell into his strength

Acolyte Affirmations: Nick Magnus

“We’re already talking about hopefully doing something together in the future…”

Acolyte Affirmations: Steve Rothery

“He’s a great friend of mine, and a huge inspiration…”

Acolyte Affirmations: Amanda Lehmann

“Steve’s the ringmaster, but he gives you plenty of scope, a large degree of autonomy.”

THE KEENEST EDGE

Big Big Train have had a busy few years and now they’re back with their first proper narrative concept album, Woodcut . Co-founding bassist Gregory Spawton and vocalist/ instrumentalist Alberto Bravin explain their unexpected inspiration and the creative process that’s taken the international collective from a studio project to a gigging band that makes albums.

Irregular Heartbeats

Swedish prog metallers Wolverine are back with their first full-length album in a decade. Why has it taken them so long? Life just got in the way, they say. Drummer Marcus Losbjer and frontman Stefan Zell tell Prog about the blood, sweat and tears behind Anomalies , and why we might not have to wait so long for its follow-up.

Barking At The Moon

Darryl Way’s Wolf were a short-lived but fascinating group, packed full of talent. With a newly released Esoteric box set rounding up the band’s trio of studio albums, original members Darryl Way, John Etheridge, and Ian Mosley chat to Prog about auditions, studio nightmares, and showing off in the best possible taste.

Expanding Horizons

On Ether Metal , synth-proggers Esoterica have come of age with a collection of perfectly constructed cinematic songs with a sci-fi slant. Toby and Luke Keast take Prog on a journey from their early days as a bunch of A Perfect Circle sound-a-likes to selling out the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire with an explosive sound that’s all their own.

Desert Songs

It’s taken them 13 long years, but finally Karnivool are ready to unveil a new studio album. In Verses , their fourth full-length recording, finds them in a reflective mood. Guitarist Drew Goddard and bassist Jon Stockman tell Prog about making new musical connections and finding themselves in a deserted Australian town.

EVER Reliant

On their latest studio album Reliance , Swedish quintet Soen have served up another dose of atmospheric, left-leaning prog metal. Prog catches up with drummer Martin Lopez and vocalist Joel Ekelöf to find out more, as the band show no signs of slowing down.

Holding Out For Happiness

They emerged from a Virginia university in 1973 with great acclaim, but Happy The Man never reached the heights of their UK and European counterparts and disintegrated six years later. Thanks to a very generous friend, their self-titled debut and its follow-up, Crafty Hands , have been revamped and reissued to sound exactly as the band intended them to all those years ago. Co-founders Stanley Whitaker and Rick Kennell tell Prog about their unexpected journey.

Restarting A Revolution

Textures once helped pioneer the modern djent and heavy progressive blueprint, but the Dutch sextet disbanded at the end of 2017 when it felt like the bands they’d inspired had overtaken them. Now, back from the dead and sounding more complete than ever before, returning keyboardist Uri Dijk tells Prog about their resurrection, unlikely new influences and why they won’t buck to genre trends.