Dream on

SEEMINGLY OUT OF nowhere, the Darkness swooped out of Suffolk, England, and onto the international music scene in 2003 with their high-voltage debut, Permission to Land. At a time when hipster bands i

Jonas Renkse is forging new landscapes in Katatonia ’s gloom-laden prog metal world. Following the departure of founding guitarist Anders Nyström, a new-look line-up has released Nightmares As Extensions Of The Waking State . The vocalist and songwriter reveals the vivid dream that inspired the album and his plans for the new incarnation of the band.

Amid the mayhem of his European tour, Joe takes time out to give us a guided tour around his 2025 live gear, delivers the lowdown on some of his more storied guitars, and tells us why his mighty multi-amp rig has to run at breaking point in order to make the earth move and those riffs resonate…

He’s a musician who never plans for anything, but Tangerine Dream fans can rejoice in not just the 50th-anniversary reissue of Phaedra , but also a new album from one of its creators. Synth maestro Peter Baumann makes a welcome return with Nightfall , which continues his ongoing exploration of the human condition. He tells Prog why he prefers to do things in a haphazard way and why he wishes he’d had the chance to work with Edgar Froese again.

WHEN SESSION MAN Tim Pierce looks back at his career, he doesn’t view himself as a legend who’s played on more than a thousand records; instead, his perspective is one of deep gratitude. “It seemed li

Eleven years after his first ambitious homage to Mike Oldfield, Robert Reed is back with the long-awaited fourth instalment in his Sanctuary series. With a little help from Oldfield collaborators Les Penning, Tom Newman and drummer Simon Phillips, the Magenta and Cyan mastermind tells Prog about his mission to keep long-form music alive.