S* a* s*

Close harmonies, smooth grooves, infighting and ‘the bag’: making an album on stage

Thirty years ago, Marillion released their final album on EMI, their first not to reach the UK Top 10. Afraid Of Sunlight has since been hailed as one of the band’s greatest recordings, but tragedy lay at its heart, even though it kickstarted their career as one of the most successful independent groups. The band recall the challenging times that threatened their career and, at times, their sanity.

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.

With their 2022 debut album, Cardinal Black showed the world how the budding guitar hero in their ranks could thrive in a band environment. Here, Chris Buck explains how its follow-up has taken his playing and songwriting to the next level

Chaos, blood, death, resurrection – Kerry King and Tom Araya look back on the tumultuous journey of the thrash icons who pushed metal to new extremes

The Fateful Symmetry MUTE 7/10