Big beasts

Stockholm instrumentalists Gösta Berlings Saga are back and celebrating 25 years of heady musical adventures with their seventh album, Forever Now . Driven by a thrill-seeking wanderlust to explore new sounds and the desire to remain recognisable, the band tell Prog they’re always searching for something new, even if they’re not actually sure what that is.

Truth can be stranger than fiction, and that’s something Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate embrace on their latest album, The Uncertainty Principle . Moving away from sci-fi and exploring themes of science and human interaction, Malcolm Galloway and Mark Gatland explain why they took a deep dive into the history books to uncover tales of scientists, spies and nuclear bombs.

Manchester quartet hit heavy and soft with radiant prog sound.

Bringing a hard-rock swagger and the majesty of metal to their own brand of prog rock, Magic Pie break a six-year studio silence with Maestro . Frontman Eiríkur Hauksson tells Prog about being a metalhead in a prog world, writing songs at bus stops, and feeling the heat on Cruise To The Edge.

Born in the titular Kent city in the late 60s, the Canterbury scene spawned some of prog’s most creative and quirky acts. From The Wilde Flowers and Soft Machine to Caravan and Gong, each had a distinctive sound and, in many cases, image that captured the hearts and minds of their followers. But the scene’s impact didn’t end in the 70s. Phil Howitt, Facelift editor and Hugh Hopper’s biographer, explores the new breed of progressive acts inspired by it, both consciously and unwittingly, and unearths the secrets of the ‘Canterbury chord’.

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