#karnivool

Karnivool live at 013 (4-24-2026). Great performance!

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06/02/2026

2026/10. Karnivool-In Verses

Roie Avin: Essential Modern Progressive Rock Albums: Images and Words Behind Prog's Most Celebrated Albums 1990-2016 (2018)

As the editor of The Prog Report website (and a longtime friend and music biz colleague), Roie Avin is one of this planet's preeminent experts about this often misunderstood, sometimes reviled, but obviously enduring branch of rock 'n' roll's family tree.

Punk rock tried its damndest to kill progressive rock in the late 1970s, but it frankly never stood a chance and so-called "dinosaurs" like Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, and Pink Floyd kept right on selling millions of records long after their assailants had gone extinct themselves or sold out to new wave.

And then, after a relatively quiet 1980s (emphasis on "relative" since the decade spawned the mighty Marillion and many other genre standard bearers featured here), progressive rock grew ever more ambitious and expansive in the decades that followed.

Hence this period frequently being referred to as the 'Third Wave.'

Roie's book makes that abundantly obvious with a chronological survey of over 50 LPs, each of which receives a dedicated chapter full of historical information, band interviews and photos, and the author's own well-informed opinions about each title.

From Queensrÿche's multi-platinum-selling Empire to Opeth's twelfth opus, Sorceress (both obviously pictured above), Roie proves that prog never stopped, uh, progressing in the capable hands of major names like Dream Theater, Tool, Fates Warning, Spock's Beard, Porcupine Tree, Steven Wilson, and Devin Townsend.

What's more, even a somewhat knowledgeable music fan like me learned a lot about unfamiliar albums by the likes of Scale the Summit, Beardfish, The Flower Kings, The Tangent, Periphery, Haken, Enchant, Riverside, and Karnivool.

If anything, Roie seldom ventures into the extreme metal woods where countless Cookie Monsters beyond Opeth tread, but he had to draw the line somewhere, or else no coffee table would be large enough to support the resulting Encyclopedia Progtannica.

And I was thrilled to see Cynic's incomparable Focus LP included, alongside other personal favorites like Anathema, Ayeron, King's X, Mastodon, Between the Buried and Me, and, of course, Marillion.

So here's to you, Roie!

May you carry on sailing these seas of cheese (it's at least guaranteed to be gourmet cheese) and remain safe aboard all of those crazy prog rock cruises.

Featured Records:

Queensrÿche: Empire (1990)

Dream Theater: Images and Words (1992)

King's X: Faith Hope Love (1990)

Opeth: Sorceress (2016)

Cynic: Focus (1993)

EPIC ALBUM COVER #409

Karnivool - Themata

Released: 2005 (Bieler Bros., MGM)

elliot | any standard pronouns | NZST | 13+

NBC HANNIBAL!!

TRUE DETECTIVE (s1)!!!!!!!!

The Pitt

Yellowjackets

House MD

Sleep Token

Red Dead Redemption II

Smiling Friends

Other small/random things like music artists or movies