The Flower Kings are a Swedish progressive rock band formed in 1994 by guitarist and singer-songwriter Roine Stolt. The group began as Stolt's touring band to support his third solo album The Flower King. They continued performing after the tour and have gone on to become one of the most prolific studio recording units in progressive rock, having released over twenty hours of music spread across fifteen studio albums. Their music is similar to early symphonic progressive rock groups such as Yes, marked by sharp dynamic changes, polyrhythms, heavy bass, vocal harmonies, abstract and occasionally nonsensical lyrics, and extended song lengths.
Sirens is the debut studio album by American heavy metal band Savatage, released on April 11, 1983. The music on this album is heavier than in later Savatage albums, where the band developed their own style of progressive metal. It has also been cited as a key inspiration for the then-burgeoning thrash metal scene.
Ring Ring is the debut studio album by the Swedish group ABBA, initially credited as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida. It was released in Scandinavia on 26 March 1973, and later in a limited number of other territories, including West Germany, Australia, South Africa and Mexico, through Polar Music. It was a chart-topping album in Belgium, and a big success in the Netherlands, Norway and South Africa.
Machine Gun Etiquette is the third studio album by English punk rock band the Damned, released on 2 November 1979 by Chiswick Records.
Rocka Rolla is the debut studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 6 September 1974 by Gull Records. It was produced by Rodger Bain, who had made a name for himself as the producer of Black Sabbath's first three albums. It is the only album to feature drummer John Hinch.
H to He, Who Am the Only One is the third album by the British progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. It was released in 1970 on Charisma Records.
Hans Arnold was an artist, born in Switzerland, who lived and worked in Sweden from 1947 until his death in 2010. He illustrated many magazines and books. He is perhaps best known for his illustrations for the Bland tomtar och troll books, and for the cover he did for the ABBA Greatest Hits album.
"Go Now" is a song composed by Larry Banks and Milton Bennett and first recorded by Bessie Banks, released as a single in January 1964. The best-known version was recorded by the Moody Blues and released the same year.
The Roaring Silence is the seventh studio album by English rock band Manfred Mann's Earth Band. It was released on 27 August 1976, by Bronze Records in the UK and by Warner Bros. Records in the US. Like other Earth Band albums, this includes material by other composers. "Blinded by the Light", which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, is a cover version of a song by Bruce Springsteen; "Questions" is based on the main theme of Franz Schubert's Impromptu in G flat Major (1827); "Starbird" takes its theme from Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird (1910); and "The Road to Babylon" is based on the canon "By the Waters of Babylon" by Philip Hayes. Lyrics and melody of the intro of "The Road to Babylon" is taken from the song "Babylon" from Don McLean's second album "American Pie", released in 1971.
Quatermass is the only studio album by English progressive rock band Quatermass, released in May 1970 by Harvest Records. It was produced by the Swedish producer Anders "Henkan" Henriksson.
Ashes Are Burning is the fourth studio album by the English progressive rock band Renaissance, released in 1973. It was the first of several Renaissance albums to feature an orchestra playing along with the band. It was the band's first album to make the Billboard 200 album chart, peaking at No. 171.
"My Favourite Game" is an alternative rock song written by Peter Svensson and Nina Persson for Swedish band the Cardigans' fourth studio album, Gran Turismo (1998). The song is the album's eighth track and was released as its first single on 14 September 1998. Lyrically, it is about a failing relationship and the attempt made to better the significant other or save people from themselves. "My Favourite Game" found minor international success, reaching number three in Sweden and number 14 in the UK. It also charted within the top 40 in several European countries and New Zealand. While it failed to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100 and its radio counterpart, it peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.
Scanning The Greenhouse is the first compilation album by the Swedish progressive rock band The Flower Kings.
Bastards is the eleventh studio album by British rock band Motörhead. It was released on 29 November 1993 via ZYX Music, the band's only release on this label. It is the band's first studio album to feature the drummer Mikkey Dee, who also featured as guest drummer on the previous album.
Joakim Svalberg is a Swedish musician best known as the current keyboard player for the Swedish progressive metal band Opeth, which he joined in late 2011 just after the recording of the album Heritage. Svalberg is also involved with a band named elGamo, whose first record he is currently working on.
Vertikal is the sixth studio album by Swedish post-metal band Cult of Luna and is also the band's first studio album since Eternal Kingdom (2008). The album was released in Europe on January 25, 2013 through Indie Recordings, and in the US on January 29, 2013 on CD through Density Records and on vinyl through Back on Black. To promote the album, Cult of Luna released the song "I: The Weapon" for online streaming prior to the release of Vertikal, and released a music video for the song "Passing Through" in February 2013. The album was critically acclaimed upon release and earned an average score of 85 based on 10 reviews at Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics.
Qoph is a progressive rock band from Stockholm, Sweden, present since 1994.
Pyrola is the second studio album by Swedish progressive rock band Qoph. The album was released in Sweden and Germany in 2004 and in Japan by Disk Union in 2005. The Japanese edition includes the bonus track "Anticipations" with Mats Öberg guesting on moog. The double vinyl version contains two more bonustracks: "Resh" and "Will the Sun Be Back Tomorrow.
Freaks is the third studio album by Swedish progressive rock band Qoph, released in 2012.
Glancing Madly Backwards is an album by Swedish progressive rock band Qoph. Released in May 2014, the album contains unreleased and hard-to-find tracks recorded between 1994 and 2004. Several Qoph line ups are represented on the album.
