The Rickter Scale

2021:

1 Agusa En Annan Varld
2 Alco Frisbass Le Mystere Du Gue Purcelle
3 Iron Maiden Senjutsu
4 JPL Sapiens Chapitre 2
5 Dennis DeYoung 26 East Vol. 2
6 Kayak Out Of This World
7 Hasse Froberg & MC We Are The Truth
8 Octarine Sky Close To Nearby
9 The Neal Morse Band  Innocence & Danger
10 Big Big Train  Common Ground
11 Cyan For King And Country
12 Transatlantic The Absolute Universe
13 Resistor The 5th Season
14 French TV All Our Failures Are Behind Us
15 Liquid Tension Experiment LTE3
16 This Winter Machine Kites
17 Glass Hammer Skallagrim: Into The Breach
18 Smith/Kotzen Smith/Kotzen
19 Leap Day Treehouse
20 Proportions After All These Years
21 Monarch Trail Wither Down
22 Yossi Sassi Hear And Dare
23 Accordo Dei Contrari UR-
24 Dream Theater A View From The Top
25 Steve Hackett Surrender of Silence
26 Antony Kalugin Chameleon Shapeshifter
27 Mahogany Frog In The Electric Universe
28 Jonatan Pina Duluc Soundtrack Vol 1: Sequencia
29 Kornmo Fimbulvinter
30 Gin Lady Camping With Bodhi
31 Cast Vigesimus
32 Steve Hackett Under A Mediterranean Sky
33 Robby Steinhardt Not In Kansas Anymore
34 Antony Kalugin Stellar Gardener
35 The Samurai Of Prog  The White Snake
36 Ciccada Harvest
37 Caeli Conept The Dark Playground
38 Asia Minor Points Of Libration
39 Embryo Auf Auf
40 Karmamoi Room 101
41 Jordsjo Pastoralia
42 Styx  Crash Of The Crown
43 Lifesigns Altitude
44 The Samurai Of Prog The Lady And The Lion
45 Manna/Mirage Man Out Of Time
46 Big Hogg  Pageant Of Beasts
47 Laura Meade The Most Dangerous
48 Elisa Montaldo Fistful of Planets, Pts I & II
49 Bent Knee Frosting
50 Jane Getter Premonition Anomalia

 

2020:

1

 Falconer - From A Dying Ember
2 Blue Oyster Cult - The Symbol Remains
3 Derek Sherinian - The Phoenix
4 Magenta - Masters Of Illusion
5 Pure Reason Revolution - Eupnea
6 John Petrucci - Terminal Velocity
7 Gungfly - Alone Together
8 THEO - Figureheads
9 Timelight - Selah!
10 Wishbone Ash - Coat Of Arms
11 Carpe Nota - Not Greater Than You
12 JPL - Sapiens Chaptire 1/3: Exordium
13 Soften The Glare - Glint
14 Outside In - Karmatrain
15 Lazuli  - Le Fantastique Envol De Dieter Bohm
16 Zopp - Zopp
17 Sonus Umbra - A Sky Full Of Ghosts
18 Rick Wakeman - The Red Planet
19 Nick D'Virgilio - Invisible
20 Elastic Blur - Out Of The Sudden
21 AmuZeum - New Beginnings
22 Pattern-Seeking Animals - Prehensile Tales
23 Wobbler  - Dwellers Of The Deep
24 The Tangent - Auto Reconnaissance
25 The Rick Ray Band - Acrylic Charlie
26 Sons Of Apollo - MMXX
27 Dool - Summerland
28 French TV - Stories Without Fingerprints
29 The Flower Kings  - Islands
30 Ovrfwrd - StarStuff
31 Violent Silence - Twilight Furies
32 Kaizen - Aqvila
33 Ozric Tentacles - Space For The Earth
34 The Samurai Of Prog - La Tierra
35 Karfagen - Principles And The Theory Of Spektra
36 Marko Hietala - Pyre Of the Black Heart
37 Panzerballet - Planet Z
38 Siena Root - The Secret Of Our Time
39 Shaman Elephant - Wide Awake But Still Asleep
40 Gran Torino - The Delphic Prophecy
41 Haze - Back To The Bones
42 Osiris - Take A Closer Look
43 The Samurai Of Prog - Beyond The Wardrobe
44 Haken - Virus
45 Fernando Perdomo - Out To Sea 3
46 The Backstage - Isolation
47 KnightressM1 - Dreams And Devastation
48 Jakko M. Jakszyk - Secrets & Lies
49 Steve Thorne - Levelled Emotional Creatures Part 3
50 Kansas - The Absence Of Presence
51 Nektar - The Other Side
52 Ring Van Mobius  - The 3rd Majesty
53 Magnum - The Serpent Rings
54 Mariana Semkina  - Sleepwalking
55 Fates Warning  - Long Day Good Night
56 Isobar - Isobar
57 Arabs In Aspic - Madness And Magic
58 Carl Baldassarre - Collinwood Yards
59 Anthony Kalugin - Marshmellow Moondust
60 David Minasian - The Sound Of Dreams
61 Karfagen - Birds Of Passage
62 DarWin  - DarWin 2: A Frozen War
63 Days Between Stations - Giants
64 Sanguine Hum - A Trace Of Memory
65 Jaga Jazzist - Pyramid
66 La Maschera Di Cera - S.E.I.
67 Dennis DeYoung - 26 East, Vol. 1
68 David Sancious - Eyes Wide Open
69 Polis - Weltklang
70 Six Days End - In Between Two Nothings
71 Neal Morse - Sola Gratia
72 Al Dimeola - Across The Universe
73 Manna/Mirage - Face
74 McStine & Minnemann - McStine & Minnemann
75 Pendragon  - Love Over Fear
76 The Samurai Of Prog - Gulliver
77 Ayreon - Transitus
78 California Guitar Trio - Elegy
79 Ekos - Instinto
80 Habu - Distant Thunder
81 Light - The Miracle Of Life
82 Deluge Grander - Lunarians
83 Glass Hammer - Dreaming City
84 Hallas - Conundrum
85 IO Earth - Aura
86 Scarlet Hollow - A Window To October
87 Arcade Messiah - The Host
88 Rain - Singularity
89 Ghost Toast - Shape Without Form
90 Godsticks  - Inescapable
91 Pixie Ninja - Colours Out Of Space
92 Witchwood - Before the Winter
93 Spirits Burning - The Hollow Lands
94 Fish - Weltschmerz
95 Fren  - Where Do You Want Ghosts To Reside
96 Gosta Berlings Saga - Konkret Musik
97 Psychotic Waltz - The God-Shaped Void
98 Final Conflict  - Rise Of The Artisan
99 Ajna - Rengeteg
100 Airbag - A Day The Beach

 

 

 

 

2019:

1

 Thieves Kitchen-Genius Loci-The Clockwork Universe grabbed #1 in 2015. Repeat!
2 Opeth-In Cauda Venenum-No growling, no less power. Best since Ghost Reveries.
3 The Worm Ouroboros-Endless Way From You-Released Dec 26, too good to wait a year. From Belarus.
4 Asturias-Trinity-If it's Asturias and it's electric, it's top 10.
5 Minimum Vital-Air Caravan'-Not as good as Pavanes, and still number 5.
6 Shob-Solide-Shob is one bad man.
7 Antoine Fafard-Borromean Odyssey-Husband, Sucherman, and Fafard. Best trio out there.
8 Hasse Froberg & Musical Companion-Parallel Life-The most solid band in prog keeps raising the bar.
9 Time Shift Accident-Chronosthesia-Was hard to rate this so "low". Fusion greatness.
10 IQ-Resistance-Road of Bones was #1 in '14, another powerful double CD.
11 Ed Wynne-Shimmer Into Nature-No dropoff as the Ozrics leader steps out.
12 Frank Wyatt & Friends-Zeitgeist-Frank put his heart into this one, with awesome guests.
13 Morglbl-The Story Of Scott Rotti-Return to form for the Frenchmen, a real corker.
14 The Claypool Lennon Delirium-South Of Reality-Sean Lennon steps out of Les' large shadow.
15 Magic Pie-Fragments Of The 5th Element-Everything they put out is high quality. Tight record.
16 Thank You Scientist-Terraformer-I've put aside my aversion to the vocals, it's too good.
17 The Aristocrats-You Know What-Rarely do three musicians so talented blend so seamlessly.
18 Izz-Don't Panic-Has Izz put out a poor record?
19 Flying Colors-Third Degree-The first one of their three I've enjoyed all the way through.
20 Marbin-Israeli Jazz-High energy, extended soloing, what's not to like.
21 Vinnie Moore-Soul Shifter-Best guitar-oriented record maker - Tasteful with a touch of flash.
22 Kinetic Element-The Face Of Life-KE's best lineup yet, the title cut is a classic.
23 Steve Unruh-Precipice-The hardest working, most versatile man returns to true solo work.
24 Stratus Luna-Stratus Luna-South American prog jazz? Auto buy!
25 Iamthemorning-The Bell-Marjana and Gleb treat us with another winner.
26 The Neal Morse Band-The Great Adventure-Such a good record. Less repetition would skyrocket it to top 10.
27 Jordan Rudess-Wired For Madness-Avoids the solo record trap by diversity on each track.
28 Franck Carducci-The Answer-A bit behind his other records, but Franck is still rock and roll.
29 Eddie Mulder-Waves-Eddie combines tasteful playing with brilliant songwriting.
30 Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso-Transiberiana-Almost all new lineup from their heyday, but still great.
31 The Tea Club - If-When - "If I Mean When" is the song of the year.
32 David Pastorius - Radio Gold - Currently plaing with Pat Travers, David is a monster.
33 Valence - Cognitive Dissidents - A rare prog metal instrumental band that always interesting. Awesome record.
34 Tool - Fear Inoculum - The music takes few chances, but it's Tool so it's ranked high.
35 United Progressive Fraternity - Planetary Overload Part 1 - Fine collaboration with good people saying important things.
36 Farmhouse Odyssey - Fertile Ground - They had to cancel Progday but I am looking forward to seeing them live sometime.
37 Steve Hackett - At The Edge Of Light - Another year, another record from the Godfather.
38 Barock Project - Seven Seas - The band has it all, outstanding effort.
39 Gin Lady - Tall Sun Crooked Moon - More down home and mellow than their others, but still pleasing to the ear.
40 Bent Knee - You Know What They Mean - One of the best live bands out today, very demanding music that rewards the listener.
41 Goblin - The Devil Is Back - Claudio Simonetti keeps on ticking!
42 Introitus - Shadows - Everything Introitus does is high class and high quality.
43 Fernando Perdomo - Out To Sea 2 - Lots of short, fun tracks that make for great listening.
44 Quantum Fantay - Yemaya Orisha - Always solid, high energy space rock.
45 Dream Theater - Distance Over Time - I haven't gotten into them much in a long time, but there's more cohesiveness here.
46 Steve Katsikas - Hidden Village - Steve makes a great album from many varying parts.
47 Lonely Robot - Under Stars - John Mitchell out with another solid record.
48 Red Bazar - Things As They Appear - Another fine record, with help from the amazing Peter Jones.
49 Slug Comparison - When You Were Living Here - Ex-Fen leader Doug Harrison puts together a gripping record.
50 Consider The Source - You Are Literally A Metaphor - Monstrous live band.
51 Persephone's Dream Anomalous Propagation
52 The Flower Kings Waiting For Miracles
53 The Rick Ray Band Dark Matter Halo
54 Karfagen Echoes From Within Dragon Island
55 Kadavar For The Dead Travel Fast
56 Light Damage Numbers
57 The Gift Antenna
58 King Of Agogik After The Last Stroke
59 The Samurai Of Prog Toki No Kaze
60 Yuval Ron Somewhere In This Universe, Somebody Hits A Drum
61 Moron Police A Boat On The Sea
62 Felix Martin Caracas
63 Magma Zess (Le Jour De Neant)
64 Bryan Beller Scenes From The Flood
65 Gong The Universe Also Collapses
66 Leah Ancient Winter
67 PENNA Soulmagnet
68 Big Big Train Grand Tour
69 KXM Circle Of Dolls
70 Strawberry Girls Tasmanian Glow
71 Bjorn Riis A Storm Is Coming
72 The Far Meadow Foreign Land
73 Moon Letters Until They Feel The Sun
74 Johnny Bob Fjodor & The Watergiant
75 Virgil Donati Ruination
76 Tom Slatter Demon
77 District 97 Screens
78 The Cyberiam The Butterfly Effect
79 Djam Karet A Sky Full Of Stars For A Roof
80 Tanith In Another Time
81 Jon Anderson 1000 Hands- Chapter One
82 Avandra Descender
83 The Mercury Tree Spidermilk
84 Arch-Matheos Winter Ethereal
85 Anthony Phillips Strings Of Light
86 Eris Pluvia Tales From Another Time
87 Finisterre Finisterre XXV
88 Thirteen Of Everything Our Own Sad Fate
89 Kit Watkins Field Of View
90 Soen Lotus
91 Soniq Theater Brandenburg
92 The Kentish Spires Sprezzatura
93 Angel Witch Angel Of Light
94 Keaggy Levin Marotta The Bucket List
95 T Solipsystemology
96 Courtney Swain Between Blood And Ocean
97 A.C.T Rebirth
98 Antarticus Antarticus
99 Tillian Lotus Graveyard
100 Voyag3r War Mask