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Reviews

Refestramus — Morri's Rock Boutique
(Bandcamp Melodic Revolution Records, 2026, CD / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2026-10-22

Morri's Rock Boutique Cover art

I have to admit that I’m not sure what to make of Refestramus. It’s certainly evident that there are skilled musicians involved, playing music that runs from what might be called Adult Oriented Rock to various shades of progressive rock with occasional symphonic tendencies. Whether it all holds together is another question, and one I struggle to answer. For every moment that sounds like an outtake from a Jefferson Starship album there’s a passage that sounds like something that could have come off a Rick Wakeman solo album (though not one of the earlier ones). “Storms” falls mostly in the first category, but “The Cossack’s Dream” ventures into overblown prog ostentation. I’m not one to insist on stylistic purity, and maybe my reaction isn’t really about style. Some of the songs seem to be assembled of parts that make sense on their own but go together awkwardly. For example, in “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight, Tonight, Tonight” the sax part seems to belong in a different song, and some of the backing vocals are from yet another song. That being said, a couple of the riffs are pretty cool. So I’m going to shirk in my critical duties and just say that if you’re a fan of modern progressive rock, you should check out Referstramus, and maybe it’ll work for you better than it does for me.

Filed under: New releases, 2026 releases

Related artist(s): Joe Deninzon (Stratospheerius), David Jackson, Refestramus

More info
http://refestramus.bandcamp.com/album/morri-s-rock-boutique

 

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