Cirdan - The Fate Of The Dragon Prince (2025)

Our favourite Dutch prog rock collective Círdan return with their sophomore effort, 'The Fate Of The Dragon Prince', a bold and immersive album that expands on the Tolkien-meets-cosmic mythology hinted at in their debut. With influences ranging from classic Yes and Camel, to the cinematic textures of post-rock and jazz fusion, this album is a significant artistic leap forward, being tighter, and more compositionally ambitious. The album begins with 'Space Circus', setting out their stall from the beginning, with Sanne de Vries' vocals giving the band their distinctive sound. 'Labyrinth Of The Mind' is a reflective ballad, with emphasis on acoustic guitars, while the eight-minute 'Retreat' is epic prog, featuring some superb interplay between synths and guitar. The six-minute 'Symphony Of The Universe' makes nice use of tightly structured harmony vocals, and leads into a short homage to Yes, 'The Khatru Process', which takes random phrases from the band and weaves them into a loving tribute. The centre-piece of the album is the title track, which is something of a departure for the group, being a 12-minute fantasy epic, complete with shifting time signatures and some excellent instrumental passages, while the album closes with the slow, moody 'Why'. Círdan’s 'The Fate Of The Dragon Prince' is a triumph of mood, structure, and sonic world-building, and while not as instantly accessible as their debut, it rewards deep listening. 

Track listing

01 Space Circus
02 Labyrinth Of The Mind
03 Retreat
04 Cosmic Reflections
05 Symphony Of The Universe
06 The Khatru Process
07 The Fate Of The Dragon Prince  
08 Why

Cirdan - Beyond The Horizon (2015)

Great news for fans of the Dutch progressive rock band Cirdan, as I've managed to track down a copy of their 2015 demo CD 'Beyond The Horizon'. It's another great collection of neo-prog rock, seeing the band finding their feet in composing their own music, and so it includes a couple of lengthy instrumentals, and a rare co-song-writing effort with bassist Rico Janssen, who gets to provide a co-vocal on the title track. 

Track listing

01 Eternal Symphony   
02 Ascend To The Summit   
03 In The Heart Of The City   
04 Eternal Spiral 
05 The Last Hemisphere  
06 Journey Beneath The Waves
07 Beyond The Horizon 

The truth about Cirdan

Hopefully anyone into classic progressive rock has listened to the recent post from Cirdan, so it's now time to come clean about this band. The idea for this album came to me a few months ago, while I was trawling Youtube and I found that a number of people were posting songs created entirely by AI. I searched for progressive rock songs made by AI and found a number of tracks which were quite impressive - apart from some unconvincing lyrics, some of them could have passed for an actual 70's prog rock band. I downloaded my favourites, and visited Youtube regularly for new posts, and before long I had 40 minutes worth of music, so putting it together as an album was a no-brainer. With a bit of editing and tweaking of the running order, I had quite a nice-sounding album, and I named it after the best of the tracks that I'd found online. All I needed now was a name for the band, and so where do a lot of prog rock bands look for their names, but 'Lord Of The Rings'. A quick search of names mentioned in the books found that Cirdan the Shipbuilder had never been picked for a rock band, and so all my album needed now was some cover art. I searched online for AI-generated prog rock album covers, and one Reddit post had a dozen to choose from, so I picked one I liked the look of, and my album was now complete. After playing it for a few weeks, I sent a copy to a mate in the US, longtime fan of the blog Fredrick Beondo, and between us we knocked it into shape, until we had a really convincing prog rock album. Eventually, I thought that it was too good to keep to myself, so I decided to post it on the site, possibly on 1st of April, as that seemed the perfect date for it, but for that I would need a biography of the band. Logging onto ChatGPT, I asked for a biography of the fictitious prog rock band Cirdan, and in less than 10 seconds it had produced a history of a band that never existed. With just the slightest of editing, I was able to post my album of progressive rock, where no human was involved in either the making of the music, the artwork, or the history of the group, other than a few prompts to the AI that made them, and my choosing of the band name. As an example of just what AI can do, this is an extremely interesting experiment, and while I am still in two minds about whether AI is going to be a boon for mankind, or eventually rise up and take us over, the musical side of it is progressing in leaps and bounds, as it stores more and more information from the entire history of music. The worrying thing is, will there soon be a time when a song is released with no human involvement, and no-one will actually be able to tell the difference?

Track listing

01 Nautilus
02 Eternal Wanderings
03 Age Of Wonders
04 For The World Outside
05 Eclipse Of The Mind
06 Where Dreams And Hope Once Danced
07 Just Hold On

Music posted by:
01 NeonCube's Song Factory
02 AI Generated Mega Hits
03 Quadrivo
04 VFOLD
05 Satoritei
06 A-Eye Musix
07 NeonCube's Song Factory

Album cover from Reddit

Biography by ChatGPT

Band name from J. R. R. Tolkien

Cirdan - Age Of Wonders (2018)

Cirdan is a progressive rock band formed in 2013 in the vibrant city of Amsterdam, Netherlands, which draws influences from classic prog acts like Yes, Genesis, and King Crimson, while infusing modern, experimental elements. The band was formed by guitarist Lucas van der Meulen, keyboardist Emma van Dijk, bassist Rico Janssen, drummer Timo Nissen, and vocalist Sanne de Vries. The band name, inspired by a character in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium (Cirdan the Shipwright), reflected the band’s love for fantastical and philosophical themes. Initially, Cirdan started playing in local clubs, refining their sound by blending traditional symphonic prog with elements of jazz fusion and post-rock. The band’s first release, 'Beyond The Horizon', was a self-produced demo in 2015, which gained them a dedicated underground following due to their high-energy live shows and sophisticated musical arrangements. In 2018, Cirdan recorded their debut full-length album, 'Age Of Wonders', which was met with critical acclaim. The album’s centrepiece was the 15-minute title track, which took listeners on a journey through the depths of space, both metaphorically and musically. The album's success led them to tour across Europe, performing at major progressive rock festivals like the ProgPower Europe Festival and the Meltdown Festival in the UK. The band continues to tour internationally, keeping their fans engaged with both new material and old classics, and plans are in force for a follow-up album to' Age Of Wonders'. The line-up remains largely unchanged, with Lucas van der Meulen and Emma van Dijk still the core songwriters, while Sanne de Vries's haunting vocals continue to be a central aspect of the band's identity.

Track listing

01 Nautilus
02 Eternal Wanderings
03 Age Of Wonders

04 For The World Outside
05 Eclipse Of The Mind
06 Where Dreams And Hope Once Danced
07 Just Hold On