Make a recommendation to a fellow member of The Infinite
Daniel, Xephyr, and Saxy, perhaps you guys would also dig Voivod's 1991 twist into the mainstream that is Angel Rat. It's not as bad as some people think! You might find a lot of beautiful guitar and broad vocal hooks to expect in prog-rock/metal that fans of Pain of Salvation, Riverside, and the softer material of Devin Townsend should hear...
Pain of Salvation: I first heard Pain of Salvation probably 10 years ago when I randomly stumbled upon Be and was blown away because I hadn't heard anything like it before. It was theatrical, heavy, strange, and progressive in a different way than something like Dream Theater. I left them behind as I listened to more stuff though, since the theatrics and their overall style wore thin; I never really had a strong urge to go back to any of their records even if I enjoyed them in the moment.
The Perfect Element I rekindled my respect for this band though, especially after their lukewarm 2020 release Panther. Pain of Salvation normally makes my eyes roll a bit due to some of the singing and songwriting choices, but this one feels like they got it all just right. Everything fits nicely together and while it's still eccentric and all over the place, it has a nice sense of progression that I didn't get from their other albums. I still like In the Passing Light of Day just as much due to it having great individual songs, but The Perfect Element is more of a full package that really exemplifies who Pain of Salvation are and their strengths as a band.
4/5
Voivod: I've read some opinions that say Angel Rat is a grower and I'm inclined to agree, but I don't see it growing any more on me past the third listen. You can never really know what Voivod is going to do from album to album, but I certainly wasn't expecting this. It's slightly thrashy, slightly punky, slightly rocky, slightly proggy...it's a lot of things but at the same time it's a pretty simple and straightforward album. Most of the songs are pretty high quality once you get past your initial expectations of a Voivod record, but I don't know if this album is the massive, underrated sleeper hit that people are starting to claim it is.
3/5
Good small reviews, Xephyr! I would also recommend the Altesia song "Hex Reverse", it's amazing and maybe that would get you up to listening to its album Paragon Circus.
Daniel and Saxy, after reading your reviews for that Altesia album, I decided to take a small sneak peek of the album before getting to the review by listening to the song shared in the Track of the Day thread, and like I said, it's amazing! The description said "For fans of : Haken, Opeth, Dream Theater, Between The Buried And Me, Leprous, Steven Wilson, Porcupine Tree…", and I can totally understand when it sounds as if they took at least one piece of each band, formed into a unique mix. Anyway, I'll recommend the album to myself, and with you two really enjoying this album, you two would have no trouble checking out my two other recommendations; Voivod's Angel Rat and Pain of Salvation's The Perfect Element I (though the latter is now just for Saxy, since Daniel is the one who recommended it). Please tell me what you think!
Glad you enjoy my Infinite feature release submission for this month, Daniel! It's great to find an often overlooked album that turns out to be a stunning masterpiece, but now it's time go deeper into Leprous' discography roots with Aeolia, which is a demo, but with the big amount of original material making this album longer than most Leprous albums, it really should be considered an actual studio album. A prologue in their discography! Though it's not as perfect as Tall Poppy Syndrome, Aeolia would delight you with more of Leprous' jazz-ish progressive metal. Xephyr and Saxy, I highly recommend Aeolia to you two as well, but please feel free to tell us what you think of Tall Poppy Syndrome in the August Infinite feature release thread.
Nevermore - "Dead Heart In A Dead World" (2000)
Xephyr, I think this one might be something that you'd enjoy.
Surprisingly, I've struggled with Nevermore quite a bit and never really got what all of the hype is about, so I'll see what I think about this one on Monday.
Ænigmatum - Deconsecrate
I've been coming across a few melo-tech death hybrids in recent weeks and I found this one to be one of the more fascinating. I kind of wish it was more unique sounding, but the production is exceptional for as gritty as this can get. Xephyr, Daniel might want to give this a try.
https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/deconsecrate
Haken - "Restoration" E.P. (2014)
I really dug London-based progressive rock/metal outfit Haken's 2013 album "The Mountain" back at the time of release & always intended on investigating more of their back catalogue but somehow managed to get completely side-tracked & have only just gotten around to doing it now. I'm very glad that I have though because 2014's "Restoration" E.P. is every bit as strong as "The Mountain", possibly even more so. The three tracks included are actually revamped versions of the band's old demo tracks which is pretty fucking impressive to say the least given how fully realised they are. There's more progressive rock on offer than there is metal but it's all beautifully executed with strong Yes influences raising their head during some of the more ambitious & fiddly moments. The least metal track "Earthlings" is actually my favourite with the legendary 19 minute "Crystalised" being a little too wanky during the middle & subsequently falling a little short of the other two tracks in my view. Opener "Darkest Light" is comfortably the most metal track & sounds closer Dream Theater & Leprous. "Restoration" is a solid flexing of the muscles from a very talented & creative group of progressively minded musicians.
For fans of Leprous, Caligula's Horse & Dream Theater.
4/5
Andi, Xephyr & Saxy, I highly recommend that you check this one out.
All right, this is my chance to redeem the enjoyment I've once had for Haken a year ago. Review coming up!
A wonderful ride through the fantastic progressive gold of Haken! I might not enjoy the band as much as I did a year ago, but my review serves as a good memento to keep, like my reviews for the new Between the Buried and Me & Rivers of Nihil albums. Cheers for the rec, Daniel! 5/5
I'll never understand how you can say that you don't enjoy a band as much as you used to & then award them the full five stars Andi. I would have thought that by awarding "Restoration" full marks you're essentially saying that it's everything you could ever want in recorded music, a perfect representation of your musical taste.
Perhaps someday I can revisit their other albums (along with Between the Buried and Me & Rivers of Nihil albums) to test whether or not my enjoyment has truly changed since these 6 months away from them. After moving away from a few great bands for whatever reasons, it is good to revisit them once in a while for memory-goodness' sake.
I've just made a couple Spotify best-of playlists containing songs from those 3 bands and After the Burial, and I recommended these playlists to be listened to by anyone who wants to hear those bands' highlights:
Hey Andi. Guess who just released a new album today??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4hDSNieOnA&ab_channel=CenturyMediaRecords
Groovy new track from thrashy progressive metal masters Voivod. Thanks for this, Saxy! I've been quite busy lately, but hopefully next week I can get the new albums from Voivod, Cult of Luna, and Persefone. Not to mention Canadian thrash band Annihilator's Metal re-recording.