Track Of The Day - The Infinite Edition
A wonderful Norwegian progressive metal excursion for fans of Opeth, Haken & Ihsahn.
The piano is so haunting effective in this song, dueling with the guitar in mesmerizing ambiance.
Progressive groove metal from Seattle, USA. For fans of Communic, “Shadow Work”-period Warrel Dane & “The Year The Sun Died”-era Sanctuary.
Progressive groove metal from Seattle, USA. For fans of Communic, “Shadow Work”-period Warrel Dane & “The Year The Sun Died”-era Sanctuary.
"Is this the American way?... NO!!" But is this the American way of metal?! YES!!!
RIP Warrel Dane );
Between the Buried and Me is back (and so is a bit of my interest in this band) with their new sequel to Colors, including this 15-minute epic in which listening to it speaks louder than speaking about it:
Leprous also released a new album the other day, titled Aphelion. While Leprous' album continues their prog-rock direction from Malina and Pitfalls, a bit of their metal came back in a few songs, including this song that can stand alone as an Infinite single, thanks to many special surprises helped out by fans:
I've been loving Colors II, it made me rethink my initial assumptions about Colors I and Between the Buried and Me in general, it's a fantastic album. Easily going to make my Top 10 of the year and maybe even break into the Top 5 at this point.
I also liked the new Leprous way more than I expected, it's a pretty large step up from Pitfalls or Malina in my opinion. I still wish it dipped back into Metal territory since Aphelion lacks some punch on some tracks, but I'll take what I can get.
I thought about making a Hall post about whether Aphelion can be considered Progressive Metal which would put them into Ben's criteria for Non-Metal releases to be added to the Academy, but I can't even really champion that cause because the "Metal" moments are extremely few and far between. Aphelion sometimes has Metal tendencies, but I don't think it ever really gets there, even though I wish it did.
The gloriously textured shoegaze piece that closes out French post-rock outfit Alcest's 2016 "Kodama" album. For fans of Old Silver Key, "Melting Sun"-period Lantlôs & the self-titled Amesoeurs album.
A wonderful hour-long single-track album from these Norwegian progressive metallers. For fans of In The Woods..., Novembre & Wolverine.
A wonderful hour-long single-track album from these Norwegian progressive metallers. For fans of In The Woods..., Novembre & Wolverine.
I don't need to comment on this monumental track when I've already written a sweet review for it: https://metal.academy/reviews/22391/3814
Rivers of Nihil is back (and so is a bit of my interest in this band) with their new prog-death album The Work, including this 11 and a half minute epic in which listening to it speaks louder than speaking about it:
Also, Enslaved released a new EP the other day, titled Caravans to the Outer Worlds. Enslaved's new release continues their extreme progressive metal direction but apparently in a more appealing light for those outside the underground. One of my friends from the outside world claimed to have "also listened to 75 % of that EP!!!!"
I've been pretty harsh on The Work since it came out, but it feels warranted since I haven't really wanted to go back to the album after listening to it 3 or 4 times the first week it dropped. While the concept and shift in their sound is interesting I guess, I can't help but be bored by the whole thing looking back. When the band decides to finally kick it up a notch from the Prog Rock and more atmospheric musings, it's the same old Progressive Death chug note over and over again. Maybe the songwriting isn't clicking with me or something, but Where Owls Know My Name was so much more vibrant, focused, and memorable than The Work. I might force myself to listen to it once or twice more to get a review out but it was a massive disappointment for me.
New Enslaved EP is pretty great though. Nothing spectacular but I've been really warming up to their new sound, makes me want to go back and give Utgard another shot.
Wonderful Australian progressive metal for fans of Opeth, Xanthochroid & Persefone.
Wonderful Australian progressive metal for fans of Opeth, Xanthochroid & Persefone.
A perfect blend of loudness and emotion!
Spacey Norwegian avant-prog metal for fans of Leprous, Limbonic Art, and Samael:
A beautiful progressive rock outing for fans of Leprous, Caligula's Horse & Dream Theater.
A beautiful progressive rock outing for fans of Leprous, Caligula's Horse & Dream Theater.
A mournful clean rock structure with trance-ish vocal patterns. This almost fits well with the penultimate-track ballad theme of the band's first two albums.
What an epic progressive metal view! Fans of Haken, Leprous, and Pain of Salvation shall have no trouble enjoying this sonic journey:
After reviewing Persefone's Core, I continued my album review journey from there, ending with one of the most climatic 20-minute epics in progressive metal, to delight fans of Dream Theater, Ne Obliviscaris, and Two Steps From Hell:
I agree with Xephyr about Mastodon returning to grace with their new album Hushed and Grim, and a great amount of songs in the album are, for me, incredible including this 8 and a half minute epic. Fans of Leprous and the recent albums from Gojira and Opeth should give this two-disc album a try.
Superbly chunky progressive metal for Seattle, USA. For fans of Sanctuary, Communic & Warrel Dane.
Superbly chunky progressive metal for Seattle, USA. For fans of Sanctuary, Communic & Warrel Dane.
The heaviest, most technical song on the album, probably by the band. The intro and part of the first verse both have a crazily technical riff, and there's a killer guitar solo battle in the middle of the song.
A couple recommendations from November's Infinite playlist, plus a standalone recommendation, have opened a few gates to different bands of further horizons for me, from the folk-ish progressive power metal of Wuthering Heights...
...to the djenty progressive metal of Textures...
...and the jazzy instrumental progressive rock/metal of Australian guitarist Plini:
Avant-garde metal from Boston, USA. For fans of Maudlin of the Well, Voivod & Ehnahre.
Looking for another collaborative album besides the ones made by post-sludge bands such as Neurosis and Cult of Luna? Converge has joined in that game with goth singer Chelsea Wolfe, with tracks like this showing the band's comfort zone expanding:
You can hear the atoms sing in the Cynic multiverse... Their new album Ascension Codes shows the band ascending back to the top after the disappointing previous album and subsequent departure of two members from the band and the world. This progressive metal space-trip is suitable for fans of Plini, Leprous, and early-90s Voivod: