What are you listening to now? - The Infinite Edition

Alphaville - Imperial Triumphant

Imperial Triumphant made a pretty big splash in the more progressive Extreme Metal community with their 2018 release Vile Luxury and they're back with an art-deco inspired release here in 2020. I wasn't as huge of a fan as others when it came to Vile Luxury, and I'm glad I came into this release unbiased because it improves on their sound in almost every single way. I think this album requires quite a bit of time to sink in, and I plan on giving it quite a few more spins to figure it out. With this release and Oranssi Pazuzu's Mestarin kynsi, 2020 is proving to be a massive year for avant-garde inspired Black Metal.

4/5 (for now)

Voivod - "Dimension Hatröss" (1988)

The fourth album from Canadian four-piece Voivod is a beautifully realised & highly consistent avant-garde progressive metal excursion that may just be the band's best work. I think the goofy vocal style probably limits its appeal for me personally but it's very hard to deny the sheer ambition & professionalism of this release. In fact, you're extremely unlikely to have heard anything like it. For fans of Vektor, Coroner & Watchtower.

4/5

maudlin of the Well - "Leaving Your Body Map" (2001)

The second of Massachusetts-based progressive metal outfit maudlin of the Well's duo of classic 2001 albums is also my favourite of the two. It takes a similar direction to "Bath" &, as with that release, I think the avant-garde element is over-stated a bit. There are certainly a couple of tracks that sit comfortably in that space (see " Stones of October's Sobbing" & "The Curve That to an Angle Turn'd") however the rest of the album sounds more fluent in its execution of an ambitious form of progressive metal that's strongly influenced by a diverse array of bands like Morbid Angel, My Dying Bride & The 3rd & the Mortal. Also consistent with "Bath" is the strength of the gentle folk inclusions. In fact, I'd go so far as to suggest that I regard the sweet indie folk ballad "Sleep Is A Curse" as the highlight of the album. There are no weak tracks here as this a high class release full of intrigue & artistic expression. It's perhaps just slightly more consistent than "Bath" was although they essentially go hand in hand. For fans of Kayo Dot, Thy Catafalque & Forgotten Silence.

4/5

I busted this one out at a wine dinner with my two best mates last night as one of my them suggested that he'd love to hear some progressive metal with balls. He enjoys bands like Dream Theater from a purely instrumental point of view but can't deal with the operatic vocal style. It dig the trick nicely & he really got into it.

An Abstract Illusion - Illuminate The Path

Progressive death metal with heavy emphasis on "progressive". This is essentially what I would dubiously call "deathgaze" with it's use of atmospheric bridges to connect the brilliant world that has been crafted together. The buildup's are justified and the extended runtimes do not feel overindulgent. FFO (if you could even compare this to anything else): Be'lakor, Wilderun, Ne Obliviscaris, Windir

https://anabstractillusion.bandcamp.com/album/illuminate-the-path

Teramaze - I Wonder

Sometimes I just want to turn my brain off and listen to stuff that I think sounds good. After checking out Teramaze's 2021 album Sorella minore I went back a year prior to I Wonder and while it's definitely not as complex or "progressive" as its successor, it's incredibly addicting and fun to listen to. I've had "Ocean Floor", "A Deep State of Awake", and "Sleeping Man" stuck in my head for going on 2 weeks now. 

Green Carnation - "Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness" (2001)

When I first encountered the 2001 sophomore album "Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness" from Norwegian progressive metallers Green Carnation I was absolutely blown away. I simply hadn't heard an hour-long single-track album that not only kept me interested throughout but also flowed effortlessly through any number of different & equally impressive movements. In fact, it made such an impression on me that I saw myself reaching for full marks which is a very rare occurrence.

We're now a good twelve years down that track & I've finally gotten around to revisiting this progressive masterpiece & it's certainly an impressive release that oozes of class. I do have to say that it hasn't connected with me on the same level as it did before though, mainly due to the fact that when I consume it in one sitting I find several parts that don't appeal to me as much as others from a purely stylistic point of view but also because I don't connect with the vocals as much as I'd need to for this record to maintain its place in my Hall of Metal Glory. I do love the sheer ambition in taking on so many different musical styles in the one lengthy piece & it's quite astonishing that they've made it sound so natural & fluent.

"Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness" is a prime example of a release that only really needs the "progressive metal" tag because it celebrates the very essence of progressive music while not really fitting into any of your popular genres. Sure, you can definitely identify the influence of the Peaceville Three in the heavier & doomier riff work (particularly My Dying Bride) & there are even more smatterings of the gothic metal of Type O Negative however you're never left pondering as to what type of album this one is. Don't expect to be dazzled with obscure time signatures & technical gymnastics though. That's not the sort of progressive metal Green Carnation concern themselves with. They're far too busy creating wonderfully captivating soundscapes to worry about anything too showy & that approach has rewarded them with an timeless & enduring release that may not annihilate me like it did over a decade ago but still manages to have me nodding in appreciation of some fully realised potential.

For fans of In The Woods..., Novembre & Wolverine.

4/5

VVVVV  *insert five star review from Andi with great urgency* VVVVV

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Mastodon - Hushed and Grim (2021)

After Emperor of Sand, I really wasn't looking forward to the new Mastodon album. But here we are, after I went and saw them with Opeth live this past weekend, I actually really like this album. I can't say that it's anything amazing, but it's much, much more than I expected out of Mastodon at this point. The fact that it's a double album is a little out of place, since I feel like they could have condensed the tracklist into something more special, but I have zero complaints and this is a somewhat return to grace from Mastodon in my opinion. 

3.5/5

Nevermore - "This Godless Endeavour" (2005)

Another very solid outing from an undeniably high quality progressive metal outfit. The production & performances are outstanding, particularly the lead guitar work of Jeff Loomis. I don't think this is a classic release for me personally though. Perhaps it's the groove metal style of some of the riffs or that the vocal hooks don't dig their teeth in quite far enough to allow me to reach the upper levels of my adoration but ultimately I don't think there are enough genuine highlight tracks for a classic release even if everything sounds super impressive. It's interesting that this album is generally regarded as a progressive thrash metal too. Progressive? Yeah definitely. Thrash? Hhhmmmm.... that's a considerable stretch in my opinion & I'll be raising an entry for the Hall of Judgement for this one. Anyway... I really enjoyed my "This Godless Endeavour" experience & place it in third place behind 1999's "Dreaming Neon Black" (their true classic in my opinion) & 2000's "Dead Heart in a Dead World" for Nevermore's overall discography.

For fans of Sanctuary, Communic & Warrel Dane.

4/5

Heavy Meta - "Worms" 2021

My fellow moderator over at the Metal Forum has shared his latest band's single on YouTube.  Kind of proggy/metallic hardcore which is not always my bag but done well enough still.

Madder Mortem - Deadlands (2002)

Madder Mortem are a five-piece progressive metal band from Oslo formed by brother and sister, guitarist Birger Petter M. Kirkevaag and vocalist Agnete M. Kirkevaag, who are the only two original members still with the band. Deadlands was released in 2002 and I used to have a ripped CD-R copy I got off a friend at work when it came out, but that has long since disappeared in one of many clear-outs. I was a big fan of the album when it came out, but it has been a long time since I last heard it, so I thought it would be ripe for a revisit. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then and I have consumed a lot of music in the intervening years so how does it stack up now? Well, I must admit to not being as blown away by it now as I was back then, I guess my exposure to more and better progressive metal albums have taken some of the shine off this. Don't get me wrong, it is still an interesting album and certainly has it's moments, but it certainly isn't a prog-metal classic.

After a short intro track the album proper begins with the track I remember best, Necropol Lit, with it's groove-laden, doomy main riff it is still an attention-grabber of a track, although it doesn't satisfy in the same way as it once did. Next track, Omnivore, is much better and Agnete's vocals are really on full power on this track, which may be my favourite on the album. A lot of the albums riffs are of the chugging type that is often associated with nu-metal, and about which I am somewhat ambivalent - here they are passable in the main and work quite well in the context of the album and in combination with those terrific vocals. Generally the guitar work is pretty good, with both dissonant and melodic lead passages. The production isn't bad at all, the bass and drums get plenty of space in the mix and aren't swamped by everything else, Pål Mozart Bjørke's basswork in particular is exemplary.

Deadlands has quite a menacing, brooding, gothic vibe to it and gives off an almost cultish atmosphere. The songwriting isn't as complex as a lot of other progressive metal, but it does incorporate some nice temporal and tonal changes and the songs are very tight and efficient with very little technical showiness and window dressing, which is illustrated by over half the album comprising tracks around the five minute mark. The track I struggled with most seems to be one of the album's better-loved, Jigsaw (The Pattern and the Puzzle) which just lays the nu-metal vibe on a bit too thickly and nudges into my nu-metal red zone. Overall, it hasn't held up as well as I thought it might, although it is a fairly unique-sounding release and still has several tracks that are worth checking out.

Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini (2010)

I have a very nice CD copy of this, complete with a bonus 7" vinyl single, but it's been quite a while since I listened to it, so I decided it needed a revisit.

It's even better than I remember it being and now is firmly ensconced as one of my favourite Enslaved albums, which is heady praise indeed as they are one of the most  consistent bands in metal even over such a long run of releases.

Full review:

I must admit it had been quite a while since I last listened to Axioma Ethica Odini, with Isa and RIITIIR being my go-to albums if I fancy a bit of late-era Enslaved so it was long overdue a revisit. After a strong run of albums from 2003's Below the Lights to 2006's Ruun, Enslaved released Vertebrae in 2008 and, for me, it was one of their weakest albums in quite a while, lacking any kind of punch at all. So this disappointment left me a little apprehensive for the release of Axioma Ethica Odini and the direction in which Enslaved appeared to be heading. Happily these fears are expelled within moments of opener Ethica Odini kicking in and it becomes apparent that this a completely different beast to Vertebrae. Ethica Odini contains more bite than the entirety of Vertebrae and is an excellent opening track. The black metal sections pummel the listener and sound more savage than Enslaved had for a while, as if the band had rediscovered their passion anew, and the clean-sung sections retain this viciousness whilst simultaneously coming off as quite melodic. Ultimately the song concludes in a gentle coda that then sets up the next track, Raidho very nicely.

The mood and methodology of the opener is continued throughout the album, with Grutle Kjellson's black metal vocals sounding more evil than they had for a while and being beautifully countered by the cleans, the black metal / prog metal dichotomy being at the very core of the album's success as the band switch seamlessly between the two contrasting styles. As had always been the case with Enslaved, the performances are quite exemplary - it was apparent very early on that Enslaved were technically a cut above most of their Norwegian contemporaries and they just continued to get better and better as time passed, becoming an ever tighter unit in the process. Special mention must go to Cato Bekkevold's performance on drums which is super-efficient but never less than spot-on.

There are some killer riffs here - Ethica Odini, The Beacon and Singular to name but three - are fantastic and the guitar sound is chunky and muscular - long gone is the weak sound from Vertebrae and the thin, tremolo-heavy sound of their early work. Keyboards are deployed exceedingly tastefully throughout the track listing. They are ever-present, but never swamp the sound or allow it to stray into symphonic metal territory. There is even a short, futuristic instrumental with a dystopian atmosphere (Axioma) in the middle of the album to provide a break from all the surrounding heaviness which is followed by one of the album's most interesting tracks, Giants. During this epic, Enslaved seem to draw on doom metal influences with a couple of the riffs and the track plumbs whole new depths of heaviness, sounding absolutely brutal when Grutle's black shrieks hit hard. The songwriting is never anything less than stellar and few progressive bands are as concise when it come to composition as Enslaved, they manage to explore and expand without wandering down musical dead ends or indulging in instrumental excess.

Axioma Ethica Odini is possibly Enslaved's heaviest later-era release and, along with subsequent release RIITIIR, mark a high watermark for their progressive metal styling, their more recent releases falling increasingly short of these two classics (despite still being pretty good records in their own rights, such is Enslaved's quality). In revisiting this I have got to admit to being even more impressed than I originally was and, even though I always liked it, I now consider this to be one of the bands premier releases and I will most definitely be returning to it more often.
4.5/5

Animals As Leaders - Parrhesia (2022)

Been really enjoying this new one from Animals As Leaders. While not as technically crazy as their debut, it's a big step up in terms of replayability and catchiness from The Madness Of Many and all of the tracks have some sort of neat idea or element that makes the admittedly short runtime fly by. The performances and writing are clean, clinical even, and extremely tight; there isn't too much boundary stepping on this one but I think that's okay for what it's trying to do.

3.5/5

Animals As Leaders - Parrhesia (2022)

Been really enjoying this new one from Animals As Leaders. While not as technically crazy as their debut, it's a big step up in terms of replayability and catchiness from The Madness Of Many and all of the tracks have some sort of neat idea or element that makes the admittedly short runtime fly by. The performances and writing are clean, clinical even, and extremely tight; there isn't too much boundary stepping on this one but I think that's okay for what it's trying to do.

3.5/5

I plan to get that album tomorrow, along with the new Meshuggah album Immutable. Oh man... Wish me luck, no, ALL of us luck, that Meshuggah and the rest of the galaxy don't end up getting trapped in the black hole of their complex music like Andrew O'Neill predicted. I expect that prediction to be an epic heavy April Fools hoax.

Michael Romeo - War of the Worlds Pt. 2

Catching up on posting about some of the stuff I've been listening to recently, War of the Worlds Pt. 2 is basically the next Symphony X album from said guitarist Michael Romeo and shows how much of that bands sound he's responsible for. This is a more orchestral and bombastic Iconoclast to my ears and I've been really enjoying it, as Romeo's riff writing and solos in his new style have only seemed to improve after losing the neoclassical edge. Vocalist Dino Jelusick has the pipes to serve as a more than welcome stand-in for Russell Allen and while the record can get a bit too caught up in being an over the top orchestral fiasco, I think this one is a really solid project that scratches my modern Symphony X itch.

4/5

I enjoyed my attempt in genre-tagging the tracks in Trivium's The Crusade last week, so much that I felt like doing the same for another one of the most stylistically divided albums, this one from a former favorite band of mine and, while this album is non-metal, I still put it in the Infinite thread because of my judgement submission:

I have never really listened to a lot of BTBAM (including this cover album) for over a year, but when I was still listening to them, I submitted The Anatomy Of to the Hall of Judgement to be added to The Gateway and The Infinite because it possesses the alternative metal and progressive metal genres in RYM despite not reaching the 2:1 ratio and I agreed that it sounds close to those two genres. But how close?! I decided to revisit this album after over a year of abandoning it to see if my judgement submission is still valid or if it needs any changes or an additional submission. So before I declare Judgement Submission Day on this album, here's how I would tag the genres and the clans in the 14 tracks:

1. Blackened (Metallica cover) - thrash/progressive/technical death metal - The Horde/Infinite/Pit

2. Kickstart My Heart (Mötley Crüe cover) - glam/classic heavy metal - The Guardians

3. The Day I Tried to Live (Soundgarden cover) - grunge/hard rock/alternative metal - The Gateway

4. Bicycle Race (Queen cover) - hard/pop/progressive rock with slight metal tendencies - non-metal

5. Three of a Perfect Pair (King Crimson cover) - progressive rock - non-metal

6. Us and Them (Pink Floyd cover) - progressive rock with a bit of jazz instrumentation - non-metal

7. Geek U.S.A. (Smashing Pumpkins cover) - grunge/alternative rock edging into metal territory - non-metal

8. Forced March (Earth Crisis cover) - sludge-ish metalcore/hardcore - The Revolution

9. Territory (Sepultura cover) - groove/thrash/progressive metal - The Infinite/Pit

10. Change (Blind Melon cover) - acoustic/alternative rock - non-metal

11. Malpractice (Faith No More cover) - alternative/progressive metal - The Gateway/Infinite

12. Little 15 (Depeche Mode cover) - synth-pop/alternative rock - non-metal

13. Cemetery Gates (Pantera cover) - classic heavy/groove metal - The Guardians/Pit

14. Colorblind (Counting Crows cover) - acoustic/alternative rock - non-metal

Wow, this album is much less metal than I thought. Based on what I've analyzed, I can consider Between the Buried and Me's The Anatomy Of a mix alternative/progressive rock/metal with secondary influences from various genres such as classic heavy metal, thrash metal, groove metal, grunge, hard rock, and acoustic rock. Lots of rock and metal genres, though half of this album is non-metal, but at least it's close to those RYM-voted genres. So I'll just keep my earlier judgement submission up and wait for the fate to be decided by listeners of this offering in the future....

Solstafir - Kold

I've been listening to a lot of the slower, atmospheric kinds of metal recently, and I just got out of a short Esoteric marathon.  I'm already familiar with a few Solstafir albums and I've always considered them kind of genius.  Truth be told, this album seems less like atmospheric metal and more like straightforward metal, so I'm not into this the same way I was into Otta and Svartir Sandar, but this is still a very moody and surprising album.

That's interesting, Rexorcist. I used to listen to Solstafir before my move out of black metal (which they only had in their EP and debut), and Kold was my favorite album from them. This album's sound, while staying firmly in post-metal, I saw it as a mix of atmospheric and straightforward moods, though not as mellow as much of their subsequent material. Actually, now that I think about it, a few of these tracks are too straightforward to be worthy of the post-metal tag. I decided to revisit this album after nearly a year of abandoning it to see if it works well as just post-metal. So before I declare Judgement Submission Day on this album, here's how I would tag the genres in the 8 tracks:

1. 78 Days in the Desert - ambient instrumental post-metal with some heavy/black metal instrumentation

2. Köld - post-ish progressive metal

3. Pale Rider - straightforward post-metal similarly styled to the intro track

4. She Destroys Again - post-punk with instrumentation rising to heavy/black metal

5. Necrologue - stoner rock/post-metal

6. World Void of Souls - ambient instrumental post-rock later rising to metal (with some spoken narration)

7. Love is the Devil (and I am in Love) - straightforward post-ish hard rock

8. Goddess of the Ages - ambient/progressive/post-punk/metal/hard rock, basically summarizing all they had in the album

So this album is still post-metal in its majority, often mixing straightforward with ambient, and having influences from heavy metal, black metal, progressive metal, hard rock, and post-punk. Lots of rock and metal genres, though still firmly rooted in post-metal, so no need for any changes. Of course, everyone has a right to an opinion as long as it's accurate to the sound. Good to have you back in my life, Kold!

Honestly, I found Kold to be less diverse than Svartir Sandar or Otta.  I think what it was that killed the diversity was how much more straightforward of a metal album this was in comparison.

After listening to a couple of Solstafir demos, I'm gonna play this.

I just finished La masquerade infernale, and I'm gonna continue on with Arcturus from that point onward.  Up until now the only Arcturus album I had heard was the debut, and I hadn't gotten around to the rest because at the time I was diving into more black metal.  But right now I'm in a shifting mood between post, black and avant-garde.  Probably gonna check out more Thy Catafalque later.

Russian Circles - Gnosis (2022)

I was first switched onto Russian Circles' new album by Vinny and at first glance it isn't really the kind of stuff I would be falling over myself to check out. Firstly it is classed as post-metal, a genre that doesn't always chime with me personally and, secondly, it is entirely instrumental. I don't have a problem with instrumental tracks, but rarely enjoy a whole album that is completely vocal-free. Fortunately these preconceptions were kicked into the long grass in short order as this is a fantasic record from beginning to end and won me over within a very short timescale. The difference between this and many other post-metal albums I have heard is that this gets on with it and doesn't spend a seeming age building up to a questionably worthwhile payoff.

The guitars weave a tapestry of thick and vibrant sound that sometimes bouys the listener along and other times envelops and soothes them. The lack of vocals actually works well in the album's favour, allowing those gorgeous guitar lines to stay in focus and sparing the listener the distraction that vocals always provide as they are usually pushed to front and centre even at the expense of everything else. There is a certain parrallel to be heard here to some of the more lush-sounding atmospheric black metal acts like Saor or Mare Cognitum with some of their inate epicness seeping through - check out the title track or opener Tupilak to hear what I mean.

I don't know, maybe there isn't enough here to satisfy the usual post-metal fan, but I found it to be a thoroughly satisfying and uplifting experience and it has quickly cemented itself a place near the top of my personal top post-metal albums list.

4.5/5

I was holding off on checking out Gnosis since there wasn't a whole lot of buzz around it. Felt like it was going to be just another instrumental album of sorts, but consider me intrigued Sonny. I've enjoyed Russian Circles in the past but they never really stuck. Maybe this'll be the one, I've got it lined up for Monday probably. 

Tómarúm - Ash In Realms Of Stone Icons

In many ways, this debut album from this southern USA outfit is the Ne Obliviscaris follow-up I didn't know I needed. While it's not as artsy, this incredibly strong album fuses massive Black Metal landscapes with just enough Death Metal influence to create an aggressively proficient Progressive Metal showcase. I think it lacks a few highlights here and there and can get overly long at times, but this is 100% up my alley and is turning out to be my album of the year for 2022 despite some fierce competition due to only a few standout albums coming up on my radar. Massive fan of this one. 

4.5/5