What are you listening to now? - The Infinite Edition
This is supposed to be prog metal? It's more like alternative and industrial metal.
I've listened to that Devin Townsend album before, and I believe it to be a blend of atmospheric progressive metal and alternative metal, with a bit of industrial.
Yes, I’d suggest that it qualifies as progressive metal.
Yes, I’d suggest that it qualifies as progressive metal.
I really don't see it at all. How?
It's certainly not clear-cut & I remember pondering over the correct tag at the time but ended up conceding in the end. Feel free to nominate it for the Hall of Judgement as that's what it's there for.
It's certainly not clear-cut & I remember pondering over the correct tag at the time but ended up conceding in the end. Feel free to nominate it for the Hall of Judgement as that's what it's there for.
It sound like you should play the album again, back to back with Terria just to be certain.
It defeats the purpose for me to revisit the album as I'm not a member of either clan so I can't vote on the Hall of Judgement entry. I'll let those with more of a vested interest battle it out at the below link. It's fair to say that I don't think "Biomech" qualifies as either Alternative Metal or Industrial Metal though.
Today's list challenge album is Isa by Enslaved. Not as good as I remembered it, but still good.
Today's list challenge album is Catch 33, which I remember liking more. It's weird, but it feels like the album's trying to hard to be "fancy" and not enough to be "complex," since it has a tendency to drag on. It's got some cool tricks, but that's about it.
Meshuggah - Chaosphere (1998)
I had never knowingly listened to Meshuggah before hearing their track, Paralyzing Innocence, on this month's Pit playlist, but was sufficiently intrigued by that track to check out their 1998 album, Chaosphere. It seems that I had misconstrued Meshuggah, as they are neither as willfully challenging or disjointed as I expected. In fact the sound here seems to be of a kind of technical groove metal with industrial undertones that sounds to me like a technically advanced spin on a hybrid of Fear Factory and Machine Head. I'm not going to claim that it's changed my life and is exactly what I have been looking for, but I can hear why the band are so well-regarded and I can definitely respect what they are trying to achieve. I would have no problem throwing this on occasionally as a change from my usual listening habits and if I fancy something a bit more technical but that isn't so much so that I find it alienating. I'm pleasantly surprised to discover that a band I thought would have nothing at all for me actually gave me a pretty enjoyable experience.
3.5/5
Earthside - Let The Truth Speak (2023)
It's been a while since it felt like there was a Progressive Metal album to really sink my teeth into, but I think Earthside has finally delivered something for me. The sophomore album from this somewhat mysterious band from Connecticut comes eight years after their impressive debut and has a ton of featured artists attached to it, including some heavy hitters from bands like TesseracT. Most of the Progressive Metal I find myself listening to nowadays is on the heavier side with more extreme metal influences, so it's kind of a breath of fresh air to get back to my roots a bit with some gorgeous soundscapes and more melodic, technical structures. Earthside still have some chug in them like on "Tyranny", so it's been a nice balance so far. I think there are some ideas that don't exactly work in here, but it's the first time in a while where I'm far from satisfied with one or two listens with a Progressive Metal album. Let The Truth Speak has intrigued me in a positive way so far, so I'm excited to see how it holds up over the next week or so.
Amiensus - The Reclamation (Part I and II) (2024)
I've been really digging this double album by a previously unknown band from me, with Part I being released in April and Part II releasing about a week ago at the end of August. Despite being labeled as Black Metal there isn't much to back up that claim; it resides in that strange amalgamation void of Progressive Metal bands that take a million influences from Black/Death metal and smash them together into something that is unique yet recognizable if you've been around bands like Ne Obliviscaris, Wilderun, or Earthside's newest album shown above. I absolutely love this kind of stuff in general, so I was glued to Part I since the middle of August and eagerly awaiting the release of Part II. I'm not entirely sure The Reclamation needed to be a double album, as I find Part II to be weaker than Part I through and through despite an amazing start and riff on the opening "Solfario". I think they could have trimmed some of the fat off of Part I and added a few of the stronger tracks from Part II to come up with an hour long album instead of the rather lengthy 90 minutes it ended up being. I'm not exactly complaining because I'm a big fan, but it does begin to run out of ideas and steam halfway through Part II. It's a pretty dense album though, so it'll take me some more time to really see how the whole thing holds up overtime. Overall though, there's a ton of memorable riffs and moments from both the heavier side and lighter, melodic side, and it's been a comfort listen for me as I add another Prog Metal band that's more on the extreme side into my repertoire.
Part I - 4/5
Part II - 3.5/5