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I've made this discovery and review shortly after doing the same with Cryptopsy's The Unspoken King. Humanity's Last Breath are professionals at brutal tech-deathcore and can execute it better than Cryptopsy could in their flopped-down 2008 album. Humanity's Last Breath's Ashen is one of the darkest heaviest albums of modern metal!

The amount of downtuned riffing and time-signature unorthodoxy can bring Meshuggah and Ion Dissonance to the minds of many listeners. This complex chaos also has the doomy atmosphere of downtempo deathcore and some melody dragged out into haunting levels. If this is what this whole "thall" thing is about, consider me hooked! Lots of violent experimentation make this a true apocalyptic gem.

From the intro, "Blood Spilled" would have you think the band has joined the epic deathcore league led by Lorna Shore and Shadow of Intent. But instead of symphonics, we have the out-of-this-world trench-deep-tuned guitar riffing of Buster Odeholm and Calle Thomér with its ambient crawl. The chorus of "Linger" stomps through, memorable with its blend of brutality and accessibility. Melody and dissonance stab through each other as if they're fencing without those protective suits alongside the rhythms and beats. Complexity makes its leap in "Lifeless, Deathless". While the vocals are always welcome, it can pulverize as an instrumental just as well. The drumming by Klas Blomgren never overtakes the guitarwork. "Withering" also has great flow in the drums and guitars, all leading to a breakdown so simple and ravaging at the same time.

"Instill" has some background choir in great harmony with the tremolos and blasts borrowed from black metal. So much beauty and brutality without having to rely so much on polyrhythms. Then there's more of the intense soundscape of "Labyrinthian" with its grim yet crushing attack. The Meshuggah influences are plain to hear within the destruction of djent and its Stewie Griffin-like brother thall. Chugging like a thall train is "Catastrophize", having some catastrophically memorable downtempo deathcore, from the beat to the breakdown. "Death Spiral" kicks through noise and melody, even inching towards Gojira-like territory of heavy prog-death that isn't highly melodic.

The band continues their breakneck cutthroat action in "Shell". The riffing explodes into hellfire, as different sounds cover sludgy mosh-worthy breakdowns. All in fascinating rhythms! Next track "Passage" has more devastating leads and riffs, leading into another doomy bridge. I have no problem with the synth interlude "Burden", the calm before the final storm... "Bearer" is truly one of the heaviest most apocalyptic tracks of djenty deathcore. A massive f***ing sh*tload of brutality that will take a long time to get over.

Ashen can certainly get Humanity's Last Breath recognized as a band that can make anything dark and brutal. From the cover art to the music including the riffing. It is a soundtrack to the destruction of the universe, all in djenty downtempo deathcore chaos and grace!

Favorites: "Linger", "Lifeless, Deathless", "Instill", "Catastrophize", "Shell", "Bearer"

The texture of The Further Side will not surprise anyone who knows that Nova Collective is a supergroup featuring Haken's Richard Henshall, Between the Buried and Me's bass player Dan Briggs and Cynic drummer Matt Lynch. For the kind of album that The Further Side is, it is performed with the most pin-point of precision. Every piece of this record is deliberate and executed with grace. Production wise, nothing is out of place, Dan's bass work is splendid, the back-and-forth between the guitars and keyboards is well balanced and the drum work is technical, but not overwhelming to the listener.

I would be grossly remised however if I didn't bring up the songwriting, which is so boring and mediocre. The two chordal instruments does allow for Nova Collective to give the impression of something closer to jazz fusion with the textures, but the execution of these forms is uninteresting. There are solos for sure, but more often than not, The Further Side is a unified technical show piece, with modulating tempos, time signatures and styles. This record reminds me of the worst aspects of 2010s Opeth, when they were trying to be like pre-Moving Pictures Rush. But even the earliest Rush albums had decent hooks to latch on to to compliment Alex Lifeson's extended guitar solos. What does The Further Side have besides technical proficiency? 

This is the kind of record that I know that I would have enjoyed if it was in Guitar Hero, like An Endless Sporadic's Magic Machine. But as someone who even less about technical demands in their progressive music, Nova Collective leaves me feeling empty. Of course it's impressive, but who is it meant to impress if not the band members themselves? 

Best Songs: Cascades, State of Flux

This is it, the conclusion of my Blood Incantation marathon.  This is the album that gave me reason to check them out, and I finally have room for them on my albums log as my need to explore other genres made me late to this party.  A death metal album taking influence from the 70's German rock and electronic scene?  For a wacko like me, that's a dream to good to be true.  But what with all the dick-sucking going around for this album, one can't help but wonder, does it live up to the legend, or is it overhyped?

Immediately the prog rock and prog electronic influences are used as key ingredients in the hyperactive death metal, but the album also makes a point of switching genres mid-song from death metal to prog rock two minutes into Stargate Pt. 1.  I have to admit, while the instrumentation was beyond magnificent, rivaling the best aspects of their incredible debut, the sudden genre switch was a little jarring.  I would've preferred a little more buildup and a little more death in the beginning.  Was this a bad omen, or would I learn to accept that after hearing the rest of the album?  Stargate Pt. 2 was an intriguing and powerful prog electronic track that recalled all the best aspects of Tangerine Dream and Vangelis while remaining a Blood Incantation song, proving that they've mastered the art of electronics after having struggled so much with it on their previous ambient EP, Timewave Zero.  In the last two minutes, it carefully turns into a prog rock song with some beautiful Tullian flute.  Even the last bit of death metal feels pretty naturally handled.  Pt. 3 makes for some fantastic death metal in both technique and production.  There's this middle section of acoustic guitars mimicking the worldbeat vibes of The Tea Party, but it doesn't last long enough, unfortunately.  And some of the electronics that make the album so unique are present at the end, but not for long.

The next epic, the three part Message, begins with a more upbeat, melodic and almost alternative take on death metal, one that recalls the noisy but anthemic and somewhat aquatic atmospheres of Biomech.  But after 50 seconds, they switch back to the same old death metal.  Thankfully, the extremities are met at a capacity I have only ever dreamed about!  They go back to the original format after another 50 seconds or so, which is an interesting take and makes me glad there's more of that new sound involved. But once again, the standard but impressive death metal sound overtakes the balance.  I mean, they're playing some excellent riffs that make me wanna rip my shirt off and fly into the sun with a bottle of whiskey, but shouldn't they take the time to really expand on the new tricks?  Part 2 goes right into the prog rock, pulled right out of the 70's British scene with surprisingly authentic melodies that blend with the death sound on occasion.  It even has vocals that sound way too much like Roger Waters.  But if they could do that all along, then they SHOULD'VE used them a little more in previous tracks to expand on the various tricks they were trying to play.  Still, this one revived both the Pink Floyd prog and the more conventional kind of prog in one go while maintaining the atmospheric strengths of previous Blood Incantation albums.

And then... Part 3 took me by 100% surprise by introducing itself with a power metal riff of all things.  It has a tendency to switch things around though, as, once again, the power metal was not lived up to.  But it DID do an excellent job of maintaining many of the past sounds and tricks at a reasonable balance beyond that while delivering on of their best epics since Vitrification.  This one is easily the most epic-feeling song on the album, recalling the whole spirit of the band and its improved sense of effects and reverberations, as well as Faulk's wonderful drumming.  This song is also an excellent example of how our two guitarists have impeccable synchronization.  All is a relatively perfect harmony until in fades into aquatic sound effects, bringing our epic to a close.

This also closes my epic adventure in the Blood Incantation catalog.  What with this genre-tagging including space rock and Berlin school, I was stunned that a death metal album was finally attempting these things.  It's been 30 years since Emperor put synths in black metal, so an album like this is way late.  However, was it perfect?  While I admire a band for trying to reinvent the genre, there were some areas where the unique tricks and extra genre choices needed a little more balance.  If they fix that on the next album, you may end up having the greatest death metal album in the world.

97

Although I've heard largely raw praise for this sophomore album by Blood Incantation, there's an ongoing debate as to whether or not this is an improvement over Starspawn.  My immediate thought was that it was due to a change in pace.  Normally, I like changes in pace, but only if the artist keeps the established identity as well.  I had no way of knowing which would reign supreme on this album.

Its opener, Slave Species of the Gods, is absolutely brutal and a little sludgy.  This was obviously going to be a deeper album that before, and I appreciated the stronger focus on heaviness and progression, especially since this means they're attempting a new direction.  However, despite all the skill they put into it, this is a more generic song on the whole.  On Starspawn, the band took all familiar traits of death and maximized the full potential.  There seems to be less trickery on this opener, so hopefully that would be remedied on later tracks.  I had an 18-minute closer to look forward to, after all.  The Giza Power Plant was seven minutes, which would normally leave a lot of room for some new tricks.  But the most it did was switch from a brutal song to a slower and more ambient one for four minutes before ending on the brutal note.  Now this had incredible moments about it, but it was largely boasting things that were done with more creativity on Starspawn.  Track 3, Inner Paths (To Outer Space), goes into a very deep and sombre opening before slowly emerging as a prog metal track in a similar vein to the folk track on Star Spawn, Meticulous Soul Devourment.  Taking MSD's place as the "vibe" track, this one also includes drowned dialogues like in the cut ambient track from Live Vetrification before fully crossing the bridge into prog death metal, and then finally into brutal death, never once losing sight of the balance, pacing or atmosphere, feeling right at home with Giza Power Plant and artistically contradicting Slave Species of the Gods.  Obviously, the intro song is totally outshined, and would've been more properly placed as the second track.

Now it was time for the majesty.  I had full faith that Blood Incantation would amaze me with another nearly 20-minute epic of raw art, but kept the idea of monotony in mind due to the poorly placed intro song's generic behavior.  It was obvious from the start that the heaviness had been improved on.  This is probably their heaviest and most thunderous track, or at least it starts that way.  And let me tell you, it's very good.  They put together something that remains brutal and challenging throughout.  A few surprises wait throughout the eighteen minutes, but that's only a few.  Otherwise, this is simply a great effort technically and production-wise, but I was hoping for something mindblowing.

This sophomore, in my opinion, is a little more generic.  It carries some of the Starspawn weirdness and a few little traces of what's to come on their legendary third album, but otherwise, I'll say it's simply a great way to introduce death metal to someone.  Another great effort on their part, but not five-stars.  Honestly, I wonder if they were simply trying to sell or to get noticed?  They didn't betray their talents, but much of the identity was gone.

93, just like Live Vitrification.

I'm no stranger to instrumental progressive metal. I've listened to bands and artists like Liquid Tension Experiment, Animals as Leaders, Plini, and Ring of Saturn's 2022 self-titled album. The question is, what is the earliest progressive metal band to be solely instrumental? This might be debatable, but Kong might just be the king! Actually they mix the genre with industrial metal, though that's beside the point.

Their 1990 debut Mute Poet Vocalizer came out at a time when instrumental progressive metal was barely a thing, much less progressive industrial metal. While the album became d*mn elusive after all its copies were bought, well, thank greatness for YouTube and Spotify! Anyway, barely anything disappoints me in this offering.

"Hok" is a great start, with everything set up by the groovy audible bass by Mark Drillich. "Fair" has a fairly mellow pace. It's another great track, but nothing too special worth noting. "P.R.O.K.O.V." has cool riffing by guitar duo Aldo Sprenger and Dirk de Vries. While some might consider the circus audio sample odd, it helps make that track one of my favorites here. "7/8" is all about the 7/8 time signature.

"200 Max" takes things to more quadrophonic levels, making it another unique highlight. "Cramp" is the longest track but also the weakest. It's still good though, and the album's rating isn't affected. "Quiet!" is so unique with different layers, exemplifying the band's progressive side.

"2:14" is another progressive instrumental that sounds good but not the best. "Cows" is another true highlight. There's barely anything anyone in metal had ever tried before from the strange guitar to the effective keyboards and great bass. An intense instrumental that should be remembered! The CD edition has two bonus track, starting with "Base", slow while gradually heavy. "Hop" really hops around for an ending track, with some fun drumming by Rob Smits.

Mute Poet Vocalizer might just be an early pioneering album of both instrumental progressive metal and progressive industrial metal. It's so unique and sounds fresh for an early 90s albums. Go get it, Infinite/Sphere members!

Favorites: "Hok", "P.R.O.K.O.V.", "200 Max", "Quiet!", "Cows", "Hop"

In the Woods… have always just ‘been there’. Floating around the periphery of my metal music awareness for years, with me rarely paying them any attention. The progressive tag is usually more than ample to put me off things but given this was dual tagged with gothic metal (another one of my areas of limited interest) and I am trying to broaden my horizons and capture as much new stuff in The Fallen as I can this year, I broke form and went for it. I am glad I did.

What is clear, even as a relative newbie to the band, is that these fellas know how to write songs. There’s obvious depth to all the tracks on this album. Emotional and compositional depth is present in equal amounts, and as a result Otra is an incredibly rich and rewarding album to listen to. There is the mournful atmosphere you would associate with the gothic tag, but there is also the sense of mystery, of some riddle that runs in secret through the album, like there’s always something more to come on each track. It is this narrative of intrigue that keeps my attention on the album from start to finish. This intensity by no means impinges on the overall relaxed vibes that come off the record as it plays. The vocals have a soothing monotone to them, a handsome charm almost. Even on the death doom sounding section of ‘The Crimson Crown’, the menacing vocals are tempered by most of the track being sung in a clean and sultry tone.

I would liken the connection I feel with this record to the same spontaneous response I had to Katatonia’s The Fall of Hearts. I can sense the dark soul behind the music, its presence obvious throughout. As I was ploughing through other releases this week, I got to The Maneating Tree’s latest album, and it just underlined the difference in quality in that Otra is interesting to listen to from the off. Otra lacks much in the way of a generic pigeon-hole to be sat in and as such, all bets are off. The juxtapose of styles somehow remains unintrusive over seven tracks that all seem to flow with an underlying air of calm. Hear the black metal vocals creep into tracks like ‘Things You Shouldn’t Know’ and ‘The Wandering Deity’ whilst enjoying vibrant progressive vibes in some of the guitar at the same time.

For all its free-flowing nature, there is no sense of reckless abandon in the playing. At no point do I feel the need to hit the skip button, which on an album that is infused with gothic and progressive tropes is no mean feat really. There are clunky moments still. ‘A Misrepresentation of I’ stands out for the failed attempt to shoehorn that title into the chorus (it sounds like ‘a misreputation of I’) but it is more than forgivable given it probably is my only negative out of over forty-five minutes of music.

Having heard a number of random tracks over the years, Anubis Gate are a band I’ve always held in pretty high regard. Typical of most European progressive metal bands, they’re not very well known, but despite remaining mostly off the grid, they’ve put out an impressive array of high-quality albums. Keen to delve properly into their discography, 2004’s debut, ‘Purification’, seemed like the best place to start.

Except it probably wasn’t.

Sadly, to my surprise, I’ve found this a very hard album to get into. I’ve had it in my playlist for what feels like forever, and I just can’t seem to really remember anything from it. Every time I play it I zone out. The playing is fantastic and there are a few rather tasty guitar riffs, likewise, vocalist Torben Askholm has a great voice that really suits the music and its themes. But the overall writing is just so dull, all the songs seem to mesh together and just plod along at the same pace, all sounding similar to each other and thus, making it impossible to really distinguish most of them.

If I had to pick out any highlights, ‘In the Comfort of Darkness’, ‘Hypernosis’ and ‘Downward Spiral’ are all decent enough, but even then, I don’t think I could sit and listen to them all the way through without losing interest. And it’s a shame, because I know this band are capable of much better than this. But overall, ‘Purification’ just does nothing for me, and it’s fortunate that I’m already familiar with some of the bands later material, otherwise, had this been my first exposure to them, I probably wouldn’t bother coming back.

I will confess to have been on the fence with The Great Old Ones for some time. I do not recall ever sitting down and giving anything of theirs to date a critical listen before spending a few hours with Kadath though, so I am unsure where this standoffishness came from. Picking up on some of the references to latter day, more progressive Enslaved did have something to do with it, I think. I am not progressive metal’s biggest fan, and so the prospect of having to follow such a trail (or trial as I often find progressive metal to be) did not bode well. However, on reflection, having listened through to the record multiple times, the progressive elements are a lot more subtle than I first feared. They represent a well balanced and unintrusive character in proceedings. Even at its most obvious the progression is not complex or jarring and so I find it more than palatable.

The fact is that I enjoy Kadath a lot more than I was expecting to. I have gotten into the habit of getting in bed at a reasonable hour and taking some bedtime listening with me. Kadath was my bedtime listen last night, and I completed a further run through this morning before work. These two more critical listens, done without the distractions of screens or work, proved to be key in my development of understanding the record better. For a start, it struck me that the three guitars are used intelligently and are not allowed to overwhelm tracks. In fact, they fill up space that would otherwise go unused, in the sense that if two of them are maintain the often-powerful rhythm of many tracks then melodies and atmospherics are done by the third guitar in the background, on the periphery of the main drivers of tracks or in the upper stratosphere of some of the more expansive moments on songs. Cleverly, they do this without creating any distractions. All three instruments fit together so well.

I hear little, if not any, synths or keys on the album either. Considering the nature of the music, this is surprising. The fact that I can be entertained by a fifteen-minute instrumental track, that I would normally hate, is testimony to how good the band are at creating atmosphere and tension using just strings and percussion. The only disappointment around the instrumental is the track prior to it. ‘The Gathering’ must hold some purpose from a narrative perspective as it does little else other than act as an intro for the instrumental. I just find this an odd arrangement choice.

Going back to that earlier Enslaved comparison. If I benchmark Heimdal against Kadath, then it is the latter that I hold in much higher regard. The comparison is most definitely relevant and justified but the French outfit here are far more entertaining and stronger sounding (which I grant is largely down to the third guitar). ‘In the Mouth of Madness’ has an almost epic heavy metal feel to the opening of the song and chaotic riffs of ‘Those from Ulthar’ are backed by wonderful percussion and those grim vocals superbly. This is top three material in the black metal release of the year so far and may supplant Grima for second spot with further listens. I should have perhaps taken more notice of TGOO before now.

I’ve had this album on my playlist for quite a while now, mainly because I just couldn’t think of anything in particular to say about it! ‘Cloudscape’ is the self-titled debut album by Swedish progressive metal band, uh, Cloudscape. Released in 2004, this sounds very typical of bands in this genre, but with an emphasis on strong writing, melody, and catchy hooks.

The band members are all excellent musicians, and I particularly love the blending of melodic keyboards and heavy, crunchy guitars. And this album has that in abundance, as well as powerful vocals, interesting lyrics, and a fantastic production. There isn’t anything overly unique about this band, but that’s fine. Not every album needs to reinvent the wheel. Sometimes good music just speaks for itself.

Admittedly, with that said, at one hour in duration, the album does drag a little at times, with some of the songs sounding kind of similar to one another. But on the other hand, some of them are absolutely fantastic! ‘As the Light Leads the Way’, ‘Witching Hour’, ‘Everyday is Up to You’, ‘Under Fire’, ‘Out of the Shadows’ and ‘Slave’ are all amazingly well written songs, and should be more than enough to satisfy any progressive metal fan.

If they have achieved nothing else, Pothamus have introduced me to a new instrument in the Shruthi Box, an instrument predominantly used in Indian classical music.  It is deployed here on single, ‘Ykavus’ where it adds a droning presence to proceedings.  Fortunately, this is not my only take from Abur, although it is a distance away from my usual diet, it is still a very entertaining record.  There is still some familiar features to compare with the backdrop of my usual listening habits, but the duration of this record in the main is time spent away from my comfort zone.  The sludge tag it has on Metal Academy has some relevance most certainly, but it is the post-metal tag that fits the majority of the record better.  On top of this though, there are those hints of drone as well as a sense of Middle Eastern infusion.

After a few listens through to Abur with the tribal percussion and dense atmospheres, coupled with echoing chants and expansive keys, it is obvious that a lot of thought has gone into the record.  Whilst it might not have an immediate argument for frequent revisits (this very much a mood record) it is a very professional sounding yet artistically endearing album.  Where the band are most definitely skilled is in the ability to combine multiple elements on one track, not necessarily blending them, just very capable at arranging them.  The title track absolutely feeds off the atmospherics before breaking off into some of the denser sludge content present on the album.  When in full flow, the atmosphere here is reminiscent of an Akhlys album, minus the horror of course.

I cannot fight the haunting and ethereal charms of Abur.  It is such an accomplished sounding album that is in many ways a shame that it only fits a more serious mood.  I will come back to this album when I feel enclosed or suffocated by my existence.  When I am sensing my boundaries are the same four walls far too often and I need reminding of how far outside of my comfort zone I can actually go.  This is where Pothamus will come into their own for me, occupying the same ‘open when needed space’ as Russian Circles, Wardruna and Forndom.

Well I got this one wrong didn't I?

Returning to their atmospheric black metal form on records like Sunbather and Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, Deafheaven make their harrowing return in 2025. I heavily criticized the bands previous album, Infinite Granite, for axing its heavier sounds for its more post-rock style. Not because they were bad, instead because Deafheaven's principal feature was the uplifting nature of their black metal; a genre that is well known for being the antithesis of uplifting. I also said that I figured that this would be the direction that Deafheaven would continue down the foreseeable future. 

Well that didn't happen. Lonely People With Power is a monstrous album in both its length as well as intensity. Like previous albums, Deafheaven are not going to overwhelm the listener with a typical black metal display of relentless tremolo picking, blast beats, and vocal screeching for just over an hour. The album is filled with atmospheric breaks and interludes, the metal portions are diversified with half-time style changes and more melodic guitar leads, as well as clean vocals. And as someone who cares very much about padding on an album, this record does not falter. There may be sections that could have been trimmed down (such as the intro on "Winona"), but overall, Lonely People With Power has enough diversity to keep it interesting, but without a lot of the self indulgence that plagues modern progressive metal. 

The sound of this record is well done also. This is the first Deafheaven album published through Roadrunner Records. Now I've always viewed this record label as the "Gentlemen's Club" of metal record labels given their reputation. And even though Roadrunner is not particularly well known for its publication of black metal albums, Deafheaven fit right in. The albums have always sounded more mature and it continues here with the mixing. George Clarke's shrieking is still heavily condensed behind a wall-of-sound and acts more as a secondary instrument on songs like "Heathen" and it does work a little better than expected. Some albums like this put heavy emphasis on their vocals to make a statement, but here the vocals are more metaphoric in presentation and you don't really need them to get the full experience of this record.

All of that being said however, it's hard for me to enjoy Lonely People With Power more because it feels like Deafheaven are sinking into the status quo of modern atmospheric black metal. As I mentioned off the top of this review, Deafheaven are known for their uplifting textures and sharper tone quality. What I noticed here is that the tone quality has been quietly flattened; way more minor key signatures and chordal progressions, and more walloping foundational grooves. And even though the songwriting on this album is very good, it doesn't take long to realize that Deafheaven are seceding themselves to Alcest in that regard, when it was only a few short years ago their positions were reversed.

This is probably a nitpicky criticism of Lonely People With Power from me, but I think it is very important. The reason I constantly return to tracks like "Dream House" and "Canary Yellow" all of these years later is because of how unique they are within the black metal framework, and Deafheaven did this without incorporating a folk gimmick like Panopticon or Saor. Now, without that bottom line of "this is Deafheaven" for most of this album (only really saved by the final two tracks), it becomes harder to find songs here that are truly timeless. We shall see what the future brings but for now, Lonely People With Power  is a good record and deserving of its early praise, but it should be a lot better.

Best Songs: Magnolia, The Garden Route, Body Behavior, Winona

It's sad when a grand discovery comes with tragedy. A month ago as of this review, vocalist/keyboardist Sindre Nedland passed away from cancer. I had just encountered his vocals for the first time that are just out of this world. RIP...

Solemn is the latest offering in the 20-year career of Norwegian blackened progressive death metal band In Vain, and it's a monolith of triumph! The compositional writing is so unique and diverse. Besides the now-gone-from-the-band vocal duo of Sindre Nedland and Andreas Frigstad, guitarist Johnar Håland shines with his epic guitarwork. And the other half of the band also have the talent to help make this powerful masterpiece.

"Shadows Flap Their Black Wings" bursts in with riffing energy and deathly growls in the verses. Then the chorus drifts through clean melody in the guitar leads and singing. "To the Gallows" has extreme aggression in the music and vocals, while the cleans are still around to balance out the strength. A melodic calm surrounding the heavy storm! Then "Season of Unrest" has some slow bass in the verses while marching into both heaviness and melody. With deathly darkness comes melodic light, again proven in the music and lyrics. I love the beautiful bridge that comes with saxophone similar to the Norwegian Shining.

"At the Going Down of the Sun" is long, strong, and symphonic, once again including a melodic chorus in this otherwise dark heavy structure. "Where the Winds Meet" is where the two sides greatly battle it all out. The wall between the two sides is penetrated by the aggression from one side and the melody from the other, before the wall breaks down in a towering chorus. "Beyond the Pale" has more of the heaviness and growls before the fantastic guitar melodies and clean vocals soar through the skies.

"Blood Makes the Grass Grow" is the only track that's under 6 minutes and continues to blend the extreme and clean sides well. "Eternal Waves" has more melody rising from the dark ashes, moving things along in the chorus and bridge. "Watch for Me on the Mountain" is a strong clean swansong for the blissful harmonies of Sindre. Again, RIP...

Solemn is an epic progressive journey to help tear down the walls of conventionality. Deathly riffs and beautiful melodies make an intense blend of power and thunder. The fire and fury is brightened by melody and harmony and clean choruses soar through. Growls and cleans battle each other then make peace for coexistence. For anyone wanting a gem that's both ethereal and brutal at the same time, this is your Solemn hour!

Favorites: "To the Gallows", "Season of Unrest", "Where the Winds Meet", "Beyond the Pale", "Watch for Me on the Mountain"

The most recent album from Nordic progressive death metallers In Vain is quite the variety of sounds isn't it? While the album certainly retains its progressive tag throughout the hour runtime, the directions it takes to get there is quite varied. I really enjoyed the inclusion of a full brass section during the the albums highlight moments, such as "Eternal Waves" and "Shadows Flap their Black Wings". For an album that uses such a booming foundation, In Vain are not scared to embellish Solemn with bright/sharp tones; it gives the album a sense of direction that is not as dominant on other similar sounding death metal albums. The vocal styles change on a whim from Steven Wilson-esque hushed vocals, towering Einar Solberg cleans (complete with harmonic counterpoint), then alternating the rest of the time between low death gutturals and the occasional death metal screech. This all sounds like a lot to digest when you see it written down on a screen, but I promise that it is not as difficult of an album than I am describing it. In Vain have a skill of developing their foundation instead of becoming a new band on every track. It is also helped by the record not being quite extreme. At its core, Solemn is a death doom album with the occasional blast beat and tremolo guitar riff. This is what you might get if Wilderun and early Katatonia had a baby. The technique is solid too; granted the production might have a couple of minor hiccups here and there, Solemn remains incredibly consistent with its sound engineering. If anything, I think that the guitar harmonies might be a little too subdued throughout. I'm surprised it took me as long as it did to come around on this record, but I'm sure glad I did.

Best Songs: Shadows Flap their Black Wings, Season of Unrest, At the Going Down of the Sun, Beyond the Pale, Eternal Waves

‘Time Requiem’ is the 2002 self-titled debut album by Swedish progressive power metal band, Time Requiem. Formed by keyboard player Richard Andersson, the band plays a style very typical of progressive metal, with a strong neoclassical influence, and an emphasis on powerful vocals and fantasy-themed lyrics.

The most prominent aspect of Time Requiem’s music is shredding, and it comes in boatloads! Andersson and guitarist Magnus Nordh are absolute beasts on their instruments, furiously ripping up the chromatic scale at every opportunity. It makes for some lavishly flavoured riffs and colourful solos, but sadly it does get a little repetitive after a while.

Most of the songs are very strong and well-written, but also rely on similar tropes. At times, they sound very reminiscent of other bands, such as Symphony X, Dream Theater and Stratovarius. But if you can accept a group wearing its influences on its sleeves, then you might just enjoy tracks such as ‘Watching the Tower of Skies’, ‘Time Requiem’, ‘Milagros Charm’, ‘Visions of New Dawn’, ‘The Aphorism’ and the absolutely psychotic instrumental, ‘Brutal Mentor’.

‘Time Requiem’ can be challenging to sit through in one go, especially if you’re not keen on the sheer technicality of the music, but perseverance and repeated listens can be rewarding. Over time, the album grew on me, and while the band offers nothing new or unique, this is a very solid debut, and I’m excited to hear where things will go with future releases.

Wren is one of the most unmetal sounding band names that could be picked really. One step up from Sparrow or Dunnock I suppose but still leans heavily on the lame side of the bird world. Whilst it may not be the most threatening name in the world metal, Wren does fit the atmospheric sludge of this London four piece as they explore a vast and dense landscape across their third album, Black Rain Falls. Foraging through punishingly slow riffs, flitting between ethereal density and atmospheric ecosystems and nesting in the rafters of the solid structures of the seven tracks on offer.

Describing themselves as a ‘blackened noise band’ (at least according to the Spotify bio anyway) could not be further from the truth, as there is no noisy element to this record. The agonising pace of album highlight, ‘Toil in the Undergrowth’ is testimony to how captivating atmospheric sludge is. By the time the first riff lands we are three minutes into the track. Those hoarse and tormented vocals heralding the arrival of the track proper perfectly as that riff crashes in behind them. This album is full of Neurosis and Isis influences, and as a result had me hooked from the off. Songs feel like they are expanding even though there is little in the way of variation to suggest this is naturally the case. Any progression is deliberate and measured, feeling organic and unforced.

Tracks often end feeling like very little has happened in the way of change once the established format has been engineered, but still, I get sense of total satisfaction from the majority of what is on offer here. The interlude in the middle of the record feels a bit out of place though, even though it does in some ways introduce the dense, bassy opening of ‘Metric of Grief' nicely. Album closer ‘Scorched Hinds’ is one of the more obvious Neurosis sounding tracks, with its shifts and swells accompanied by chiming guitar notes that remind me of Kowloon Walled City. There is a lot to like in the simplicity of Black Rain Falls and it stands out as one of my happier new finds in The Fallen clan of late.

A band's sophomore album is sometimes a home-run or a foul. Some fans want more improvement, while others don't want drastic experimentation. Since their debut Edge of the Obscure was released 6 years before this album, they must've really been trying to find that right balance.

Among the Amorphous continues the tech-death-infused melodic cyber metal sound of their debut, this time it's more progressive. The conceptual tale from the debut is still going, here in a different world. The artwork and music videos greatly capture that concept. If you're up for some apocalyptic future kaiju battles that is kinda like Godzilla vs. Kong gone Star Wars, or weird assemblies of those monsters, you don't wanna miss this saga!

The opening track "Spiral into Existence" sets the dark tone as synths and vocals spike through the metal instrumentation. "Deceptive Signal" is a true highlight, underrated otherworldly djenty cyber metal for those who want similar music to Mnemic. The brutal verses go well with the epic chorus. Another battle-ready standout is "Sins of the Mechanical". Although Sybreed, Mnemic, and Raunchy haven't released an actual album in years, The Interbeing has made up for that and gotten fans of those earlier bands f***ing mind-blown. There's even some atmospheric meat here! "Borderline Human" has more of the industrial or Circle of Dust and the hardcore progressiveness of Erra.

"Purge the Deviant" has heavy riffing and a slightly longer track length than any of the band's other tracks, both perfect for a sci-fi battle. "Cellular Synergy" is an atmospheric interlude with female spoken vocals. "Enigmatic Circuits" has some electronic melody that can also be found in The Word Alive.

Then we have the impressive "Pinnacle of the Strain". The great screaming vocals fit the song well in amazing goodness. Truly this is Meshuggah-inspired cyber metal! With the album nearing its end, we have the industrial "Sum of Singularity", borrowing some drums and synths from Crossfaith. It has definitely foreshadowed the sound of their next album Icon of the Hopeless, and a great way to end this one. Well, after the apocalyptic title outro.

When I write my own books, I see it as a labor of love; taking a couple or so years to complete a book but it is all worth it. That must be what The Interbeing was going for when they worked on Among the Amorphous in a slow steady pace. And it's worth keeping fans around, old and new!

Favorites: "Deceptive Signal", "Sins of the Mechanical", "Purge the Deviant", "Pinnacle of the Strain", "Sum of Singularity"

The Black Mages is an instrumental progressive metal band formed by Japanese composer Nobuo Uematsu, renowned for his work on the Final Fantasy video games. While I’ve never actually played the games, I can appreciate video game music, and consider the Black Mages’ first album an absolute masterpiece. Their second album was a very strong follow-up, and so it’s unfortunate that their third album falls a bit flat.

Released in 2008, Uematsu and his motley crew had 21 years of video game lineage to take inspiration from, but with their third release, ‘Darkness and Starlight’, I think it just goes to show that what works as background music in a video game doesn’t necessarily work as a metal song.

And it’s a shame, because in theory, this isn’t much different than the previous two albums, except the magic just isn’t there anymore. The excitement and energy that made the first album so fantastic seems missing, like they’re just going through the motions now.

The playing and production, as always, is exceptional, and there’s a few highlights, including ‘Opening: Bombing Mission’, ‘Neo Exdeath’, ‘Distant Worlds’, ‘Assault On the Silver Dragon’ and closing track ‘Life (in Memory of Keiten)’, but in all honesty, these songs are still fairly passable, and I’d much rather just listen to either of the previous two records. In addition, the only vocals on this album feature in the title track, a 15-minute Japanese prog metal opera, which, I might add, is one of the most horrendously boring and long-winded songs I think I’ve ever heard.

Overall, this isn’t a terrible album, but I really think at this point the band has used up all the best ideas from the franchise, and since they called it a day shortly after, I think they knew that too.

Estuarine is described as experimental death metal on many websites, and I can't help but think at first that this was born out of a desire to be odd rather than resulting out of musical intrigue. This isn't true, but the opening section does give that impression. It is not constructed out of elements that work together, just ones that were fitted together, but as the album continues, there is method to the madness.
Now, the most unusual part of the band's sound is, well, the overall sound. Yeah, there's growling and the drums are aggressive, but it doesn't really sound very much like death metal outside of that. The closest I can figure for the sound is one of those more melodic '90s alternative bands if they went nuts and uber aggressive. It's the closest I can think of, it's far less heavy than your usual death metal guitar tone. I'd go as far as to say the bass tone was taken from a funk rock album. It's pleasant, just not what you think of when you think of death metal.
Despite being something that I should enjoy, I feel somewhat lukewarm on this. It's pleasant, but it feels like as it drags on it degenerates pretty quickly into endless "look at what cool crap I can do with a guitar" with little substance beyond this.

‘Haze of Nemesis’ is the third album by German progressive metal band Red Circuit. It was released in 2014, five years after its predecessor, and follows on exactly where the band left off, with plenty of explosive, high-energy tracks, centred around massive sounding guitar riffs, atmospheric keyboards and the incredibly powerful voice of renowned Sri Lankan singer, Chity Somapala.

Unlike the bands previous two outings though, ‘Haze…’ does seem a bit samey after a while. That’s not to say it’s bad, but this sounds almost identical to everything the band has done before, and the seeming lack of variety does get a repetitive.

Still, it’s not all bad, as there are some absolute bangers here. ‘Oceans Apart’, ‘My Lonely Heaven’, ‘Serpent’s Smile’, ‘Believing a Lie’ and a cover of Peter Gabriel’s ‘Digging in the Dirt’ are all fantastic reasons to give this album a chance. And with a great production that really makes every song sound absolutely huge, there’s no denying that, although the band stick to their established formula, they do it very well. So why change what isn’t broken?

I have been a big fan of the Lovecraft-obsessed Frenchmen since the release of their sophomore, Tekeli-li, back in 2014. They have always imbued their atmospheric black metal with post-metal and even atmo-sludge elements to add an additional emotional redolence to their tales of eldritch horror. Whilst this latest follows a similar template, the band are also moving in a generally more progressive direction, as exemplified by the ten-minute opener, "Me, the Dreamer" and even more pertinently by the lengthy instrumental "Leng". "Me, the Dreamer" begins in TGOO's recognisably dense atmospheric black metal style, but at midpoint it takes an even more menacing turn, introducing an air of dissonance that sees it covering similar territory to that heard recently on Ulcerate's "Cutting the Throat of God", before making a more triumphal-sounding procession to song's end. The fifteen minutes of "Leng" exhibits even more musical turns, being an epic piece that expresses the faded grandeur and looming menace of long-forgotten and abandoned alien cityscapes better than any amount of words could. This track in particular, without it's reliance on the human voice, reveals how adept the band are becoming at writing metal that can convey atmosphere and mood by instrumentation alone and is a seminal piece for the band. The three guitarists weave in and out of each other with wistful and lighter motifs alongside hulking and towering, darker riffs making this a beautifully constructed and expressive instrumental.

Not only on those two tracks, but throughout it's hour-long runtime, Kadath sounds more ambitious than the band's previous material and feels like a band stretching their wings, having grown more confident in their technical abilities and reaching for more tools to utilise in their quest to produce music that fully conveys the dark and ominous concepts of the Cthulhu Mythos around which they base their ethos. They have always produced epic-sounding black metal, but their new-found confidence in their ability to expand their sound has taken this to a new level, with increasingly light and dark shades contrasting each other to deepen the otherworldly atmospherics. This isn't by any means a sea-change in the frenchmen's sound, but rather an evolution in the way they express themselves, I guess in a similar way that Enslaved successfully managed on their releases during the 2000s. Like the Norwegians TGOO are unafraid to sometimes take a slightly more melodic route with several of their riffs proving to be decidedly hooky, the opening riff of "Under the Sign of Koth" for example, being a particular foot-tapper.

All this has not come at the expense of any inate heaviness, it must be pointed out. Well, maybe a little, but I think that the more reflective moments often serve to throw the heavier sections into even sharper relief and render them consequently more effective. Look, Kadath is not exactly the kind of album you would put on to work out some aggression or for a good headbanging session, but that doesn't mean that it can't shake the foundations occasionally and it possesses enough sonic gut-punches to appeal to any number of discerning metalheads. But that ultimately isn't the aim of the album, it is for reflection and contemplation of the unknown corners of the human psyche and the barely concealed horrors lurking therein, to which end it is reasonably successful, I would suggest.

Each album by Novembre has offered something different in a way I adore. The debut album was classic, no holds barred Progressive Death Doom, and one of the first albums ever in the true melancholic Death Doom style more divorced from the more Death Metal tinged style of the early 90’s. The sophomore release was a much calmer and more Gothic Doom album that focused more on clean vocal delivery and slightly catchier music. Classica is in some ways a combination of the two; a melodic, energetic assault of extreme Progressive Gothic Death Doom with influences of Meloblack and Melodeath for that extra bit of power. And it manags to surpass both albums magnificently.

While Classica has unmistakable touches of that fantastic 90’s Gothic Death Doom style (Katatonia, Anathema), it’s also got one boot firmly in the new millennia. Listening to this album, I’m given nostalgia for the 90’s mixed with what was, at the time, a pioneering transition into a style befitting the new era – which of course now, just means even more nostalgia for me of the 2000’s variant. The lyrics are the most striking aspect that puts me firmly in 2000; cold scenery of artificial light, shadowy hallways and snowy streetlights visible through windows paints a picture of how culture was changing at the time. Whereas the 90’s was focused on being xtreme and fantastic, the 2000’s kind of reigned things in and focused on modern reality, especially suburbia. These lyrics dance a fine line between Gothic Doom poeticism and much more plain realism, and they work wonderfully.

The music of course also works in these transitions. We’ve got the classic stuff; fantastic Gothic Doomy guitar leads, aggressive, progressive Death Doom drumming, great songwriting that works in changing tempos and styles. But it’s also got a touch of newer stuff; some Darkwave sections, real spacey, almost Post-Metal atmospheres, gentle, Dream Poppy vocals, all stuff that were still rare in Metal at the time, but would become more commonplace in the coming era.

The album is incredibly consistent. There’s never a dull moment, no track less than fantastic, and even the instrumental track and outro are very convincing and strong. It’s packed chock-full of melancholy, doom and gloom. It’s also rife with energy and aggression, changes and variation. It’s as crushing and emotional as it is driving and entertaining. Novembre married the best of many worlds together on this album, which I consider nothing short of a masterpiece.

Used is an enigmatic album opener that commences with what can only be described as almost spoken-word rapped Nu Metal. Right from there, I was a bit turned off. Not that I dislike Nu Metal, but it was the last thing I was expecting on a Pain of Salvation album, and it wasn’t particularly good Nu Metal either. The song changes style multiple times, and each time it shifts back to Nu Metal, I’m like “what the heck.” It just sounds… ugly.

I listened to the album passively a few times, and while the rest was quite good and lush Progressive Metal (with not even an iota of Nu Metal beyond the first track), it still wasn’t really grabbing me. It was settling as another one of those “good, but not great” sort of albums that so often pass us by.

Then I listened to it during my bike ride to work (frigid cold November), which is a great opportunity to really focus on the music. The first track comes on again, and I’m really hearing the lyrics this time… holy moly, is this about child sexual abuse? That’s… really dark. The second track comes on… again, I’m hearing it. This is when I register this album is not only far darker and more serious than I had thought, but it was also most likely a concept album. I continued following the lyrics, and it is hard to follow without knowing the layout beforehand, but yes, this was certainly a tale of abused children growing into damaged humans…

Everything came together for me on that bike ride. It’s hard to explain, but every single song became this incredibly moving piece, full of deftly written lyricism, passionate delivery, and of course, beautifully layered instrumentation. I think the reason it works just so is because the music is very intertwined with the story, the music changing at the drop of a hat to fit the exact mood driven by the narrative. On unfocused listens, perhaps the songs sound a bit fragmented, perhaps the vocals are a bit difficult to follow because of the occasional odd-timed delivery… or maybe it was just a total miss on my part. Anyway, a focused listen fixed that.

I still think the Nu Metal in the first song sounds ugly. It still sounds out of place. And now, I love it for that. To display the vile horror of child abuse through the angry and damaged child, the music should be ugly, it should be disturbing, it should be fragmented. And the fact this album has so much beauty in it – the persevering innocence and longing of the inner child – it makes the ugly parts stand out even more, balancing the whole package. It’s a masterpiece, an engaging and evocative story from start to finish, and a treasure trove of magnificent musicianship.

BONUS

I really haven’t been able to find a good narrative online for the concept story, so I’ve taken it upon myself to lay it out as best as I can for anyone wanting a clearer perception of the events. Based on a combination of what I have read in various places and my own interpretation of the lyrics (at the end of the day, this is not Word of God, but my opinion).

The story follows He and She, two children (and later adults) who were horrifically abused. The concept deals with their trauma bonding and disturbed development due to their past.

Used: Details how His experience of child sexual and physical abuse has lead to a life of youth violence and drug use to escape His pain.

In the Flesh: Details how Her experience of incestuous child sexual abuse lead to Her running from home, engaging in prostitution, and dissociating to escape Her pain.

Ashes: He and She trauma bond over their experiences and develop a bittersweet relationship in which they finally feel a kinship, but are held back by unresolved trauma and toxicity as they feed off one another’s pain.

Morning on Earth: His need for violence and misanthropy is not ignited around Her, and he feels himself seeing the world for the first time by experiencing her love. The song explores how deep down, they are still just wounded children, longing to love and be loved, but the horrors of the world keep them shut out.

Idioglossia: Him engaging in violence to escape his pain – though it’s unclear if this is current or a flashback. The song explores Him finally realizing that he was damaged and hurt as a child, and trying to figure out what is wrong with him.

Her Voices: He begins to see Her face in all of those He commits violence against, essentially gaining empathy through His love for Her. She develops mental illness due to Her unresolved trauma. This could be literal voices a la schizophrenia, or something closer to paranoid personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, or any mental illness warping her view of reality, and She begins to distrust Him. The cycle of abuse continues through Him as He ends up being abusive (whether physically or verbally/mentally, is unclear) and becoming a contributing factor to “Her Voices.”

Dedication: He experiences the death of his grandfather, the first real loss in His life. The grandfather is never mentioned before or after this song, but it’s apparent here that he was an admirable and safe figure in His life growing up – perhaps the only positive one in His whole life.

King of Loss: Probably the most difficult to decipher song. Could very easily be interpreted as the alienation and victimization of He and She at the hands of those in charge of the world. However, I prefer to take this as Him actually finding a successful career as some soulless politician or other figure of power – making money, acquiring possessions, yet nothing being enough, nothing filling the hole of loss and pain within him.

Reconciliation: He finally “wakes up” and realizes what He’s become. An abuser and user of others, just like those who hurt Him. In this moment of clarity, He tells Her to run from Him and find help.

Song for the Innocent: The inner longing of an innocent child for peace and happiness traded for an adult life of violence, abuse, drugs, corruption…

Falling: The moment of “peace” before He commits suicide. It’s an often-documented phenomenon that when a person is near suicide, they will appear carefree and lighter than normal, likely because they know all burdens will no longer matter soon; this is likely why the song is a short and soft, calming instrumental.

The Perfect Element: Him commits suicide in order to free Her from Him. As he bleeds out on the floor, His life essentially flashes before His eyes. We are given references to previously seen moments, as well as memories never explored here (“Once he would run through the summer days, catching memories for ages to come” – perhaps there were yet times when he was truly just a happy, innocent child?).

I’m not the biggest fan of Groove Metal, so Nevermore trading most of their Thrash energy for more rhythmic and mid-temo riffing was a move that shouldn’t sit right with me. Well, I still don’t think it’s as good as the previous albums, but this is monumental for a Groove album. The band’s ability to combine hybrid riffs that combine Groove, Thrash, and classic Heavy/US Power Metal with a more modern atmosphere and dark mood make them super unique, and this album definitely has that identity in spades far stronger than anything preceding it.

Most people probably point to Narcosynthesis, the enigmatic opening track, as the highlight of the album (or the band’s whole career, even), but it was the second track, We Disintegrate, that really gripped me. Of course we get the fantastic core musicianship Nevermore always delivers, but there’s also an AMAZING chorus?? I had never heard Warrel use his voice like that, and it got totally stuck in my head. That was kind of a recurring theme here; I think Warrel learned how to better craft hooks, and use his voice melodically on this album. I’ve always liked him as a vocalist, but catchy choruses were absolutely not his main draw. Here, he hones that tool and utilizes it well, another favorite of mine being the monolithic pre-chorus “And I still Believe in Nothing…”

The guitar solos are another highlight, and along with the melodic guitar leads, add a fantastic touch of spice to the more basic musical foundation. Rhythmic chugs aren’t nearly as bad if you’ve got a stunning guitar lead shimmering over them. My only criticism there is sometimes they’re pushed way too low in the mix – I want to hear the melodies, not the 0-0-0-1-2-0! Gimme the good stuff!

As I’ve hinted at, the slower, more rhythmic musicianship and songwriting style here isn’t as much to my taste as their Thrashier material, but the band is so skilled that they pull it off better than most bands who revolve their entire career around Groove. Nevermore is simply too talented to play off of the weaker tropes of Groove Metal, and therefore deliver one of the best albums in the genre.

After a handful of Eps that ranged from decent to horrible, my expectations for Isis’ debut weren’t too high. And in this case, I was right to temper my expectations; Celestial sounds like a band who still don’t know exactly what they’re doing yet.

Most of the “atmosphere” to this album is based on repetition and some industrial or otherwise sound effects thrown in the back. The songs aren’t bad or anything - they’re plenty decent - but it does become rather sad when a Post-Metal band can’t pack anything really moving or interesting in a 9-minute track. The fact of the matter is, the guitars, drums, and general instrumentation aren’t very interesting because they rely on atmosphere. And well, that works perfectly fine when you’re building great atmosphere. But the atmosphere here is lacking, as I said, mostly based around some industrial sound effects and repetition. It doesn’t evoke anything or foster any mood.

“Swarm Reigns (Down)” is my favorite track because it’s actually quite doomy, and has this neat oppressive atmosphere built by some odd effects slowly lowering in pitch to make it sound like thousands of insects are raining down on you. It’s really neat, but even this track probably has 3-4 minutes of meandering that aren’t as successful.

I do see potential here, and the highs are a marked improvement from their early Eps. But, this is not yet any masterpiece. Hopefully the atmospheres improve henceforth.

I've been avoiding to many potential "sure-fire" metal albums to get my yearly top 100's more diversified, but this is a new year, and there are some bands I will make that exception for.  Dream Theater was the band that got me into prog metal, and although they're not my favorite anymore, if they've got an album the fans like then I will check it out on the day of its release.  And this is an event to look forward to for fans everywhere, and why?  Simple...

Portnoy's back.

Since Dream Theater mastered the standard style early in their career, we must already deal with some sense of familiarity.  So all that's left is how far they drive it.  And they're driving it all the way from NY to CA.  Some of these bits here are straight-up thrash metal with a strong edge backed up by some of their most clever riffs since Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, and especially Portnoy's drumming.  This is the album where he blew the mercury out of the meter.  He outperforms everybody here without even thinking.  Anything familiar or maybe even only decent about the songwriting is empowered by him.  This is easily some of the best metal drumming I've ever heard, IMO.

As for the rest of it, the short story is that this is yet another "cool" entry into their catalog.  Instead of choosing more meta concepts like the "octave," or telling another rock opera, they went right into a more conventional type of concept.  Much like Metallica's Ride the Lightning covered various forms and themes concerning death, this album's all in the title.  This is probably the perfect theme for Dream Theater of all people to tackle.  I mean, if the band name didn't say it all, albums like Scenes from a Memory should tell you.  Lyrically, they're doing everything they can to bring out the fear factor in each song, almost like we're hearing horror stories but we're supposed to pity the subjects rather than be scared for them.  Instrumentally, even though their riffs aren't always the most original, they're effortlessly heavy and easier to get behind.  Although, once again, Portnoy's masterful performance helps.

Parasomnia seems like a creative splurge for the band, but it doesn't get in the way of the style they developed for a single second.  In fact, I could even say it makes the same mistake as Paramainomeni in the sense that all tracks are following the same goal, but every song shows them doing everything they can at that point to recall the classic era with something a little new.  They never really stopped being relevant, but this feels kind of like a comeback album in a sense.  Dream Theater, ever since Metropolis Pt. 2, has been the kind of prog metal band you need to immerse yourself in, much like a good old ambient album.  And this is the album where they got that back.  No overdoing metal themes like Octavarium, no 2112 knockoffs, just Dream Theater being dreamy and heavy.

Regressive Metal

I have not cared for Dream Theater for a very long time. I think the last good Dream Theater album was Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and that album is over twenty years old at this point. The progressive metal giants have spent the better part of two decades regurgitating the same trends that album portrayed, albeit without any of the passion that made that album great. The hooks became sparser, the grooves were more sporadic, and band solos became way too prominent. Mike Mangini’s arrival as the band’s new drummer on A Dramatic Turn of Events was supposed to be a turning point for the band; they had just wrapped up their “twelve stages of grief” epic that spanned five albums and a change of roster could be just what they needed.

However, Dream Theater gave Mangini only passing status in the band as the rest of the ensemble carried on status quo. My breaking point came in 2016 with The Astonishing, because of how astonishingly boring it was. If you wanted to make an Ayreon album, why didn’t you just call on Arjen Lucassen to make one for you? Despite my trepidation, I did enjoy Distance Over Time with its return to writing memorable songs and not just an instrumental wank for twenty minutes. And you know what else? Mike Mangini got involved in the songwriting! I shouldn’t have been so hopeful that this band would stay in that lane.

After another completely boring experience with A View From the Top of the World, I find myself at the end of the rope. Dream Theater has one chance to surprise me: starting with the return of longtime drummer Mike Portnoy back on the skins. Is Dream Theater back, or is Parasomnia just another Dream Theater album?

The name Parasomnia ]already sets bad expectations; the portmanteau album title has already run its course and yet, both Portnoy’s former employer, Whom Gods Destroy, and Dream Theater are keeping this unwanted tradition alive almost fifteen years too late. The album kicks off with “In the Arms of Morpheus” and my fears are all but confirmed. This five-and-a-half-minute track in entirely instrumental as the members of Dream Theater pass the solo baton around over a handful of entirely unmemorable riffs. No melody is ever presented to the listener and it all just sounds so performative. I mean, of course it does, it’s Dream Theater! But the lack of a returning motif just makes this song feel empty. Leading into “Night Terror” we still wait patiently for a true melodic motif to show up and only after about three minutes, we finally get some semblance of melody. You might wonder how is this any different from the introductions to “Pull Me Under” or Metropolis Pt. II: Scenes From a Memory. Those instances are melodically sound; they stay in their lane until the vocal melody arrives. Beyond that, those grooves return later, representing connectivity, something that Parasomnia does not have.

“Dead Asleep” is a perfect example of a track that could have worked. There is a solid enough repetitive groove here to keep it connected, it has an okay chorus and is produced well. But the introduction is over three minutes of the runtime, it has a solo break that is way too self indulgent for how slow the main groove is and ends on an entirely new groove not shown anywhere else in the song! The only option to keep this groove around is add another chorus, but the song is already over eleven minutes long and I was already dead tired when the final notes faded away [pun intended].

“Bend the Clock” had a chance to be the albums saving grace. It starts off calming enough, LaBrie’s vocals enter over a piano and acoustic guitar groove, and early on too. The song grows into its chorus, which sounds great (reminds me a little bit of “The Glass Prison”), there is a short solo after the second chorus and proceeds immediately into chorus number three. It’s a very typical pop song formula, but it works, which is why it has stuck around for so damn long. But then I realized something that maybe I wasn’t supposed to; during the third chorus I looked down at my song tracker and it showed me that “Bend the Clock” still had another three minutes of runtime. I thought to myself “the song is over; what could Dream Theater possibly do to fuck this up?” Then the key change happened. Petrucci goes into a wank solo that is completely isolated from the rest of the track and the groove modulates into something different as well. It’s unwarranted, it’s uncalled for and it turns something good into something really bad.

“The Shadow Man Incident” ends the album after almost twenty minutes of what I can only describe as a “musical grab bag”. Almost every Dream Theater trope from the last thirty years has been dug up and put into this smorgasbord of a track. You have soft, clean guitar intros, a triplet infused bridge, lyrics that are way too disjointed and disconnected, and an interlude solo break that takes up more than half of the song. The band takes turns at getting a solo chance, and it’s fine, I guess? The showmanship of the band is impressive and basically turns into a lost Liquid Tension Experiment song, but given the band has already shown us this earlier on in the record, it does not hit. This is supposed to be the albums climax and the pinnacle of Parasomnia, but it loses its grandeur because Dream Theater already blew their load about seven songs too early. The album concept? Would be great if The Human Equation didn’t do this same theme twenty years ago.

What happens now? Do I have to revoke my prog snob card because I think the Parasomnia is bad? No. Because to be progressive, you must be willing to push boundaries and go beyond. I have said before that Meshuggah bores me; they are immensely talented, but the music is so bog standard and unmemorable because it lacks focus. Dream Theater are comfortably in the same boat here. You cannot deny the impressive virtuosity of all of the players on display here, but their execution has become so incredibly lousy and uninspired. Nothing about Parasomnia is progressive; this is the same Dream Theater album that they've released for the last twenty-five years. Parasomnia is the epitome of Berklee jazz, and I hate it. But like clockwork, they’ll be back in another two/three years with more of the same goyslop. “Are We Dreaming?” no my friend, this is reality; a true, unending nightmare.

Best Song: Midnight Messiah

After checking out Shokran's debut album Supreme Truth, I felt like skipping ahead 10 years into their new album Duat. It's time to find out how this album by Egyptian-themed Russian djenty progressive metalcore stands as a contender for the Revolution Gallery Awards for 2024...

Like many other bands I've listened to, Shokran has a blend of heaviness and melody that I can easily appreciate. Mesmerizing melodies are in great interplay with djenty heaviness. Dmitry Demyanenko is a true master of that guitarwork. The impact is enhanced by the clear production, giving the riffing more power. The vocals by returning member Sergey Raev can please any modern metalhead with his vocal antics.

"Khonsu: The Traveler from Thebes" has his cool vocals in best display. While his harsh vocals rule, I also love his cleans. The song itself is definitely worth repeat listens. Including some f***ing killer soloing! Another amazing album standout is "Set: The Shark in the Womb" with killer heaviness. There are some lower growls in "Thoth: The Silent Witness". Then "Amon-Ra: The Battle for Tomorrow" really battles it out as you can hear some bits of Born of Osiris and Wage War, mostly the former having left a deep influential mark for this band.

"Maat: The Feather Against the Heart" is another absolute favorite with lots of heaviness and variation. We also have the catchy clean chorus in "Horus: The Never Changing War". Then "Osiris: Your Death Is Just a Beginning" balances the Born of Osiris influences with Tesseract. "Isis: Caught in the Knot" is just filled with awesome fire.

"Anubis: Can’t Escape the Hound" is almost like a djenty take on the metalcore/post-hardcore of The Word Alive and Escape the Fate. The vocals reach great heights in the climax of "Tefnut: The Greatest Drought". The modern power in the melody can almost compete with Bad Omens. It stands out with its catchy chorus and more of those Egyptian vibes. I can almost give "Hathor: Drunken With Blood" the ultra-heavy crown. But it's the crushing "Imhotep: The Falcon of Gold" that takes the throne.

Duat shall never disappoint for the most part. All these strong riffs and leads make an essential part of this modern metalcore album. Just brush aside the barely-there variety and you can go on a metal carpet ride....

Favorites: "Khonsu: The Traveler from Thebes", "Set: The Shark in the Womb", "Maat: The Feather Against the Heart", "Isis: Caught in the Knot", "Tefnut: The Greatest Drought", "Imhotep: The Falcon of Gold"

Travelling from the world's largest country covering the northernmost part of Asia and a bit of Europe on the west side, all the way down to the Middle East and Egypt, Shokran can add in some oriental grooves to their djenty progressive metalcore. Following The Sixth Sense EP, the band got to work on their debut Supreme Truth. And its cool modern cover art seems to give away its release in 2014, NOT 2004.

Supreme Truth is a 15-track journey that's both heavy and mesmerizing. Most of the tracks have an average 3-minute length, which may seem mainstream but all their talent is nicely crammed so while they're all short, you'll get a lot out of them. Expect the unexpected...

The opening "Interlude" already gives you a head-start through the technical speed of the guitars, as the orchestral/neoclassical melodies zoom through in this inhuman rampage. Impressive! "Pray the Martyr" unleashes the growls and screams from the vocalist that fit greatly with the sonic melodies, before clean singing appears too. Low growls also spread through one of my favorite tracks "Ghost Ruins". The riffing and vocals are awesome there. "Memories" has a highly melodic chorus that's not too bad though different from what the band usually does. "Charon" has some of the best vocal diversity in the album. The growls, screams, and cleans all battle it out in more of the fast heaviness that modern metalheads will never get tired of.

"Collapses" is also nice in the vocals. "Original Sin" has more progressive originality. As does "Crotalus" which actually has some Eternal Tears of Sorrow-like synths. Another djenty favorite is "The Right to Sorrow", with its heavy riffing and soloing going well with the Egyptian atmosphere. "In Theatre of Illusions" is stronger but tiring at this point.

I absolutely love the title track, getting me hypnotized by the riffs and growls sounding like Whitechapel while mixed with stunning melodies. "Sands of Time" has the most development, lasting 4 minutes in length, a minute longer than most of the other tracks. The structure is also different! "Punishment" starts with an Arabic prayer. As a Muslim, I'm quite familiar with that aspect. The bad-a** "Dark Desert" is another great favorite. "The New Battalions" ends it all on a catchy note.

It's not everyday you witness a band that can blend oriental melodies and technical speed together, but it's quite a promising mix. This extreme hypnotic band is overlooked in a world of bands replayed on popular demand. I say the one thing tough about this album is the structure in these short songs. While you get a lot out of them, they really could've had slightly more consistency so they don't sound too similar. If there's one more band of oriental-ish technicality, that would be Born of Osiris. As remarkable as that band is, I can almost say the same about Shokran's debut Supreme Truth, filled with music and vocals from another dimension....

Favorites: "Interlude", "Ghost Ruins", "Charon", "Original Sin", "The Right to Sorrow", "Supreme Truth", "Sands of Time", "Dark Desert"

‘Psykerion’ is the second studio album by progressive metal supergroup, Thought Chamber. Released in 2013, it comes six years after their debut, and follows on closely in both sound and style. I must admit though, this has been a long, slow burner for me. I’m not sure what it is, but this has been on my playlist for well over a year now, and I’m still struggling to pick out any notable, single tracks.

The album as a whole is a great listen though. Full of virtuoso musical performances, Ted Leonard’s incredible voice, and excellently produced, it’s a joy to listen to from start to finish. When I can be bothered, that is. Because unlike its predecessor, I can’t really pick out any particular songs here that I’d want to listen to by themselves. I’m not sure if that’s because their strength is as singular pieces of a bigger puzzle, or maybe I’m just finding that every song blends into the next so well, it all just seems like a blur.

Still, I’m somewhat disappointed because I’d love to be able to just pick out any songs on a whim to listen to, but I feel like I can’t do that here. ‘Light Year Time’, ‘Xyrethius II’ and ‘Transcend’ are probably highlights for me, but not enough that I’d listen to them by themselves. And it’s a shame, because I genuinely do like this album, and think Thought Chamber are a fantastic band, I just don’t think I’m likely to come back to this one very often.

And it’s a concept album too! What the hell is the story to this? Because none of it makes sense to me!

I fell in love with this band after hearing their 2005 release ‘Revoiced’, a compilation of tracks from their first two albums, re-recorded with then-current vocalist Roland Stoll. Yeah, you could get away with calling it “generic progressive metal”, but whatever, I think it’s fantastic, regardless. So going back through the bands discography, the first two albums were pretty good. Nothing amazing, but certainly worth owning. I think with ‘Revoiced’ they definitely picked out the best tracks both had to offer. Which brings us to their third studio album, 2004’s ‘End of Silence’, and the verdict is not good.

I do really like this band, and I wanted to give this a fair chance, but it’s been on my playlist for well over a year now (maybe even two), and it’s just not working! I’m struggling to really get into it. The musicianship is fantastic, the production is great, everything is as it should be. Except… well, the songs are pretty boring.

Of the nine tracks, there’s only two that I like, or that I can even recall for that matter, and that’s ‘Short-Time News’ and ‘You Don’t Know Me’. Both have some nice melodies and vocal lines, but overall, are still pretty passable. I don’t know what I’m missing. It just feels like everything else plods along at the same pace, with nothing overly interesting happening. Just a horrible, sludgy mess of some poorly executed prog metal ideas.

Sorry Dreamscape. Think I’m going to skip this one and listen to ‘Revoiced’.

2010’s ‘Static Impulse’ is the second solo album by Dream Theater vocalist James LaBrie (not counting his previous Mullmuzzler albums, which are often considered a solo project). Whatever foundations LaBrie laid down on his first album are well and firmly smashed to pieces with this, as he now goes in a much darker and heavier direction than before, giving us one of the most intense Dream Theater side-projects out there.

Of course, this is also in part thanks to the musicians he has surrounded himself with. Once again teaming with guitarist Marco Sfogli and long-running keyboard buddy Matt Guillory, LaBrie already has a good chemistry with these guys. But it’s newcomer Peter Wildoer on the drums, with his death metal background, that ups the ante with the heaviness, incorporating a large amount of growling vocals.

But the amazing thing is that it fits perfectly with LaBrie’s clean vocals.

Although this album fits comfortably in the progressive metal genre, the songs mostly follow a standard song structure. But the writing is solid and the performances are incredibly tight and precise. There’s an awesome synergy between everyone here, and it shows. And while LaBrie’s aging voice might struggle on stage, on record, it’s an absolute joy to listen to.

With highlights including ‘One More Time’, ‘Mislead’, ‘Jekyll or Hyde’, ‘Coming Home’, ‘I Need You’, ‘Euphoric’ and ‘Over the Edge’, this is more than just another solo outing, this is a fantastic album, by a very legit band, and while there’s no doubting that Dream Theater will always be LaBrie’s “home”, I really hope to hear more from this line-up of musicians.

‘The Spectre Within’, released in 1985, is the second album of American progressive metal pioneers Fates Warning. One of my favourite bands for a long time, I must admit to struggling with their earlier material. Their first album, ‘Night On Bröcken’ was mostly forgettable in my opinion, and other than one or two moments, I found it difficult to really pick out any major highlights. Sadly, ‘Spectre…’ is no different.

It’s not that I don’t like it, but damn, this has been on my playlist for over a year, and I still feel like I’m not overly familiar with it. Perhaps I’m just busier than I think I am, but I just zone out whenever I play this. And it’s a shame because it’s not a terrible album.

Further laying the foundations of progressive metal, the performances on this record are of a high standard. With some tight guitar playing and fantastic displays of vocal prowess by singer John Arch, but sadly, there’s only really two songs that I like, and that’s ‘Without a Trace’, and ‘Apparition’. The rest just sounds like they could be Iron Maiden b-sides.

And it’s a shame. Because I genuinely love this band, but then I guess not every album is perfect! I’d like to stress that I don’t think this album is awful by any stretch, but I would much, much rather listen to ‘Parallels’, ‘Inside Out’, ‘Disconnected’, or one of my all-time favourite albums, ‘A Pleasant Shade of Gray’. So that’s what I’ll do.

‘The Final Experiment’ is the debut album by legendary progressive metal outfit, Ayreon, the band pseudonym of multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Arjen Anthony Lucassen. I use the term “legendary” because Ayreon albums have not only gone on to garner huge fan adulation and respect, but have become known for utilizing a wealth of musicians from various genres, thus displaying a high standard of quality and musicianship.

However, that’s now. Back in 1995, Lucassen was pretty much unknown, and was just starting to put this little project together. Not being able to pick from an unlimited pallet of musicians like he is today, almost everyone on this album is also relatively unknown, and are mostly friends from Lucassen’s homeland, the Netherlands.

And so with that said, this album is nothing more than laying the foundations of what’s to come. The huge medieval science fiction concept is in place, and it’s clear the musical direction is in the vein of traditional progressive metal, though with an underlying folk influence. However, for all the pomp and pageantry, I do find this album to be pretty forgettable. There’s only a handful of songs I’d really consider coming back to, such as ‘Eyes of Time’, ‘Sail Away to Avalon’ and ‘Ye Courtyard Minstrel Boy’, which are all remarkable, but otherwise, I would much rather listen to any of Ayreon’s later releases.

But for what it’s worth, this is still an album worth owning, if nothing more, than because it’s the start of a huge rock opera that will go on to span many albums over many years. But much, much better things are on the horizon for this Dutch project.

I think that had I heard this at the time of its release then I would have enjoyed it far more than I do now. To me it sounds a lot like the early USPM of Manilla Road and Jag Panzer with some very cool riffs, lead work and interesting song structures. It falls down on a couple of points, the first being that the production is complete shite. As much as I enjoyed the guitar work, they are threatened with being drowned out by the bass for almost the entirety of the album. I don't have a problem with the bass sitting well up in the mix, but if it is drowning out the leads then there is a problem right there. My second issue is a perpetual one wirthin certain realms of metal and that is the constant strained sound of vocalist, Shane Southby, hitting his high notes every other second, especially when he has a perfectly fine "normal" singing voice. I know that is a bit rich coming from someone who enjoys King Diamond, but KD is so OTT that I see it as a reflection of his unique musical persona, whereas here it just irritated me.

Overall I did get something out of it and Taramis were definitely trying to stretch their legs and move beyond the boundaries of traditional heavy metal with more complex song structures, the title track in particular standing out, but that production job is just so obstructive to my enjoyment that I find it hard to embrace Queen of Thieves with any more than a cursory nod.

While my initial experiences with Oranssi Pazuzu certainly showed some promise, I think it’s fair to say that I’ve been blown away by just how far the Finnish extreme metal act have taken their sound over the course of their eighteen-year existence to date. They were clearly always one of the more ambitious black metal artists in the scene, even going right back to their 2009 debut album “Muukalainen puhuu” which already displayed some of the psychedelic attributes that the band would build their reputation on, but that doesn’t really prepare you for what’s in store for you on the last couple of Oranssi Pazuzu albums because they’re a completely different animal these days. My early experiences with their debut saw me marking the Fins as a band to keep my eye on & I’ve kept up that commitment in all the years since. While I struggled a little with their 2011 “Kosmonument” sophomore record, things started to take a steep upward trajectory with 2013’s “Valonielu” before hitting an incredible creative peak in 2016 which is still showing no signs of relinquishing its hold on me. The “Värähtelijä” & “Mestarin kynsi” albums were utterly sublime, particularly the latter which I now regard as one of the most perfect metal releases ever recorded. 2017’s “Farmakologinen” E.P. was also brilliant & I got a great deal of enjoyment out of the “Live at Roadburn” live album too so it’s not terribly surprising that I’ve maintained a huge level of anticipation for Oranssi Pazuzu’s brand-new sixth full-length “Muuntautuja”, a release that's been a long four years in the making. That faith has been rewarded too as Oranssi Pazuzu’s latest effort is another triumph for the Finnish group.

“Muuntautuja” represents Oranssi Pazuzu’s second album for well-known German label Nuclear Blast & would see them once again collaborating with Julius Mauranen who produced “Mestarin kynsi”, this time handling the majority of the production duties themselves. The resulting record is another masterstroke of class & creativity that further blurs the boundaries of the black metal genre. In fact, I’m gonna have to suggest that, not only have Oranssi Pazuzu finally done away with black metal as an instrumental tool (they arguably had on the last couple of albums to be fair), but they’ve actually transcended metal music in general with the vast majority of “Muuntautuja” exploring a vastly more expansive palate of musical influences. While my take on both “Värähtelijä” & “Mestrin kynsi” was to label them as blackened post-metal, “Muuntautuja” draws upon a wide variety of noise rock, trip hop, dark ambient & progressive electronic sounds for inspiration, often in unusual ways too. It’s only the imposingly dark black metal shrieks of guitarist Juho Vanhanen (Atomikylä/Grave Pleasures/Haunted Plasma/Waste of Space Orchestra/Kuolleet Intiaanit) that remind the listener that they’re actually listening to a product of the extreme metal scene but they’re brutal enough to maintain the metal link for the time being in my opinion & I think, when taken as an holistic piece of art, the best tag for a record like “Muuntautuja” is probably avant-garde black metal. The last couple of Oranssi Pazuzu records have seen people (incorrectly in my opinion) wanting to utilize that avant-garde metal tag but this time I feel that it’s genuinely warranted.

As for who has provided the musical inspiration for a record like “Muuntautuja”, I don’t think the album does much to hide the Oranssi Pazuzu’s influences. The driving & repetitive rhythms come fueled by a noisy aesthetic that’s been borrowed from artists like Sonic Youth, Death Grips & My Bloody Valentine with the electronic beats & basslines have clearly come from the Bristol trip hop scene that spawned incredibly creative acts such as Portishead & Massive Attack, two of my favourite artists of all time. The most significant influence I pick up though, & one that I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere to date, is that of Radiohead’s more expansive & experimental post-1990’s releases which sees the band playing in spaces that I hold very closely to my own heart given that I also regard Radiohead as one of the most significant bands in my lifetime. It all works splendidly too with the sum of those influences being portrayed in new & exciting ways. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the majority of Oranssi Pazuzu’s lineup have been together since the band’s inception as it’s clearly allowed them to gradually take the indulgent musical journey they have & it’s once again resulted in a fascinating & captivating listen. There's just something about an artist that can soak up a broad array of styles & present them so successfully with their own spin that commands my utmost respect. I think it's something that I recognise as something that I always struggled to achieve personally, too often simply making decent replicas of my favourite records but rarely creating something entirely new that's just as compelling.

The highlights of the album come through the cripplingly savage vocals of Vanhanen & the driving basslines of Toni Hietamäki (Atomikylä/Waste of Space Orchestra) in my opinion but those trip hop beats are also exceptional with keyboardist Ville Leppilahti (Waste of Space Orchestra) doing a wonderful job with the atmospherics. The tracklisting is chock full of spectacular moments too with the vast majority of the record falling into transcendent territory. My picks of the bunch include opener “Bioalkemisti” (my personal favourite), short dark ambient interlude “.”, repetitive post-metal builder “Ikikäärme” (which I'd suggest falls closest to the last couple of albums in terms of style) & dark progressive electronic closer “Vierivä usva” but there are just so many incredible inclusions in this star-studded lineup of material that I could just as easily have picked belters like “Voitelu” or “Hautatuuli”. This album simply sounds so fresh & new, despite its sources of inspiration largely having been around since the start of this century or earlier & that’s what truly great artists can do. They manage to bring a timelessness to their art that others can only dream of achieving.

As Sonny mentioned in his review, it's a little hard to compare a record like “Muuntautuja” with past glories as it’s so different to anything we've heard before, concurrently challenging the listener from a number of different angles which sees it taking a while to fully sink in. Like him, I think I’m gonna place it slightly behind “Mestarin kynsi” & “Värähtelijä” in the pecking order (at least for the time being) but the gap to the latter isn’t a big one & the fact that I’ve still had to find space in my Top 100 Metal Releases of All Time to cater for “Muuntautuja” should be as strong an indication as any of just how highly I regard Oranssi Pazuzu as an elite artist. This is truly next level stuff from one of the true creative geniuses in the modern scene & it’s only the clear strength of 2024 as a pillar in the metal timeline that has seen it unable to take out top spot in my Album of the Year race.

For fans of A Forest of Stars, Blut Aus Nord & Ved Buens Ende…..

I remember reviewing one of The Old Dead Tree's albums for The Fallen Gothic Metal Modern Era clan challenge almost 5 years before this review. I've forgotten all about that band since falling out of The Fallen a couple years later. That is, until the band's new comeback album appeared in the Metal Academy 2024 Awards Gateway Gallery thread. So now's a good time to give this band another chance, and see if its cover artwork will head home with its award.

Second Thoughts is the band's first full album after a long 17-year gap, as a result of a 10-year hiatus, apart from a couple reunion shows. And it sounds like their dark progressive/alt-metal melancholy can still practically reign in triumph! Their haunting legacy isn't withering any time soon.

First off, "Unpredictable" is a soaring composition of life's struggles. Vocalist Manuel Munoz and the rest of his team give the heavy instrumentation lots of emotion. "Don’t Waste Your Time" is a nice blend of dark and light. "The Lightest Straw" takes you through the depths of existence in the lyrics, as the music gets more dynamic. Manuel's vocal power allow you to experience the melancholy while finding the hopeful side of things. There are a couple trilogy suites in the album, one of them being "The Secret", starting with the short acoustic "Better Off Dead". The second part "Within a Second Thought" continues this story of regret and loss. "Luke" finishes this dark mini-saga with the most haunting and heaviest they have to offer. This emotional lyrical theme is not often heard in progressive tempo-changing arrangements like that one.

Another standout comes in "Story of My Life", which is more accessible while staying strong and anthemic in the lyrics. That shall get the live crowd moving! Then comes the other trilogy, "The Hunt", beginning with another song of clean melancholy, "Fresh Start". The second part, "I Wish I Could" is a highlight that's both hopeful and hopeless. It charges through in emotion and heaviness while having some grand atmosphere for a complex structure. The dramatic concluding part, "The Trap" has modern melody to please many of its listeners.

"Solastalgia" stands out in layers of rage and despair, despite being more of a power ballad. "OK" packs some killer heavy punches, as almost a polar opposite to the smooth wonders of the previous track. "The Worst is Yet to Come" is not as much of a classic as the similarly-titled song by, Still Remains, but it's a decent end to this personal journey, promising a more steady evolution for the band to come...

Creating and listening to music is a good way to let out your grief, as exemplified in Second Thoughts. This dark alt-metal sound is better executed than Swallow the Sun's attempt in their new album Shining, although that one's not as bad as people say it is. With this magical ride, The Old Dead Tree is far from dead!

Favorites: "Unpredictable", "The Lightest Straw", "Luke", "Story of My Life", "I Wish I Could", "Solastalgia", "OK"

Denver-based progressive death metal four-piece aren’t the most prolific of extreme metal bands but they certainly don’t skimp on quality, invariably rising to the occasion when they do finally get around to releasing something. For that reason, there is always a huge amount of anticipation around just what it is that they’ll bring to the table creatively, perhaps even more so on this occasion given that their last release was a space ambient E.P. entitled “Timewave Zero” which I’m still yet to get around to checking out. There are certainly reasons for the group's lack of regular activity though as all four members have a number of significant musical pursuits going simultaneously &, when you look at each individual’s credentials, it’s really no surprise that Blood Incantation are a class act. I’ve been aware of them since first discovering their highly regarded debut album “Starspawn” back in 2016 & have explored all of their proper releases (with the exception of the previously-mentioned E.P.) in the time since, even going back to their less impressive 2014 “Astral Spells” demo at one point. The last full-length Blood Incantation release (i.e. 2019’s immense “Hidden History of the Human Race” sophomore album) was a massive hit in the underground metal scene & you would probably need to have been living under a rock to have missed that one. I really enjoyed it too, although I have to admit that I’ve never rated it as the undeniable classic that most extreme metal fans seem to these days. It was certainly a very enjoyable & rewarding listen though & I’ve found myself returning to it on multiple occasions since. It saw Blood Incantation reaching further into their creative pockets than they had on their debut &, in doing so, becoming a fully-fledged progressive death metal band for the first time. Off the back of that successful experiment, I think most fans (including myself) were wondering just how far they’d take things with their much-anticipated follow-up.

“Absolute Elsewhere” was recorded at Hansa Tonstudios in Germany during the summer of 2023 with American Arthur Rizk who is not only known for being a member of several prominent US bands (including Eternal Champion & Sumerlands) but is also a very experienced producer, mixer & mastering engineer with a slew of high-profile releases under his belt. The results of those sessions (which would become the band’s first release for the legendary Century Media label) represent another impressive release that sounds as professional as you’d expect. Although the album attacks a variety of disparate musical angles, it always maintains its death metal integrity & whenever the band return to their more conventional sound for a period you feel a warm rush of comfort fill your body. That’s not to say that the progressive exploration isn’t exhilarating though because it certainly is. “Absolute Elsewhere” sees the four band members tackling a variety of well-executed progressive sounds & genres, mainly drawn from the rock & electronic space. The transitions to & from the purely death metal parts can be a little jarring at times though & I think it’s fair to say that Blood Incantation rarely mix their original sound with the outside influences, instead tending to draw clear lines of delineation between the different sections.

The performances are all excellent of course. The extreme vocals of guitarist Paul Riedl (Chthonic Deity/Leech/Spectral Voice/Münn/Velnias) may not be the most unique of death growls (in fact, they are a touch generic if I'm being honest) but they are still menacing enough to be fit for purpose. His riff work with fellow guitarist Morris Kolontyrsky (Spectral Voice/Black Curse/Nekrofilth) balances old-school death metal with more expansive progressive metal structures very well which means that, despite the added sophistication, you won’t struggle to identify Blood Incantation’s classic death metal roots (see Morbid Angel, Gorguts, Death, etc). Bass player Jeff Barrett (Spectral Voice/Velnias) bubbles away just below the surface without really attempting to take the spotlight at any point while the contributions of drummer Isaac Faulk (Lykotonon/ Stormkeep/Wayfarer) tend stay within the confines of the conventional death metal model for the most part, not extending all that far into progressive indulgence which is another reason that Blood Incantation always maintain strong links to their past.

The album consists of two lengthy tracks that are broken into three parts each. The first of these pieces is called “The Stargate” & is a wonderful example of Blood Incantation’s unique style. The first & third parts of this special track take the form of your more standard progressive death metal sound with some spacey prog rock additions here & there but it’s the instrumental track that sits between them (known as “Tablet II”) that’s the real gold on this album in my opinion, seeing the foursome indulging in an exhilarating array of sounds from space ambient to progressive rock & finishing with a huge post-metal crescendo. It’s one of the best things that Blood Incantation have done in my opinion & has been something I’ve returned to a number of times on top of my usual three or four listens per visit. The second of the two long pieces is called “The Message” &, while it may not be as holistically strong as “The Stargate”, I’s still a very solid & interesting listen in its own right. Like the opener, you’ll no doubt pick up on a very strong Pink Floyd influence at times. In fact, there are parts of “The Stargate (Tablet I)” & “The Message (Tablet II)” which might as well be plagiarism to be honest because it’s just so obvious as to what Floyd songs they’re trying to emulate. I have to say that they do pull it off extremely well though & that’s saying something coming from the massive life-long Floyd devotee that I am. I’m also a really big fan of 1970's progressive electronic & ambient music & it’s pretty amazing that they manage to achieve what they have in that space here too actually as this material could easily have been pulled from some of the better releases from those genres, even feeling uncannily like the eras that have influenced them from several decades ago too.

“Absolute Elsewhere” is another excellent release from Blood Incantation but, as with their previous album “Hidden History of the Human Race”, I’m gonna have to stop short of claiming it as the classic it’s being touted as by most critics. It’s consistently strong & exudes an air of competence throughout but I can’t say that I feel dazzled by the experience. I recognise that that’s likely just a taste thing but it wouldn’t surprise me if Blood Incantation managed to break through my defenses a little more in the future given the class, vision & efficiency they conduct themselves with. I think I’d just like to hear them combining the various elements a little more to create something truly unique rather than simply pasting a lot of disparate (if admittedly very well-conceived & fully realized) parts together in a slightly jarring fashion. More attention to the transitions is also on my wishlist for the future, despite my clear adoration for the excellent progressive metal riff work on offer here. Overall, I don’t think there’s much between “Hidden History of the Human Race” & “Absolute Elsewhere” but I’ve found myself slightly favouring the former. Regardless, I don’t think there will be too many old Blood Incantation fans finding themselves disappointed with this very solid release from one of the heavyweights of the underground scene.

For fans of Timeghoul, latter-day Tomb Mold & “A Conscious Creation From the Isolated Domain: Phase I”-era The Chasm.

Valkyria is one of those weird foreign thrash metal bands. I've seen many things said about them. Prog thrash, tech thrash and thrash/speed. Yet of these, I would say the most important aspect of the band's sound is none of them. Instead, it's a little cheap keyboard making symphonic sounds that fulfills this band's sound as a not quite symphonic thrash metal band.
I say not quite, because the symphonic parts are sporadic, but their presence elevates this album from being a well made thrash album to something quite unique. Yes, there's something unorthodox in the song structure, and yes, the album has that speed metal sound, but it's nothing compared to a great thrash guitarist sitting back and letting someone do a MIDI violin solo.
One issue I noticed is that a lot of the solo sections have a sound similar to Doom E1M1. In the sense that the backing tracks match how it goes to some extent. The guitars are somewhat different, but the drums are clearly riffing on almost the same idea.
But the big issue is the production. Some might call it bad, pathetic, wimpy, or muddly. I prefer charmingly bad. It's obviously a cheap job with a lower range than it should have. The aspect that suffers the most is the vocals, the dude's a shrieker emulating Halford to some degree, and it crushes the hell out of his range, often blending into the guitars.
Overall, I really like this album, and I think even if it has flaws, the strengths outweigh them. If nothing else, this is a solid addition to the collection of any fan of weird thrash.

After a three-album streak of absolutely stellar releases (‘Tyranny’, ‘Legacy’, and ‘Room V’), Shadow Gallery looked to have found their niche and really hit their stride, consistently putting out fantastic albums with their own recognisable sound. Tragically, this came to halt in 2008, with the passing of vocalist Mike Baker.

Losing any band members must be hard, especially once the grieving is done, and it’s time to pick up the pieces. Do you start anew? Plod along with previously written material? And is there guilt in getting someone new to record those parts? Barely a year after Baker’s passing, Shadow Gallery were back, recruiting a new vocalist and releasing ‘Digital Ghosts’ upon us all. Sadly, it’s quite noticeable that a huge part of the band is missing.

That’s not to say this is a bad album, but I’ve really, really struggled with this one. The musicianship is excellent as always, but there’s just a huge absence of something. Call it magic? Heart? Soul? I don’t know what it is, but the song-writing just doesn’t quite seem as inspired as before. Maybe the band were just going through the motions to finish the album and move on?

With that said, there’s still a few tracks worth checking out. Songs like ‘Venom’, ‘Gold Dust’ and ‘Pain’ are all decent enough, and are worthy of the Shadow Gallery name, and there’s some good, solid progressive metal on offer here if you can be patient enough, but overall, this is far, far from the best work this band is capable of, and I think I’d much rather just listen to one of their previous albums.

This is heavy, this is sludge to the core. This is also, the most unremarkable album I've listened to. Ever. There has not been an album even in the sludge journey that I have listened to more and more and got less and less every time to talk about. My 2 star is because it's not something I want to listen to ever again (as I put it on one more time in the background for some form of inspiration). It is not bad at all, I have no gripes on the musicianship itself. Over the last year, somewhere in the beginning of the year I listened to this album. Then again soon after, and a few times over the year. You know what I think after wards? "Did I listen to something, what was it?". I've genuinely forgot, though I see the plays of this album. As I have it on, again I am entertained enough. I don't want to grab my ears and forcibly turn it off by any means it just sounds like white noise to me but not like ambient sleep machine noise. Like I'm watching a movie and there's stuff going on but there just happens to be sounds or else the deafness would be even louder. It's filler music to my ears. This is not bad by any means, but as a precaution to those trying to get into this style you are not alone if you too just black out for an hour as it plays and have to remind yourself that you did hear this.

After a long hiatus of my Sludge/Post-Metal venture I just listened to this in some free time. It's good. It's not great, but this actually has more to it. The influences here are all over the place in a good way, starting with a ritualistic drumming tones that I was kind of excited with the name of the album I was expecting more of that. There's hints throughout, but never goes full tribal or similar sound. The guitar work is intriguing and the extra instruments are always a good thing for me. Never enough sax. The "sludge" elements are do here and it drags down the album for me like usual. The really cool riffs and atmosphere are the best part and when I focus on that I get the enjoyment but elsewhere it's a bit forgettable. There's probably even lyrically a concept here that I tried to follow along with but the sludge lost me, though the vocals are still good but gets lost in the mix for me. Entirely a me thing once again for this style, I appreciate the instrumental melodies and talent here and this is one that wasn't as difficult to get through by any means but not something I will be going back to. If you like the style, this is one I would recommend if asked.

Blood Incantation are back with their signature progressive, cosmic death metal sound after their detour into the world of ambient that was their 2022 Timewave Zero project. Absolute Elsewhere basically consists of two lengthy tracks, "The Stargate" and "The Message" that make up each side of the vinyl release, with each track being further split into three parts. This time around they have delved even further into progressive realms than they did with 2019's Hidden History of the Human Race, with recognisable influence from several legendary 70's progressive artists, most noticeably Rush, Pink Floyd, King Crimson and Tangerine Dream with TD's Thorsten Quaeschning's guesting on the second part of "The Message", which sounds just like an excerpt from the german progressive electronic crew's 1975 Rubycon album.

Of course, after their dalliance with a wholly ambient release last time out, most metalheads want to know if the band still have their hearts in the metal world and the answer is, undoubtedly they do and death metal is still the basis upon which their more expansive sound is built, but they are also on a mission to expand the horizons of the genre and bring in other influences so that it can continue to evolve, thus giving it an even brighter future and allowing it to reach out to a wider audience. Just within the opening segment of "The Message" we are treated to a Rush-like intro, with Geddy Lee-like staccato basslines and Alex Lifeson-influenced lead work leading into a ripping death metal riff, thundering blastbeat and Paul Riedl's growling vocals. These soon subside into a Robert Fripp-style gentle guitar and synth break which itself morphs into a short mellotron-led section (reminiscent of the synths Queen produced for the Flash Gordon soundtrack) which is then supplanted by a Dave Gilmour-esque solo. That then makes way for an eastern-flavoured death metal riff that could have come from the Nile songbook - and we are still only eight minutes into the damn thing! This may sound like a whole lot of disparate influences being jammed together and on paper may not seem that appealing, but the skill of the songwriting is that it takes these multifarious threads and weaves them together into a seamless tapestry of varying colours and textures in an entirely organic and unforced manner, with faultless and seemingly logical transitions, even between the most brutal and gentle passages. The opening extravaganza merely illustrates the ambitious vision that Blood Incantation have for their version of progressive death metal, with a fully-formed science fiction concept behind the album and a wide-reaching pallette of sonic pigments with which they illustrate this vision, metal alone being insufficient to convey exactly the feeling they require.

It is easy, I suppose, to get into a game of I-spy-the-obvious-influence, and on the intitial playthrough I was probably as guilty as anyone of that, but when you become more acquainted with the album I think the technical mastery and skilled songwriting make all that irrelevant and when heard as a coherent entity, rather than the sum of it's parts, that is when it hits the listener as to exactly how good this is. Despite all the progressive tendencies, it is still the effectiveness of the metal constituents upon which the success of the album ultimately rests and we are certainly in safe hands there because when the band let rip then they absolutely nail it with impeccable timing, consummate technical skills and some lethal riffs. The third part of "The Message" is probably one of the most "metal" parts of the album with a devastating set of blastbeats, some complex tech-death shennanigans and a deadly and brutal main riff, complemented with some nice eastern motifs that does more than cement the band's death metal credentials.

I was initially a bit sceptical as to whether Absolute Elsewhere was deserving of all the accolades being poured upon it, but this is undoubtedly one of those albums that increases the returns dependent upon what you put into it. Multiple listens are mandatory to really appreciate exactly what Blood Incantation are delivering here and it is gaining in stature with me as I uncover a little bit more of it's complexity and quality with each playthrough. As a metal album this is a cosmic-themed triumph, being at times exceedingly brutal and heavy, at others complex and cerebral, but it is also much more than that, thought-provoking and visionary with a willingness to embrace influences from outside the metal sphere which lend it an accessibility that will undoubtedly draw in new acolytes to the world of extreme metal and surely that is a good thing.

I find a lot of cutting edge metal to be a bit beyond my capacity to enjoy, particularly the excessively dissonant or avant-garde, but Absolute Elsewhere has opened up a brave new world of ambitious and forward-thinking metal made from distinctly recognisable parts that is as listenable as it is ground-breaking. It is hard, if you really listen to this, to not feel refreshed and energised by the possibilities this opens up for the future of death metal inparticular and extreme metal generally. I am sold.

I think I just found what I can consider the best album of 2014. Candlelight-signed British extreme symphonic progressive metallers Xerath released their third album (and last before their 7-year split) titled, you guessed it, III. This immersive masterpiece has revolutionized modern progressive metal, just like their first two albums have, but with more intriguing ideas in their inventory. This is true blazing epic extreme metal right here!

Xerath III has production magic from well-known Mercenary/Volbeat producer Jacob Hansen. His golden touch has helped with the perfection of this blend of orchestral drama and metal structures, creating something so unique and apocalyptic.

"I Hold Dominion" has all of those aspects to open the album in epic majesty. Next track "2053" has more melodic arrangement. "I Hunt for the Weak" shows the fascinating talent of vocalist Richard Thomson, with his black metal-ish shrieks and operatic cleans making this track come out like an epic progressive take on both Children of Bodom and Soilwork. The incredible shredding by guitarist Conor McGouran has such diverse technicality. The storm rages on "Autonomous" while having symphonic magic.

Tightening up with some groove is the heavy "Bleed This Body Clean" while having faith in their experimental ways. "Death Defiant" continues bringing that strong riffing further in conjunction with the symphonic progressive drama. One of the more unpredictable tracks is "Sentinels", all the way up to the wonderful solo towards the end. Then they push things higher up in the chaotic "Passenger". With the more futuristic cyber effects, that's the closest Xerath can ever get to sounding like Mechina. It is followed by the maniacal "Ironclad" with mesmerizing riffing and ambience.

"Demigod Doctrine" has lots of different textures, and the vocals ranging from screaming to singing are almost as impressive as Devin Townsend. "The Chaos Reign" has slight repetition in the riffing during the intro. Fortunately, we have more of the instrumental power. The chorus has some of the best cleans. "Witness" is more aggressive with a huge amount of screamed vocals. That's quite interesting, though not as much as the audible bass in the intro. The two-part 10-minute final epic "Veil" begins with the slow steady "Part I", as the band members unite in perfect synergy. Holding on to the epic intensity once more, "Part II" makes one final move at combining film score-style orchestra with metal, and it pays off, adding beautiful harmony to this apocalyptic chaos.

13 actual songs (or 14 tracks) and a time length of 66:06 may be an unlucky omen, but for me, I'm lucky to find an exceptional masterpiece from this band. I gotta go find a crown, because this album might just give Xerath the honor of being Mr. Epic Extreme Metal Universe 2014!

Favorites: "I Hold Dominion", "I Hunt for the Weak", "Death Defiant", "Sentinels", "Demigod Doctrine", "The Chaos Reign", "Veil" (both parts)

If Xerath stayed active after their trio of albums, they would probably reign alongside Mechina as the masters of symphonic progressive extreme metal. Still I'm grateful about how things have turned out in reality. There are barely any issues with the band's material, when everything is in a great balance. But before we can get to their highest point, we still have their second album, Xerath II!

Xerath is one of the more underrated bands in the league of Meshuggah copycats, but what makes them underrated in their ability to evolve into more than just that. This album is similar to Xerath I, while having some different tricks up their sleeves.

Kicking things off is the powerful standout "Unite to Defy". Then we have another good song, "God of the Frontlines", with vicious screaming. The orchestra seems to have stepped back for the riffing to be heard more easily. "Reform Part III" is another supreme highlight, continue the debut's "Reform" suite and leveling up the djent sound. Then "The Call to Arms" takes on the operatic storytelling of Black Veil Brides and early Crown the Empire for Xerath's own usual style.

There's some slight inconsistency in "Machine Insurgency", yet it's still great. Next up, "Sworn to Sacrifice" cranks up the speed, heading into progressive black metal territory. Sounds killer! "Enemy Incited Armageddon" sounds cool in the instrumentation and length, but the vocals sound a little hollow.

"Nuclear Self Eradication" isn't too impressive, though I can enjoy the guitarwork, including the mystical soloing. Sounding like a symphonic blend of Meshuggah and Opeth is "Numbered Among the Dead", with more of this artful soloing. "The Glorious Death" is a true epic, making glorious use of symphonics and choirs. It might just be one of the most expansive tracks is metal or any other genre!

Just like Mechina, a lot more people need to get into Xerath and its concept within the music and lyrics. As someone who's been into metal for nearly half of my life, as well as a bit of epic orchestral music like Two Steps From Hell, I can appreciate the excellent variation here, and my enjoyment won't fade away anytime soon!

Favorites: "Unite to Defy", "Reform Part III", "Sworn to Sacrifice", "Numbered Among the Dead", "The Glorious Death"

It was only around the time Xerath reformed a year before this review when I started listening to this band. Since the beginning, they've been signed to Candlelight Records and have unleashed their epic extreme sound to the world. Their debut was released in 2009, and it never disappoints!

Film score-style orchestra is mixed with Meshuggah-infused djenty grooves without sounding so forced. Kinda like Mechina without the futuristic cyber metal. The relentless heaviness of the guitars punches its way through the orchestral grandeur of choirs and strings. As a result, we something so brutal and glorious at the same time. The djenty machinery is just part of a greater soundscape of textures.

One of the best album openers is "Intrenity" in which emotional strings lead into intense riffing crashing in, showing a sign of what's to come. "Alterra" has some strong groove that might remind some more of Pantera. Another highlight "Nocturnum" has a lovely acoustic bridge with female siren-like singing throughout the second half.

The only track that slightly bothers me is "Consequences" which is fine but needs an extra kick. The orchestral "Interlude" has nice melody. And there's more melody in "False History", even in that djenty riffing. It also has a mighty chorus and soloing.

The riffing in "Abiogenesis" is as destructive as an earthquake, while the orchestral side stands in triumph. "Reform" is an 8-minute epic split into two parts. I don't have any word to describe this epic other than massive. Maybe even supermassive, or monolithic. Another one of the most f***ing epic tracks here is "Right to Exist". There's more variation in the riffing, and the cinematic symphonics that often take the front stage never sound weak at all.

All in all, Xerath I is an amazing album. This is pure greatness in the epic extreme metal realms. The band would make two more albums before their 7-year split, and I'm more motivated to check them out, thanks to this album's vengeance and grace!

Favorites: "Intrenity", "Nocturnum", "False History", "Reform" (both parts), "Right to Exist"

Novembre is one of those bands I can't actually recall, but sounds like one I've probably encountered in passing. Anathema in the suggested bands on M-A, probably vaguely popular enough that I've seen them without really knowing what it is.
The vocalist and some of the earlier songs really reminded me of the sort of vaguely metal alt rock that seemed to fill pop music during the decade this was released. It's the clean vocalist who really sells it; He's one of those whiny guys who you usually hear singing about another breakup or about how they're really going to do it this time. I think it's a shame because the lyrics are far too good for the guy singing them.
This isn't to say I don't like the album, it's nice, but as a package it's missing something else. It's just...fine. It definitely has that doom metal Pink Floyd vibe that Anathema had, so it isn't that. Despite the album taking a while to get going, even on the second half I get that eh feeling. I'd say the material doesn't quite work with the production it has. That said Swim Seagull in the Sky, even with this lifeless feeling, still works.
With that said, it has been done many different ways, since I'm hearing a remastered version, and even this album is a remake of an earlier album. The question is, did it change because the earlier productions were worse, or because they didn't quite like it and ended up here? I think for now, I'll be content to just wait to answer that question.

From Chicago, Huntsmen's brand of sludgy post-metal can be interesting at times, but I feel like this band lets the more progressive compositional techniques get in the way of decent song structure more than they would like. While the band has some really good ideas on The Dry Land, it has a tendency to sound like these motifs haven't been fully realized before the tracks move into a completely new pattern, while leaving the first motif to rot. It leaves me with a bad first impression as "This, Our Gospel" is ruined by a floundering theme. The album does objectively get better as it progresses, but they still do peak through the poor songwriting throughout the record.

The biggest thing I think is the drastic dynamic sways on The Dry Land. Songs like "Lean Times" and "In Time, All Things" have solid crescendo's and work wonders for individual song pacing, but as a full album, the intensity of the percussion and chordal guitars, mixed with doom-y post-metal interludes creates a bit of a whiplash effect. Add to that a very hit-or-miss production where the bass is alarmingly absent for many of the records most important moments (i.e. the intro of "In Time, All Things") and we find ourselves feeling quite underwhelmed.

What we are left with is a band and album that shows plenty of potential; earworm/progressive songwriting, dual vocals, and phenomenal sense of dynamic control, while still being held back by some tired progressive trends, spotty production and meandering. 

Best Songs: Cruelly Dawns, In Time, All Things, Rain

Red Circuit are back with 2009's 'Homeland', which follows in the same vein as their 2006 debut, with the only notable difference (though not entirely noticeable) being a new guitarist, a new bassist, and a much more polished sound in both songwriting and production.

What we have here is some high-quality melodic metal. Sometimes referred to as progressive metal, Red Circuit's music lacks the over-ambitiousness often associated with the genre, and instead focuses on hooks and catchy choruses. Full of breathtaking guitar work and tasty keyboard melodies, 'Homeland' is an incredible album that demonstrates why progressive metal doesn't always need to be 20-minute songs with 16/9 polyrhythmic time changes.

As on their previous album, despite overflowing with excellent musicianship, the main focus of the album is vocalist Chity Somapala, who's powerful and soaring voice really gives the band its own identity. And with only one song exceeding the five-minute mark (and only by mere seconds), each track here is short and sweet, without needing the repeated number of listens progressive metal songs usually require. This is best evidenced in songs like 'Homeland', 'Absinth', 'See the Light' and 'Canonize Your Sins'.

'Homeland' is a strong sequel to a strong debut. Catchy, heavy, and not a filler song in sight. A must-have for any metal fan looking for that hidden gem that never gets the recognition it deserves.

I really don't know how to tag Oranssi Pazuzu anymore. The avant-garde metal tagging assigned to their latest seems a bit of a cop-out for material that sits outside the scope of existing genre understandings, especially as I generally find avant-garde metal to be unlistenable, which this patently is not. But, in reality, I can't currently come up with anything more appropriate. It seems that these Finns are so far ahead of their time that it is questionable if their music is even earth-based anymore, sounding like the kind of stuff I would expect them to be listening to in the more unsavoury areas of the gigantic space orbitals of Iain M. Banks' twenty-fifth century Culture civilization.

The black metal aspect of their sound is merely vestigial at this point, surviving only in the harsh, shrieked vocals and the psychedelic element so prevalent on their last couple of albums is also consigned to history for the most part. I always felt that the psychedelic component gave them a bit of warmth and even hope, but Muuntautuja feels like a more depersonalised and bleak affair. Oranssi Pazuzu have leant heavily into atmospherics for some time now, but here they go even further, taking elements of noise, sludge, electronica and drone to weave tracks that are all about the texture and atmosphere rather than any kind of song and, as such, are far more akin to post-metal than they have been before. Atmospherically, Muuntautuja gives off dystopian sci-fi vibes within a threateningly malevolent industrial landscape, sounding as if influenced by the more pessimistic science fiction writers such as Phillip K. Dick and William Gibson, in whose worlds the overly mechanised "system" oppresses the spirit of those living under it.

The opener "Bioalkemisti" kicks off with a throbbing drum and bass line accompanied by Juho Vanhanen's throat-shredding shrieks and from the very beginning it is evident that things have taken a turn for the darker. Frantic riffing and siren-like synths join the affray and the track becomes more and more apocalyptic and menacing with machine-like industrial stylings that scream "Dystopia". The title track feeds further into this narrative with it's trip-hop beats and spacey electronic embellishments, especially when the robotic spoken word section kicks in early on, dehumanising the atmosphere even more before it explodes in a frustrated-sounding, heavier, sludgy industrial second part. I don't want to do a track-by-track runthrough, but highlight the content of the first two tracks to try to impart some flavour of what to expect from Muuntautuja. The heavier sections are loaded on bass and distortion which pushes the instrumentation in a noise-driven direction, with a favourite trope here being overlaying these heavy sections with a tinkling piano and Juho's manic shrieks. The lighter electronic parts are based on hypnotic, industrialised beats that can occasionally come off as almost ritualistic, as if in praise of some almighty Machine God and I feel that the layering of these heavier and lighter sections is fundamental to the success of the album. Pacing and tempo also varies massively from hulking, sludge and drone-like parts to frantic blasts of unhinged mania that provide further stark contrasts in atmospherics.

Ultimately, no amount of words I can spew on to this page will give you an adequate picture of what Oranssi Pazuzu have served up with Muuntautuja, so you owe it to yourself to fire it up and experience the album firsthand. I must admit I am unsure where to place this in OP's discography. I think it is an endlessly fascinating release that has seen yet another redefinition of the band's sound, but is it better than the amazing Värähtelijä and Mestarin kynsi albums? For the time being I am going to proffer a "no", but that does not by any means infer that I don't like this, because I love it. It's just that I am unsure how much just yet. One thing is for sure, every new Oranssi Pazuzu release is an event worth getting yourself up for.

This month's The North feature release was beautifully timed given my very recent revisit of Novembre's 1994 debut album "Wish I Could Dream It Again...", a release that I've enjoyed for a full three decades now. Surprisingly, I've not ventured any further into the Italians' back catalogue before now but the unique combination of whispy, dreamy atmospheres combined with a progressive black metal backbone still offers me plenty of appeal so I had definitely placed 2002's "Dream d'azur" fifth full-length on my to-do list just before discovering that Ben had selected it for feature releases status. I had no idea that it was a re-recording of "Wish I Could Dream It Again..." before this week though so the last couple of days have served as a beautiful point of comparison & one that has spawned some unexpected & perhaps controversial results.

While "Wish I Could Dream It Again..." was recorded in Sweden with Dan Swanö, "Dream d'azur" would be re-enacted at home in Italy at drummer Giuseppe Orlando's (The Foreshadowing/Deinonychus) Outer Sound Studios in Rome where he collaborated with guitarist Massimiliano Pagliuso behind the mixing desk. The resulting product sounds way cleaner & more polished than the fairly raw debut album which accentuates the progressive nature of the song-writing a lot more. The keyboards play a more prominent role in the mix which is one of the main differences between the two albums. The other is the improved performances with the clean vocals of guitarist Carmelo Orlando being far stronger than his naive delivery on "Wish I Could Dream It Again..." where he seemed to intentionally waver in pitch in a relaxed way that reminded me of US college indie rock bands. His black metal screams are slightly more intense here although I did really like them on the debut too. The instrumental performances are also superior with the guitar solos having had their progressive nature ramped up significantly in terms of sophistication & technique, thanks largely to the addition of Pagliuso. The drumming of Carmelo's brother Giuseppe is once again a highlight with his delivery having been tightened up significantly but the real star of the show is session bass player Fabio Fraschini whose pure & powerful tone & unique note selection is one of the main drivers behind Novembre's fresh take on this old record. The dreamy, almost gazey atmospheres of the debut have been maintained beautifully, as have the aggressive black metal passages that are just strong enough for me to be claiming "Dream d'azur" as a progressive black metal release in much the same way as I did for "Wish I Could Dream It Again...".

But is "Dreams d'azur" really light years ahead of "Wish I Could Dream It Again..." as a point of creative expression? And does it sound as drastically different to the debut as it's often reported to be? Well, the answer to both questions is no as far as I'm concerned which I know will surprise a few people. If you look closely at "Dreams d'azur", you'll actually discover that it's a pretty faithful reenactment of "Wish I Could Dream It Again..." in terms of style & structure. Sure, there are a few tracks that have had their titles adjusted as well as a couple that have been combined into the one lengthy piece but I don't feel that the actual music being played has changed all that much apart from the more precise performances. As with the debut, I have to question the genre-tagging that's generally dished out for "Dream d'azur" though. "Wish I Could Dream It Again..." is often referred to as progressive doom/death but I couldn't find a trace of doom metal or death metal on it & the black metal component that's hardly mentioned elsewhere was strong enough for an additional primary tag. The same goes for "Dreams d'azur" with most punters tagging it as a progressive take on gothic metal, a label which is drastically out of line with reality. Once again, there's hardly a second of gothic influence on this record which generally goes in the complete other direction by shunning any semblance of darkness outside of the more aggressive black metal parts & a one-off piano section. A good portion of the riffs were quite clearly written in a dissonant, open-string black metal style & their regular combination with Carmelo's harsh screams & Giuseppe's blast-beats is impossible to overlook as far as I'm concerned. I'm absolutely baffled as to why most other fans seem to overlook these obvious character traits.

While there's no doubt that "Dreams d'azur" is a step up in terms of production from the much rawer & more primitive "Wish I Could Dream It Again...", I dispute the claims that it's some sort of classic while the debut is left floundering as immature folly. As someone that has spent three decades with its elder sibling, the younger record simply seems like a different take on it more than a drastic improvement. I'm not saying that "Dreams d'azur" is not the better record because it is but not by anywhere near as much as some critics would have you believe. Yes, the production & performances are superior but that doesn't mean that the song-writing wasn't just as unique & captivating back in 1994. The main advantage for "Dreams d'azur" is in the ability for the stronger tracks to have their impact maximized as we see in the wonderful versions of "Let Me Hate" & "Neanderthal Sands", both of which manage to reach genuine classic status here when they had that potential curtailed a bit on the debut where they didn't even sit amongst the best few tracks. I do think that I prefer the closer "Christal" a bit more on "Wish I Could Dream It Again..." though where it was shorter & a touch darker. The comparisons for the remainder of the tracklisting leaves me feeling fairly similarly to be honest with the cleaner sound & execution not really equating to Novembre reaching greater creative heights.

There's no doubt that "Dreams d'azur" is a very solid progressive black metal album full of intrigue & atmosphere though. While I clearly hold a soft spot for "Wish I Could Dream It Again...", I will comfortably concede that it's not nearly as accessible a listen as the re-recording is & I'd recommend that any Novembre virgins proceed directly past GO! & collect their $200 at the shinier 2002 model. Overlook the debut at your peril though as it's not the handicapped cousin its often touted as being. In fact, all of the elements that make "Dreams d'azur" so great were already there but they just needed a little coaxing to come out of their shell.

For fans of Green Carnation, Opeth & Alcest.