Latest Reviews

The earliest Infinite album is apparently this album by Warning, a short-lived band in Neue Deutsche Welle (different from Neue Deutsche Härte that started over a decade later). They released two albums in 1982 and 1983, then that was it. They split up and never reformed again with both members already passed away. RIP... Would I call their debut album avant-garde metal? I don't think so. It's more like alternating between the then-popular post-punk/new-wave sound and atmospheric doom. And with some of the earliest death growls ever witnessed, I can almost consider proto-death-doom, before even death metal was a thing.

"Why Can the Bodies Fly?" is an interesting catchy start, as the growls run through alongside operatic female vocals. See, this is their new wave-ish side, and the guitars are more like an afterthought. I can almost imagine Therion covering this, though it was instead covered by Austrian death metallers Pungent Stench. "Magic Castle" shows the band's doomy side with slow guitar heaviness, blended with electronic experimentation.

As for the rest of the album, it's just weird-a** sh*t. Emphasis on weird, emphasis on sh*t. As much as I wanna enjoy and appreciate this, I just can't. I also would rather hear Morgoth's cover of "Darkness". Not the most appropriate f***ing release to consider the start of The Infinite. I'll be doing another judgement submission ASAP....

Favorites (only tracks I even slightly like): "Why Can the Bodies Fly?", "Magic Castle"

Apparently the guilty as charged culprit of being one of the very first progressive metal is the (as of now) sole album by Seattle band Culprit, Guilty as Charged. Unfortunately, that theory has been debunked. I'm not sure how this album got tagged as progressive metal, when the sound is really just heavy metal and an early example of US power metal. And while there are prog-metal elements in the ways of Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime 5 years later, it's not enough to consider it prog-metal gate-opener...

Mislabelings aside, this is some great-a** sh*t! This is true classic heavy metal from Seattle, years before Nirvana's grunge sound took the city by storm. Such a shame they only lasted one album, though they've recently reformed with a live album and compilation. And the energy they have is like what Riot were doing at that time.

The 6-minute title opener has some heaviness in the guitar while staying melodic, which adds to the ambition. The fast pace has great variation to keep listeners awake. It's pretty much a grand example of the sound from both the album and the band. Also showing their heavy metal sound is "Ice in the Back". F***ing killer vocals and lyrics there! "Hell is but a flame..." When Jeff L'Heureux sings his highs, I get chills down my back like the title would imply. "Steel to Blood" continues pushing the guitarwork forward.

"I Am" is another great track, though sounding a little too mainstream. "Ambush" levels up the memorability as the catchy chorus is in sync with the focused instrumentation. "Tears of Repentance" is an amazing highlight.

Slowing things down is "Same to You" which has the melodic emotion of UK bands. The slow intro transitions through a mighty scream into that US power metal gallop that would be then adopted by German bands. With those f***ing powerful vocals and guitar, it's practically a bridge between Riot's first 5 albums and Thundersteel. "Fight Back" instrumentally made me remember a YouTube musician I forgot about for a while, Edward Sitnikov. I prefer his material though. "Players" plays off as a decent ending track.

All in all, Guilty as Charged is a solid underrated album, and more people need to hear about this band. A 2000 re-release includes a few live bonus tracks from one of their one-off reunion shows during their 25-year split including a cover of Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy". The leads and riffing throughout the songs make this a great offering. This was basically what people expected in heavy metal; lots of that 70s melody with a dash of the aggression hinted in later years or even later genres. What are you waiting for!? Wake up and smell the Culprit! The band Culprit's material, that is....

Favorites: "Guilty as Charged", "Ice in the Back", "Ambush", "Tears of Repentance", "Same to You"

I will be honest, when I saw this record put forward for a feature release this month, I groaned inwardly. Having tried to understand the hype around this album on many occasions previously, I could never quite fathom its cult status. For me personally, it has always been Empire that is my go-to Queensrÿche album. A factor in my opinion of Operation Mindcrime has always been its arrangement. Metal/rock operas are tedious affairs to me, often where songs get snarled up in acts at various points in the record, completely disrupting the flow of the album usually. Here on this record, there is the double whammy of two, largely non-musical intro tracks to open proceedings, so my irritation soon becomes difficult to control.

Arrangement challenges aside, this outing with album has been much more fruitful than I expected. If I divert my attention away from the actual storytelling, I can acknowledge that there are some fantastic tracks on this record. I recalled that I had always liked ‘I Don’t Believe in Love’, but on this outing the class of ‘Suite Sister Mary’ shone through. I am confident that with future listens I will be able to expand on the list of standout tracks as some made a more subconscious impact this time around.

There are still some gripes, however. I struggle to describe much of this as metal in all honesty. The extravagance of the leads perhaps is all that keeps the sound this side of the hard rock style that I recognise as being more prevalent. I don’t really buy the progressive tag either. I doubt if it were all that progressive, I would have found as much positivity in the album as I have. However, let’s try to keep those positive vibes coming and end on a high note. This has been a successful revisit for me, albeit an unexpected one. I have a feeling if I edit the track listing myself on this, I could even get a higher rating for this album in the future.

Best Songs: Oath Ov Prometheus, Penumbrian Lament, Death Is Forever

For Fans Of: Sólstafir, Dreadnought, Heretoir

I picked "Writhe" up on its release via Bandcamp and, at time of writing eight years later, it remains the only release from the New Hampshire trio, amounting to two tracks spanning 25 minutes of material. Boghaunter's version of doom metal is heavily atmospheric and dips its toes into atmospheric sludge waters more than a little. Opener "Constellation Vows" builds on clean and clear lighter motifs and then batters them down with some crushing riffs and corrosively harsh vocals, only for them to reassert themselves in a to-and-fro of contrasting and complementary tidal shifts. This feels to me to be more than the usual atmo-sludge trick of build, build release, the two atmospheric poles weaving together like the intertwining twin serpents of celtic legend and displaying a nice level of songwriting maturity. Second track, "Ordeals in Stillness" is less intricate and more straightforward doom metal, albeit no less impressive, employing a memorable and melodic, gravitationally heavy riff which is accented by sparely used keys and soaring lead work. These provide a doom-laden foundation, dripping with melancholy over which the sludgy vocals bark and snarl in protest.

I was impressed by this opening salvo from Boghaunter back in 2018 and remain so to this day and it is a great shame that so promising a debut wasn't the springboard for a career of note. Even sadder is that there seems to have been very little activity from the three guys elsewhere, although I have just found the 2025 debut three-track EP from death doom band Departure which features Boghaunter guitarist and vocalist Michael Demers on lead guitar and which, although it is more straight-up death doom, is still a good listen. I guess the history of metal is strewn with such tales of exceedingly promising acts, for whatever reason, falling by the wayside while lesser talents thrive, but I am grateful that we got this beauty of a release anyway.

Lord of the Lost isn't the only band with a trilogy of albums having been released this year and last year. Green Carnation already have their own trilogy going on, titled A Dark Poem. The second part Sanguis was released just 7 months after the first part The Shores of Melancholia. And just like Part I, this part continues the band atmospheric gothic progressive metal sound, shining as bright as ever! That should help them stand in the prog-metal league alongside Amorphis and Opeth.

Now this alternation between heavy anthems and soft ballads may put some people off, particularly in a short 6-track album. However, I'm quite used to those kinds of jumps in some bands. Though a slight change in the order would set the style a little more straight.

The 9-minute opening title epic kicks things off hard. Music comes from the heart and mind, and they clearly have some melancholy going on, along with groovy keys. So amazing! It is followed by the ballad "Loneliness Untold, Loneliness Unfold" which goes as light as late Anathema. I would change a couple small things about it though. 1. Shorten the title so you're not just repeating it with one letter change. 2. Put it before the title epic as the album's intro, it sounds better that way. Other than that, good track!

Then things speed up in "Sweet to the Point of Bitter". Don't expect anything extreme in the vocals though, it's all clean. "I Am Time" has more melancholy in the music and the smooth vocal modesty of Kjetil Nordhus. In that sense, this is like a more progressive take on Demon Hunter's more melodic tracks.

"Fire in Ice" is bookended by an audio sample that I think is from Lord of the Rings. The music itself has the dark winter sorrow of Wolfheart (minus the harsh vocals). It's another long epic (though not as long as other progressive metal epics out there) that I enjoy, to end the action on a sweet and not bitter note. "Lunar Tale" is an uplifting ballad that is the most distant from the band's usual sound, even having some lovely flute by Ingrid Ose.

The Dark Poem saga may not be over yet, but so far those first two parts have quite impressed me. They're well connected to each other while each being their own offering. Sanguis maintains the strength while adding different moods to their writing. And I look forward to the third part to conclude the journey later this year or next year!

Favorites: "Sanguis", "I Am Time", "Fire in Ice"

This was my first time hearing about this Djentcore band from Australia and I enjoyed my time with I Guess It Was Nowhere. My initial impressions were that Above, Below would be following in the footsteps of bands like ERRA with their down tuned guitars and chunky hardcore breakdowns. And while we get a fair bit of that here, Above, Below also throw in some progressive/atmospheric sections as well. Those sections serve as a nice change of pace for the record, so that when the next chunky hardcore breakdown hits, it connects with authority. 

I use the word "atmospheric" very strongly here because I believe this album could have used more of that. I kept thinking back to early Astronoid records while entrenched in a dreamy sequence and felt myself getting kicked out of it unceremoniously by the vocals. I like Jacob Wilkes clean singing, but his harsh vocals are too brash and unkept for the clean stylings of djent. I'm quite sure that this was part of the point; highlighting more of the hardcore influence through the vocals so maybe its just a difference of direction, but that doesn't excuse the vocal mixing, which is pushed so far back in the sequence. And Jacob did all of the mixing and mastering on I Guess It Was Nowhere too! Guess he really loves pumping his band up and not himself.

Overall it was pretty good. The time flew by and I enjoyed my time with I Guess It Was Nowhere. The band executes a decent variety of styles and are really good at giving the listener space before the next hardcore assault. Hooks are hit-and-miss; quite a few of them felt too much like alphabet soup instead of clear and concise phrases with catchy melodies, but the album is well played/performed and the mixing (minus the vocals) is superb.

Best Songs: Heat, Starbreather, Collapsing Eden, I Have Lost My Appetite for Spring

Pan.Thy.Monium is a pretty batshit band, right?  

I think I judge all these batshit experimental albums by how justified the batshitness is to the music itself, and especially in the context of the whole record. What kind of statement is made here?

For the most part, Pan.Thy.Monium, on the third album, seems to be content with structuring the record with one weird moment after another. There's a moment where it abruptly transitions to honking sound effects for like two seconds, which is pretty novel, but that's just it: it's novel. Consider how many times you're going to relisten to this record, and how many times that specific moment will move you. My point is that when the album begins, there doesn't seem to be a unifying theme to the weirdness, and it sits firmly in the realm of novelty. Or does it? More on that later...

Another layer is the general musicality of it. Sure, the weirdness may just be done for the sake of it, but can you bop your head to it? Sure, you can. It's a perfectly competent album in composition, with catchy and effective parts. If anything, the weirdness makes those parts memorable so, at the end of the day, it is still more than a listenable album. You can enjoy it every time, but, of course, you're looking for something far deeper than just that when it comes to anything labelled "avant-garde", right?

The thing about this album is that while the weirdness is generally just done for the sake of it, as I said, there is division between tracks. Why not just have one long track? Instead, we have four songs, which have atypical lengths. This points to the fact that they're more akin to movements and, consequently, have distinct purposes from one another, which justifies the splitting of length. Because of that, we can deduce that there really is a unifying theme to this album, which is composed of those presumably different parts. 

In order to figure that out, though, we must first identify how these tracks are different from one another. Before that, it helps to consider the actual theme we may see before we even listen to the album. According to metal archives, the music of this band in general is centered around a chaos god known as Raagoonshinnaah. A little bird once told me that this album in particular is about that same god in a power struggle against a god of light known as Amaraah. From here, we can attempt to analyze if the music itself correlates to that information. 

So, the first track is called "The Battle of Geeheeb" and, already, we see confirmation of the power struggle theme. Now, the track itself is random in experimentation, although that description probably does it injustice. It's more like an explosion of creativity, where the intention is to produce some absurdism to throw the listener off balance. That seems obvious, doesn't it? Consider, however, that the music itself isn't played cheaply at all. If I was a band whose goal is to just shock the listener with weirdness, I wouldn't care about the structure of the music at all and just focus on the novelty. That tells us that there's something deeper about this than we may first assume. One different sound leads to another. An exchange of blows between the two entities, perhaps? 

Do you remember "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"? You know where the Devil's piece begins, and you know where Johnny's piece begins as well. That's where i'm getting at with this. What if... the parts of this whole album is a sequence of responses between the two opposing forces? The weirdness, then, isn't just random. Well, not really. I mean, it's not JUST random. It's random, yet, but random with a purpose. It represents an altercation between two transcendent beings. In that sense, the music begins to take a form akin to abstract art. You may suppose that the more sinister-sounding parts are from Raagoonshinnaah, whereas the sick blues-y and prog-like guitar solos are Amaraah pushing back.

"Thee-Pherenth" begins with a continuation of this battle. The near beginning of this track is actually where the part I criticized earlier comes from, where it abruptly cuts to brief honking sounds. Ironically, though, I would say that the subsequent parts of this track are a bit more structured in terms of narrative. Immediately after is a death metal part, a suffocating darkness that can be interpreted as a retaliation from Raagoonshinnaah. It leads to a tense, ascending synth section, building up more and more until it climaxes into an ambient-like section. This is Raagoonshinnaah's track, alright, as the consecutive parts contain some darkness to them. Compared to the previous track, this one uses more atmospheric sections, with ambient and doom as well. Around 19 minutes into the album, though, another solo plays in the midst of one of those ambient sections, culminating in a jingling synth sound. I interpret that as Amaraah persevering even as Raagoonshinnaah constricts him with the latter's previous successful advances. In general, though, it seems that the latter has the upper hand so far, as I feel more oppression in this part rather than light, even with the occasional moments of Amaraah probably pushing back.

That's the thing with abstract art in general. We must accept a certain amount of open-endedness inherent to the piece. However, that also means that my interpretation could be way off to yours. I suppose I hardly need to say that, so let's continue, yeah?

You'll notice also that both of these tracks end in some kind of non-musical soundscape. In "The Battle of Geeheeb", it ends in a slightly optimistic synth ambient with a loud, creaking noise, which I have always attributed to a crying baby. Maybe it symbolizes Amaraah winning temporarily in that moment. It fills me with a nostalgic feeling, one that almost seems hopeful. It's the noise of life and all its potential. "Thee-Pherenth", meanwhile, ends in a more distressing sound, and you hear the creaking once more. This time, however, it's recontextualized by the new background. Now it sounds painful. It's the same motiff, but now different, as it's clear that Raagoonshinnaah is the one that's won here, which is consistent with my theory that "Thee-Pherenth" is about him gaining the upper hand in this struggle.

Interestingly, "Behrial" is entirely a synth section. It's hopeful, and definitely sounds like light. You may even call it breathtaking, after all that has transpired in the narrative. I'd like to point out that Pan.Thy.Monium also has a motiff of dreams and, sure enough, there is the sound of a ticking clock in this section in particular. But I don't see this as dreaming but, rather, waking up. To a new beginning, perhaps? A burial marks the end of one's life, yet maybe an ending is just another form of beginning. 

"In Remembrance' is a minute-long silence. 

...

So who won in the end, Raagoonshinnaah or Amaraah? Well, usually, I like to leave it up to interpretation. However, here's my theory... I think it's Raagoonshinnaah who won. I think an honorific remembrance leans more towards the death of light and order, as opposed to chaos. Sure, chaos and order aren't really opposed, but we usually grieve the loss of stability way more than the loss of danger and uncertainty, even when change is found in the latter. Now, the reason why there is "Behrial" in the end is because this isn't a straightforward struggle of a good guy against a bad guy. The ending suggests that while order isn't a constant in life, light persists anyways. So maybe the struggle didn't end at all. Maybe it happens in every day of existence and, even after all that, there is always light in darkness, or chaos in order, what you will... all the things that make life. That sure is something, isn't it? 

It actually took me a number of years to realise that this, Dream Theater’s second entry in their ‘Lost Not Forgotten Archives’ line of releases, is actually from the same show as the previous album, that being, ‘Images & Words – Live in Japan, 2017’.

Unlike its predecessor, which was solely the band performing their groundbreaking sophomore album in its entirety, this one is a bit of a mixed bag. Featuring eight tracks, highlights include ‘The Dark Eternal Night’, ‘As I Am’ and ‘The Gift of Music’. The musicians are all on top form as always, however, the detriment (as per usual), is vocalist James LaBrie.

It’s not his fault. I mention this with every single Dream Theater live release, but a vocal accident in the 90’s, along with his age, make him as much a struggle to listen to as it is a struggle for him to sing these songs. In particular, there are a number of tracks where I genuinely have no idea what he’s even saying.

Still, overall, this isn’t a terrible release. It’s just pointless, really. I’ve no idea why the band chose to release this concert over two different albums, except as some kind of money-making scheme specifically targeting Dream Theater nerds. And I shall forever remain proof that it worked.

With an album cover that looks for all the world like a forgotten soundtrack to an obscure French art film from the 1970’s, Hidden Fires Burn Hottest is not a record I was to find per se. An established Californian post-black metal/post-hardcore band, Bosse-de-Nage aren’t a band I would normally be looking to find either. As is sometimes the case though, unexpected finds can be the best. Although similarities persist with the likes of Deafhaven, Yellow Eyes and Agriculture, all acts I find to be usually well outside of my wheelhouse, there is something in the sound of Bosse-de-Nage that had me interested from the off.

Now, if you’re reading this thinking how I am now going to tell you what that “something” is, well sorry to have to report that I am still figuring that bit out. I mean, it could be that I am starting to more open to a wider palate of music that incorporates more post and gaze elements. Indeed, I have been listening to more hardcore recently as well as a host of other non-metal music also. So maybe the non-metal elements of Hidden Fires Burn Hottest appeal to me more than any semblance of any metal that is present does. If I am being honest, I am not actually trying all that hard to figure out what that “something” is. Instead, I find myself just going with the enjoyment of what I am hearing, paying little attention to how it got in front of me and hy I have returned to the album on a near-daily basis for the past couple of weeks.

The vocals are where the closest element of the black metal in the sound resides in the record. With the combination of spoken word and lurching, hardcore vocals alongside these, there is a distinctly jarring element to the record. Those jangling guitars and a fair but firm percussion section that build ‘Mementos’ before a fearless bass presence makes its first noticeable appearance are an early indication of the non-linear format to song writing that Bosse-de-Nage employ. This is an album with a real sense of a percussive drive being at the forefront of its direction, layered with a grim punk style attitude overall. Even the two interludes work, crafting a valid space for themselves in the track listing without becoming intrusive or disruptive as I often fear with such tracks.

Hidden Fires Burn Hottest lives up to its title billing as beneath the surface, the intensely burning light at the heart of the band that represents their passion for their art certainly can be felt by the listener. Considering at the point that I discovered this I was (probably) searching for black metal it is rare for me to embrace such an unexpected warmth in a record. That having been said, I would not say that this is a particularly happy or positive album. I can connect with the Neurosis tropes of ‘Underwater’ just as well as I do with the more direct bm approach to ‘Frenzy’ that immediately follows it. This variety in styles is very easy for the band to claim under a banner of their own individual sound I would say. Nothing sounds forced here, and we are not talking about Imperial Triumphant levels of chaos or KEN Mode style attempts at experimentation by comparison, yet the record is not standard anything in any sense of the term either.

It pains me to do this. I’ve been a Dream Theater fan since 2003, when they very quickly became one of my all-time favourite bands, a position they still hold to this day (well, top three, anyway!). Their career is literally one masterpiece after another. Until drummer Mike Portnoy left the band, that is. The first album without him, 2010’s ‘A Dramatic Turn of Events’ is still an incredible release, but 2013’s self-titled ‘Dream Theater’ started to see a decline in quality, and that then brings us to this, 2016’s two-disc concept album nerd convention, ‘The Astonishing’.

It’s naff.

I mean, I’ve tried and I’ve tried, but it just feels like the band is well and truly on autopilot at this point. There is nothing overly memorable about this album, just a couple of tracks here and there. But at a combined duration of over two hours, ‘The Astonishing’ is such a drudgery to listen to in one sitting, especially for such bare rewards. Of course, the musical performances are exceptional, as you’d expect, but the rest, kind of sucks. The lyrics are naff, the songs are mostly naff, and the story is naff, though to be honest, I zone out so often that I don’t really pay much attention to it anyway.

If I had to pick out any highlights, I’d say ‘The Gift of Music’, ‘A Life Left Behind’ and ‘Our New World’ are all okay. Not brilliant, but not terrible either. If they could have condensed this album onto one disc, it MIGHT have been listenable, but as it is, an enjoyable 14 minutes out of 130 just isn’t worth the effort.

As I’m getting older (at the time of writing this, I’m 39 years old!), I find myself having less and less patience for albums that don’t grow on me quickly enough. And considering how long this slog of a record is, I think it’s time to pass on this one.

Another high-quality record from this unusual New York trio, possibly their finest work actually. Guitarist Zachary Ezrin (Folterkammer) does a great job behind the microphone with his deep death growls being both powerful & well phrased. I really enjoy the drumming of Kenny Grohowski (John Frum/Secret Chiefs 3/Titan to Tachyons) too while Sarmat bass player Steve Blanco also provides us with a capable performance. The black metal component of the Imperial Triumphant's 2010's era is long gone by this point with "Goldstar" sitting more comfortably under an Avant-Garde/Experimental Death Metal tag in my opinion. Even the dissonant elements are probably not consistent enough to call this full-blown dissonant death metal. There's a lot of progressive metal & tech death influence here though too. Unsurprisingly, I find "Goldstar"s best moments to be when the boys simply go hell for leather with the more frenetic & aggressive phases being the most effective & often marrying up with the simpler sections of the album but that's not to say that the more experimental parts of "Goldstar" aren't impressive as they're very smoothly incorporated for a record that jumps around so much. If you exclusively like your death metal of the old school variety then you'll wanna steer well clear of this release but those that like a bit of ambition & creativity should find it to be universally interesting because there's no doubt that it's a classy effort by a forward-thinking extreme metal outfit.

For fans of Pyrrhon, Ad Nauseam & Portal.

2025 was an absolutely brutal year for metalcore. Both in terms of the new music that was released as well as many of the older records that I got around to. This has been a consistent decline in quality for years and further exacerbated by metalcore being the dominant style of metal in the mainstream. So despite my best efforts to avoid metalcore in my spare time, I'm still beat over the head with disposable albums from Bury Tomorrow, Architects, Slaughter to Prevail, among others. But earlier in this year I heard Hit It! for the first time and was taken by surprise by how good it was! This is like if the electronicore of Electric Callboy was somehow infused with the more accessible stylings of Thornhill. And even that doesn't fully encompass every style/influence Vianova have on Hit It! Now to its credit, the album does have a solid flow. The intense djentcore elements are kept rather sparse and are used for artistic effect. The record has a smooth texture even through the style changes, such as the shoegaze "Future Nostalgia" that transforms into a quasi-Deafheaven groove. I think the biggest issue is in the production, and more specifically, how the songwriting hurts the low end of the mix. Many songs on Hit It! take inspiration from djent in its guitar riffing, but songs like "Melanchronic" have this off-putting groove where the bass just feels like its been pushed into the track unprovoked, which is a shame because the opening synth line hooked me in right away.

Despite this, I think that the pacing of Hit It! is excellent and does not run just status quo in the metalcore sphere. And that might turn a few people off of it entirely. But if you want a metalcore record where the songwriting is something worth a damn, then smash that play button and give it a try!

Best Songs: Future Nostalgia, Oh No (Believer), Whatever Alright, Obsolete

If you thought Colors II was the most anticipated BTBAM album, that would then be surpassed by this one, The Blue Nowhere! The album came out last September after a long 4-year interval. It is partly due to their separation from longtime rhythm guitarist Dustie Waring. After finding out about some sexual abuse allegations towards him in 2023, the band began touring without him. The allegations were proven false, and Waring suspected that it was all part of an extortion plot against him, as well as his firing being for unworthy reasons. With that, he threatened to sue the band. Long story short, the matter dropped and the band continued with a touring replacement in Tristan Auman. Waring was pretty much almost as salty as Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds was after his departure from that band (before Hinds' tragic death, RIP). For this album, The Blue Nowhere, founding lead guitarist Paul Waggoner performed all the guitarwork by himself. It takes a real music examiner to tell the difference between Waggoner's rhythm guitar playing and that of Waring. Either way, although there can be some slight predictability that made me burned out of BTBAM in the first place years ago, we have another terrific display of the band's deathly progressive metal/rock that they've mastered since Colors.

Keeping up their conceptual tendencies that they had since Colors, the album is set in the eponymously titled hotel The Blue Nowhere. It dives into existential quandaries in a more abstract form of storytelling, as abstract as that Star Wars Visions short "BLACK". Those lyrics are, as usual, sung and growled by vocalist/keyboardist Tommy Rogers, and they take on thoughts that range from fleeting to chaotic. They're not about the story, but rather about the feeling. As you listen, you can imagine yourself in your own world away from reality, one that only you and no one else would know.

"Things We Tell Ourselves in the Dark" opens the album as both the first track and single. It's one of the most enjoyable tracks in years. It kickstarts the album right away without an intro, and doesn't follow the heaviness of the two Colors albums, but instead the wackiness of the albums in between. The song has a modern take on 80s prog, blending those bouncy hooks with doses of technical chaos. And the vocal interplay really heats it up. Then the band goes more industrial in "God Terror". The riffs, vocals, and percussion leans into something Pitchshifter would do. "Absent Thereafter" is the first of three 11-minute epics, and boy does it hit hard! It sounds so heavy while adding in some funk and other genres. It's basically almost this album's equivalent to "Ants of the Sky" and "Disease, Injury, Madness"!

"Pause" is an aptly titled pause from the action with just synthy ambience and soft yet mysterious singing from Rogers. "Door #3" has darker groove and more mental-sounding vocals by Tommy. All this makes the sound like a demented carnival. Also while I enjoy his occasional falsetto, it can be a little annoying when appearing out of nowhere. I guess that's one reason why I can't add that half-star needed for the album's perfect score. "Mirador Uncoil" is one more short interlude. I don't have much to say about that one. The second 11-minute epic "Psychomanteum" has fun energy. When Tommy Rogers bellows the song title "PSYCHOMANTEUM" at the two-minute mark, that really hit me hard, along with the h*lla heavy riffing less than a minute later. A minute after that, the extremeness is lowered down for some soft beauty. That goes on for a couple minutes, rising up to a brief wacky moment of drums, piano, and vocals. Some of that heavy riffing hits less than a minute later, heavier than the earlier riffing. Nearly a couple minutes after that, the soft beauty comes back in the form of Opeth-like ambience and guitar fiddling by Paul Waggoner, followed by more of that beautiful mood.

"Slow Paranoia" is the last 11-minute epic. As much as I enjoy this one though, I start to realize how self-copied it is. It's still wonderful, yet some sections sound like they've been done to death. That track can appear in any of the band's past albums, and no one would bat an eye or ear. With that, while this album won't reach a perfect 5-star rating from me, the 4.5-star rating is still intact. This is especially the case for these final two tracks that should've just been indexed as a two-part 14-minute suite, probably greater than the epics from the previous few albums (Coma Ecliptic, Automata, Colors II), starting with the title track. It's one of the catchiest and most radio-friendly songs by the band, like a classic-sounding ballad that I actually love. Other progressive metal artists that would do that are Devin Townsend and Haken. "Beautifully Human" ends it all by reflecting on everything the band has had here, all in the guitars, keys, vocals (both clean and harsh). Thus concludes another journey on a high note!

The Blue Nowhere can very well attract newcomers to the world of BTBAM. It can also impress longtime fans, though a little more originality would've been ideal to make this album 100% percent and get me back onboard that train. Excellent but too familiar, like having fast-food two or 3 times per week (eat healthy, kids and adults!). Nonetheless, BTBAM have made their excellent comeback, even after cutting ties with one of their longtime members. I don't know what will come next for them, but I can't wait!

Favorites: "Things We Tell Ourselves in the Dark", "Absent Thereafter", "Psychomanteum", "The Blue Nowhere", "Beautifully Human"

Montréal's Big Brave are a band I'm only recently getting into. This, their fifth album, is a mix of drone metal and post-metal with huge-sounding, pounding drum beats and discordant guitar work interwoven with some gorgeous female vocals that sound like a mixture of Siouxsie Sioux and Bjork. It's five tracks span less than forty minutes, so this isn't a long drawn-out affair unlike many drone-adjacent releases, but is focussed and kind-of to the point, for drone metal anyway. The band manage to cram a lot in and squeeze a lot out of their forty minutes, conjuring up haunting visions of crumbling edifices and long-deserted streets, especially on the title track, for a style I want to call post-human metal.

Who had a Textures reunion and album on their 2026 bingo card?

I've enjoyed Textures in the past. Their brand of progressive djent metal was quite unique at the time where the rhythmic breakdowns were an integral part of the songs instead of being some kind of obtuse metalcore breakdown. Dualism is still annual listening material to this day and a go to recommendation when people ask me what to start with when listening to quality djent music (with it being so few-and-far between quality releases anymore). But Textures were a band who probably never got the respect they deserved when it came to songwriting and a decade long wait between Genotype and Phenotype left a lot of people what could possibly happen here? Judging by the album title, you might expect this to be some kind of sequel to the previous album, but one playthrough and you can tell that this is not Textures status quo.

It took me a while to figure out why I didn't like Genotype at first. My first instinct was that the songwriting had taken a tremendous downturn over the last ten years. Instrumentals that felt like they were full of character have been replaced with stock djent grooves and heavy vocal focus and layering. The vocals have become fry and exhaustive instead of the mellow and almost harmonic texture of previous releases. After a while, I started making comparisons to the band Northlane, specifically the 2022 record Obsidian. Northlane changed their sound considerably from a traditional metalcore with djent to something that was far more atmospheric with Obsidian. After that comparison was made, any attempts by Genotype to impress me were immediately squashed.

Northlane's Obsidian has influence from Textures if you know where to look. The songs were more pop oriented than Dualism, but they could get away with it thanks to heavier roots and strong vocal performances from Marcus Bridge. Textures tried mutating Obsidian back into a Textures album and the result is lacking; the fundamentals are very pedestrian, the vocals of Daniël de Jongh are uninspired; as mentioned before, lots of shrill high singing and harsh vocals don't fit Textures at all, and the melodies between the guitar and vocals are bland. 

In a way, I see Genotype as the antithesis to Tool's Fear Inoculum (I sure hope that I don't have to reference that album too many more times this year!) Textures are a band that had a good thing going. Then they disbanded, and then they came back trying to be something that they are not. The end result is disappointing. This band, who have been out of action for nearly a decade, try to keep up with the modern day progressive/djent trends and ironically, lost the feel of what Textures was all about.

Best Songs: At the Edge of Winter, Vanishing Twin, A Seat for the Like-Minded

Simple, But that Doesn't Mean it's Easy

By all accounts, Applause of a Distant Crowd shouldn't work. This is an album that is too simple for progressive music. The synth leads on this album are deliberately loud and at the top of the hierarchy of sound, while the guitars play a far more harmonic and rhythmic role. The albums song lengths are rather brief, even by comparison to some tracks from Inmazes. And yet, none of Applause of a Distant Crowd sounds simple. Songs on this record have a strong tendency to grow and develop over time, whether that be a quiet modulation in time signature, the main chorus being slightly altered over time, the percussion adding a complex drum fill in place of what was a standard groove previously. And most importantly, all of it feels like it belongs within the same walls of this album.

This is a record that I hear many people discussing when bringing up Sleep Token in the modern day. And having gone back recently to hear this album again, I completely understand why. My biggest concern with Sleep Token today, which I mentioned in my review of Even in Arcadia, is how pop and progressive don't mix well together. Sleep Token want to write pop songs with a progressive foundation, but forget that most people who listen to pop music can't pay attention for longer than three minutes at a time! VOLA gets this in spades on Applause of a Distant Crowd. While the songs themselves are not as pop centric from an audible point-of-view, the shorter song lengths mixed with beautiful sung choruses make it stand out. The progressive elements are not forced directly in front of the audience like how they would on a Dream Theater album. And the light touches of intensity from the percussion and the reserved scream vocals add the heavy metal and progressive punches that this album desperately needs.

It's a bit of a shame that VOLA have not been able to retain this niche into later albums. Recent albums have done away with the pop centric attitude and have become more "djentrified", especially on Witness and overbearing synth leads on Friend of a Phantom. I hope that this doesn't turn out to be a flash-in-the-pan type album, but with each passing release, it's looking more and more like that'll be the case.

Best Songs: Ruby Pool, Applause of a Distant Crowd, We Are Thin Air, Alien Shivers, Still

The Tool Effect

It has been over a decade since the last official Karnivool album. A lot has changed in the world since Asymmetry. And even in the world of Karnivool, the release of In Verses is a long time coming, seeing as "All It Takes" was released as a promotional single in 2021. Now as someone who likes Themata and Sound Awake I had heightened expectations of what to expect out of In Verses. That may have been the wrong approach.

Having such a long window of time between releases, regardless of the reason, creates greater hype among the audience about what to expect. For bands that have progressive elements like Tool and Karnivool, I can only imagine that those expectations are heightened further. So when In Verses comes out sounding like a "vibes" album, I do not know if the fans of this band will be as forgiving.

I know that as an onlooker I will give Karnivool the benefit of the doubt over Fear Inoculum. But something still doesn't sit right with me. Karnivool have always been pretty strong songwriters and that is on display here. The first three tracks, "Ghost", "Drone" and "Aozora" all sound great with good choruses, nice thematic development and upbeat grooves. Even "Animation" has a decent flow to it, despite being one of the albums lesser tracks. But then comes the one-two-punch of "Conversations" and "Reanimation". I think that "Reanimation" has a strong build that carries throughout the runtime, while "Conversations" is musical pleasing. But both tracks have immense downtime. It reminds me of Tool where the band will just sit on a simple ostinato for a while without growing or making it more than just its foundation. And as I sat back on this album more, I felt the same way about songs like "Ghost" and "Salva" and even "Opal". 

Where I can give Karnivool credit is in their lyricism. Now a lot of In Verses thematic content revolves around disillusionment and escapism, which is commonplace in this kind of music and doesn't really stand out as a whole. But for individual tracks, the way in which Karnivool are able to manipulate lyrics from the beginning to the finish of each track is commendable. It helps tremendously with that growth that each song should have that is sometimes lacking in its instrumentals.

It was a long turnover for the band and I am glad that the ride is finally over. Now we all get to sit back and enjoy some Karnivool music. And it's honestly pretty good, if you can overlook some painful artistic directions. I would like to say that Karnivool are better equipped for "vibes metal" than a band like Tool are, but even with my guard lowered, I can't help but feel like Karnivool missed an opportunity here.

Best Songs: Drone, Aozora, Reanimation, Remote Self Control, Salva

The title of this album Genotype was held on to for a decade, originally meant for an album that was never meant to be. And now, we finally get the once-lost sequel to Phenotype! Just not how it initially was...

Metalheads were hyped up for this supposed Genotype album that ended up shelved when Textures announced their farewell tour and subsequent disbandment. Like a cliffhanger in a cancelled show, it was a big hole in the story that wasn't filled... Until the band reformed in 2023 and rewrote everything into something fresh and new, while maintaining the fact that Genotype continues the Phenotype saga. And at last, it arrived two days before my birthday! Although I didn't get it until two weeks later.

"Void" is the album's overture that welcomes back their fanbase with a colorful burst of guitars, synths, and drums. A warm light after the cold darkness of the absence! "At the Edge of Winter" is where the band's heaviness comes back to life and punches right through. Vocalist Daniel de Jongh is still in great shape after all those years away, but what impresses me the most here is the guest vocals by Charlotte Wessels. D*mn it, I gotta hear more of her former band Delain! The instrumentation and vocals sound so epic, and it's clear the band is back for real. "Measuring the Heavens" has more emotional flow. When the vocal intensity alternates with the heavy riffing, they really strike.

"Nautical Dusk" brings some darkness to the light in the rhythms. It's quite addictive, especially in the vocal power. "Vanishing Twin" is more diverse in the drum energy and the synths. Although there are mostly cleans, the growls hit hard within the stomping instrumentation at the end.

"Closer to the Unknown" is sharp and catchy. It is another perfect anthem with a total live-friendly chorus and searing leads. A short yet massive banger! Then "A Seat for the Like-Minded" takes a more ominous turn in the riffing and vocals. "Walls of the Soul" is the 8-minute closing epic, gradually building up and get more lively every minute. The percussion and riffing attack and, at the same time, let you transcend smoothly. An adventurous way to end their comeback offering!

It can be hard to pick up greatly where you left off after a long hiatus, but Textures have just done just that and more. The melodies and riffs will surely please the older fans and bring new ones in. Genotype is a true return to form for this talented band. They shall keep waving the progressive metal flag!

Favorites: "At the Edge of Winter", "Measuring the Heavens", "Closer to the Unknown", "Walls of the Soul"

Dreams D’Azur is a re-imagining of Novembre’s debut album, Wish I Could Dream it Again… The album is completely re-recorded with new compositions and played in their newer style. Wish I Could Dream it Again… is a Death Doom record through and through, while this one trade some of the Death Doomy sound for a more contemporary Progressive Gothic Metal sound, though still retaining the Doom influence.

The biggest weaknesses with the debut were the rough production and amateur performances. It goes without saying that both issues are completely mended here. Through the years, Novembre have adopted a smooth and lush production style that contrasts and compliments their heavy style, allowing for dense compositions that sound fantastic. The bass is given especially great treatment on this album, being very audible and having plenty of excellent lead parts. The playing as well has improved dramatically, with the band transitioning from a slightly messy, green footed band to masters in their genre. The drumming on this album in particular is the best in the band’s career up to this point. The poor clean vocals from the debut are improved with harmonized, reverby vocal lines that act more like another layer of instrumentation.

What about the compositions? One issue the debut had absolutely no problem with was compositions. Novembre were already crafting amazing songs right from the beginning, and in my opinion the debut still stands on its own as an amazing Death Doom record. Here, the compositions become a bit denser, with scant layers of synths and more atmospheric guitars weaving in and out of the compositions, crafting a much more dreamy and surreal feel than the debut. From a technical standpoint, the compositions are improved quite a bit, and have more going on in each track to add to the density.

However, I will say, it’s a trade off for me. While almost everything has improved in terms of quality, I do find myself… preferring the original style. Progressive Death Doom is, to me, preferable to Progressive Gothic Metal. I loved how heavy and melancholic the original songs were, how they charged forth with energy rare to the genre but carried intense gloom and beauty. As I said before, these compositions lean a bit further to the “dreamy” side of things, and they definitely still sound amazing. But, unlike a lot of people who think this album completely negates the debut, I see different strengths in each, and this far from eclipses the original in my eyes, instead offering a different take on the incredible compositions.

Deliverance. Opeth’s last Death Metal record, and one of the heaviest of their entire career. In somewhat uncharacteristic fashion for the band, opening track “Wreath” drops you right into the onslaught of pummeling rhythms, deathly screams, and one of the most ominous riffs the band ever wrote. The increasingly complex and odd-timed songwriting here just makes everything that much more disorienting – “Wreath” is a straight up challenging song that mixes the heaviest and brainiest of Opeth’s compositional prowess into one package that just completely annihilates you.

After that, you’re given a bit of space to breath… kind of. While “Wreath” is definitely the heaviest and most aggressive song on the album, that’s not to say the following tracks are worse in any way. Title track Deliverance focuses on pushing the band’s technicality and complexity to its limit, an over 13-minute epic of masterful musicianship and songwriting. “A Fair Judgement,” not forgetting what makes this band so special, reintegrates deeply melancholic moodiness, a Doomy dirge of Prog that shows the band had not sacrificed their emotional depth when honing their technical abilities and pushing the complexity of their songwriting.

The album is, pretty consistently, dark, ominous, heavy, and complex. More so than any of their previous albums. For that reason, it’s definitely a bit of an all-or-nothing affair; it’s the perfect fix if you’re in the mood for some uncompromisingly dark and brainy Progressive Death Metal – if not, prepare to drown in its unrelentingly ominous waves.

I was quite blown away by Agalloch’s debut album. Despite the music being relatively simple, they were already masters at crafting melancholic guitar leads and somber chord progressions that evoked a dark, emotional atmosphere. The songs were so memorable they sounded like a band that had long since mastered their craft rather than a debut. I had high hopes for their next album.

The Mantle is usually regarded as not only the band’s best, but one of the greatest Metal albums of all time, particularly standing as a monolith of Post-Metal. However, the first thing that stands out about this album is that not only is there a lot less extreme Metal (Black Metal influences here are relegated to secondary) but there’s also just a lot less Metal in general. There is so much Folk (primarily Neofolk and Dark folk) that it competes with Post-Metal as the primary genre for the album.

Thanks to this folkiness, the album is exceptionally pagan and nature-oriented, the whole journey feeling like a lonely camping expedition in the dense Cascadian forest mountains of North America. Constantly stumbling upon native burial grounds and bygone mythology while trying to escape the thoughts and feelings of the girl who just left you. This is all captured in spades, and the shift in sound from their debut creates a far more unique experience that even today remains an enigma.

The songwriting for the most part weaves acoustic passages both between and within the Metal tracks, layering guitars atop one another as they build towards crescendos. Many simple but effective guitar melodies will slowly change and build upon each other in a slightly droning fashion, resulting in a smooth ascension towards harmonic peaks. There ARE still extreme Metal sections left, and such passages with black shrieks and pounding double bass drums provide much needed energy and aggression to the otherwise passive music.

Now for all its praise, I must say, the album was a slight disappointment and step down from the debut for me. Some of the acoustic oriented tracks just sounded a bit too generic – like your average campfire dude with a guitar playing the 6 chords he knows. There is a lot of instrumental stuff here, and while some of it is exceptional (Odal, the second half of The Hawthorne Passage), other tracks just feel a bit pointless (A Celebration for the Death of Man, The Lodge) like they don’t have a strong enough idea to make them their own song, and would have been better worked into a longer track rather than standing on their own. The lyrics and vocals are quite enjoyable for me, so the final track A Desolation Song is quite good thanks to the personal, introspective lyricism despite the exceedingly simple music; the aforementioned instrumental tracks are sorely lacking because they don’t have any poetic lyrics to make up for their uneventful songwriting.

Another thing I will say – the shift away from extreme Metal towards Folk, and much of this album being clean and acoustic, makes it FAR more accessible. I have to wonder if the only reason it’s considered such a masterpiece is because it can be enjoyed by far more people than a Black Metal album can.

Let there be no mistake though; this is a FANTASTIC album. The ONLY reason I have some harsh words for it is because I am coming off of their incredible debut, and had my expectations set to the sky. If I had heard this one first, I think it would have blown me away in a totally different way. Incredibly unique experience in the Metal spectrum. I recommend this one for a nature hike in winter.

Always love to hear Neoclassical acts that are actual bands rather than First Name Last Name guitar (or keyboard) heroes. As you might expect from a Neoclassical band, Time Requiem is filled to the brim with awe-inspiring solos that boggle the mind. But not just from the guitars.

Yes of course, the guitars are majestic. The smooth running up and down scales while essentially tremolo picking is just wild to me. Thankfully, the guitars do much more than that, offering great riffs and more traditional style guitar solos as well that offer more depth than Yngwie-style wankery. Keys are another key component (ha) to this lineup, and yeah, the keyboardist does some insane wizardry that could put any classic pianist to shame. I mean, the keyboardist is the composer, so not only is he an absolute madman at his instrument, but he’s a strong songwriter as well. Keys and Guitars duel here, but they also give each other space to show off without competing for the spotlight depending on the song.

But this album isn’t just a melodic showcase! The RHYTHM section is also flashy as hell. Obviously harder to hear, but the bassist is putting in some crazy work on this thing. It can best be heard in the mind-blowing ending to “Brutal Mentor” (which in itself is just one of the best displays of technical musicianship I’ve ever heard). And the drums! God those drums are great. Speedy, technical, progressive, and doing the perfect amount of showing off insane chops without overplaying. And of course, lets not forget the vocals. Vocalist Apollo was in one of my favorite short-lived Neoclassical bands Majestic, and he helped elevate their accessibility with fantastic choruses. He does the same here.

For anyone who enjoys technical prowess in musicianship and songwriting, a must-listen. For those who don’t, it’s thankfully full of great songs that are well-written and worth much more than their technical prowess alone.

Avant-Garde Metal is one of the subgenres in which I am hardest t please. At the time of writing this, I’ve been listening to Metal for over 15 years, and haven’t awarded a single 4.5 star rating to an Avant-Garde Metal album. That is, until I took look into The Sham Mirrors.

First off, the album does something VERY important in ensuring that it’s a GOOD Avant-Garde Metal album – it’s not Circus Metal. While the album sounds bizarre and occasionally playful, it by no means ever falls into goofy territory. The arctic space aesthetic is persistent across tracks, painting a cold, surreal image of a distant future among the stars.

And then we get to the music, which is very very good. It definitely took a few listens for the non-Metal sections to grow on me (this is a very eclectic piece, with genre shifting within almost every track) but there’s a very important reason it did. You see, while each track jumps between multiple genres, they don’t feel fractured or jerky. It never feels like the band is just genre hopping for the sake of being quirky and weird. Even when shifting styles, the band retains their cold, special aesthetic. The evolution of each track feels connected, falling and rising in a fashion that feels earned. Despite the eclecticism here, there isn’t a moment that left me bored.

The Metal, which is still the meat of the album, is fantastic Symphonic Prog Metal, and the vocals, both clean and harsh, fit nicely. Drumming is fantastic, guitar leads are striking, energy is at perfect level, and tempo and intensity rise and fall to suit the music. No weak points, no wasted moments. I won’t lie and say I didn’t enjoy some sections more than others, but wow is that a well put together record, a triumph of one of the hardest genres to do well in my opinion.

Oceanic is a monstrous record, a storied masterpiece in the genre of Atmospheric Sludge, and the first Isis release to show the band with a fully developed sound and knack for building dense, layered atmospheres.

Or so they say. While listening to Oceanic, I have to confess I found myself underwhelmed. The guitars in particular are very repetitive and simple, almost exclusively power chords changing ever so slightly. They do layer nicely, yes, and the production helps gives them a heavy, dense yet smooth sound. But lead guitarwork is scarce, simple and quiet, almost completely drowned out by the repetitive chords. Similarly, other layers of effects, which usually create the rich atmosphere typical of Atmosludge, are subtle or absent, leaving the compositions surprisingly… shallow.

There are a significant amount of Post-Rock sections here, where the heavy guitars subside to let other instrumental parts have some time to craft quiet, layered soundscapes. I think these parts are done quite well, and they add great diversity to the long, plodding tracks. The contrast between these sections and the droning, repetitive heavy chords elevate both and help eliminate fatigue from the latter.

The saving grace of this album, to me, was the lyrical concept. I was far more interested in the songs once I learned of the concept and paid close attention to the lyrics and how the songs work to evoke the same mood and themes as the out-of-order story. There is a consistent aquatic feel to this album which gives it a unique atmosphere, and the twisted, troubled sexual undercurrents add to the tensity of the dissonant atmospheres.

Some Atmospheric Sludge albums have the issue of having a few really incredible tracks or moments within the tracks surrounded by long stretches of filler. Oceanic is actually quite the opposite; it is extremely consistent throughout, even among stylistic changes, the only exception being the useless untitled interlude. This means as a full album, Oceanic is a much easier listen than many of its contemporaries; however, it also lacks any memorable peaks or crescendos that truly stand out.

It's a strong album with some impressive walls of atmosphere and compelling themes and lyricism. But one of the best Atmospheric Sludge albums ever? Personally I would have to disagree. A VERY solid and consistent example of the genre, but nowhere near my favorite.

Mind-numbing. No, I don’t mean in a good way. I mean, by the end of the first track, I had taken just about all I could take of one-note soulless polyrhythmic chugging, and then preceded to suffer through 9 more tracks of the exact same thing with no variation. So repetitive is this album that when the atonal guitar noodling that would be terrible in any other context came up in track 3, I was actually excited because it was SOMETHING different. The little atmospheric reprieve near the end of the 4th track wasn’t anything special, but it was such a welcome break from the mechanical assault that my brain was tricked into enjoying it.

I actually like the guy’s harsh vocal sound, but the issue is… again… there’s absolutely no variation. It sounds like he’s trying as hard as possible to maintain one single tone, one note, one delivery… yeah, it certainly fits the music, and I get that’s what they’re going for. But just as with the rest of the music, I was sick of it after one track. Nine more aren’t going to convince me (or 8 since the last track is an instrumental).

Maybe there’s some grand meaning in those lyrics somewhere. I have no idea. This are some of the most pretentious, abstract lyricism since Tool. “Organic Shadows” has some neat lyrics about becoming mechanical, but most this is ‘I’m too smart for you’ cryptic existentialism.

“Spasm” is the most unique sounding song, and by default the best. It’s the only song to feature a different vocal approach, as well as *gasp* lead guitar work. Yeah, when you add guitar leads that actually hit notes and craft melodies over top the mechanical polyrhythmic chugging, said chugging actually becomes listenable. When used as a backdrop for other music, Djenty chugging is fine. The issue with Meshuggah is they make the Djenty chugging the focus – in fact, it’s usually the ONLY thing going on in most of the songs.

To say something respectful, they WERE doing something different and unique, that is undeniable. But I think giving something credit for being unique is overrated. The only thing that matters to me is if music sounds good – this is a hard pass.

Despite not being a fan of melodic death metal or progressive metal, here I am writing a review for an album that is tagged as Progressive Melodic Death Metal.  My interest in (trying to) check out all the feature releases each month has certainly paid dividends with The Infinite feature release having enjoyed a fair old amount of plays this past week.  If I was pressed to sum up why I have enjoyed The Immortal so much, I would call out the rich and full sound that is on display.  The album is by no means a perfect, or even complete package, yet it carries enough positive markers as it plays for me to continue to come back to it.

One of the unexpected positives for me are the clean vocals.  A fan of the more aggressive style of vocals that occupy the more extreme ends of the metal spectrum, on this occasion the clean vocals work better than the more traditional growls.  I have to agree with Saxy in that the harsh vocals are lacking somewhat.  The opening track manages to hit this vocal sweet spot early on in the album and as it continues to play it almost becomes a contest between the two styles, with the cleaner elements a clear victor.  If I then factor in other moments such as the groovy riff of ‘The Sojourner’ and the post-metal palate-cleanser that follows on ‘Moonless Sky’ as well as the excellent strutting of ‘The Hounding’, I soon have multiple positives to talk to.

I would however like the lead work to have more direction.  What often starts off as luscious sounding injections of melody, never quite seem to expand into any established endpoints.  This sense of going nowhere is frustrating, notwithstanding that there is plenty of melody still over the album as a whole.  I do feel however that the standout moments as a result are limited and that more interesting lead work, as well as perhaps less harsh vocals would have helped here.

My interest in progressive melodeath has boosted up ever since encountering the perfect discography of An Abstract Illusion. It was a sign for me to revisit some earlier progressive melodeath bands that I enjoyed yet abandoned a few years ago. In Mourning might just be the place for me to start in my journey of redemption, since that was probably the band An Abstract Illusion reminded me the most of. And I'm glad that the first Infinite feature release of 2026 is their splendid new album, The Immortal!

The album was recorded throughout the late months of 2024 and the early months of 2025, following up from The Bleeding Veil released 4 years prior. The Immortal may just have the best sound from the band in many years, sounding so sonic and organic. I can already tell how well-written the album is, in big levels. Slight touches of black metal are added to enhance the cold darkness. It finally saw the light of day at that year's Summer end, released via Supreme Chaos Records. As emotional as their earlier material was, the emotion has reached its greatest height in their quarter-century tenure in this offering.

Of the 9 tracks in this album, the title opener is a moody one-minute intro. "Silver Crescent" blasts off with crushing progressive riffing. Then the vocals enter, as aggressive power is blended with melodic harmonies. "Song of the Cranes" is more progressive while keeping the structure in control. The heavy verses with harsh vocals and melodic chorus with clean singing are a mix that has been used by many bands before yet still sounding unique.

"As Long as the Twilight Stays" is more emotional. Clean sorrow comes in first before more of the intense distortion and vocals. "The Sojourner" is the album's first single. It's the perfect song for anyone up for a lot of aggression with some melody here and there. "Moonless Sky" is an ethereal ballad/interlude, a gentle calm in between storms.

"Staghorn" bites down with pure heaviness, all in the guitars and vocals. "North Star" is an aptly titled song for a somber night trek in the northern lands. The melody and heaviness appear where they need to be. I also like the catchy clean chorus. The 8-minute closing epic "The Hounding" starts slow and doomy then speeds up with all its emotional power. The growls and screams touch my metal heart, and the different riffs and twists keep me up for more. Fantastic!

Emotion reigns supreme in the brand-new In Mourning album. The Immortal hits hard with its aggression and lightening this up with its melody. It's likely the most powerful the band has sounded in years, and with that, let's hope their music stays immortal!

Favorites: "Silver Crescent", "Song of the Cranes", "The Sojourner", "Staghorn", "The Hounding"

The new Lychgate album is likely the last new release in metal that we'll ever get before the new year dawns. And with only over 24 hours before it becomes 2026 in my country, I thought this would be the right album to check out as the clock is ticking down. It's probably the most experimental album of the year, and one that further shows how well I can keep up in The North despite that clan being the least likely for me to ever join.

You want extreme progressive metal more twisting than a supermassive black hole? It's all in this album Precipice! What we have here is the deathly progressive metal of Opeth blended with the avant-garde black metal of Dodheimsgard. Rhythm and melody are covered within heavy riffing, clean leads, and classical keys. The vocals are pretty much what to expect in extreme metal, including chaotic growls and screams. It is also lyrically based on the philosophical works of Forster, Wells, and Eliot, specifically the dark bleakness of humanity's dependence on machines.

The intro of this 9-track album, "The Sleeper Awaits" sets everything up in a haunting fashion, as heard in the piano and orchestration. "Mausoleum of Steel" crashes in with dark aggression balanced out with progressiveness. The devilish harsh vocals in front of the orchestration and metal is so strange yet tempting. "Renunciation" is even darker, further into the center of the world. Leads and vocals unite for a dissonant sound alongside the bass and drums. It's truly a beast lurking in the shadows!

"The Meeting of Orion and Scorpio" turns into clean light tainted by eeriness. Seems like the beast is having its rest. "Hive of Parasites" is a spooky progressive 10-minute epic. It may take some time for listeners to get used to what's going on, but when you do, you can fully embrace it as it embraces you. The vocals stay harsh throughout this cavernous quest. "Death's Twilight Kingdom" has some piano and bass in the intro before the metal beast moves again. Everything keeps changing before you can get a sense of what's happening, like something appears, disappears, and reappears.

"Terror Silence" has a more straight structure that's easy to understandable. Still they have the Opeth-like aspect of shapeshifting riffing. "Anagnorisis" adds to the album's lyrical focus of discovering the true existence of someone else rather than your own. Everything's so dark and deadly, and for me, it's my sweet dessert. Doom is impending... And it comes in "Pangaea". For just 3 short minutes, you feel the black hole engulf you in darkness and death. Then before long, your journey ends on a satisfying note.

Like the edge of a cliff that the album title means, Precipice will give you the feeling of hanging on to your life. It's an experience so unsettling yet pleasant. And in the end, it's all worth leveling up your metal soul!

Favorites: "Mausoleum of Steel", "Renunciation", "Hive of Parasites", "Death's Twilight Kingdom", "Anagnorisis"

I'm not planning on starting a Metal Academy hall on this, but there's just enough scattered throughout this album for me to call it a death metal album.  But much of it builds itself on softer vocals, much like Ulver did with black metal, but lacking reverb.  While many of the same elements are shared across the ten songs, including the random shifting between prog and melo-death, and occasional folsky elements, there are certain elements that make it hard to pick favorites among the batch, such as the occasional Arabic touches in Enemy at the Gates and Death of a King (and milder levels of it in White Night), as well as the Celtic metal sound of Tree of Ages.  As well, there's a level of melody hear that I have to say utterly astounded me as a prog metal fan.  While it maintains strong accessibility, it carefully molds all of the essential Amorphis elements together into, as one reviewer here put it, alchemically (I'm using this fake word and no one's stopping me).  As an FMA fan, I have to say that the melody here reaches Philosopher's Stone levels of purity.  Still, it's impossible not to notice a formula here that makes things a little predictable at the end, but they certainly nailed rocking the formula.  I may have to re-evaluate Elegy, but this is currently my favorite Amorphis album (and maybe my favorite Amorphis album cover).

98

Of all the genres I enjoy in my metal journey, there's one I somehow seem to neglect in favor of everything else, post-sludge. I don't think I've discovered much from that genre beyond its Big 4 (Neurosis, Isis, Cult of Luna, The Ocean) and Rosetta. Many of its songs guide you through transcending realms, showing that metal doesn't always have to be about chaos and speed. So when this Dimscua EP was brought into discussion, I thought it was a good time to catch up with what I was missing out on.

And wow, what an EP! Dust Eater is the start of a promising career for this UK post-sludge band. We haven't heard anything new from Cult of Luna for a while, but this offering feels like a solid continuation to that band's sound. Dimscua has only just formed this year, and they already have a lot of emotion and grief in their music.

"Elder Bairn" already sets up the atmosphere with its bleak guitar tone and screamed vocals. The riffing rhythm rises before reaches its height in an apocalyptic explosion. The riff storm strikes down as the screams haunt you like tortured souls. An absolutely devastating start to the adventure! The title track seems a bit stretchy in the rhythm, but that's my one and only complaint. The music still sounds huge and emotional.

Raw emotion continues to shine in "Existence/Futility", with different melodies built to last then built to fall. It's like a strong fight that you end up winning and losing multiple times. And is it all worth it? For sure! "On Being and Nothingness" is the 10-minute final epic and a true example of the post-sludge sound developed by the earlier masters of the genre, proving that it's far from dead. The chords and vocals drift through a dimension of catatonia. By the time it all ends, you become one with the astral plane. A dark satisfying end to this atmospheric journey!

As cheesy as this may seem in theory, tragedy has turned into art that can easily resonate. The tragedy that is guitarist/bassist Adam Campbell-Train losing his daughter (RIP). The end result is the amazing return of the post-sludge sound we know. Here's to a possible full album from the genre's new chosen ones!

Favorites: "Elder Bairn", "On Being and Nothingness"

Thundering out of Berkshire, England to truly throw a spanner in my ‘EoY Fallen Album List’ come atmo-sludge quintet, Dimscûa. I would say that 2025 has been the year that I started to explore atmospheric-sludge metal for the first time, its calmer post-metal tendencies offset nicely by the harsher vocal attacks and smothering heaviness of the riffs that are my usual (and still preferred) listening fodder. Listening to Dust Eater sort of feels like I am in familiar territory nowadays which has most certainly helped me warm to it quickly. Hidden behind the straight delivery and more subtle sections, there is a sense of the epic going on also though which adds extra interest into proceedings.

This may just be clever use of guitar tone in all honesty, with some well-placed chiming effect adding some positive volume to the already doughty performance. Dust Eater is delivered with an attack that brings to my mind that each of the band members are grinning with each blow they make in their flannel shirts and jeans – another image I have in my head for some reason. Whilst I cannot describe the EP as uplifting, it does possess a pragmatic approach that gives the music a sense of being constructive without being restrictive. There’s no question that the band have gears they can get through, but they are always in full control, not just when ticking over in first or second gear.

The poignancy in the strings that open the final track, ‘On Being and Nothingness’, set against that haunting ambience that drifts through the background of the track, shows a band who can play with real emotion in their performances. Whilst the subject matter may explore darker tropes, the five-piece are unafraid to display the inherent beauty that can still be found in the themes of grief or loss. Of the content of this sub-genre that I have heard this year, Dimscûa chart pretty highly to my ears.

This ‘atmospheric sludge’ tag that has grown legs in recent years is one that adorns the chests of Chicago’s The Atlas Moth from as far back as their 2007 inception. Granted, I can hear sludge in their sound as well as also being able to hear atmospheric textures, but at the same time there is the intimation of so much more over the course of An Ache for the Distance. Pure doom and stoner metal make an appearance alongside an obvious 70’s rock influence making the album something of a devious demon to contend with. It renders the genre tagging somewhat irrelevant, not that I am even sure how seriously the band themselves pay much attention to whether their sound is ‘atmospheric sludge’ or not.

What is clear on this record is that the performance is unforced, cohesive and very relaxed. It is an album that sounds like a band working free of any boundaries in all honesty which leads to this sense of flow as elements manage to compliment each other nicely. Even with three guitars in play, there is a constant coherence to proceedings. This trio of axes is thoughtfully layered, proving many moving parts can work. Whether it is the post-metal pickings alongside psychedelic loops that ooze through, or the elements of the harsher riffs, there is order to them.

I do struggle with this album though. For as much as I can recognise the quality on display, it does move styles a little too often for me, killing a lot of memorability in the process and leaving sections of the album feeling like they are wandering as opposed to progressing. After a few listens to the album, I could not fight the feeling of it getting stuck in a no-man’s land; unable to shape the obvious promise into a consistent theme. Take the brilliant final third of ‘Your Calm Waters’, a section that shows clear direction but the effort of listening to get there is taxing for me.

It is only the final track, ‘Horse Thieves’ that resonates in its Yob-like glory to the point of finally giving the album some real grounding. That big, slow and doomy riff, alongside the melancholic melody sees both elements played to a tortuously drawn-out pace. The trumpet here, although unexpected, fits well. It gives a soothing drone during the growing chaos of the track. It is a positive note to end on at least, and whilst I cannot reach for my higher scores on this one, The Atlas Moth do enough in terms of their clear quality of playing to manage to also keep the album well away from the lower end of my scores also.

Heretoir are a German atmospheric black metal band that have been around for a surprisingly long time. I had never heard of them prior to being introduced to them late in 2025 and their new record, Solastalgia. And the only reason I gave it my attention at this point in the year is because I was told it was right up my alley in the style of black metal that I typically enjoy. Well, that friend was right because Solastalgia is like a modern day love letter to Agalloch's Ashes Against the Grain.

Now I do need to choose my words very carefully from here on out, because Ashes Against the Grain might be one of my favourite albums of all time. And Solastalgia does more than enough to separate itself from Agalloch. In fact, the main reason why I enjoy Solastalgia so much is because of how much it shares in common with a band like Svalbard. This is huge sounding atmospheric black metal, but with a hip, metalcore front. The promotional single "You Are the Night" and "Burial" are far less in common with Agalloch, but no doubt matching in instrumental beauty. The acoustic passages on "Seasons of Grief", the piano bridge on "Inertia" and the earthly tonal center of "The Heart of December" are undoubtedly Agalloch in presentation.

Perhaps it is ironic then that Heretoir named their album Solastalgia. A word whose etymology is a portmanteau of the words "solace" and "nostalgia". Nostalgia is a word typically associated with positive thoughts and emotions, whereas Solastalgia is the antithesis; where the places and people that you once knew and grew up with have all changed and have become affected by the passage of time. As such, it is less surprising that Heretoir are developing the sound of Agalloch to places that band could have never gone. And with this bands roots in depressive suicidal black metal, the grief and distress felt within the music and lyrics hits with its meta commentary that I never expecting out of a black metal album! Although, if I'm being nitpicky, a few of the lyrical choices to feel quite cliche and could have been written by nearly anyone.

Despite all my praise for the instrumentals so far, I do have to mention the obtuseness in the percussion. I think that it sounds fine and it's performed with an extreme level of precision, I just feel like the drums are mixed way too close to the front. At the beginning of "Dreamgatherer" it begins with a pleasant clean guitar with reverb and before you know it, the percussion is playing on top of you and the guitar melody has nowhere to go. It also becomes rather intrusive during blast beats like the bridge of "Solastalgia" among others.

All told though, I really enjoyed Solastalgia. The band really captured the essence of the word here; an album that has aspirations of Agalloch, brought into the modern age with metalcore and blackgaze textures. It will be a struggle for those who just want to enjoy Agalloch, but if you're willing to come to terms with Agalloch not coming back (and Ashes Against the Grain being nearly two decades old), then I can assure you that this album is a clinic in modern day post-black metal.

Best Songs: The Ashen Falls, You Are the Night, Dreamgatherer, Solastalgia, Inertia

I can't say I'm really a fan of Atheist. Piece of Time was a kind of a let down to me: I can see them being ahead of their time in complexity and technicality, but the band just sounds so convoluted and seems to trample over itself to the point that I don't really enjoy the album very much. This release on the other hand, is a whole other beast! The band sounds somewhat lighter, with a clearer production and better execution, particularly on the vocals, which sound way more on point. Composition wise, they really went through the roof, leaning very heavily on their jazz influences to make what sounds pretty much 50-50 death thrash and jazz fusion. This was very much the correct decision, as this is where the band's insane musicianship and chaotic nature really gets to shine it's brightest, the result being some of the most interesting metal releases I've ever heard, perfectly balancing awesome complexity, sheer heaviness and plain fun. Honestly, not a single bad minute on this, absolutely incredible record.

Volumes' new album Mirror Touch was released digitally in December 2025 and physically in February 2026. It shows the band distancing further from their djent-core roots than before, to the point where they're almost entirely mainstream alt-metal. While not the best direction, it's still a pretty solid offering for anyone willing to explore more of the band and genre. But let's elaborate further...

Since releasing their debut Via 15 years ago, they've been a well-praised band in the djenty metalcore scene. Mirror Touch shows the band transition to mainstream alt-metal practically complete, though this melodic direction is not without some throwbacks to their heavy groove-laden roots. They know how to please both new and longtime fans.

We get a somewhat disjointed opener in "Sidewinder". It's still good but a little off-balance. "Bottom Dollar" has more impact, restoring some of that earlier djenty groove while including some hip-hop sections that are actually well-crafted. "Bad Habit" is the first catchy rock track here. The vocals and guitar sound so serene in the chorus, though the band would still throw some heavy punches.

Then "California" takes their pop-ish aspects further than any of their material before. Quite jarring, but I can still enjoy the catchy hooks and the midway heavy edge. It's worth appreciating "Adrenaline" for showing more emotion despite the softer motives. "Stitch" drags you from the previous track's light into the heavy technical darkness. With that said, the clean singing was still dominant in the first minute until spiraling back into the harsh vocals. The heavier grooves don't stop there, as "S.O.A.P." has them battling against the clean melodies in the dark fields.

"Dream" is so dreamy, and it has some of the best vocals here in great chemistry. The upbeat light from the guitar melodies makes this a wonderful standout. There's still one remaining melodic track in "Worth It", which I guess is worth making it this far, especially when we have a finale to look forward to... "Suffer On" is absolutely brutal in the riffs and vocals, including guest features from the two Black Sheep Wall vocalists Brandon Gillichbauer and Trae Malone. That can give them potential for a heavier future!

So yeah, Mirror Touch is more melodic than Volumes' past offerings, but the heaviness isn't totally gone, particularly when looking back at their earlier djenty grooves. It's nice and consistent, and a great way to end the previous year. They still have their magic touch....

Favorites: "Bottom Dollar", "Adrenaline", "S.O.A.P.", "Dream", "Suffer On"

One can't deny that there's a punk factor in thrash, as much as some purist metalheads might want to.  Voivod, however, celebrated that fact by pumping it up.  In some ways this is practically a crossover thrash album, and a major step forward for metal inventiveness.  Maybe this is largely neglected because the album is so complex?  Either way, this is the personality the band has chosen, and it actually helps a lot.  Now their technical abilities are quite impressive, but it's the inclusion of the punk factor that keeps the album from degenerating into guitar wankery.  While a little samey, the crossover aspects allow the band to display an incredibly unique personality for the time, and just allows the band to have a lot of fun.  Hell, the singer Denis Belanger knows it, and boasts his hardcore punk style vocals proudly and loudly.  And that's not all: they found a way to include the sci-fi experience here, the whole mechanical, cyberpunk, anti-dystopia vibes both lyrically and musically.  As well, the punk factor gives it quite a bit of replay value as well.  Now personally, I'd say the sameyness keeps this from a total five stars.  But if you said this was your favorite thrash album, I most certainly would never, ever, blame you.

92

Earlier this year, I listened to the debut record from the Cleveland gothic doomgaze band 1692 and I found it a mostly enjoyable, if a little same-y listen. I had very little experience with this sound prior to hearing Frayle earlier this year, so my expectations as to what this style of music could sound like were very slim. It still has the strong foundational presence of a traditional doom metal album, but one listen to those monotone, and heavily modified vocals of Gwyn Strang and you can tell this is not standard procedure.

In relation to this album, I can tell that Frayle have putting in some modest work to improve this sound. Shoegaze is a genre not typically known for its sweeping development and growth so good on the band for taking that style to new heights. While the record is still doom metal, you will notice a few more contrapuntal melodies in the guitars that compliment the vocals very well. The percussion on Heretics & Lullabies also makes big strides forward with the subtle arrangements between the individual tracks; the record does have many similar tempos, but not all the songs feel like they are in the same style thanks to the percussion. And the vocals have some really cool touches; whether it be the Glados filter on "Demons" or the sparse, but effective harsh vocals on "Boo" and especially "Heretic" as a vocal layer instead of being its own segment.

The downside is that the record doesn't really maintain its momentum all the way through. Like with 1692, about half way through, Heretics & Lullabies gets caught in musical purgatory; where none of the songs provide enough distinction to make them stand out among the rest. I enjoyed "Glass Blown Heart", but then "Hymn For The Living" and "Run" sound remarkably dull by comparison. "Heretics" tries to get back on track, only for the final track "Only Just Once" to continue in the same vein as the last song! As for the first half, it's very interesting, but it can also be incredibly cheesy at times, most notably on "Boo". But hey, at least it got me to like a Lana Del Rey song...so that's a big win I guess!

Overall, the record Heretics & Lullabies is a solid improvement from the debut, but leaves me wanting more. Maybe that's asking for too much out of this style of doom metal, but the pacing is mediocre at best and many deep cuts lose their focus. The production is the highlight and keeps the record sounding solid from start to finish. It's an album that would fit right into my sleeping playlist with how peaceful it sounds...and maybe that was the point.

Best Songs: Walking Wounded, Demons, Glass Blown Heart, Souvenirs Of Your Betrayal

For an album that is forty-minutes long, Mass V sub-consciously plays as an EP in my head as the run time appears to go much quicker than that over the four songs on the album. I am not entirely sure if this is because I lose presence with it on too frequent a basis, but even under a few critical listens the effect is the same. My overarching impression from my first few listens has been that the balance of styles is well executed. Amenra drop pure doom riffs seemingly from out of nowhere, whilst constructing with studious detail post-metal passages that ease between more sludge-driven moments, still retaining the overall sense of unease in the process of the ebb and flow.

Tracks such ‘Dearborn and Buried’ are real tense experiences, the atmospherics doing little to ease the sensory overload that comes from the consistent sense of threat in the sound. With desperation a key impression that comes out of the listening experience, especially in the vocal department, I feel that I get to this understanding by way of the sense of conflict between the instrumentation and the vocals. If I use a Stoic philosophical comparison to demonstrate. If we consider life as a crashing and bashing tide that batters against the rock (us) and that we must try to remain steadfast in the face of such hardship, then it is easy to bill the deranged nature of the vocals as being the tide on the instrumentation. Given the obvious talent on show in Amenra though, they cleverly switch this to have the vocals remaining strong against the assault of the instruments.

Yet at the same time, if you take the ending of ‘Boden’ as an example, then it is also clear that both elements can be wielded with great effect, creating the tumult of the storm onto the listener who is now being used as the rock in our example. This “good cop/bad cop” routine works well because it avoids being a disruptive force in the musc. With the epic length of ‘A Mon Áme’ deploying an agonising build-up of over ten minutes, I do sense a weakness in the Amenra line. Whilst it is exhilarating when the riffs and percussion do finally ignite, the length of time to get there feels unnecessary in the end given you can easily predict it is coming.

Thankfully, the balance is restored on final track, ‘Nowena | 9.10’ with what is the most Neurosis-influenced track on the record. Clear in its emotional depth, the riff and percussion structures are quite simple in comparison, and this juxta positioning works well. For me, this is the standout track on the album and is a perfect closer to proceedings. So, having come into Mass V in a dismissive mindset following my experience of the two Eps that the band released this year, this record has restored my interest in them. The album possesses an unusual level of accessibility given its chaotic approach at times. The succinct track listing helps this accessibility as well as belying the level of intelligent songwriting that is on display.

Throughout the years, I can honestly say that I've never had an issue with In Mourning. They have made some pretty solid progressive death metal throughout the 2010s, but every time I visit their music, it either comes at a time when I'm not really interested in that style of music, or another, more potent progressive death metal album has just released which keeps my attention longer. The Immortal is likely the first time I've been able to fully enjoy an In Mourning album and coming to realize just how good they are. The album might have progressive as a primary genre tag, but if you're expecting the kind of wonky, abstract prog metal of Dream Theater or Between the Buried and Me, you'll likely be let down. The songwriting is very solid with some very good melodic themes and dynamics. The growth of some of the themes might be a little lacking, but tracks like "Song of the Cranes" and the closer "The Hounding" show that fully developed motif. The album as a whole is a brisk listen with the expertly placed "Moonless Sky" interlude. My one complaint, which isn't so much of a complaint more than it is an observation, is Tobias Netzell's harsh vocals. For a death metal album, they do feel a little bit on the weaker side; they almost remind me of Matt Heafy of Trivium, which likely means the use of the fry vocal technique. It isn't a determent to the album; in fact, it probably gives the heavier sections a little bit more character than other similar death metal albums, it's just something I noticed that caught me off guard.

This record won't win any "heaviest albums of 2025" awards, but for a few moments, The Immortal was a captivating listen. The fullness of the instrumentation, combined with some very subtle progressive song structures make it stand out. Like In Vain last year, it's surprising that this album made it here as late into the year as it did, but better late than never I suppose!

Best Songs: Song of the Cranes, The Sojourner, North Star, The Hounding

P.S. I thought for sure that I had reviewed this album before once I saw the album cover. It bears a striking resemblance to ...And Oceans The Regeneration Itinerary. Just a friendly warning for those wanting to check this out.

Veilburner seem to occupy the same rarified atmosphere within which I would normally encounter Blut Aus Nord, Dødheimsgard, Deathspell Omega or even Oranssi Pazuzu. They are distantly rooted in black metal yet at the same time are multiple football fields away from the genre. On the death metal side of things there are comparisons I could draw with Akercocke and Portal, which are fine benchmarks to be scored against. With this being my first ever listen to the band, my early impression was that this was not a duo that was with or indeed without their own sound or style. The mish mash of influences that had leapt out at me from what at the time of typing this had been just four tracks was intriguing to say the least. Yet, whereas on other, more avant garde releases I would have either hit the skip button multiple times or simply switched off altogether, there was something that kept me in the room with Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy.

Now, it could have been that after consecutive days of listening to conventional black metal, I was just more open to something different. Those dissonant tremolos certainly made short work of the seconds as they danced chillingly along my nerve-endings, whilst those squally riffs seemed to rapidly grow a horrifying backdrop of noise for the more extrovert elements to sit atop of. Yet for all the individual elements that are in play at any given time, I have found it very easy to plot my way through the tracks as they pounce on me. There is also enough memorability to them to permit me to understand them as isolated pieces as opposed to the album becoming just one chaotic glut of noise. A more critical listen leads to me to think the reason for this is that the tracks themselves have very clear points of progression. This is perhaps too hard for me to explain in words for some readers, but riffs have a clear start and end to them. Sounds odd I know, yet this element of closure gives me traceability across what could otherwise soon become a disorientating affair.

This succinctness that sits behind the dissonant and transcendental apparitions that are conjured by the rest of the music acts as an anchor almost. I feel that because of it, I can truly pay attention to all the album much better. As a fan of BAN, Deathspell Omega and Oranssi Pazuzu already, there are elements here, such as the vocals, that are not offering anything new most certainly. The admiration comes for the crafting involved in putting all eight of these tracks together. Thematically exploring trauma, death, infinite reincarnation and the desperate futility of lives that make the same mistakes and meet the same end, this is not the most cheerful of subject matters to be committing to tape. Such ideas remind me very much of Akhlys, who are one of my favourite artists over several releases now.

Yet, the more I listen to the album the more I find it veering away from pretty much all the territory I have called it out for inhabiting already. The rich lead work of ‘Ouroboreal Whorl’ and ‘Matter o’ the Most Awful of Martyrs’ have an almost post-metal level of clarity to them, for example. There is a seemingly purpose-built level of tameness to the record that only reaches the surface with repeated listens, and I find that remarkable for such a challenging piece of music, yet I have already called out the concise nature of part of the album already. Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy is the perfect album title for the work on display here. The record is a triumph yet achieves this with no loss of that sense of stinking human tragedy.

It's safe for me to say that An Abstract Illusion may just be my new all-time favorite band. Each and every one of its 4 releases is a 5-star monumental masterpiece. And it shows that my love for extreme progressive metal won't die soon. The perfect streak continues yet again in their new album The Sleeping City!

The 3rd album from this Swedish blackened progressive melodeath band is another flawless journey. The synths and atmosphere wouldn't be too far off in a soundtrack for sci-fi film franchises like Star Wars and Blade Runner. The heaviness is also fitting for the psychology of humanity. You know the cities that never sleep, like New York and Vegas. Whichever city is referred to in the story is the opposite that, and one to explore if you dare...

The first of the 7 songs here, "Blackmurmur" already cuts to the chase. No 3-minute intro, just a swift entry into one of 3 epics that each last 11 minutes long. Those keys appearing in front lead into melodic riffing for a grand start. The momentum is kept in shape by the heaviness and melody battling each other in the atmospheric wasteland. Truly a vision emphasized by the guitars and keyboards! "No Dreams Beyond Empty Horizons" starts off clean in the guitars briefly, then comes the heavier storm. The guitars and drums strike as the harsh vocals slash, with some light from the cleans. Each side of the coin outshines the other while maintaining the balance. Simple yet complex! "Like a Geyser Ever Erupting" is the song that, after a few years of me stumbling across scattered tracks, has given me a "LISTEN NOW!!!" kind of demand. The fantastic prog-death erupts like a volcano throughout the first two minutes before clean sections starting popping up. By the end, the storm of aggression would indeed tear down the holy mountain mentioned in the previous album.

"Frost Flower" is a smooth track with dreamy melody coming from the synths and clean vocal harmonies. It's not always warm when the cold wrath returns for some time. Still a pleasant break from the storm. "Emmett" is the second 11-minute epic, and when the storm comes back, it's absolute complex rage! The guitars, leads, and keys are all embraced by the chaos that only become somber by the end. Incredible!

"Silverfields" is a short under 4-minute keyboard interlude with some metal at the last minute. The 10-minute title finale starts off heavy in the rhythms. Keys and cleans are still around for the last bit of sanity before all is consumed by a deathly black hole. And then it all ends with piano melody floating in the empty void.

The Sleeping City is filled with the fury, melody, and complexity all expected in blackened progressive melodeath. It's the kind of offering that would make an instant classic and please many more listeners than before. There's enough melody for the softer listener, enough brutality for the heavier listener, and enough intricacy for the more progressive listener. Basically a hidden artifact of progressive melodeath. This will make my top metal albums of this year list for sure!

Favorites: "Blackmurmur", "Like a Geyser Ever Erupting", "Emmett", "The Sleeping City"

An Abstract Illusion is an underground metal band from Sweden, but it is with this album Woe that the band's popularity started to grow above ground to some extent. They've already made progressive death metal history with Atonement is Nigh and Illuminate the Path, and their next album continues that perfect streak. Of those 3 albums though, Woe gets the golden medal!

While the sound here is generally atmospheric progressive tech-/melodeath, other different genres are incorporated. Sometimes it leans into blackened deathcore in the tremolos and breakdowns. Don't get it twisted, this ain't Lorna Shore! The brutality is balanced out with melody from the guitar harmonies and clean singing.

Beginning the album is the intro "The Behemoth That Lies Asleep". Just like the previous album's intro, it's 3 minutes long and starts slow before cranking up the metal. "Slaves" also follows that similar pattern as the heaviest and most deathly song here. "Tear Down This Holy Mountain" is the first of two 10+ minute epics. After a haunting rising intro with clarinet and spoken narration, the heaviness comes back on, with lots of experimentation.

"Prosperity" segues from the previous track, sounding more catchy especially in the breakdown. "Blomsterkrans" is quite long for an interlude at nearly 6 minutes, but it's nice and peaceful with background cello, violin, and a Swedish voice sample.

Heading into the final leg of the album, "In The Heavens Above, You Will Become a Monster" is a 14 and a half minute epic with some of the best progressive death metal I've heard in my life. It doesn't feel too long, and there's nothing repetitive. All just solid variety to let the time fly by! The finale "This Torment Has No End, Only New Beginnings" can be embedded to the previous track to make a 24-minute epic. That song title is relatable for me planning to start a new chapter of my life, except for the "Torment" part.

All you can find in progressive melodeath is right here in this hour-long trek of Woe. I can't find anything I would consider filler here. All this work must've been really worth it, considering the 6-year gap since their debut. It might just be a new beginning for progressive metal in the new decade!

Favorites: "Slaves", "Tear Down This Holy Mountain", "In The Heavens Above, You Will Become a Monster", "This Torment Has No End, Only New Beginnings"

I've only just started listening to An Abstract Illusion full-time after a few small glimpses of them over the years via some songs in the Infinite playlists. Nearly a decade after forming, and two years after their EP, they've released their full-length debut Illuminate the Path. Perhaps the best album of 2016!

As I've mentioned earlier, the band's style is basically progressive melodeath with elements of atmospheric black metal. I guess a more accurate description would be more complex. Speaking of complex, that's how I would describe the Opeth-esque progressive structures, standing side-by-side with the extreme drums of Fleshgod Apocalypse and the epic atmosphere of Wintersun. Not as many symphonics as those latter two bands though, but everything else comes together in a beautiful offering.

The 3-minute intro "Breathe. Create. Beauty." picks up where the EP has left off, with the same melody as the end of the EP's final track. Then everything rises with the atmosphere of both Hopesfall and October Tide (two different bands from each other). Then we blast off into "Abode of a God". The deathliness of melodeath bands like Dethklok, Ex Deo, Kalmah, and Omnium Gatherum and mixed together in a progressive cauldron that you would really want a taste of. The best vocals in this album come together in the highlight "Drop This Planet of Dust". I love the clean vocals when they blend well with the progressive melodic black/death elements, especially that dimensional section from the 4 and a half minute mark onwards. There are fantastic progressive influences from Omnium Gatherum and Persefone, as well as those other aforementioned bands. Delightful melodeath-inspired progressive metal!

The title track is the first of 3 lengthy 10+ minute epics, and it's more progressive, around the same level as Textures. There's one song with lyrics written in Swedish instead of English, that being their next epic "Vakuum". Apparently it was written quite early on in their career, and it's probably the best one of the entire album, possibly by the band. The intro is so beautiful, as is the rest of the song.

"Talvatis" is another short interlude with doomy atmosphere coming from Black Sun Aeon. "Skeletons of Light" is the epic of the epics, at 16 and a half minutes, with one of the best ending sections. I still prefer that previous epic though. Their bonus cover of Windir's "Svartesmeden och Lundamyrstrollet" shows them doing justice to the original.

Now before I conclude, I just wanna say impressive the band members are, 3 musicians with two different roles; guitarist/bassist Karl Westerlund, keyboardist/clean vocalist Robert Stenvall, and drummer/harsh vocalist Christian Berglonn. They've all done a spectacular job with their top-notch skills. Of course, Bergloon would pass drumming duties to Isak Nilsson for live shows. This underrated band made another grand masterpiece that is Illuminate the Path. Let the complexity and emotion light the way!

Favorites: "Abode of a God", "Drop This Planet of Dust", "Vakuum", "Skeletons of Light"

Music can be seen as something different from a different perspective. From mine, music is quite underappreciated. It's often heard and listened to, but not fully embraced. There are many unique artists that people seem to overlook because those people are just blindly following what's popular. An Abstract Illusion is a band that really should've been big, like universal big! This Swedish metal band is barely known outside the metal underground, and they seemed to have struggled before they were even known at all, having taken 7 years since their formation to release an EP. The EP, Atonement is Nigh marks the beginning of their impressive complex journey. The songs are filled with pure emotion. It can take you a different otherworldly realm like isekai, and it's the closest to doing so that isn't drugs.

How awesome is this EP?!? It's essentially a half-hour of genuine talent! It has everything majestic from the guitars, keyboards, and drums. I would consider this progressive melodeath with elements of atmospheric black metal. It has a similar epic melodeath vibe to Wintersun, and I enjoy An Abstract Illusion as I had enjoyed Wintersun 10 years before this review. Generally it's all about atmosphere and not "Which breakdown is more brutal than the first?" With every cold blizzard of blackened drums, tremolos, and harsh vocals, there's a warm breeze of piano and clean singing, all for a haunting combo. And they're not called "abstract" for nothing, as you'll soon hear in these 3 tracks...

The band's first ever song is their longest one, the 16 and a half minute "The Sun Will Bleach All Bones". Everything's awesome in the different moods within the vocals and instrumentation. It's quite a storm through the emotions coming from both vocal styles. Smooth piano often occurs, and it's played so beautifully. The growling is also strong and brave, especially midway through with an unleashed scream that isn't as long as a few of the ones by Mikael Akerfeldt but can almost put it all to shame. And of course, the chorus is a melodic blessing, shining the most at the end to conclude the first part of this adventure that has just begun. Next track "Rain" might just be one of the best 7-minute instrumentals I've heard. Not once was I ever bored, with the blend of atmosphere and guitar melody keeps me awake. As of writing this, it's already early December, so it's the perfect time to listen to this piece on a cold Autumn/Winter night. And that's all for me to say about this song, really.

The 3rd and last track of the EP, "Chameleon of the Clouds" has faster deathly dynamics. Well it starts slow at first, but then it evolves into powerful riffing and growls. The atmosphere is quite haunting, all the way up to the piano outro. Oh and it should be noted that the exact same piano melody in that outro would be used in the intro track for their debut full-length album Illuminate the Path. Kind of a similar connection to Born of Osiris' The New Reign and A Higher Place. Anyway, such a beautiful ending track!

Beyond the minds of a few people is a beautiful creation that doesn't get the amount of admiration they really need. The music is the perfect soundtrack to braving a stormy winter night, whether letting it embrace you or just viewing it at home. This band is like a whole new universe they've created, and it shall be one to be with!

Favorites: All of them, especially "The Sun Will Bleach All Bones"

The loosely described “experimental black metal” of Arrows offers a different side to the Jünger Tumilon music collective that explores a much darker aesthetic. Retaining those death doom elements also, Yearning Arrows; Cloven Suns still packs a hefty punch and infuses this brevity of riffs with a level of horror atmospherics to really mix things up. It is hard not to be terrified at various points of ‘At War with Peace’, blending tribal elements with more progressive elements and a driving rhythm too boot, this is a massive track on what is only a(nother) four track release. The clean vocals that are used here fit perfectly into the menacing fade of the track, suggesting this battle is still ongoing long after the record is finished.

Arrows have synths and they are not afraid to use them. Stabbing atmospherics into songs like devilishly sharp blades into flesh, they accompany the guitars perfectly whilst building tension well at the same time. The main point of interest in the sound of Arrows though is the bellicose vocal style that gets used intermittently throughout the record. Clean vocals can be made to sound threatening and this approach is a perfect example of this being done to good effect. I did find this element to be leaning on the too quirky side of things at first. However, I soon found them to be more of a unique identifier in the sound of the album. Darvish and Menetekel share vocal duties, cleverly giving this variety into proceedings without making it sound forced as I suspect it would if one vocalist tried to flex their style.

It is clear to hear Arkhaaik in Arrows, given that all three band members on Yearning Arrows; Cloven Suns are the exact same trio who put together Uihtis this year. What a wonderfully busy and experimental 2025 these three are having. Of the two records, this one shades the other (albeit marginally) as it presents much more directly. Whereas Uihtis relies a lot more on build up, this Arrows release manages to retain that same element of mystery whilst being able to express more of a bloodlust in how it is presented. The experimental tag does not mean a multitude of instruments either, similarly I can also allay any fears of sprawling structures of endless spoken word inserts (thankfully). Despite its clear progressive tendencies, this record retains an earthiness to it still and comes out very near the top of the pile of releases this year. It is The Fallen clan that this one should definitely reside in still, its monolithic pace is still the core of the sound after all.

Zaraza is a Canadian band that combines the industrial metal of Godflesh with death-doom. In theory, that would've been acceptable for my taste. Unfortunately, many parts drone on for so long, there's too much f***ing fuzz, and the overuse of samples are too much sh*t to handle. The two tracks I like and don't find disturbing are "Every Day is a Funeral" and "Necessary", the latter having great potential for doom fans. Everything else is just unnecessary sh*t, and that's enough deathly industrial metal for me today....

Favorites (only two tracks I like): "Every Day is a Funeral", "Necessary"

My favorite Fates Warning album in the John Arch era is The Spectre Within, but my favorite one in the Ray Alder era is the one that fully departed from their earlier heavy metal roots for strictly melodic prog-metal, Perfect Symmetry! While their progressive evolution would be shown further in their next 3 albums, it is this essential masterpiece that would make the band part of the early melodic prog-metal trio alongside Dream Theater and Queensryche. The melody has aged well, probably more than Haken would. The delivery flows greatly to allow the album to stand out well.

Alder's vocal range is in perfect balance, not sounding as screechy as in No Exit and not as tame as their later albums either. His high vocals have an easy tone that would help guide you through these abstract lyrics. The guitar duo Jim Matheos and Frank Aresti can pull off riffing that can range from heavy to ethereal. Kevin Moore, who was Dream Theater's keyboardist at the time, gives some songs his magic touch.

"Part of the Machine" is a towering opener, from the rattling intro onwards. "Through Different Eyes" is one of my favorite tracks here. There's so much melodic beauty here, especially when the chorus soars, adding greatness to a structure too simple by prog-metal's standards. The frantic "Static Acts" has Alder's vocals reaching greater heights.

Then we have the average "A World Apart", but even that song has great power. Alder's vocals continue to make the album the sparkling gem it is. "At Fate's Hands" is quite magnificent with soft beauty riffing while making room for some of the thunderous heaviness and progressiveness. My ears are quite pleased. And of course, there's that magic touch from Kevin Moore. I think the closest the band has gotten to their earlier heavy metal roots is "The Arena". It's short, more classic-sounding, and Alder's vocals sound closer to Arch. Nice though a little unhinged.

"Chasing Time" is another short track, coming out as an elegant ballad. It also has some vibes similar to pre-metal prog. "Nothing Left To Say" is a true ending epic to exemplify early melodic progressive metal. Alder sings his vocals with great passion, covering somber lyrics that often fit the dark mood. I wish I could describe this beautiful epic more, but I have nothing left to say.

Perfect Symmetry is a flawless classic for melodic progressive metal. It's quite deep with nothing too technical, and despite the tracks being shorter than in other albums, nothing's rushed. All is in genuine balance with no missteps. Between the underground No Exit and the commercial Parallels lies this gem. Indeed perfect and symmetrical!

Favorites: "Through Different Eyes", "Static Acts", "At Fate's Hands", "Nothing Left To Say"

When I was revisiting the music of Fates Warning, I've realized that I enjoy the earlier heavy/progressive metal era of their first 3 albums more than their subsequent melodic progressive metal era. John Arch is one of the best vocalists of the genre. He may sound annoying at first but then you realize how amazing he is with his unique voice. The vocals aren't the only great thing about this album though.

The Spectre Within is a true progressive/US power metal gem! It even has a slight edge over their next album Awaken the Guardian that other fans prefer. Their second album with they really start to add progressiveness to their US power metal sound. My first full experience with this band's material was 5 years ago. I was more focused on heavier modern metal than the more melodic old-school metal of yore. I enjoyed the music a lot but eventually got tired of it, especially the vocals. Some things need some time away from me to restore the glory, and when I came back just a few days before this review, I can hear it again as the masterpiece I first thought it was. So worth the wait!

The progressive changes begin to shine in the 7-minute opening track "Traveler in Time", one of the best tracks here and the perfect way to start. Then we have the more mid-paced while still sometimes upbeat track, "Orphan Gypsy". One track that has really gotten me excited is "Without a Trace". It sounds like a song Iron Maiden could've written, only made better and more progressive.

"Pirates of the Underground" is another long track, and it levels up the progressiveness with the structure not having a set chorus. "The Apparition" still remains as my favorite track of the album on the US power metal side, with the best vocals from Arch.

There's more of that heavy speed in "Kyrie Eleison" while having some doomy sections. The perfect grand finale is the 12-minute epic "Epitaph". It's Fates Warning's first ever 10+ minute epic that would hint at the ones they would make in later albums. It starts off all atmospheric and doomy, almost like what Katatonia would make a decade later. Then it impresses me with everything from the guitars, bass, drums, and of course, the vocals, all heard loud and clear. Absolutely memorable!

This has to be said: The Spectre Within may just be the true start to the progressive metal genre. Every metalhead should get that offering and listen to this incredible talent, especially from the vocals. It's honestly quite underrated compared to the popular Dream Theater. All praise Fates Warning!

Favorites: "Traveler in Time", "Without a Trace", "The Apparition", "Epitaph"

In 2010, Amorphis decided that they were ready for a live DVD, and there was no better time than on their 20th anniversary. It's a monstrous packed release that should appeal to many fans of the band. Originally a two-disc DVD, it was re-released with an additional two-CD version not released separately until 2017. The DVD is a f***ing impressive journey through a lot of the music the band had made so far. I don't even have to be picky about what I like, I love pretty much all of it in this form!

The main course of this entire meal is a one-and-a-half-long concert at Oulu, Finland in November 2009. While it's good to appreciate the visuals, the meat is in the music. And after the intro, it is time to start the show...

The beautiful blazing "Silver Bride" begins the set, although it is actually the second track of the band's latest album at the time, Skyforger. The album's actual opening track, "Sampo" comes next, filled with enchanting melody. Then "Towards and Against" has nice keyboard atmosphere without any of that Children of Bodom-esque soloing. "The Castaway" is a more unique earlier song with an Egyptian folk vibe.

I think the best tracks here are the medleys, the first of which being "Smithereens / The Smoke". They only play the outro of "Smithereens", but then it leads straight into "The Smoke" which truly represents the Tomi Joutsen era. Both of his cleans and growls really shine alongside the guitar melodies. He really alternates between both styles in the chorus, coming out so wonderful. I love the solo that then leads to a soft break before the climax. That climax being a final passionate chorus that would make you up to giving that anthem another spin. "Majestic Beast" is heavier and throws back to their earlier deathly roots despite being from their at the time new album. The more melancholic "Alone" is pretty much the only song from Am Universum they perform live these days, which is a shame because there are a few other solid songs from that album. Then we have a serene progressive highlight in "Silent Waters".

"Divinity" is the one track from Tuonela that marks a live staple, and the addictive chorus makes it the right choice. Then comes the second medley, the "Elegy Medley". It's perhaps the centerpiece of the entire show and DVD, throwing back to an amazing album with all its diversity, as proven in the "Against Widows" part. It transitions to the second part based on "Cares" which includes some synth experimentation that may seem odd out of context, but when heard with the rest of the medley, it's yet another beautiful thing. The 3rd part, "On Rich and Poor", has cool melodies and occasional key changes, before ending the medley with an epic reprise of the first part. "From the Heaven of my Heart" has nice clean emotion. "Sky is Mine" is another serene track, in which the music and lyrics greatly resonate.

And here's one more medley, "Magic and Mayhem / Black Winter Day". It starts with the enchanting keys and heavy riffing of "Magic and Mayhem" that are then displayed the best in "Black Winter Day", as the heaviness lightens up a bit. "Sign from the North Side" is more mid-paced and the riffing doesn't hook you enough, but it still has a great sense of deathly action. "House of Sleep" has more of a classic heavy metal direction in the rhythm and keys. They really took some old-school metal aspects and blended them with the metal we know today. Then it all ends with the grand finale "My Kantele". The sorrowful lyrics really detail the emotional magic from the Finnish instrument in question ("Its strings gathered from torments, and its pegs from other ills. Truly they lie, they talk utter nonsense... So it will not play, will not rejoice at all. Music will not play to please.") The vocals work well with the guitars and keyboards. The track is basically extended into an epic as the heavy version is combined with the acoustic reprise for a memorable climax of harmonic leads. Beautiful!

Now the second DVD consists of a different shorter show also from 2009, as well as all the band's music videos so far, a couple more separate live tracks, an interview, and a documentary. All I'm going to cover here are the two tracks that weren't in the first disc. The second show, at Summer Breeze Open Air, starts with "Leaves Scar". I just can't put to words how melodic and beautiful it is. Tomi's growls were pack a punch, while the clean chorus is sung with the might of a warrior. Both vocal styles work so greatly together. "Evil Inside" is a highlight from Far From the Sun. I just wish they would've performed that song in one of those shows instead of just adding in its music video.

So yeah, Forging the Land of Thousand Lakes is the ultimate live album for 90s/2000s Amorphis fans. The songs' live forms may just be the best yet. Even though it is a live DVD, it's a fantastic start for any new Amorphis fans, a best representation of their first 9 albums. It is also perfect for longtime fans for the band's most glorious journey of songs. Let's hope for another milestone-celebrating live DVD in 2030, 5 years after the review. In the meantime, let this one bless the heaven of your heart!

Favorites (one track per album, plus the two highlights in disc 2): "Sampo", "Smithereens / The Smoke", "Alone", "Silent Waters", "Divinity", "Elegy Medley", "Magic and Mayhem / Black Winter Day", "Sign from the North Side", "Leaves Scar", "Evil Inside"